Before you read further, here’s an assurance that this review will not dilute your experience of watching the season finale with spoilers. Dark Season 3 is streaming now on Netflix. Halfway through the show, I’ve got to admit, I wanted to give up trying to understand who’s really who! Impossibly convoluted, excessively confusing and way too many characters. Frankly, it will occur to you at least once that you might just be witnessing a Greek-tragedy, filled with Biblical and mythological references.
I shall eschew from getting even remotely closer to the storyline of the season finale, I will not be able to put it down in words. However, Dark Season 3 is wonderfully put together, it will answer most of your questions all in due time so sit through.
The central focus of the season has obviously been Jonas and Martha. Season 2 had already teased that Martha would have an important role to play in the following season. This sci-fi German TV show has definitely continued the legacy by offering a conceivable culmination of all the brain-bending components.
The wrinkles in time, the reasoned paradoxes and obviously the multitude of happenings across concurrent timelines have been logically (not effortlessly, however) evened out. What’s more? There’s also a love story that doesn’t quite seem like one but Dark is an inclusive package.
The family tree goes out of the window!
At the beginning of the finale, I sat down with a diary and a pen, taking notes and making my own perceived family tree each time. However, every time I tried to do so, it got all muddled up with new characters emerging out of nowhere almost every nanosecond. If you are referring to the earlier family tree, please save yourself the hassle and ditch it.
Stratified generations and a web of multiple coinciding storylines, unidentified characters interacting with identified characters, it is honestly all a chaos. It is bonkers because there is unbridled tampering with time… somebody’s daughter could be… erm… their mother, you know?
A lot of surprises await you
This season takes about two to three episodes to pick up its pace, after which it is almost impossible to take a break even though your poor head might just be hankering for it. You will tend to lose track of the plots within which there lies another subplot that is connected to the subplot of another plot, ugh… immensely baffling! But, these dots are connected very intricately, with a lot of thought and reasoning behind it.
There are time ripples, which will disrupt your already disrupted chain of thoughts, mess terribly with the flow of deciphering the story. How, for instance, the case of Mikkel Neilsen becoming a whole different identity or even Ulrich and Katharina’s dynamics and how their family members remained the same might not make sense to you.
There’s a revelation in one of the earlier episodes that will make you gasp a little, though (that doesn’t count as a spoiler). There’s a whole lot of reflection and refraction that occurs seemingly leading nowhere but that soon starts to make (some) sense. Quite an electrifying season!
There are too many characters!
Almost the whole cast of Dark is present for the season’s finale, which is great (thanks to time travel) because most season finales don’t have all characters alive by the end. So, for the case of Dark, even if your favourite character gets killed in a timeline, chances are they are alive in the other one. Eva is the new character that all of us have been talking about for all the right reasons, you’ll soon find out why.
Claudia Tiedemann is the unsung hero of Dark. Her character development and how beautifully the writers of the show unfolded her character is worth all my dead brain cells. The performances of the actors are commendable, the direction has been well up to the mark too, so no complaints there!
Be prepared to get a little teary-eyed at the end…
Ahhh, I really did like how the show ended, although the ending will tug at your heartstrings for sure. Jonas and Martha have been a very powerful duo, their ever-evolving relationship is something you’d witness and applaud too. Jonas and Martha are heavily responsible for the current situation at Winden and along with time, you’ll know how so!
My personal favourite has been the last two episodes. There are too many emotions, too many answers you haven’t been expecting, and overall, there is a sense of vulnerability and loss that will envelop you. Here’s to a wonderful finale that rarely disappointed!