Dark Season 3 Review: The Best Time Travel Show EVER Comes To A Fitting End

"Dark" season 3 is currently available on NetFlix. The story is a joint German/Belgium effort so you may need subtitles. It is a hard watch but is TOTALLY worth it. I don't profess to understand all the details of the series but hopefully got the big stuff right. Needless to say, this review is F-U-L-L of spoilers.

Where It All Began

Back in the premiere episode, Michael Kahwald commits suicide. This sets off a series of events that will have major ramifications for everyone in the town of Winden, Germany (especially for his son Jonas). In season 1 we meet four interconnected families. Knowing who everyone is will be important later.

The Families

The Kahwalds:

Michael- he is the person that commits suicide.
Hannah- his wife. She is secretly having an affair with Ulrich Nielsen.
Jonas- their son. He's BFFs with Bartosz but has a thing for Martha Nielsen (who is currently Bartosz's girlfriend).
Ines- Michael's mother. Unbeknownst to the others, she has Michael's suicide letter.

The Nielsens:

Ulrich- missing Mad's older brother. He is a police officer.
Katarina- his wife. She is the high school principal. They have three children.
Mangus- the oldest. He hooks up with Franziska Doppler.
Martha- she is dating Bartosz but has a thing for Jonas.
Mikkel- the youngest child, he disappears in episode 1.
Janna and Tronte- Ulrich's parents
Agnes- Tronte's mother who moves with him to Winden in 1953. She rented a room at the Tidermann mansion (which later becomes a hotel) and had a secret relationship with Egon's wife Doris.

The Dopplers:

Charlotte- head of the police and Ulrich's boss
Peter- her husband and Jonas' therapist.
Franziska- teenage daughter
Elisabeth- younger daughter, she is deaf
Helge- Peter's father who is now in a nursing home suffering from dementia. He previously worked at the power plant. Helge has a mutilated ear. That will be important later.
Bernd- Helge's father, he constructed the power plant.
Greta- Bernd's wife. She is a cruel woman who never wanted Helge.

The Tiedermanns:

Regina- hotel manager/owner and Bartosz's mother
Aleksander- Regina's husband and head of the nuclear power plant in 2019.
Bartosz- bestie with Jonas and dating Martha
Claudia- Regina's mother. She was the first female head of the power plant. She had an affair with Ulrich's father Tronte many years ago.
Egon- Claudia's father, he is a police officer in 1986.
Doris- Egon's wife. She leaves him at some point-- possibly for Agnes (Tronte's mother).

At the end of season 1, we have Jonas visiting three different time periods via the tunnels-- 2019, 1986 and 1953 (each 33 years apart). Jonas learns that he must stop an accident at the nuclear power plant which kills almost all of the towns inhabitants.

Everyone Gets Involved

At the end of season 2, there are ELEVEN people (Jonas, Claudia, Adam, Hannah, Mikkel, Ulrich, Bartosz, Martha/Magnus/Elisabeth/Franziska) traveling through FIVE different times. They are doing this via the tunnels, FOUR time machines (1. The one Old Claudia left for her younger self; 2. The Stranger's device; 3. The one Bartosz brought back that is used by the Stranger to save the kids; 4. one Adam has in 1921) and the THREE God Particles (1. Adam's in 1921, 2. The Future's in 2052, and 3. the one created the day of the apocalypse in 2019).

It's Not Just About Time Travel Anymore

At the beginning of season 3, Adam (Jonas' future self) tells young Jonas he must choose between

saving his love Martha (who is also his aunt) or the world. Adam then kills Martha. As Jonas cries over her

body, another Martha appears This is obviously not his Martha. He asks her "when" she is from. She says

the question should be "which world" is she from. So if it all wasnt complicated enough already, we now

have TWO different worlds to contend with. AltMartha sends Jonas to her world while she heads to 1888

(where the Stranger/Adult Jonas is).

Martha's world is familiar yet different. She serves the same role as Jonas here (even donning his

trademark yellow raincoat). In this world, Katharina and Ulrich Nielsen are divorced. Their kids (Mikkel,

Martha, and Magnus) are living with Katarina in what was Jonas' old house. Ulrich is now married to

Hannah (who is very preggo). Remember, Hannah is Jonas' mother in the first world. Jonas eventually

learns that he does not exist here--because Mikkel never disappears into an earlier time to become his

father.

In this world, Erik Obendorf is missing. Martha is dating Erik's older brother Kilian. Ulrich is still having

a secret affair but this time with Charlotte (instead of with Hannah). Charlotte is still married to Peter.

They still has two kids-- Franziska and Elizabeth. Here it is the older sister Franziska (and not Elizabeth)

who is deaf. Magnus and Franziska are still an item. Regina has died of cancer. Alexander Tiedemann

is still running the power plant and is mourning her loss. An elderly Helge (this time missing an eye) lives

at the Doppler home with his son and his family. Also in this world, Deputy Woller has an arm missing

(instead of an eye).

Heavy Ideas

There are several very heavy time travel concepts at work in this series. They include:

The Bootstrap Paradox- Is where a person or object is sent from the future to the past. It is then stuck in a loop because it has no beginning or end. Example: The"A Journey Through Time" book. It was "written" by Tannhaus but only AFTER someone from the future gave it to him. This show is full of bootstap paradoxes.

Schrodinger's Cat- is the idea that something can exist in two opposing states on once. Example:

This explains how AltMartha can be killed in one world but already pregnant with Jonas' child

elsewhere.

More Family Connections

Jonas and Claudia share a half sister-- Silja. This is because Hannah traveled back in time to 1988

and slept with Egon Tiedemann (Claudia's father). Silja is later sent to the 2050s where she becomes Elizabeth's interpreter. Silja ends up in the 1800s and and marries Bartosz. They have two children-- Noah/Hanno and Agnes. Silja died during Agnes' birth. Silja is also Bartosz's great aunt. Bartosz faces a violent end when he questions Adams' authority in the 1800s and gets an axe to the back from son Noah. Noah then goes on to try to build a time machine with the help of Helge (which is all the dead kids that keep popping up are from). Noah kills Claudia on order of Adam. Noah is later killed by sister Agnes.

There isnt a lot of talk about Magnus and Fransizka. That's because thy're relatively low drama by this

show's standards. In one world they are killed by apocalypse. In another, they go back to the 1800s

with Bartosz and become high ranking members of Adam's secret group. They travel through time at

his beckoning.

Elizabeth survives the apocalypse and married young Noah. They have Charlotte. She disappears one night.

Noah goes in search of the baby and never returns. Elizabeth later learns that her mother Charlotte and

daughter Charlotte are the same person. Elizabeth eventually joins team Adam. Martha is Charlotte's cousin

because of Silja and Noah. Noah is also Claudia's great grandson because he's the son of Bartosz

Tidemann (who is the son of Regina). And dont forget Charlotte's relationship to HG Tannhaus. He is

her adopted father. Man, my head hurts.

Star Crossed Lovers

Jonas and AltMartha will eventually become the elderly Adam and Eva/Eve in their respective worlds. They

also become bitter enemies. Each tries to undo what the other has done. Adam wants to ensure the apocalypse

happens thus breaking knot. Eva wants the opposite. Adam (through his secret society called Sic Mundus)

has sent various people through time to accomplish his goals-- Noah, Helge, Agnes, Siljaja, Franziska,

Magnus, Elisabeth, and Charlotte. Eva has her own group in her altworld known as Erit Lux. She sends

through time Claudia, Bartosz, Noah and Egon.

Alt-Martha becomes pregnant by Jonas. Adam refers to the child as the "Origin". Adam thinks the child is the source of the knot because he (the poor guy never gets a name) hooks up in the past with Agnes Nielsen who gives birth to Tronte who then becomes Ulrich's father. And of course Ulrich is both Martha and Mikkel's father. A time traveling Mikkel becomes Michael and sires Jonas.So Martha and Jonas' son is her great grandfather and his great great grandfather (since Martha is Jonas' aunt). Confusing enough?

Adam kills Martha and their unborn child TWICE in order to stop the time loop but that doesnt work. Adam also kills his mother Hannah in the past to try to alter events. Again, it doesnt work. Alt Martha gives birth. The three versions of the guy with the cleft palette we saw killing people at the start of the season 3 is their son. He is doing all of this as orchestrated by Eva in order to preserve the knot.

Get Ready To Be Even More Confused

In the series finale, Claudia (whom Adam thought dead because he ordered her killed) appears to him saying: "Every journey has a beginning... but yours has no end. It goes on and on forever...You want to destroy the knot, but every step you take keeps in intact." She finally tells him the truth.

There is a THIRD world. In it, HG Tannhaus created a machine that destroyed his world and created Jonas and Martha's. In order to destroy the knot, they (Jonas and AltMartha) must prevent the invention of travel through time and space in this original world. This will stop the loop but will also means their worlds and everyone in them will cease to exist.

They use the split second during the apocalypse when time stops. They travel back and appear to Tannhaus' son and wife to stop them from going over a bridge where they will drown. This stops HG from wanting to create his time machine to go back in time to help them. .

Afterwards Jonas and Martha are stuck outside of time. They each see the other as a small child. They hold hands and walk into the unknown. Elsewhere Adam and Eva hold hands as their particles fade away. After all we've been through, it is a heartfelt moment.

Who's Left In The End

Claudia's goal through ALL OF THIS has been to save hr daughter Regina. In the final scene a group of friends have a dinner party. We see Regina, Hannah, Katharina, Peter, Bernadette (Wolter's sister) and Woller. We see a picture of Regina and her parents-- Claudia and Bernd Doppler. This is how Claudia managed to keep Regina alive. If Regina's father was Tronte Nielsen, Regina would no longer exist. Claudia seriously deserves the MVP award in this show.

Hannah (who is with Woller) is pregnant. After seeing a yellow raincoat, Hannah has a deja vu moment. She's thinking about naming her child "Jonas". Is there some remnant of "our" Jonas still around?

And with that the series comes to an end. Pretty much everyone else on the show no longer exists because there was no time ravel-- so no Jonas, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Franziska, Noah, the Nielsens, etc. Wow, that was quite a ride.

Grade: 5 Monsters (out of 5).What began as a who-dun-it murder mystery became the best time travel show EVER on television. I cant recommend it more highly. Helpful Hint: It is best to go in with as little knowledge of the show as possible. And yes, you're gong to need to take notes.