S1 E2 Lies

Each recap aims to be spoiler free. I won’t speculate too much on the future but will get you up to speed in the current episode. Thank you for reading and you can contact the show by emailing wakeupwinden@gmail.com. I am putting this part at the top of the recaps to prevent spoilers from the posts. Cheers!

Plot:  

We start 9 hours after Mikkel’s disappearance. The police search intensifies for Mikkel and Erik. Questions arise about the body they found in the woods. Ulrich wants to follow a lead at the Winden Power Plant. He is denied by the owner, Aleksander Tiedemann. Jonas finds a secret map in his dad’s old painting studio. Bartosz finds a phone in the bag of drugs. The Stranger moves into the Winden Hotel. Mikkel has travelled back to 1986 where he finds a rude, 15 year old version of his father.

What are the lies?

• Ulrich not telling the truth to Katharina about Hannah
• Tronte hiding the blood stain on his sweater.
• Tronte lies to his wife about his whereabouts the previous night.
• Peter Doppler (The therapist, Charlotte’s husband) appears to be hiding something as he is quite weepy listening to the news reports.
• Is Aleksander Tiedemann lying to Ulrich? What was he asking Erik’s father to do when it had to be moved tonight? Something’s up.
• Erik’s father – is he lying to Ulrich during the scene where Ulrich neglected to bust him for all of the illicit drugs?

3 Up, 3 Down er… 5 down, 1 Up

Trending Down

Hannah – We will get to Ulrich in a second, but let’s start with Hannah.  Hannah. Ulrich lost his son last night.  You might want to sit this one out.  Take a few plays off. She called him 12 times! Then she confronted him at work and she wanted to get hot and heavy. The guilt this man must be feeling. He does not want to interact with her at all right now and Hannah needs to chill. Maybe send a text like “Hey Ulrich, I’m so sorry about what happened, if there’s anything I can do to help, let me know. I’m here for you if you need me, but I understand that you might need some time to process what is going on.” See, I fixed it! That look she gave the camera when Ulrich left her in the back of the police station…. Yikes!

Ulrich – Ulrich is losing it. First of all – why is he still assigned to this case? Holy conflict of interest! My man should be spending time with what’s left of his family now, not spending time as the lead investigator for the disappearance of his own child.  Does he even know who Magnus and Martha are? They’re his children but you wouldn’t know that from watching the show save their opening scene. To borrow a quote from Hal in Malcolm in the Middle, “These children need a father figure and frankly I think that person should be me!” Can we please just let Charlotte Doppler do her job and get Ulrich out of here. He’s trying to search the power plant without a warrant. He’s denied (pretty politely) and calls the owner an a-hole. He’s too emotional for this ish right now. In regards to Hannah, I don’t like how he dragged her to the back of the police office (I’m cancelling everyone in this show).  I do get why he is trying to brush off Hannah’s attempts to contact him. He’s trying to stop the relationship with all of this going on. This falls under the category of “You reap what you sow.”  P.S. – 15 Year Old Ulrich – also a douche.

Ulrich’s Dad (Tronte) – Our introduction to Tronte is not a generous one. He’s looking at a blood stain on the sweater (is he involved?) and his whereabouts from the previous night are in question.  He gets up in the middle of the night again during the next night, but his wife’s eye opens. We get a scene where he is talking to a woman we do not know – she is apologizing for his missing son (1986) and missing grandson (Mikkel).  We don’t know a lot about this guy right now – first impression leads us not to trust him.

Magnus – Alright, so Magnus is going through some shit. His brother disappeared under his watch. He was supposed to be babysitting him. So he is distressed. I will not excuse him for pushing Franziska (even if Franziska seems like she is willing to forgive). I crapped on Bartosz for this last week and now Magnus is doing the same. These Winden teens need some sensitivity training or positive male role models.  I don’t get why he would even begin to blame Fran, but I guess people are not themselves while grieving. Later on in the episode, we see him punching the wall as guilt overwhelms him.  Get this Bartosz behavior out of here.

Aleksander Tiedemann – Alright, we got the whole Bartosz clan trending down within two episodes! We don’t know Aleksander’s motive. We do know he told Erik’s dad to “do the job tonight.”  He does utter my favorite quote of this episode: “Do you know the difference between successful people and unsuccessful people? (No response) Exactly. Do it tonight.” Do what tonight?!?! What’s the difference between successful and unsuccessful people? I’m asking for a friend. Why won’t he let Ulrich search the power plant? What is he hiding? Will the search warrant yield any results?

Trending Up

Jana Nielson (Ulrich’s Mom) – Oof. I leave this episode feeling terrible for Jana, portrayed by Tatja Siebt. Siebt conveys sorrow and regret with her performance. She has the weathered look of somebody who has been through a lot.  The scene with her and the action figures while visiting her son’s grave sight was beautifully sad.  I suppose her character isn’t really trending in an upwards fashion (her grandson is now missing after all), but I did want to highlight Siebt’s performance. 

Who else do you want here? The Stranger? What’s his deal anyway? Is he the same guy torturing these kids? Someone who is gifted with memes should post his head on the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia meme of Charlie connecting conspiracy dots. Replace Charlie with the stranger.  

Random Thoughts:

• I love The Stranger checking into Hotel Forest Winden or whatever it’s called. Regina, ever desperate for customers, is probably the only place in town where he could stay. Now that I think about it, maybe it is the only place in town to stay? What’s the population of this place anyway?
• The music in this show is fantastic. This is the best show for musical montages since Lost Season 1.  Two songs I liked from this episode:  Industry by Mire Kay and Anthracite Fields: IV. Flowers by a litany of artists.
• Bartosz finds a phone in the bag of drugs. If that were me, I want no part of that phone. Bartosz tries to enter the password but is denied. Checkov’s phone?
• Gnarly injuries at the coroner’s office – all of the boy’s ear grains are out of place. How does that happen? Rotation. Severe rotation. Later in the episode, we see Erik being tortured in the creepy wallpaper room. Then, his body is being dragged by a hooded figure in the forest. His eyes look like the eyes of the dead boy earlier in the episode.  RIP Erik. 
• Let’s talk about the scene where Ulrich finds the drugs at Erik and Jurgen’s house.  First they make you think that Ulrich is going to pull out a severed head from the bag, but it’s just drugs! Lots and lots of drugs! Jurgen was selling the drugs with Erik (nice father-son bonding activity).  Ulrich and Jurgen share a moment here – they both are the fathers of missing sons.  HOWEVER. Are we just going to gloss over the fact that Ulrich leaves the drugs there? Nothing is going to be done about the man who admitted he was using his son to sell drugs to CHILDREN?!?? Now, I’m no nark, but I believe that Germany is pretty strict on drugs, no? When I was in Germany, locals told my friends and I that it would be unwise to smoke tree outside or at the hostel – they will arrest you immediately. See, it’s strict. I heard from one guy. Ulrich Nielson: Detective of the Year.
• Martha is ghosting Bartosz and we are all HERE FOR IT.
• Nice to see Hannah and Jonas have a conversation, even if she was negging his dead dad the whole time. How long has this Ulrich stuff been going on? 
• What is in the black bag Tiedemann’s crew is moving with the crane? They cut to it immediately after showing Erik’s body – could it be?
• Key points from the map Jonas finds – Winden Caves are marked and “Where is the crossing” is mentioned.
• So the crossing – Mikkel clearly crossed into 1986. He lives! I loved all the details from the 80s – the motorbike, the car, the wardrobes, and the headline from the newspaper: Chernobyl: A year later. A real jaw dropper. I’m sorry that I’m going have a second Lost reference in this post but here it goes: I felt like I felt when Shannon translates the transmission from the island and that it had been playing for 16 years. What is this, a Lost website? We get it, you watched that show too. Stick to Dark!
• I think Dark becomes Dark with the Mikkel 1986 scene. I have a hard time explaining to people what Dark is about. I don’t want to just blurt into the whole time travel thing because it can be a nonstarter for people. But they do this so well and I think the show takes off from here. It’s obviously a huge element of the show. Time travel can be a huge problem in fiction, it can often lead to big plot holes. However, it opens a lot of doors and possibilities too. On to the next episode!