Berlin ER Review: Fantastic, Thrilling and Deeply Emotional

Apple TV+’s newest German medical drama showcases Dr Zanna Parker’s struggles in her new workplace at the overcrowded and chaotic emergency room among the underpaid and chronically fatigued staff who pose a serious obstruction to her plans of managing the workflow. However, with pressures amounting to and without any outside help, she and her new team must band together to save lives before things go out of hand.

The series has 8 episodes, each with a runtime of around 45 minutes.

Berlin ER Review

There has been a surprising number of shows added to the roster of medical dramas over the last year — with Netflix’s Breathless and The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call and JioCinema’s Doctors, among many, many others, the genre has received a ton of attention from creators worldwide. I feel like the genre is really bloated at this point and hardly anything feels arresting or shocking. And sure, there was something rather charming about the chaos in The Trauma Code, Berlin ER brings something truly insane to the table and makes you feel constantly breathless and on the edge.

The series, consisting of 8 episodes, is really claustrophobia-inducing and consists of really traumatic incidents that never let up. By now most of us are indirectly aware of what happens in an ER and how fast-paced the environment is. However, Berlin ER does a fantastic job of keeping the pace breakneck while also holding on to the very serious tone. The series might feel a bit daunting at first, but after the first episode, it’s easy to get hooked while feeling your anxiety peaking.

It’s interesting to watch the characters and learn about them through the situations that they find themselves in. Although we don’t get to see too much about their pasts, I will say that we get to know these people so well through these extremely tense situations that they find themselves in. The series presents these stories and situations extremely well and there is not a moment you won’t feel for the characters and their plights. It’s an absolutely tight situation through and through without a moment of respite.

I found myself absolutely hooked on the stories and the characters, especially because Slavko Popadić and Haley Louise Jones are fantastic as Ben and Zanna respectively. Popadić, especially, brings forth his character’s demons so well that it’s hard to not feel for him. Louise Jones, on the other hand, as Zanna, is running from a difficult past and trying to manage an out-of-control ER and brings forth the different emotions associated with these heavy situations fantastically. The others in the show are great as well and share great chemistry with one another, something, which I have come to figure out, is imperative when it comes to working in the ER.

Final Thoughts

Berlin ER is surprisingly fantastic and an emotional rollercoaster ride. It’s exhilarating and triggering in all the right ways and although it’s not a comedic take on the phenomenon that is the ER, it’s definitely one that will get to you.

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