Netflix’sDarkis a 3-season sci-fi masterpiece; if you haven’t watched it yet, take this as your sign to do so.Darkis one of the best productions to come out of Netflix’s international studios, and it’s one of the best Netflix Originals, period. Created in Germany,Darkis a wonderfully surprising masterclass in foreshadowingand world-building.
Built over three seasons, the story never feels bloated or overly long, a testament to the power of structural, limited storytelling. While the show’s starting premise may sound similar to another sci-fi-inspired Netflix hit – a young boy goes missing in a small German town called Winden – it soon becomes clear that there is so much more to uncover.
Darkis a story of generational trauma, secrets, lies, and the corrupting influence of unshared knowledge and power, and each member of the ensemble cast has an important role to play. Even when you think something feels out of place, trust that the writers know what they’re doing. At no point do the writers ever underestimate the show’s audience, either.
Darkis a journey. If you’re a sci-fi fan, it’s one you absolutely should take.
Dark Is Easily One Of The Best Time Travel Shows Ever Made
Dark Never Tries To Redefine The Rules Of Time Travel
Time travel stories are notoriously complicated, butDarksomehow manages to bring every narrative thread and every era together.It’s not just a gimmick, either. Time travel is the very essence of the story. The search for that missing boy leads the townspeople of Winden to discover a mysterious wormhole in the nearby forest, one that will lead them into a complex, intricate, century-spanning conspiracy.
Within that wormhole, a person can only travel back or jump forward 33 years in time. While this may seem restrictive, it’s not.The cleverness ofDarkis that it never establishes concrete rules or processes for how time travel works.This allows the writers to move characters and story beats between eras without ever creating unfixable plot holes. You accept the story’s logic because the characters do.
Darkalso manages to balance not just multiple decades – the full conspiracy can only be unraveled by traveling between the 1900s and the 2050s – but it also balances different versions of the same world, as well as the concept of a time loop.Darkis an undeniably ambitious story, and somehow, it managed to stick the landing.
Dark’s Character Arcs Are Just As Important As The Sci-Fi Twists
Characters Are Explored Across Decades And Generations
While the time-travel aspect of the show is certainly a major draw,the characters inDarkare just as compelling, if not, at times, even more so. We don’t just see one or two characters traveling back and forth, avoiding their future or past selves, as is the usual case in time-travel narratives. Instead, the characters are allowed to interact with these other versions of themselves.
What if you knew what you were destined to turn into? How far would you go to prevent yourself from becoming someone unrecognizable?
Sometimes they learn from them, sometimes they fear them. Sometimes they’re forced to stop them.Darkraises interesting questions: What if you knew what you were destined to turn into? How far would you go to prevent yourself from becoming someone unrecognizable? Alternatively, how far would you go to ensure you do become that person?
One ofDark’s biggest strengths, alongside its storytelling and character building, is its casting.There’s no deepfake AI technology in use here, no overly obvious stage makeup. Each cast member was meticulously chosen to represent the characters at wholly different stages in their lives, yet it’s always uncannily clear who is playing who. It’s impressive and truly proves the show’s commitment to its narrative.
It’s Impossible To Watch Dark Just Once
You’ll Discover Something New Every Time You Watch
The first time you watchDark, you watch to unravel the basic story, and the second time you watch is to catch the carefully planned narrative details and visual cues.Darkis one of those stories that you have to experience more than once; you’ll find yourself even more immersed the second time.
1
90%
92%
2
100%
97%
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94%
Each rewatch, you’ll discover a new instance of foreshadowing you missed, or a hidden clue that didn’t make sense to you the first time around.Dark’s ending changes everything. This is a story about cause and effect, and once you start over, you’ll realize just how seriously the writers dedicated themselves to that theme.
Darkis, quite honestly, a miracle of the streaming era, and I’m so glad Netflix’s global reach brought this incredible German show to such a wide audience.
