What it is: A German sci-fi drama about time travel! Set in a small fictitious German town called Winden where a nuclear power plant looms ominously over dense forests, mysterious cave systems, and underground bunkers, this series follows a series of residents across multiple generations as they investigate and unravel some incredibly strange mysteries--such as children vanishing into thin air, portable time machines powered by radioactive materials, and a really, really complicated group of family trees. And the apocalypse, of course.
Also a lot of string-of-fate and knot metaphors! And some intergenerational trauma. And a lot of accidentally running into strangers who reveal themselves to be your parent, or your child, or yourself (older, younger, another dimension), or your surprise nephew's third cousin, or--
What I love about it: all of the above! It's got a fairly solid story, in my opinion, and has a very unique take on the infinite and cyclical nature of time travel, whether such time loops should be preserved and whether or not they can be destroyed (and if anyone truly has a choice in the matter), how unexpected and often paradoxical relationships can develop over time or reveal themselves in places you would never guess (again, the family trees are incredibly complicated)... and there are many characters we see across several points in time, and they are all so well cast. There are a lot of moving pieces and a lot of fun and interesting reveals in the series, but there is not a single character whose motivations are not thoroughly explained, and the story is very neatly contained within its three short seasons.
What I'd like to request: oh man, I would love to see so much, especially re: shipping. The nature of the show means there are a lot of years that we don't necessarily see, and a lot of relationships left to be explored. Full disclosure, the nature of the show also means that a lot of the most obvious ships are likely to be somewhat incestuous in nature, even if they are never strictly acknowledged as so, and it is discussed within the show, but it kind of ends up being mostly irrelevant, I suppose. In particular, though, I'm interested in seeing the relationship that develops between Jonas Kahnwald, the protagonist, and Noah/Hanno Tauber, the priest who is perhaps not quite as villainous as he appears. Even if not a strictly romantic/sexual relationship, I think they have a really interesting history that spans ~66 years, and anyone who's watched the show -- especially the final season -- will understand how nuanced and tragic these characters and their relationship can be.
(And, of course, having Claudia and Elisabeth with them, attempting to navigate a new apocalypse/create a wormhole/preserve or destroy a time loop will make for excellent shenanigans.)
(Also also, Hanno was born in 1904. Jonas was born in 2003. Two guys with vastly different childhood experiences, already familiar with different versions of one another... oh man, the possibilities.)
Are there sections of canon that can be consumed by themselves to fulfill your requests? I suppose so! It will contain major spoilers for the entirety of the series, obviously, but episode seven of season three contains a lot of wonderful secrets and possibilities.
Content Warnings for the series at large: sex/nudity, suicide, some violence (occasional gore, including murder), and heavily implied/sometimes directly addressed/often entirely ignored incest.
Dark (2017)
Media TV (Netflix)
Length: 3 seasons | 26 episodes
What it is: A German sci-fi drama about time travel! Set in a small fictitious German town called Winden where a nuclear power plant looms ominously over dense forests, mysterious cave systems, and underground bunkers, this series follows a series of residents across multiple generations as they investigate and unravel some incredibly strange mysteries--such as children vanishing into thin air, portable time machines powered by radioactive materials, and a really, really complicated group of family trees. And the apocalypse, of course.
Also a lot of string-of-fate and knot metaphors! And some intergenerational trauma. And a lot of accidentally running into strangers who reveal themselves to be your parent, or your child, or yourself (older, younger, another dimension), or your surprise nephew's third cousin, or--
What I love about it: all of the above! It's got a fairly solid story, in my opinion, and has a very unique take on the infinite and cyclical nature of time travel, whether such time loops should be preserved and whether or not they can be destroyed (and if anyone truly has a choice in the matter), how unexpected and often paradoxical relationships can develop over time or reveal themselves in places you would never guess (again, the family trees are incredibly complicated)... and there are many characters we see across several points in time, and they are all so well cast. There are a lot of moving pieces and a lot of fun and interesting reveals in the series, but there is not a single character whose motivations are not thoroughly explained, and the story is very neatly contained within its three short seasons.
What I'd like to request: oh man, I would love to see so much, especially re: shipping. The nature of the show means there are a lot of years that we don't necessarily see, and a lot of relationships left to be explored. Full disclosure, the nature of the show also means that a lot of the most obvious ships are likely to be somewhat incestuous in nature, even if they are never strictly acknowledged as so, and it is discussed within the show, but it kind of ends up being mostly irrelevant, I suppose. In particular, though, I'm interested in seeing the relationship that develops between Jonas Kahnwald, the protagonist, and Noah/Hanno Tauber, the priest who is perhaps not quite as villainous as he appears. Even if not a strictly romantic/sexual relationship, I think they have a really interesting history that spans ~66 years, and anyone who's watched the show -- especially the final season -- will understand how nuanced and tragic these characters and their relationship can be.
(And, of course, having Claudia and Elisabeth with them, attempting to navigate a new apocalypse/create a wormhole/preserve or destroy a time loop will make for excellent shenanigans.)
(Also also, Hanno was born in 1904. Jonas was born in 2003. Two guys with vastly different childhood experiences, already familiar with different versions of one another... oh man, the possibilities.)
Are there sections of canon that can be consumed by themselves to fulfill your requests? I suppose so! It will contain major spoilers for the entirety of the series, obviously, but episode seven of season three contains a lot of wonderful secrets and possibilities.
Content Warnings for the series at large: sex/nudity, suicide, some violence (occasional gore, including murder), and heavily implied/sometimes directly addressed/often entirely ignored incest.