#In the dark season 3 series

And here is where I started to struggle with Dark Season 3. So now not only do you have characters stranded or pulling string in multiple time periods, but now some of them are from a different reality. In order to make Season 3 even more complex than what came before (which was already mind-bogglingly complex) the show continues to develop multiple parallel temporal narratives, while also adding an alternate reality to the mix. I was afraid Dark Season 3 would fall victim to this same issue - and in some ways it does. This was one of the things that ultimately hamstrung Game of Thrones - the show was always trying to top the shocking twist of Ned’s execution, with diminishing returns over time.

Once you reveal in Season 2, for instance, that Charlotte gave birth to her own mother you’ve already used one of your most potent reveals, one that it then becomes very difficult to top.

#In the dark season 3 series

Perversely (and also fitting for Dark) extremely successful series are often haunted by the success of their past selves. I loved the end of episode montages scored to mind-trip ballads, and as Dan Deacon’s “When I Was Done Dying” hit at the end of Season One, I had completely given myself over to this show and trusted that it knew where it was going and knew exactly what it wanted to be.īut the open question was always whether creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, having created this masterfully complex narrative organism, could land the ship in a manner fitting what came before. That was, for me, one of the truly impressive feats the show pulled off in Seasons 1 and 2 - it is extremely complex, but there is a consistent internal logic and a very clear, almost inexorable sense of purpose which carries the viewer along toward the inevitable. The show’s too cool for school aesthetic perfectly complements the narrative, and as we begin to reach further forward and backward in time everything fits together with superb confidence and precision. It reminded me of the amazing fifth episode of The Haunting of Hill House - when I finally realized where the narrative had been carrying me it was a pure rush of joy, and the reason we watch television and cinema. Each new twist and turn is a shocking delight - such as finding out that a character gave birth to her own mother. Then the time travel element is introduced, and slowly the narrative and the mythology of the show’s world - which at first seemed rather simple - begin to ripple out from the center and fold in on themselves. It starts as a grounded little mystery about a missing kid and a suicide set in the self-contained world of a small, idyllic German town. Seasons 1 and 2 of Dark were pretty much near perfect.

So please be warned: the rest of this post will contain spoilers, and believe me you do not want this show spoiled. To say anything further would be to spoil this wildly ambitious and complex mind-bending series, which debuted its third and final season on Netflix this week.

The only way to speak of Dark without spoiling anything is to call it a German language sci-fi show about time travel.