Germany’s “Stranger Things”

By Tim Martin

Strange goings-on around a small town deep in the woods. Missing children. A harassed police chief. An out-of-town plant with sinister, secretive staff. Flickering lights. Other dimensions. Yes, I’m sure you’ve been watching “Stranger Things” too – but these are in fact the plot points in another Netflix show airing this month, the fabulously intricate and confusing German-language “Dark”. Five episodes in, and having recently caught up with the disappointingly flat second series of “Stranger Things”, I’m inclined to say that this one – chillier and more mind-bending than its famous American counterpart – may end up being even better.

The creators of “Dark”, a husband-and-wife team of Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, the writer and director respectively, are at pains to emphasise that their show was in development well before the Duffer brothers introduced the world to the knowing schlock, retro-pulp influences and “Dungeons & Dragons” obsession of “Stranger Things”. And in fairness, the differences don’t take long to make themselves felt. Both shows borrow liberally from the same cultural antecedents – Eighties cinema, “Twin Peaks”, the work of Stephen King – but what they do with their material soon propels them along wildly different paths. Where “Stranger Things” calls gleefully out to “ET”, “Stand By Me” and “The Goonies”, “Dark” (an appropriately named show if ever there was one) opens with a horrible scene of a man hanging himself and moves on swiftly to depict abduction, infidelity, drug-dealing, conspiracy and the wreckage of various family lives. And where “Stranger Things” soon settles into a binge-worthy battle between its group of goofy kids and a creeping supernatural evil – the TV equivalent of comfort food — “Dark” proves to be a restlessly peculiar affair, still pulling out plotlines, characters and new concepts many episodes into its first season.