Damn! Dark, the trilogy as a whole is a very well written show with a captivating story. This only becomes more apparent when you realize how consistent the series has been throughout the three seasons and how everything was so well thought out beforehand. Granted, calling it immensely complicated would be an understatement as it may require careful attention or multiple viewings to grasp and remember everything but once you clear this hurdle and understand this show, its brilliance will readily become apparent.
This show may very well go down in history as one of the greatest Sci-Fi content both in terms of films/tv ever made. We will be darn lucky if anything ever comes close to the greatness of this show in future. Or maybe considering how it is a sleeper hit, it inspires studios to order more thought provoking contents, but who knows.
I think , once they prevent the deaths and time-travel from being invented, Jonas'(Split Reality 1) and Martha's(Split Reality 2) universes(realities) are annihilated, the Scientist's "Original reality" splits/branches again, to form another "3rd" Split Reality which is the one shown in the end.
Since "Endings are beginnings and beginnings are endings or everything is predetermined and past/future can't be changed", this would make the most sense without breaking the show's rule because if the Scientist didn't try to invent time Travel, there wouldn't be 2 split realities and with that no Jonas or Martha coming to change the past, and if they didn't come, he would invent time Travel, a Paradox.
So the original reality still exists alongside the new 3rd reality. However Jonas and Martha are erased from existence since their universes no longer exist.
Hannah deciding to name the unborn child 'Jonas' was also a nice way to spare us a completely sad ending.
But hey who knows! The series is open for multiple interpretations.
Here's something you might find helpful:
How To Understand Dark
1. Determinism:
I. Watch Predestination (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2397535 ) to acquaint yourself with the general idea of a closed time loop. Also maybe give Triangle (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1187064 ) a shot.
II. Arrival is also great.
III. Watch Devs (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8134186 ) [Ignore the last episode, unfortunately Alex Garland still can't stick a landing] to really get the essence of a deterministic universe on the quantum level.
2. Split/Parallel Realities:
I. Rick&Morty has several episodes dealing with the concept. However, S02E01 A Rickle In Time(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4462494 ) and the recent S04E08 The Vat Of Acid ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10655692 ) both do the best job of explaining IMO.
II. Steins Gate is a masterpiece if you are into anime (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1910272 )
awesome but I don't get it why everyone predicted 2020 to be the end of the world well
end is coming xdxd
27 June 2020
will update if nothing happens :)
Dark Season 1 & 2: “Things can’t get any more complicated than this”
Dark Season 3: “Hold my beer”
I literally had no idea what this show was about when I started the first season. I thought I'm about to watch just some dark-themed crime series but no.. not even close. It's a masterpiece. Outstandingly written and acted. Also, the soundtrack is brilliantly picked! This is easily one of my all time favorite shows from now on. I'm so happy I chose to watch this.
Update after watching the series finale:
After the second season, when I wrote this review the first time, I had dropped one star because of the complexity. Yes, I struggled a lot trying to remember who everyone was, and it didn't really get much easier until the very last episodes. The character relations in this show are something else.
But now, after seeing the finale, I think this show definitely deserves 10 out of 10. The final season provided a very satisfying ending for the show. And piece by piece, they actually managed to untangle the complexity in a wonderful way. Kudos to the writers for creating such a clever, complex yet still surprisingly clean story. And without forgetting to mention, the story truly lived up to its name. It is dark, very dark but still beautiful.
Absolutely fantastic. I will admit that I hesitated at first, but then I thought why not give it a try. Gloomy and eerie, but good at it. The music throughout the series is really well chosen; it fits perfectly well. The writing is also top notch, as is the acting. You can either have it in English sound or in German sound with English subtitles. Honestly I wasn't bothered at all with the English sound, so if that's your thing you will be able to enjoy the series just fine (maybe you'll also be slightly less distracted as opposed to reading subtitles). Personally I chose the German sound, as it felt more natural.
Honestly, give it a try. Might very well be the best series I've watched this year.
EDIT: Binged season 2 in a sitting. Just wow. This review doesn't do it justice. And the casting...I mean, I totally thought old Ulrich was the result of CGI or something. Season 2 is best thing I've watched this year and last year included (ever?).
worth watching 10/10 from me i liked it all
Intelligent, twisting, gripping, well written and well acted. Definitely worth a watch. Netflix gives you options - mine was the original German with English subtitles. That’s my recommendation.
Watching the trailer it seemed like a really interesting show. Unfortunately the show itself was not as good in the end. There's too many characters you have to keep track of and you constantly get confused who's who now as people look so alike sometimes. All the scandals, time travel and so on makes you dizzy. Some parts of the story seem really involving but then they kind of screw up and it's not as amazing anymore. Most annoying was the music… the same "thrilling" sound effect for every single scene… even if it's not even remotely thrilling…
What a weird experience. 80% of my watching experience was not as enjoyable. Not because the show was bad, but because it never clicked with me. I never got attached to the characters or the story in a way that made me care for the show. By the last season I was ready to just stop watching. But there are stories that with a single scene everything changes; a decent story becomes amazing. This show definitely had the potential to have one of those moments. So I trusted it and continued watching.
(Un)fortunately the last episode was that moment for me. The ending was great. It surprisingly brought a satisfying conclusion to this wild story. Somehow I actually cared for some of the characters. But watching anything before that felt like a chore.
This is definitely one of those stories that becomes better the more I watch it. I already appreciate it much more after the finale. But for my first watch, my rating wont be as high.
i fell asleep most of the times
This series was great until the last season. If last season didn't count this was a 9 for me for sure.
This is a great show. it may get confusing to some, especially with the back and forth in later episodes. The show is very well done & the actors are all amazing. Recommend especially for those that like sci-fi thrillers.
wannabe good but is stupid and boring
Dark is the single best show ever created and I will die on that hill.
Such a fucking great show
For those who haven't yet seen the whole show, go and watch it first and then come back to my review.
It would be such a shame to be spoiled.
Those who know me will know that I'm particularly fond of time-travel stories, and this series is no exception.
If the 3 seasons can be summed up in a few words, they are:
- Season 1 - Time travel
- Season 2 - Time travel between two universes
- Season 3 - Time travel in the multiverse (Tri-verse)
It must have been an immense amount of work to write this story, to place each object meticulously in the sets, the make-up on each character in each version to both recognize and differentiate them, the acting of each actor who immortalizes perfectly the gestures and postures of their doubles, this series is a true masterpiece.
But that said...
There is no doubt that this version of time traveltold by its creator is not physically possible.
Whether by the simple fact of the beginning of the loop:
Jonas could never have lived and done what he did without his double Johnas from the future, the rest of the characters likewise, etc...
And by its ending: how can a moment that repeats itself ad infinitum can change in the middle of a loop?
The first way to explain this change is to have an interaction outside of the loop (in the manner of Schrodinger's cat, as explained in the series), but this raises several additional questions: the simple fact that this person has entered this Pandora's box leads to the creation of a new timeline, and even if this were the case, how would he or she have known what was happening in the loop? so this is just not a possible scenario.
The second way (the one given by the series), is that at some point in the loop, someone had an emotional and logical change in their way of thinking and decided to change things. How would she have known what was happening outside the loop? If her change had taken place, why wouldn't it simply have created a new universe? As mentioned in the series, every event in the loop has to happen and can't be changed, so how is it that this Claudia managed to change that?
And how the hell did this guy lose his eye/arm?
So many questions remain unanswered...
But that doesn't matter, it doesn't diminish the masterpiece of writing that this series is.
I would have liked to have an ending (with an extra episode or two) where when Jonas and Martha arrive in the third universe in front of the car, the accident happens because of them. That would have explained the start and end of the loop, and with one more episode we could have seen what happens in that third universe to explain how it all began.
For me, that would have been a more logical ending.
Before concluding, I'd like to say that there have been a lot of annoying and uncomfortable things that have happened in the series (such as the priest being both the grandfather and the husband of the mute girl), but the worst thing is the hateful character of Hannah who is everyone's genealogical source, it's disgusting to know that.
But this fact alone proves that it's physically impossible, since if we take the mute daughter as an example: if we assume that a person receives half the genes of her parents, she could never have been the exact same person as her grandmother (herself), since she couldn't have had the same genome.
To conclude, this series is one of the best in the time travel theme (for me, the two anime Steins;Gate and Higurashi: When They Cry remain the two best in this field). It must have been a real headache to conceptualize and produce it.
For those who had the courage to read my review till the end, and for those who only read the conclusion, I highly recommend to watch this series!
Season 1 and 2 - 31 March, 2020
Season 3 - 30 June , 2020
"Everything is connected, past, future, present and every single family tree in Winden" lol. It's an overrated PSA on why incest is bad. And not a single character is slightly likeable. Cool actors, though.
Fantastic epic time travel tv show.
Splendid actors throw 3 generations.
Pretty much Stranger Things if its creators were obsessed with Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve instead of Spielberg and Zemeckis. It’s a really cool idea for a mystery/sci-fi melodrama, but also a very demanding show to watch. That’s not a flaw, but you should know going into it that this isn’t the type of show where half watching and half texting will be a rewarding experience. I think there’s just the right amount of handholding, but its puzzlebox quality and plethora of characters don’t make things easier. Still, it’s a lot of fun to watch once you get what it’s doing, with plot twists and character writing being among its major strengths. The emotional peaks that are reached here are quite impressive, though the melodrama can occasionally lead to the use of cheap, overused tropes. There’s also not a single weak link in the cast, which is quite impressive when you have multiple people playing the same character. The directing is pretty amazing, there’s almost a David Fincher-esque quality to how this show builds atmosphere through the constant rain, fog and forest shots, which is often enhanced with its ominous, droning, Villeneuve-esque score. Sometimes the show will just stop and give you these beautiful atmospheric montages (often paired with a sad song), which are among my favourite scenes. They really spared no expense in regards to production, the sets and production value are consistently impressive and don’t have that typical ‘made for streaming’ feel to it. Overall, it’s a pretty amazing, intricate show that’s easily recommended to people who are fans of mature science fiction. Sometimes you have to give a little leeway with the logic, but that’s almost always the case with stories about time travel. You’re bound to run into issues of causality, paradoxality and memory once you have the same people from different timelines interacting with each other, but this show handles it about as well as it could.
S01: 8.5/10
S02: 9/10 (drops most of the cheap tropes; only held back by some bad VFX work)
S03: 8/10 (completely sticks the landing, the new plot device introduced at the end of s02 doesn’t break the show. The VFX continue to be an issue, and this season could’ve benefitted from a few more additional episodes)
without a damned doubt one of the greatest "Web Shows" in a foreign language (the very first one for me) that I watched and since I don't have "Netflix", then luckily for me about 3 and a half years ago I found a website called "o2tvseries.co" where it had the whole series to binge; but unfortunately "Season 2" isn't dubbed.
I rate it "In fourth season, Jonas becomes a transvestite from Transylvania, goes back, and has triplets with teenage Jonas" out of ten
Absolutely phenomenal show. The only problems I had with it were the migraines I got trying to wrap my mind around the insane plot twists.
IMHO one of the best and most perfectly wrapped up shows in existence. Well worth multiple views to pick up on the nuances you missed the first go round. Honestly the more I've watched it the more I realize just how perfect it is.
MY favorite time travel fiction
This is one of the best shows I've ever seen. Very thought provoking. I highly recommend it. Also I recommend watching in German with subtitles. It is much better than the English dub in my opinion.
I am not sure about this. I completely loved the first two seasons, but the third one just messed a lot with my mind. I think I only understood half of it. Nonetheless it is one of the best ideas I have seen on television.
A very well-thought-out story that can get quite complicated very quickly, but will eventually make sense if you stick it out long enough. There is a lot that the writers had to juggle in this show without losing sight of the end, and I believe they did an amazing job.
I like that the show is called "Dark", as the brooding and depressing mood is exactly what made it different from other sci-fi shows with mysteries like "Lost". Although it does feel like it's trying to imitate American TV shows, there is still a delightfully European touch which makes it slightly different than the other Netflix products.
It was hard to keep track of so many characters over multiple timelines at first, but the pacing is slow enough to prevent people from being left behind. I struggled to recognize some faces, but the main storylines are pretty easy to follow. There are times people would act out of character or make illogical choices, but it's mostly tolerable. The second half of the second season worked as the emotional climax for everything that has been carefully constructed up to that point, and although things got a little out of hand in the final season (more on that later), it's been a nice show to watch. Even when the big reveals were pretty obvious, the execution was mostly solid and tonally consistent.
Although the stereotyped post-apocalyptic scenario introduced at the end of the first season could have killed my interest, the show kept being set mostly in the "present", with the small town where everyone feels like they know each other always being the center like in Twin Peaks. On the other hand, I was bothered by the decision to add multiple dimensions to the mix at the very end of the second season. “Dark” dealt with time travel using the "egg or chicken first" paradox as the main drive for the narrative, meaning that the characters can’t change the past, present, and future because they already did without knowing. Their actions are already reflected in the timeline, resulting in a loop where people often end up being the cause of their own tragedies. Those changes pretty much killed the whole concept and turned the show into yet another generic time-travel flick. I also noticed a tendency to rely on soapy twists instead of exploring the full potential offered by paradoxes and time loop theories.
The third season supposedly gave most of the answers we needed, yet I couldn’t be more confused. The problem is that they spent too much time re-introducing and exploring characters and situations that in the end have no real purpose in the story. At the same time, characters that had extensive story arcs in the first two seasons got mysteriously abandoned or killed off for no reason. More than a lack of time, it felt like the time they had was poorly managed. The solutions provided in the end almost came up out of nowhere, and we don’t even get to see how people came to those conclusions, nor how the “villains” became the people they are through time. Things got so convoluted and contrived that all we could do was trust the writers without questioning further.
There’s not a huge gap in production value or direction between seasons, but it just felt like the whole show was poorly plotted, leaving too many contradictions behind. The biggest one is definitely the role of destiny. At this point, it’s clear that no matter how hard a character may try to change things, destiny will fix everything so that the loops can repeat as always. Yet, we keep being shown characters devoting their lives to making sure that each loop goes as it should have. Maybe I missed the whole point, but the writing feels more confusing than cryptic.
The Beginning is the end and the End is the beginning !
I consider myself an educated viewer than can grasp complicated plots but to even then was confusing at times with ever changing timelines and cast for the same character ; on top of that when a new world was introduced it was even agastly
S1 started well with mystery missing children and the overlapping timeliness with bodies dropping by and a mystery on what purpose they were killed with main purpose to graps the changes in Wisden !!
S2 started to overall all three timelines and despite the complications it seem to go somewhere with a mission to find an origin to undo the apocalypse
S3 is where it unhinges with overlapping works and Adam & Eve fighting for supermacy it gets boring and confusing at the same time and i gaveup on understanding the reason and just winged it from here
I spent my New Years weekend of 2023 hoping to watch a critically acclaimed masterpiece but I would have rather traded with something cheeerful and honestly didnt think it would take me 4 days to finish this show.
As a German I tend to avoid German movies and shows, as their quality rarely is convincing. But I was constantly confronted with the hype surrounding Dark, so I gave it a chance.
Season One was okayish, not spectacular though. Time travels, some mystery. Nothing we hadn't already seen.
Season Two was actually very good, had several emotional highlights.
Season Three was imho a clusterfuck but for some reason beloved by almost everyone else.
But seriously, besides the rare emotional moments this series was an endless series of people gaining knowledge either by someone else telling them for various and absurd reasons or gaining it directly out of nowhere.
Example: How the hell did Claudia learn about the third world? How does she know what initiated the process in that third world? Yeah, "she figured it out over 33 years". Marvelous.
It's also an endless series of "We have to repeat all these things again to reach a distant point where we might change something about it."
These two elements are pretty much half of the series.
The rest are fillers of people being dumb and/or evil.
So I'll rate this 7/10, for season 2. I wouldn't recommend the show though.
It's a small town drama centered around a child disappearance, with some detective/mystery elements and the occasional sci-fi element in the first half of the season, and then the sci-fi/time travel element is prominent a lot more in the second half.
It's not at all the grand thing everyone praises it to be.
While a lot of time travel stories are unncessarily overly-complex, and this is no exception, it does manage to weave most of it's plot threads and elements together decent enough.
One of the problems is that there's sometimes too many characters, and it's combined with multiple time periods, that most of the characters don't get the focus that they need. And most if not all of them are not likeable.
For example, the show quickly introduces boring teenage drama and an affair plot. I hate these, because most stories involving them are rubbish. And you put them in a time travel plot? No.
What makes it worse, is that there's quite a bit of teenage drama and focus on affairs/love triangles. Stupid.
There even highschool drama in multiple time periods. They even throw in an obsession plot.
There simply isn't much time travel plot being weaved in the show in the first half, and so most of what's left is small town drama. So both the small town drama and the time travel stuff end up not being that interesting.
The plot is stretched out. The romance/relationship storylines are boring.
There's not a lot of intelligence in regards to the time travel or dialogue. It's sometimes boringly predictable or generic.
Too many questions are raised and not enough answers, And often the answers we do get are stupid. There's also too much cryptic dialogue. Some cryptic dialogue is ok to do, but when you too much you look arrogant.
The first half of the season focuses more on the small town drama than the case about children being taken and killed. And yeah part of the small town drama is connected to the time travel shenanigans, but it's not a lot connected to what you are witnessing. It's just boring normal drama for most of the season. They wasted a lot of the potential.
The storyline goes into some strange and dumb directions, not even related to the time travel, like the obsession plot.
The method of time travel in the show is also kinda stupid, It reminds me of the method in Back to the Future, but without the cool factor, and in that movie it was all about a whacky adventure and having fun with light sci-fi elements, so it worked. Here it just seems dumb, where it's all about the serious atmosphere. It feels similar to the same method of time travel as Back to the Future, except in this show it's crawling down a tunnel and opening a hatch and then you've time travelled. The other method is a device that makes a portal that makes you time travel. That's it. Oh and it was built by someone in the 20th century with 20th century parts. Oh and only he can make it. As bad as that is, it gets worse later on, as it's revealed he didn't really make it, but was delivered the plans by someone else in the future. Or something. Ugh.
Most Recommended, #1 on my list.
A really worth watching with almost every emotion perfectly gathered with a really awesome story.
Drama, Thrill, Love, Suspense, Science Fiction and what not. :heart:
Its strange. Really strange. Intricate. Convoluted. Difficult to keep track of initially but later you have that moment of clarity and things start connecting. I only have one lingering question. Who killed Laura Palmer?
You need to watch 7 episodes at least before appreciating the show,AND learn all the names of the characters from the beginning or you will be lost
Brilliant Television Series.
I avoided this series like a plague, because I thought this was about missing children and dark magic. The thought of sitting through another cliche about western religious stereotypes and superstitions did't sit well with me. Oh boy! was I wrong?
This series is about time travel. Paradoxes and human connections that revolves around time travel. I like that it doesn't pull punches in story telling. It is complex story telling. You have to pay attention to understand the intricacies of relationships, characters and time.
It is totally worth it.
Best in class casting. The crew is amazing in acting and resemblance.
The characters portray desolation well. You can see the perpetuating sadness in the main characters. Time is taking it's toll.
Watch it in German. English is okay, But German is Amazing.
First of all. this show is not all sci fi
1 1/2 episodes was more than enough. Plenty of shock noise/music every so often to make sure you're awake or to 'scare' you.
None of the characters are interesting and the story is just meh.
Have no idea why so many people on Trakt love this, but then lots love CSI, the Kardashians and Big Brother so there's no accounting for bad taste.
0/10
This is simply the perfect show for me. From the complex characters and plot to the mind-bending twists and thought-provoking philosophical ideologies that clash into one completed show allowing this show to be the masterpiece it is. I can now safely say this show is truly amazing without having to exaggerate. Every episode of this masterpiece shocks you in ways you never thought was possible. The constant gripping revelations were so unexpected but because of the foreshadowing, anyone paying attention could see what's to come. With all the plot threads arching throughout a century of a town's history it managed to tie the story so well together. Exceptional and convincing acting skills by the entire cast and tons of heartfelt scenes between different character dynamics. This show is the perfect epitome of a well thought out show, meticulously crafted and executed so well and overall knows where it's trying to advance its story. This show has revolutionized time travel storytelling and is definitely one of the most throughout and consistently written shows of our time.
Season 1 - 9.9
Season 2 - 10.0
Season 3 - 9.8
Go with the subtitles in the original German, you lose a lot with dubbing. It's probably one of the best shows I've watched this year. It grips you from the start and is excellent in many ways. It's dark and gritty. I loved it. It's also complicated. I had a good time watching it.
It is complicated but I loved it just the same.
Do yourself a favour and stop watching at the end of Season 2. Season 3 is pretty much trash and the ending is awful.
One of the best ever made!
Complex and stylish. Suspenseful and chilling. First two seasons are great and third season was expectedly far too convoluted. At its core, though, this show is great. You gotta commit to the mind-fuckery and bang out the whole thing in one setting. It really is a masterpiece. Go!
I gave it a 10 rate before S3 dropped, But tbh i still don't know why many series fails to keep the same level the story became more complicated to degree you can't like it anymore, They could end it better than that, But anyway we can't denying that they made a real masterpiece
Watched season 1. Excellent acting, music and cinematography but unfortunately there were way too many characters, together with 3 different timelines, which just made it very confusing. I found myself reading an explainer after finishing, which itself was effortful to wrap my head around. I can see why people love this show but it's not for me. It takes too much effort to understand and is somewhat dissatisfying in that sense.
Amazing show. Tons of characters, great cast, super complex story with a perfect ending. Everything gets explained... eventually, not in the beginning. You can pick up so many things you missed the first time when rewatching. I'm currently on my third watch and I'm hooked again.
My favorite, it's special and may not please everyone.
Full of physics references (if you like general relativity theories like me)
I've waited a long time to see something like this. I'm not disappointed and sad it's over.
Awesome actors too. What a blast.
Thank you for making this
I have no words for this show. The cast is mesmerising, the story intriguing and the end unpredictable. I loved every single minute and it hurts to realise that I can never watch this series again for the first time.
This show started off super strong for me, and then I lost interest half way through season 2. But I recommend because the first part is SO good, and it is probably just me and my poor attention span that lost the interest.
In the story of Dark, everything is connected.
The premise is extremely simple, a boy goes missing in a small town shrouded in secrets, and as its secrets are uncovered you begin to see the bigger picture. It sounds similar to Stranger Things but unlike that show, Dark is so much more complex and engaging to a point where I had to set aside special time to watch uninterrupted because it commanded my full attention. Alongside a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack and incredible German voice acting (and acting in general), Dark is a show that I would recommend to people with a curiosity for the unknown.
Very confusing if you have problems remembering faces.
It's a nope for me after chapter 2 of S2. Sorry, I was digging the concept, right before the encounter with "the thing".
Cast 4/5
Artistry 3/5
What a journey. What a marvelous journey.
After first season I thought the show was needlessly complicated with its ever shifting perspectives, jumping from marital problems of one family to marital problems of another family to various other people and their problems, so on and so forth. I just wanted to follow Jonas, unravel the mystery along with him.
How narrow minded was that thinking.
Dark is a show unlike any other, regardless of the genre. It's not the intricate family tree and the myriad of characters that each have their own part to play in the story, big or small. It's not the seemingly wrong understanding of paradoxes that the show seems to embrace from the get go nor the philosophical themes it tackles throughout. It's how all of it falls into place when the crucial piece of information is revealed in the late stages of the third season, one that puts all the aforementioned pieces in the right place to form a complete puzzle that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. That's when the intricacy and what I wrongly believed to be needless complication take its true form, a storytelling masterpiece.
When creative freedom is handed to creative people, they create a show like Dark. If that conclusion is the only one Netflix brass conclude from this show, the future of their platform is bright. Dark is developed with foresight, planned out from first to third season with a concrete beginning, middle and an end, all of it executed flawlessly... and it shows.
Among many other themes it tackles, Dark is the Romeo and Juliet story of the 21st century, and the 19th and the 20th. It's a tragic story of loss and futile attempts to change the past while making the same mistakes over and over again. It's also a heartwarming love story, one anchored in family, other between a boy and a girl. One gives a warm and pure sense of fulfillment, the other leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.
A perfect match. Never believe anything else.
This show won't be for everyone, but if you like deep and detailed sci fi, this is a near must see. Let's start by saying that this story is COMPLEX. Honestly, I recommend reviewing a summary between seasons just to confirm that you fully understand the specifics of the relationships. On that note, it is also worth noting that this is viewed with an English dubbing in the US and that will deter some. Aside from those two things, the production quality and attention to details in the story from season one thru season three is really a spectacle to admire. I think the only things I can compare it to is somewhere between Westworld and Stranger Things but focused on time travel. Knowing how everything ends, I do expect to return to the story from the beginning at some point in the future. I am curious if I can pick up on and appreciate more of the nuances now that I have a firmer grasp on how everything is related to one another. Anyways, interesting show with unique storytelling mechanics, and I do recommend if you have a long attention span and like the concept.
Average Season Review: 8.33/10
Recommendation: At Least Give it a Whirl (For Complex Sci-Fi Fans)
Bit of a letdown and too slow for my liking, but I'm gonna (low-key) miss this show. I know I am.
An interesting idea and a promising start, but, unfortunately, the story becomes too confusing by the second season, and too boring by the third season (the great final episode is a good exception). For me it was hard to keep tracking which actor plays which character in which time because of the number of characters and the excessive number of time-jumps in the storyline. Perhaps, either reducing the number of characters, or making the storyline more linear could help there. Anyway, the series worth a watch.
I haven’t (maybe never) watched a serie as brilliant as Dark. It was hard to understand, i’m not even sure if i understood it but still it’s an excellent serie.
Brilliant series with superb character development, great screenplay, awesome audio and an excellent take on the subject of reality and time travel. It's story arc completion in three seasons is exactly right, doing the story justice without dragging it out. A series that makes you think.
The Best Netflix series ever :heart: the cinematography with soundtrack s is on another level just insane... well written with great great acting..
I am not sure where the disconnect is between the first two seasons and the third.
In the first two seasons, there were clear and concise story paths that were complex but thorough in sculpting the web-like story line. Nearly every time there was a twist or a turn in the plot, it was seemingly valid and relevant to the story. This is one of those rare shows that appeared to be water-tight, perfectly engineered and constructed...
...and then season three started.
Apparently the original story line was replaced with gimmicks and intentional confusion. It appeared as though they scrapped the story-boards and writers and decided to replace them with an improv writing team on set. The editing team, I assume, was somehow contractually obligated to use all of the tools in their new video effects software suite.
I cannot rave about the first two seasons enough. This was about as near to perfect of a series as I have ever watched. If it weren't for the fact that I sadly needed closure to the story line, I would recommend stopping at the end of season two. Unfortunately, you will have to wade through looooooong drawn-out scenes of characters just staring at each other for painful lengths of time to get to the conclusion of the series. It stopped being entertaining from the very beginning of the third season and was riddled with hollow plot devices and unnecessary drama as though they were just trying to eat time off of the clock.
I am not attempting to do a smear-piece on this series, 2/3 of it truly was a masterpiece. I hope to find another series that is as well crafted and engaging as the first two seasons of DARK. With that, I hope its creative integrity isn't compromised should I ever be so lucky to find another.
Falls dangerously short of being excellent through and through. As it stands Dark is still one of the best things Netflix has ever produced, but runs into some plotting issues along the way. The first season sets you up nicely and the second season is a banger through and through, but the third season (although planned from the get-go, it seems) jumps the shark ever so slightly that it feels like we lose a bit of what made the first two seasons ever so compelling in favor of complexity. If you are not okay with the idea of narrative confusion, I would avoid this series entirely. Because it is far more intricate than most things, and although I think it still handles everything well, be ready to watch all three seasons back to back because getting yourself reacquainted as the seasons dropped was a doozy.
I think season 1 started pretty decent. Nice interesting story, cool characters, grimm atmosphere and overall pretty look and feel. But this show got worse and worse to a point it was just lazy writing. 'Oh just add another timeline and a handful of new characters' seems to be the tactics of season 3. This doesn't lead to any 'omg there is another timeline?!' reaction if that's what they expected.. It's just too easy to be interesting. There are no eureka moments at all, the stuff that a mysterical thriller desperately needs. I want to be involved in the plot as a viewer, in Dark there's no room for that. Before you figure things out the writer decides to add a whole new alternative universum and expects you to go with it. It's almost like Lost, but that had a way better start. The last season felt like a chore.
First season masterpiece
Second season very very good
Trird season what's this shit
Too bad, a great idea in fist and second season developed poorly in the last season.
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand the dark..
I expected a lot more disappointment for me. The story is good, but the processing, directing, etc. It's very weak or rather very bad and I don't understand how this series can have such a high rating. with closed eyes I rate 6 out of 10 and only for the story otherwise I would give 5 out of 10 It's a pity that such a good looking series spoiled like this, but what to expect from Netflix I have not seen anything good from them, not even in terms of movies 90% is bad mainly because they want such money for it. Sorry my English is bad.
As dense and convoluted as a Higher Physics textbook, or like studying the Ptolemaic dynasty while being forced to read Finnegan's Wake. At some points even the most attentive person will get lost in who, where, when, and what world!? but the sheer detail and commitment of the storytelling take you to all these uncomfortable, out of sync places, with uneasy situations, with the unravelling identities and fluctuating motivations, with a grandeur that is breathtaking in scope. At first just a missing person case, but then unfolding out into a temporal anomaly, then intersecting temporal worlds, and then finally anomalous temporal worlds in each season. Some of the repetition others have noticed is actually mirroring as part of the plot, some of it foreshadowing. it was truly a maze, and amazing. Worth the investment of a curious and undaunted mind and the outlay of a DVD or even bluray (gasp) box-set, hence I give it a 10.
Pfff, at first I had it booked as "not overwhelming but at least it's got time travel and a neat soundtrack" but after dragging along with weird dialogues and painfully awkward acting up to season 3 I've reached the point where I don't know if I can go on. "Stranger Things - but cheaper and less awesome" much?? I'm absolutely not convinced. Maybe I just can't bear german acting and storytelling, idk…
Absolute masterpiece. I don't usually watch foreign-language shows but Dark hits it out of the park with an amazingly intricate story, terrific cinematography, and beautiful music. Overall an extraordinary television experience, and one that respects its viewers' intelligence.
My girfriend walked in when I watched this show, I immediately switched to porn, because it easier to explain :)
I give up trying to understand this messy sh!tshow and licking the writers boots for making something very out of the ordinary
no one should spend an extra time of their lives on YouTube and on Dark's official website trying to understand this messy timeline and the characters idiotic decisions, I did that until the end of season 2 but I'm not doing that anymore.
I don't care if I'm not understanding jack sh!t of this 3rd season, call me dumb or whatever you want, I'm sick of playing games, I'll be just watching this for kicks and giggles.
Holy fuck-knuckles!! This is the best show I’ve ever watched.
PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME LIKE ME ON THIS SHOW
Great show, I didn't feel much on the third season, but it felt super rewarding for the last 3 episodes. And the "Dark" title isn't that fitting, IMO. It should be called "The Knot" instead, or something like that, it'd make even more sense and more tone, I guess! I'm placing it under spoilers out of respect for those who may think it is a spoiler, but I honestly think it would be a better title for this one!
Until season 2 it was ok, but season 3 was way too repetitive and boring.
It overwhelms the complicities of the mutual connections between the events and the characters. However, as a sf series about time travel, I think it will be the new classic of the genre. :)
This show was a mind bending experience! Definitely recommend it, but be warned, it's a complicated, confusing and intriguing ride.
Phenomenal. Will go down in history as one of the best series of all time. Many of the show's flaws can even be seamlessly corrected through a remastering. This is a series not only worth a-list voiceovers but, ironically, one most will probably still need the subtitles for, in order to keep track of the puzzles.
so glad i decided to give this ago when it popped up on Netflix. I'm not a huge fan of English dubs but I don't mind subtitles, so I figured i'd watch it in the native german with English subtitles. man am I glad I did! this show was a huge shock, I didn't expect to become so engrossed in the lives of all these many people. I laughed, I cried, and I cried some more. What an emotional rollercoaster of a show an absolute masterpiece.
A glitch in the matrix.
DARK S03 FINALE (2020) SPOILER FREE REVIEW ⏱
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:scroll: Plot : A family saga with a supernatural twist, set in a German town Winden, where the disappearance of two young children exposes the relationships among four families and leads to unconventional happenings.
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:man:⚖ Review : Dark Season 3 is fitting conclusion of what started as gamble by NETFLIX in 2017. The Series saw success as fans loved it. Season 3 doesn't disappoint you in any way. This series will definitely go into my top 5 favorite science fiction shows. The edge of the seat and engaging premise with plot twists at every breath this series has proved itself unique. Season 3 is the longest and takes time to settle , the mysteries and characters take us to intriguing timelines with script that ties everything together in the end across Parallel Worlds. Lisa Vicari as Martha is the highlight of the final season and has given a brilliant performance. Dark is an experience and needs attention which keeps you longing for more with each of its episodes. If someone asks you for a Science Fiction which is mind boggling , Dark is the Answer.
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:thumbsup:Goods : The Sound Design and The Cinematography sticks with you after the shows has ended. The Characters and Mysteries revolve inside of your brains. This speaks volumes of how good it is.
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:thumbsdown: Bads : This Section doesn't apply to this series.
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:fire: Final Rating : 9/10
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:white_check_mark: Recommendation : Rating Speaks for itself. Take a deep breathe and stream it on Netflix.
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One of the greatest Sci - Fi stories ever told, Straight up. They pulled off such an intricate web of characters, timelines, worlds, and relationships in only three seasons. It's a travesty that this show isn't more popular than it is, but they've already cemented its greatness with this final season so that's all that matters .
3 Thoughts After Watching ‘Dark’:
This show is one of THE most complex and intricate stories I have ever watched in my life. It’s often mind-numbing and frustrating because of it. But, I promise you, the ending makes up for everything... no matter how confused you are.
This series has some of the absolute best casting EVER, with different actors playing younger or older versions of a single character. The resemblances are incredibly impressive.
As I currently process the finale, I’m realizing more and more that this show is probably smarter than I ever gave it credit for. (but there’s gotta be actual plot holes in there somewhere! lol) Kudos!
Couldve done without the endless repeating shots. Think it would’ve been a better, more concise story in a movie format. Good acting.
I liked it so much. I think the plot is so ground breaking and well studied but I found it too much slow ... too many silences made me annoying sometimes ... I would prefer a little more speed
Wow! Absolutely phenomenal show!
Season 3 is incredible and the pace is fast and such a complex plot with so many twists.
Well done to Netflix for bringing this to our screens. So many foreign shows we’d normally never see without them. It’s dubbed, but well done.
I watched season 1 & 2 together and then waited a longtime for season 3, and unfortunately I found it difficult to remember who was who in season 3. If you can, watch all seasons one after the other.
I never expected after season one it would turn out to be one of my favourite shows. I suppose I didn’t really know what I was watching to begin with, I thought it was a crime show, but instead it’s sci-fi and I suppose fantasy and supernatural too in some aspects.
Regardless, the plot is incredibly intricate and mind boggling.
Well done to everyone involved in this show, especially to those who wrote it.
This is one show not to miss!
The first season is excellent. The second one is just fine. On the other hand, the third is a pure waste of time, we're going in circles. Anyway, my advice is to only look at the first season.
If you like mysteries, you'll like this show.
If you like time-travel, you'll like this show.
This show is very well done. Writing, acting, visuals. The first season only has minimal time-travel in it. Season 2 ramps it up a bit. But season 3 ... hold on to your hats!! Time-travel is fast and furious. Sometimes it is a bit hard to keep track of who is who in which era. I will definitely have to rewatch this show a couple more times to get really comfortable/understand with all the time-traveling elements and the complicated relationships. But it's definitely worth it.
One of the greatest shows ever! Watch only if you are interested in time travel, wormhole and stuffs like that
What a wonderful tv series.
Not only the best Netflix show, but one of the best shows ever. A masterpiece.
My daughter is also her mother, and there is no paradox, full score
Easily one of the best TV shows I've seen in my life and I don't say this lightly. What an amazing, thrilling, complicated, and moving ride from beginning to end. THIS is how you make a show, THIS is how you engage your audience, THIS is how you get us to think about so many things, THIS is how you tell a story about love, loss, choices, time travel, life. Amazing! Truly amazing, worth every single minute and I can't wait to watch it again.
Greatest Sci-Fi show of all time!!
Just masterpiece fucking happens. Probably the best Netflix production until now.
What an absolute masterpiece! Probably the best time travel story ever told.
Such a bittersweet ending, both Jonas and Eva could have kept on feeding into the loop and keep the knot tight, but when they discovered the truth they sacrificed themselves to save the origin world, its really sad, but great things may require great sacrifice. This show will go done as one of the greatest stories and one of the best shows I have experienced, such a phenomenal show. The ending with Hannah was a really nice touch, ending with my favourite character. In the end paradise was reached for a lot of characters. A great end to the Dark trilogy
I thoroughly enjoyed this series. I mean damn, a time travel drama wrapped in multi world theory ..even without the satisfaction of knowing what happen to the guy and his eye. This is a must watch if you like time travel stories. You are in for a great story. Just watch it. Bravo. Well worth the hype. I'm not going to deprive you of experience dark firsthand. Go in completely blind that my recommendation and choose your language of preference. Then come back here and give me a like for not telling you what happens.
This show brought me through a brain hurting ride and it was an incredible journey. Amazing show with a great conclusion. Easily one of the best shows I have watched! 9/10
Review by zombiebxxkVIP BlockedParent2017-12-03T12:43:45Z— updated 2020-06-30T16:25:50Z
Altough I'm german I rarely check out german TV shows. The last one was Deutschland 83 and that was like two years ago. Germany just hasn't figured TV out yet but that's another discussion.
When I heard Netflix was producing a german show I just had to check it out because Netflix has a great track record so far and Germany does have talent infront and behind the camera. But overall I think this show just fell flat. Good, but nothing great.
Fantastic visuals that are shot very beatifull, the actors IMO are mostly great and the music/score can be beautiful but often gets obnoxious. But unfortunetly there are too many characters that are hard to keep track off which distracts from the story.
The story is already confusing enough even without trying to keep up with the many characters over different decades and it heavily sets up future seasons without answering a lot of questions about this one and just left me unsatisfied at the end.
Still worth watching tough IMO and very bingeable similarly to Stranger Things.
But if you do watch it then choose the subbed version. I checked out the dub really quick and it sounded horrible. And also don't browse your phone as you might do on other shows. You're going to miss so much important shit.
EDIT after Season 2:
I'm not actually sure what just happened and what I think about it. But the one thing I'm sure of is that the casting in this show is absolutely phenomenal. The actors look so much like their younger counterparts that I'm not fully convinced they aren't actually related.
Plus the cinematography is still fantastic and the music monatages are really beautiful (and they got rid of those obnoxious sound effects).
And altough the story is still very confusing I found it more easier to follow and more engaging than Season 1 because I now know all the charcters and their background. And it seems that the writers had this all planned out and aren't just making shit up as they go.
Changed my rating from 8 to 9.
EDIT after my first rewatch just before S3 is released.
Changing my rating again. This time to a 10. After S1 I thought it was good but confusing show (8), after S2 I thought it was great and really well thought out one (9). Now after rewatching both seasons for the first time I think the show is fucking masterpiece. (10). Once you can watch it without being confused and actually knowing what is happening your just in awe throughout all of it.
If they stick the landing with season 3 it could be up there with the best ever.
EDIT after Season 3
Masterpiece. Simple as that.
Writing. Directing. Cinematography. Casting. Acting. Soundtrack. Everything is perfect.
I'm going to miss the beautiful music montages at the end.