TIME OUT OF MIND
Characters at the mercy of time travel or manipulating it are the subject of a gripping, complex German series that delves into humankind’s darkness, writes
Netflix and other streaming TV platforms are thought to be the biggest threat to the novel, the theatre and the future of cinema. Or so you keep hearing from all the sidelined playwrights, writers and other cultural producers. It is not just the ease of being able to access entertainment in the comfort of your bedroom (or on the loo) that’s the attraction, but the series format itself. Binge-watching seems to have inspired a new creative-writing genre that can deliver, through multiple series, the same level of depth a novel might — creeping, episode by episode, into those dark recesses of human or sociopolitical conditions. Particularly satisfying, too, is the fact that Netflix and the like have ensured that South Africans are no longer slaves to American culture. You can take you pick from Swedish, French, Brazilian and Nigerian series.
The German series Dark is a prime example of all that is right with streaming and why the novel really could be under threat. This Netflix series not only makes for compulsive viewing but, like a good work of fiction on the page or the stage, offers a bootcamp workout for the brain. Long gone are the days when TV would lull you into a vegetative state. This series, set in the fictional town of Winden, is so complex you can’t do the ironing or paint your toenails while watching.
I would even advise fans who watched the first series a year ago to peruse the outlines of Season 1 on Wikipedia before attempting to watch the second season, released in June. You need to get a grip on who’s who in the series or at least who’s who in what time zone before you plunge back into the darkness of this German hamlet.
On the surface, the plot appears simple; two tragic events haunt the folk of Winden: a boy, Mads/Mikkel Nielsen goes missing, and
the suicide of Michael Kahnwald.
Without revealing the main twist in the first series, let’s just say that these two tragic events appear to be immovably interlinked. All the answers to these traumatic happenings are tied to a cave in a forest that allows those who enter it to travel in time. Not just anywhere, but to three distinct decades — the present day, the 1980s and the 1950s. This unusual temporal condition is a consequence of an error, an explosion at a nuclear power plant in the town. The family that run it — the Tiedemanns — are another focus of the plot.
This unnatural disaster leads to the warping of time, giving rise to a three-forked narrative strand with characters in different phases of their lives and/or that of their ancestors. Season 1 was extremely compelling, but once you get into Season 2, it becomes apparent that it simply functioned to bed down the foundations of each time period and characters, or versions of them or their ancestors.
Season 2 probes a much darker subject — manipulating time, which is alluded to as being the ultimate power. A time machine built by a watchmaker allows the main character, Jonas Kahnwald, to manipulate time. Kahnwald — like his father — does not belong in the present in his current form. His interfering with time generates three versions of himself — who he encounters. He manifests as three characters, played by three actors — Louis Hofmann, Andreas Pietschmann and Dietrich Hollinderbäumer.
Ultimately, Season 2, and I suspect Season 3 (said to be the final) entails a battle between different versions of himself from different stages of his life. His older self is particularly cunning and manipulative and is the
“baddie”, making Jonas both a “goodie and a baddie”, upending the binary that’s pervaded popular culture.
The subtext of Dark is rich, and Winden a microcosm for a world that hasn’t come to grips with the inventions damaging the ecosystem.
In Winden the dangers to the world are easier to trace: the nuclear power plant is the cause of the “unnatural” temporal disruption, wreaking havoc with the timelines of residents’ lives. Another technological invention — the time machine — which could allow characters to go back and undo the damage, makes it more complicated. The older Jonas doesn’t want to sacrifice his existence to undo the mess.
Can humankind selflessly correct the mistakes that place future generations in jeopardy? Or maybe the question is more brutal: can humankind save itself? What would your older self tell your younger self if they got the chance to meet?