Season 2 of Dark
Brief Summary:
Picking up 6 months after the ending of season 1, Dark opens with Jonas in 2053 (33 years into his future) and he is trying his damnedest to get home. Future Jonas is back in 2020 and he decides to visit his mom and explains time travel to her. We go back into 1921 (a further 33 years back from the earliest in season 1) to visit a young Noah digging the tunnel where all the things happen, as well as the start of the crazy time traveler group with a cool Latin name. Everyone is distraught, families are broken, friendships/relationships are questioned, a new cop in town asks all the same questions viewers have: why is everyone a liar?, and then we get much more time travel mythos with a giant ball of Black Matter. Honestly, that’s just the first episode of this season…
What works:
I could seriously take my review of season 1 and plop it here for it is the same: perfect!
But I won’t, there are far more interesting things that come about in this season that builds upon the first. Again, this show is a slow build, but it maintains the tension throughout, and I think that’s why I love this show as much as I do.
For starters, Jonas is a more complete character this time around. Season 1 had him more of a passenger role, whereas now he actually has agency (somewhat, but that would spoil the show). He wants to get home so he actively does things to do so. It gives him so many more layers to his personality. And it is interesting to watch him when he finally does get back to 2019 (the week before season 1 kicks off) and how he has to traverse a very Back to the Future world of being in the same place as his past self. And then to see what happens to his future??? Oh man, smart story-telling there didn’t see coming…
I really thought the addition of the cop was genius. One of the things about season 1 was why are all these people terrible and never leave this cursed town? Well the cop basically asks this and we still don’t get answers! Even though the cop himself was a bit creepy too, it was a good juxtaposition to the rest of the strange events going on in Winden. But it was refreshing to see this unfold because, ultimately, it is tied to the time travel basis of this story. So many characters travel between times, do things that upset the fabric, just disappear altogether, become someone’s parent (ok this happens a few times…), destroy the world, gets killed, etc. And this explains why these people are so hate-able. So annoying that they make you scream at the TV screen. My theory is there has to be something to do with a level of Hell. Just spit-balling based on the religious themes in this season. But that’s what makes this show amazing.
One thing I noticed more this season than in season 1 is the camera filter for each time period. For example, in 1954, the filter had a brown-red tinge to it. And when you think about movies from that time period, the colors are a bit muted, not as vibrant. Same with the 1987 time, it was a bit more garish, more in your face, because of the advances in television screens. 2020 had regular fine-tuned pixels like present-day screens. I think this worked perfectly to capture the “feel” of each time period. Just something small and subtle but really adds to the experience of this show.
The big applause of this season goes to the writers. They took this thriller of a story and doubled-down to make a fantastically deep Sci-Fi story with so many complex storylines and just went for the stars. I mean, with so many characters (again, 2 new additional timelines), they somehow managed to bridge them all into a cohesive story. I don’t know how they did it, but they did! And then to weave in the concepts of who does what to who, how character A got to timeline B, to who was the catalyst for the apocalypse, just all brilliant.
The one thing I really wanted more of from season 1 was Noah. Oh man I hated that guy in season one because I didn’t know jack shit about him! Who was he? Why is he doing what he does? And boy oh boy did we learn more about him. But the best part, he isn’t just this bad guy, he actually had nuance, had character. It was great seeing him show up all German Jude Law looking against his younger self, as well as doing creepy ass things with the other characters. But he sure did fulfill a role in this show. I love his character and I’m excited to see how it pans out in the final season.
What doesn’t work:
Ugh Hannah. I just can’t stand this chick. While she started off the season making sense, her character just went out to left field in the end. Done with her.
I do wish they had done more with Ulrich in 1954. I get that he was in prison and there isn’t much to be done there (though I enjoyed his 1987 arc), I just wish there was more with that actor. I really like him from season 1 and he was criminally underused in season 2.
I’m still not fully sold on Jonas’ friends in 2020. Yeah, they all get more to do this season (and ultimately have a role to play in the future), I was just a bit underwhelmed with their arcs. I will say the kid who plays Magnus is a real damn fine actor and would like to see more of his stuff.
Rating:
5 out of 5
This is by far my favorite show of the past few years. I just love the tension, the creepiness, the time travel, the lying characters. It’s just a show that isn’t getting as much praise as it rightly should. Do yourself a favor and watch it!
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