The premise of Dark is that every 33 years there is a solar and lunar alignment and that time travel is possible between those moments. That the future affects the past just as the past affects the future. Not only are these points of time connected by black holes within a labyrinth of caves that opens into ancient woodland, but the people in the small German town of Winden are connected too, both by blood and secrets. If I had to liken it to other shows or films I would say that Dark might be the European love child of Twin Peaks and Donnie Darko.
You can watch a trailer for the show here
Children go missing in Winden. It happened in 1986 and it happens in 2019, 33 years later. Characters exist in multiple time periods and the show jumps back and forth between them, and at times another 33 years forwards or back. The cause of the disappearances is summarised in a clever alteration of a headline from “Where is Mikkel” to “When is Mikkel”. We aren’t spoon fed the names and interrelationships between the characters. Viewers need to work to keep up. Few of the characters are actually likeable, but they do feel real, in all their anger and deceit.
Winden is the site of a nuclear power plant. In 1953 it is being built, in 1986 it is having financial difficulty in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster, and in 2019 it is closing. The caves within which the black hole between points in time is created, runs under the power plant. The connection between nuclear power and the problems in town is often hinted at but never explicit.
For a sci-fi show Dark is decidedly low tech and what tech we see appears retro with a steam-punk feel rather than futuristic. Perhaps that is because mysticism is foregrounded here rather than pure science, although we know that magic and science are closely related and as our scientific knowledge grows so our belief in magic recedes. In Dark things work but the explanation for why they work is not always given. They appear magical, and one of the three missing boys from 2019, the father who lives within a strange and tragic circle in the story, wants to be a magician. Mikkel’s hero is Harry Houdini. While the main baddy, who appears never to age, represents god and the devil and everything between. The show is full of esoteric symbolism including the triquetra (or trinity knot), the Emerald Tablet and the frequent references to the number 33 which in numerology represents understanding before communication and is known as the Master Teacher. In short, it’s a more comfortable fit in the fantasy genre than in sci-fi.
The Emerald Tablet is tattooed onto the back of one of the show’s characters. In doing so the show’s creators again manage to draw connections between science and esotericism.
A translation of the document was made by Isaac Newton and is housed in King's College Library, Cambridge University, England. I have included some of the points for this translation below.
Tis true without lying, certain & most true.
That which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing
And as all things have been & arose from one by the mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.
The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth is its nurse.
The father of all perfection in the whole world is here.
Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.
Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtile from the gross sweetly with great industry.
It ascends from the earth to the heaven & again it descends to the earth & receives the force of things superior & inferior.
By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world
& thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.
Its force is above all force. For it vanquishes every subtle thing & penetrates every solid thing.
So was the world created.
From this are & do come admirable adaptations whereof the means (or process) is here in this. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world
That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished & ended.
Newton’s translation is mirrored in many ways by the episode titles in Dark. Episode names include – Secrets, Lies, Past and Present, As You Sow, So Shall You Reap, Sic Mundus Creatus Est (thus the world was created), Alpha and Omega (first and last), again bringing religion and spirituality to the foreground.
What is going on in Winden? I don’t know yet. The final episode leaves room for a second series, which I hope they get. There are so many questions left unanswered and so many paradoxes that Dark leaves you with an ache for more information. I do wonder whether it will ever have the answers we seek or whether we’ll be left with the same frustration Lost created at its end.
The show is fascinating. The settings are beautiful, especially the forest. The choices made with regards to lighting and colour palette are powerful. The acting is strong. The time jumps are confusing. The dubbing is clumsy, but the soundtrack is amazing. Next time I’ll try the subtitles option instead.