Dark: the German Netflix series that's like an amalgamation of Twin Peaks, Back to the Future, and X-Files (SPOILERS!)

what it means is that they wanted a scary and mysterious image to pull people in in s1e1 and they chose to mirror it, along with lots of other things, in s3e1 because it would be cool. i am fine with this.

i thought that adam and eva's world were created fully formed, time loops and all, by tannhaus in 1986, in an inexplicable act of creation ex nihilo. i'm also fine with this.

If it was Doctor Who I'd be perfectly fine with that explanation, but this was a show that spent 3 seasons meticulously showing and explaining how each event was the result of a preceding event, so I found it odd that this crucial bit of the backstory was only explained in the broadest of strokes.

it's true doctor who fans will lap up any old shot

Another small detail that was never explained: in one scene in season 3 we see the middle-aged Jonas read the letter that the alternate universe Martha gave to him, which he then burns with a candle. But then immediately after that, there's a scene where Adam is reading the same letter. At first I thought that scene was hinting at there being more than two alternate universes: one where Jonas burned the letter and one where he didn't. But later on we find out that's not possible, time can only split at the moment of the apocalypse, and there's only one universe with the middle-aged Jonas and Adam in it. So what was the point of that scene then?

I mean, I guess it's possible Adam went back in time, stole the letter from Jonas, then returned it later to him so he could burn it. But what would be the point that, since Adam already knows what's in the letter?

This happens to a variety of objects in the show - the book, the device, the letter/suicide note from Michael - it's the paradox that once you start moving about in time you duplicate the item. I can't remember what happens specifically with Martha's letter, but at some point Michael's letter also gets destroyed but still exists.

Yeah, I got that, that's why I was wondering whether Adam acquired the letter via time travel... But with all the other objects that were "duplicated" via time travel, it was shown how that duplication came to be, and I don't think anything like that was shown with Martha's letter? And the scene of Jonas burning it was directly juxtaposed with Adam reading it, so clearly the show makers wanted to draw our attention to its paradoxical existence.

this show though... only partway through s2 but it's already top 5 best shows ever

Season 3 was a step too far for me in terms of complexity. I devoted so much attention to fruitlessly trying figure out what was going on that I began to lose sense of the character's motivations and the stakes. I definitely appreciate its ambition, but it was drifting into abstraction.

Conversely, the actual resolution seemed a little straightforward compared to what had gone before.

Friese and Odar's 1899 hits Netflix today

Dark was pretty disastrous by the end but I’m excited for this. The vibe was always good even when the story went off the rails.

I was impressed how sufficiently they were able to wrap it up, in spite of how confusing the final season was.

I got lost with the multiple parallel Marthas and felt like they never made a convincing case that Jonas could become EVIL (as opposed to just a little whiny). Also IMO it just got too sad! Too many likeable characters snuffed it in deeply depressing ways.

Still great though - having something so immersive and intricate to watch during Trump-era lockdowns was a godsend

It was a billion times better than most of the Things-Like clones that have been on Netflix in recetn years. High hopes for this

Odd how much of a comfort watch it was given its ongoing bleakness. Probably the hyper attractive euro cast didn’t hurt

just watched the trailer, i'm in.

wait ledge, maybe i’m in a Dark loop, but didn’t you watch Dark before?

yes, I was replying to the revive re: 1899 and ignoring all the intervening posts!

lol i missed (somehow) the 1899 context and got v confused.

Just like watching Dark lol

Thought Dark kept its plates spinning brilliantly until the end of the second series, third series lol

third series more like Dork lol

Strong opening episode. Great music and sound effects (except for white rabbit, find other tunes), lots of (not so) hidden symbols - triangles hexagons and tetrahedra, and beetles - the french wife had triangle earrings and a large emroidered beetle on her collar.

Oh and a superb bit where everyone in the dining room drank their tea at the same time.

finished '1899' earlier today.
better than Dark ?

i think so.

watched the first half of the 'making of .. ' thing after,
they clearly had a much larger budget.

Just seen episode 5. Not that I necessarily would have wanted it to ramp things up any quicker, but finally! The content I crave!

I work on a database system that has an option to archive things. At the moment it's just a checkbox and a database flag, maybe I'll redesign it to involve an enormous tempestuous gravity defying whirlpool.

really struggling with this. only persisting cos of ledge and mark e itt.

the environment is heavily synthetic and claustrophobic, not at all like being on a boat. i get that this is almost certainly deliberate - effectively this is some sort of mental state or synthetic construct. but the effect is unappealing and monotonous. some sort of sense of the outside world, some sort of sense of realism going gradually awry, and unravelling completely - something Dark did well - would imo have been far more effective. more than once i've been watching and thinking 'i shd just go and play obra dinn'. i recommend something more like the Artemis 81 approach.

i do love how incongruous the musical selections are. but for a different, bad, form of incongruity, the two 'comedy' stokers really are the pits.

also far far too much of this face being made by everyone in every episode:

https://minhaseriefavorita.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2-temp-1899.jpg

also: is it required that anton lesser is in *everything* these days? i don't mind particularly. he's always very good. but he's *everywhere*.

the environment is heavily synthetic and claustrophobic, not at all like being on a boat

i could argue that boats, especially ones designed for long voyages, are exactly those things - they are simulacra of normal living spaces, often dark or cramped, and you can't leave!

effectively this is some sort of mental state or synthetic construct. but the effect is unappealing and monotonous. some sort of sense of the outside world, some sort of sense of realism going gradually awry, and unravelling completely - something Dark did well - would imo have been far more effective.

i'm reserving judgment till i've finished - probably tonight or tomorrow - but i think they try for the gradual unravelling, and that's clearly how the characters are experiencing it, but once the show has tipped its hand even slightly you can just go oh it's a simulation, and though lot may remain mysterious you completely lose any empathy with the characters. (personally i wouldn't recommend the artemis 81 approach for anything!)

i think the music and sound design is fantastic - ben frost again. comedy stokers appalling, yes. i didn't recognised anton lesser from anything else when i saw him in andor, so was amused to find him playing an almost identical character here.

lol wikipedia tells me that those are the only two things he's been in recently, so maybe he's just haunting my dreams

Finished. Unlike Dark it's not going in to my list of best shows of all time. Not enough headfuckery. They tried to amp it at the end with all the oooh whose simulation is it really? but too little too late. Not a patch on classic ST:TNG headfuck episodes like Frame of Mind, or Adult Swim's Final Deployment 4: Queen Battle Walkthrough. And I just didn't care about any of the characters, half of them we scarcely had a clue who they were or what they were escaping from and the main character remained a total mystery right up to the end.

Obviously if there's a season 2 I'll watch it like the sucker I am.

I was enjoying but fairly indifferent to it as I was watching but the last two episodes made me more on board and excited to see a second season even if that twist ending wasn't particularly original

No second season, axed by Netflix :(

tough crowd

crap - only saw the start of the pilot and seemed intriguing

worth the effort knowing that's all there is?

i think the story is quite self contained and does not require a second season.

Perhaps Dark wouldve been better off ending at the start of the first season!

Yeah, it works as a one off season so still worth watching