They say, ‘Everything happens for a reason, it’s destiny.’ Every time we hear it, we cannot help but think if we are trapped in a labyrinth called destiny. And what if destiny is nothing but a prison we can’t escape? The more we try to escape, the more we get entangled in it. This is the setup of Netflix’s DARK, a German series by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese released back in 2017. It is not your average sci-fi story; it is the brutal twist of destiny with time. It blatantly fights with the question of whether we are even truly free or imprisoned by destiny!
The story starts in Winden, a small town in Germany, where children disappear mysteriously. Jonas Kahnwald, one of the protagonists, was struggling to return to regular life after his father’s suicide. Later things get messy when Jonas and his friends- Martha, Mikkel, Magnus, and Bartosz go to recover the hidden stuff of Erik, one of the missing children. But in the process, Mikkel Nielsen vanishes too. Soon after, strange things began to happen in the town. Sheep dying, the appearance of eerie figures points to the unsettling dark past, revealing sins, mysteries, and tangled relationships between the four- Kahnwald, Nielsen, Doppler, and Tiedemann Families. As the story continues, it is revealed that the town is caught up in a twisted time loop across three timelines: 1953, 1986, and 2019.
DARK built its world under ruthless logic, where free will is nothing but an illusion. The central mechanism is the Bootstrap Paradox, a time travel concept. According to this, a person or an object exists in different timelines without a clear origin. But how is it relevant? Telling that would be giving a spoiler. But know that Jonas exists because of the actions he will take in the future, and he will take those actions because he exists in the present. In the twisted timelines of Winden, the original reality was shoved off by the glitch that came out of nowhere. This glitch is also a Bootstrap Paradox. Cool right?
You know what makes DARK a story different than others? It’s the fact that destiny here plays the role of an antagonist. So the protagonists are not fighting a villain in the traditional sense, but the unbeatable destiny. Every character must bow to the tyranny of it. This is evident in the story of Jonas and Martha. Their love is so prominent, yet they are destined to be always separated, across every timeline. Also, with Jonas’s attempt to save his father. Every step he takes, destiny binds him up with shackles until he gets so broken that he seeks to destroy time itself.
It is a show that would probably hold your horses. Its cinematography, pacing, and detailing are very astonishing. Moreover, the character development in this show really is on another level. Some characters are played by the same actor in different time periods, portraying different stages of life. It’s truly remarkable how none of it seems out of place; rather, the development of the characters, relationships, and interactions feels extremely natural.
The ultimate lesson DARK gives is that we cannot fight destiny. However, if you want to break the cycle, be content with the current timeline. This show is not just about time travel; it explores how time affects us through our actions. It explains how life is all about acceptance and rebellion. Lastly, life goes on as the series whispered,
“The beginning is the end, and the end is the beginning.”
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Writer
Ifraat Jahan Esha
Intern, Content Writing Department
YSSE