You NEED to watch Dark. I don’t know how to emphasize it. It is a VERY GOOD SHOW that is soooo slept on in the US.
It is a German show on Netflix. You need to enable the subtitles (the English dub is pretty bad and destroys the atmosphere). So what? It’s like watching Miyazaki, you can manage it!
The first thing you’ll notice is similarities with Stranger Things in the plot start (small town, kid missing, mysterious power plant). That’s a red herring, IGNORE THAT. This show isn’t similar at all. I like both ST and Dark but they’re polar opposites in ideas and atmosphere.
This isn’t an upbeat show although it has funny moments. It doesn’t bank on nostalgia. It’s also not a horror show. It’s a small town mystery (might remind you of Twin Peaks) but its main theme is the human drive to believe in free will even in a fully deterministic universe.
Dark is a puzzle. Its storytelling isn’t linear, instead it peels back the layers. We start with a mystery but as we keep pulling the thread, the story gains almost cosmic proportions. In that sense it reminds me of Expanse and how it built on the story season over season.
It is very character-driven. You won’t find many characters to root for because everyone lies to each other (and sometimes, to themselves), but you’ll be dying to know what happens to them and how they’re connected. It has a vibe of a Greek tragedy or Shakespeare play but sci-fi.
What I didn’t expect is that Dark got me to love how the German language sounds. I never really liked it too much aesthetically before, but after some monologues in Dark, German has become like music to my ears.
The actors are FANTASTIC. Over these two seasons, there was only one actor whose performance felt a bit stifled (mostly due to how their character is written) but several pre-release reviews for the upcoming final season say this character got their chance to shine.
The score is very distinct and intentional. It really leans into the [ominous strings] thing but it has its own character and becomes a major part of the flow. Maybe not for everyone but I’ve personally loved it. There are also a few nice song-backed montages for big revelations.
The casting is exceptional. I won’t spoil it by showing side-by-side photos, but suffice to say the series happens in multiple time periods at once and the resemblance between actor counterparts for younger and older ages is downright spooky.
The sci-fi part of the show is time travel. (This isn’t a major spoiler since it’s how the show is described everywhere anyway.) What’s impressing is how far they’ve gone to respect consistency and cause-effect relationships. The twists might remind you of Predestination.
Dark intentionally ends at the final third season, which airs *this Saturday*. Since the comparisons to ST are inevitable I’ll say that Dark season 2 enriches and builds on Dark season 1 in a way that Stranger Things 2+ couldn’t. Dark feels like an intentional trilogy.
Okay, so let’s say you want to give it a try. Here’s what you need to know.
Firstly, as I said earlier, try to watch it with subs. Not dub. Much of emotion is lost in dub. All of us non-native speakers learned to watch with subtitles — I’m sure y’all who read English since you were kids can figure it out.
Secondly, it has a dark, somber mood. Recommended to watch when it’s... dark.
Regarding spoilers. If you decide on watching, do NOT read anything about it. No reviews, summaries, and definitely no Reddit-like communities. There are MAJOR spoilers for both seasons everywhere and you’ll diminish the impact of the big reveals. Avoid “helpful” family trees.
Here’s another thing. This show demands careful attention. It’ll walk you through major moments but you can’t watch it while you’re distracted. There is a lot of characters and it’s a bit difficult especially in the first few episodes before you realize who everyone is.
I watched it with my wife and it really helped both of us because we could discuss who the characters are, what they want, and make guesses. There are enough hints that you can guess some things, but it’s far from predictable. You might want to draw your own family tree.
If you’re not sure whether you like it, watch at least the three episodes. Preferably five. Three is when things start to connect and the series shows what it’s about, five is when the first big reveal happens. The pacing picks up from there.
It’s normal that you’re going to have a lot of questions. It doesn’t give them away immediately. Some people find answers on rewatch — I definitely did a few times. It has very good rewatch value. It often gives answers together with more questions. End of season solves ~half.
Note both of the two seasons close with a cliffhanger and don’t answer all questions. When the first one ended, I was a bit wary. But the second season answered most of my questions from the first in a very satisfactory way. So I trust they have a plan and S3 will close the loop.
If you have no one to watch with but want to read some episode discussions, the Discussion Hub on Dark subreddit is the place to go. Note all other threads there will have SPOILERS so be careful where you click. reddit.com/r/DarK/comment…
Dark was co-created by a couple: Baran bo Odar (on the left, director) and Jantje Friese (on the right, screenwriter). They have tight control over direction (Odar directed all episodes himself) and script (every episode is co-written by Friese, and she edits writer room output). 
It’s a lot of fun to watch YouTube reactions to Dark because different people connect the dots at different moments. Here’s a teaser for what it feels like to watch it!
I’ll leave you with a Dark meme I found on reddit
I should note some content warnings. It’s gloomy and pretty much no one is happy in the show. There likely won’t be a happy ending. There are a few violent scenes and some dead bodies / blood. Violence mostly happens offscreen and is implied rather than shown. No sexual violence.
This happens in the first few minutes so I totally forgot but yes — content warning suicide for the first episode. There are also implications of self-harm in a few other episodes but no scenes.
I should note the show is 99% white and there’s only one minor character who isn’t ethnically German. It is about three generations of four families in a distant German town, and the most I can say about genealogical trees without spoilers is they’re graphs rather than trees.
There are a few LGBT characters and I really hope they don’t do “bury the gays” trope in season 3.
