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Dark Season 3 Review

The third season of Dark is a great conclusion of this amazing show that mostly delivered in emotion and in spectacle. The final episode is particularly fantastic.

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“To live is a gift for those who know how to use it“

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This last season continues the storylines from all of the timelines that were dealt with before, but it also introduces a parallel reality into the whole affair, thus complicating things even further. This makes the show ridiculously convoluted, but for the most part I admired its high ambition as it’s surely one of the most complex series on modern television.

Let’s talk about the characters. This was such a Jonas-centric season unlike its predecessors, which focused on all the characters almost equally. This was a solid choice as the show needs its center, but it did make me wish for others to get more screen time.

But Jonas is well realized and particularly Adam with his complicated goals and relationships with other people. Martha as his girlfriend was so wonderful. The two have such a great romance that is the heart and soul of the entire series, and a propeller actually for all of this time travel going on.

Yes, in the most major twist of the whole show it is revealed that these two actually started this entire meddling with time, and most of the people in Winden and their families were created because of them. This realization leads to the sacrifice of the two for the greater good. Everything is restored to the previous state before their intrusion and almost everybody vanishes.

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Wow, was this a brutal ending. It was incredibly, well, dark suitably so for this show’s title. They actually killed off the whole town with just a few characters surviving, including Regina and Hannah. Hannah got that terrific moment in the finale where she hinted that she knew what was going on. The entire finale was powerful both visually and in terms of spectacle, but also emotionally as the creators weren’t restrained and did what they had to do, no matter how tragic it would be.

I loved Martha and how finally she got a lot to do unlike the previous seasons, and in particular her older self, Eva was highly memorable. The relationship between Adam and Eva and the whole religious emphasis on the two was so well realized.

I’ve had mixed feelings about the newly introduced 1897 timeline. It was stupendously shot and very atmospheric, but even though it explained so well the creation of the time machine and the role of Tannhaus himself, the younger characters in this timeline were forgettable.

Noah was so memorable here and his arc was moving along with Charlotte and her importance for the town being well explained. My favorite part was the Claudia storyline and her trying to save her daughter Regina from getting cancer was by far the most touching part of this entire season. The whole third season is surprisingly moving.

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Dark is once again brilliantly scored, beautifully shot and quite atmospheric, but this season also benefits from a much increased focus on VFX with the last episode being truly epic in that time-stopping moment that was just fascinating to witness. There were some pacing issues in the first half of this season that felt dragged and repetitive, but the second half was a big improvement.