If Black Mirror captured your attention, get ready to have Dark, an under-the-radar Netflix series hailed as the “greatest show ever made” completely turn your head.
Having a flawless Rotten Tomatoes score, Dark debuted on Netflix in December 2017 and kept captivating viewers across three seasons, ending in June 2020. Inspired by director-screenwriter team Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, this dystopian gem—which captivated viewers with its complex story—marked Netflix’s first venture into German-language original content.
Dark reinvigorates the well-worn time travel cliché with a unique, mind-bending twist that sticks out among sea of clichés.Setting itself aside as a really unique viewing experience, the series weaves together a tapestry of fascinating characters, complex stories, and a dizzying number of timeframes across its length..
Though there are parallels to Stranger Things, Dark stands out as the more intellectual, mysterious, and very complicated relative, says the Express. Set against the depressing town of Winden, Dark casts a spell over its viewers by introducing a constellation of characters and subplots as large as the night sky.
Seeking creative flare, the convoluted family trees—some running parallel, others completely askew—will force you to trace them out. Any content producer would like to be successful in capturing the viewer’s interest to the point of ravenous consumption of your work; Dark does exactly that, rising to be the height of “binge-worthy” television.
Not kidding, the series opens with a terrifying narration saying “everything is connected”. Starting with Jonas, a young man seeking to reintegrate into society after his father’s suicide, we encounter a variety of people. We discover fast that Erik, a classmate, has vanished.
Following a sequence of decisions and reconcinctions, a group of pals explore the Winden woods at night looking for not Erik but his secret cannabis supply. One friend’s younger brother, Mikkel Nielsen, vanishes during this expedition, and that causes anarchy. Three amazing seasons full of mind-bending time travel, complex story turns, and strong relationships follow from what happens. This is only beginning to touch the enormous iceberg that is the show.
The Albert Einstein quotation displayed in the first episode captures the core of Dark and helps one to avoid spoilers: “The difference between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” Before diving into this superbly produced series, you just need to understand this.
Dark will puzzle you and you will enjoy every minute of it, packed with mysteries as twisted as the roots of India’s Sundarbans mangrove jungle. The genius of this presentation is supported by statistics as much as a question of taste. Even before its conclusion episode has aired, Dark prevailed over Black Mirror, The Crown, Mindhunter, and Peaky Blinders in a 2020 Rotten Tomatoes poll to ascertain the Greatest Netflix Original Series.
Both viewers and critics have praised the series; one Rotten Tomatoer called it “hands down one of the best tv shows ever made,” while another said it was “very underrated series” that “keeps you wondering the whole time”.
While another Reddit user expressed regret for skipping the show for six years, sharing: “I skipped Dark for 6 years because I thought it was a horror based only on the cover and a few seasons 1. Dark is the best show ever, an absolute masterpiece,” CrossroadsMafia notes. Eventually saw it this year. It’s a masterwork! There has never been another program with three sessions that tells a tale this strong! I’m so happy I gave in at last and watched it.”
Another Rotten Tomatoer said: “DARK is poignant, meaningful and unforgettable. Ironically, Netflix brings to you a stand-alone masterpiece of 21st century science fiction and the antidote to the pollution of film and TV that marks this century.”