Dark

The show's portrayal of time travel looks gripping to say the least!

As a disclaimer, I've not seen any of the episodes. But I did take a look at the video you mentioned here. There are satanic elements to the dialogue, for example here: "Only when we're free of all emotion are we truly free. Only when one is ready to sacrifice what one holds dearest." To be ready to sacrifice whatever one holds dearest to me sounds incredibly dark given the context of some of the scenes in the tribute. I've come across the displeasure of reading online of a satanic ritual where one kills his/her dog after cultivating a bond with him/her. The supposed idea is to take the life of someone who sees you with love, similar to that of a child. The satanic person and the dog feel that love and to break that bond so brutally requires that they free themselves from that positive emotion.

I'd imagine there's much more graceful ways of letting someone go, and concerning emotions, they are integral to learning and the path towards STO.

Again, I've not seen the show so please correct me if I'm wrong. As with anything it would be wise to practice vigilance and to practice awareness in the essences that you may encounter in the show.

You aren't wrong.

However, religion per se doesn't really feature in the show but the setting is one where people are mostly driven by pain or desire i.e. driven by their emotions.

One of the main characters see's that the world has nothing but endless suffering and people repeat the same patterns over and over again, patterns which lead to theirs and others suffering and from this, he wishes to destroy the world i.e. he strives for non-existence. The character in question has grown old and weary, he's weighed down by a lifetime of being unable to escape the darkness of suffering as it were. In this sense, he adopts pretty nihilistic views, I think you can call them satanical views? (Though again, worth mentioning religion doesn't really feature).

The show isn't a feel good show. I wouldn't say it's a depressing one either but the editorial and filming style is a sombre one, it's a reflective one - colours aren't necessarily bright, things are somewhat grey, cloudy, slightly dark in appearance. The style is one which has been employed in other shows, usually detective type shows or gritty type shows / movies like the Dark Knight series starting Christian Bale - you get the drift.

The show unlike a lot of modern ones isn't really violent or explicit in language or sexual scenes though there are minor moments. It's more about dialogue and contemplation as the basis for the drama.

At least that was my take!
 
You aren't wrong.

However, religion per se doesn't really feature in the show but the setting is one where people are mostly driven by pain or desire i.e. driven by their emotions.

One of the main characters see's that the world has nothing but endless suffering and people repeat the same patterns over and over again, patterns which lead to theirs and others suffering and from this, he wishes to destroy the world i.e. he strives for non-existence. The character in question has grown old and weary, he's weighed down by a lifetime of being unable to escape the darkness of suffering as it were. In this sense, he adopts pretty nihilistic views, I think you can call them satanical views? (Though again, worth mentioning religion doesn't really feature).

The show isn't a feel good show. I wouldn't say it's a depressing one either but the editorial and filming style is a sombre one, it's a reflective one - colours aren't necessarily bright, things are somewhat grey, cloudy, slightly dark in appearance. The style is one which has been employed in other shows, usually detective type shows or gritty type shows / movies like the Dark Knight series starting Christian Bale - you get the drift.

The show unlike a lot of modern ones isn't really violent or explicit in language or sexual scenes though there are minor moments. It's more about dialogue and contemplation as the basis for the drama.

At least that was my take!

It's a crazy idea to say the least and the show asks really serious questions. Dark perhaps doesn't explicitly focus on religion, but there are spiritual inclinations in it.

Is the guy you're talking about the disfigured man? It does look like he went through some BS. If one can from a vantage point see the cycles of "mistakes" and suffering, will they be driven mad, or is there possibility of viewing it with a different perspective?

In a way, it reminds me of the Wave. To have a positive experience from it, one must change their realm, which are based on assumptions, which are changed with experience.

December 5, 1994
Frank, Laura, V__

[...]

Q: (L) Okay. Now, I would like to know, for the sake of all the Theosophists around the world, what was the source of the information in the book "Isis Unveiled" by Helena Blavatsky?

A: Orions STS and STO. 6th Density.

Q: (L) So, her information was from both sides? And it is up to the reader to figure out which is which?

A: Good idea.

Q: (L) Is there any possibility that the information we get through this source is STS oriented?

A: Yes. Always possibility.

Q: (L) I would like to know what is the definition of, and would you describe for us, a dimensional curtain?

A: Self-explanatory. Think.

Q: (L) When we are talking about dimensional curtains we are talking about divisions at the same level of density, is that correct?

A: Maybe.

Q: (L) Can dimensional curtains be between dimensions at the same level of density?

A: Yes.

Q: (L) Are dimensional curtains also something that occurs between levels of density?

A: Yes.

Q: (L) So, a dimensional curtain is a point at which some sort of change takes place... what causes this change?

A: Nature.

Q: (L) In specific terms of the engineering of it, what defines this change?

A: Experience.

Q: (L) Is it in any way related to atomic or quantum physics or the movement of atoms?

A: Yes.

Q: (L) Okay. An atom is in 3rd density. What distinguishes it from an atom in 4th density?

A: Reality.

Q: (L) What distinguishes one realm from another?

A: Assumptions.

Q: (L) Okay, what you assume or expect is what you perceive about that atom depending upon which reality you are in, is that correct?

A: Close.

Q: (L) What determines your assumptions?

A: Experience.

Q: (L) My experience of atoms is that they congregate in such a way as to form solid matter...

A: Every thing that exists is merely a lesson.

Q: (L) Okay, so once we have learned certain lessons, as in experience of certain things, then our assumptions change?

A: Yes.

Q: (L) Okay, is this wave that is coming our direction going to give us an experience that is going to change our assumptions?

A: Catch 22: One half is that you have to change your assumptions in order to experience the wave in a positive way.
 
Dark was interesting and complex, all the time forward and backward was a bit wearisome. I have watched a lot of German movies, many while I was in Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Just for a bit of contrast, one of my fav German movies was "Schlafes Bruder" - here's a few scenes:

 
It's a crazy idea to say the least and the show asks really serious questions. Dark perhaps doesn't explicitly focus on religion, but there are spiritual inclinations in it.

Is the guy you're talking about the disfigured man? It does look like he went through some BS. If one can from a vantage point see the cycles of "mistakes" and suffering, will they be driven mad, or is there possibility of viewing it with a different perspective?

In a way, it reminds me of the Wave. To have a positive experience from it, one must change their realm, which are based on assumptions, which are changed with experience.

Yes, the man was the disfigured man.

There's a few interesting concepts in the show bearing in mind the show is only a construct, not reality!

In this construct, time is not linear, the past and future are connected, as if in a circle. That means that there really isn't a beginning nor an end. Take you for example, at this point in time, you are a product of each and every decision your past self made. This is so otherwise you wouldn't be you right now. Now extend this forward to a future you.

In this way, everyone is caught in this continuum of decisions they can't escape. Your past self can't escape the decisions they made otherwise you wouldn't be here, you right now in the present. You can also extend this to your future self.

Remember, in this construct everything is connected. Your past self to your present self to your future self. Everything is also existing simultaneously, at least conceptually as the "time travel" element allows people to move from past to future to present to whichever way. But these are the same people. So imagine you move to the past to meet your past self and you tell them a whole bunch of stuff so that they can change course! But they really can't be any different because you are a product of all the decisions they made and you exist as you do. So they can't do anything that won't result in you and you can't do anything that won't result in your future self who in this construct is already present (if you were to live to be older).

This is the loop everyone in this show is caught in. Some know it, others don't. Some try to break the loop but every action they take is part of the loop, creates and maintains the loop.

In this way, the show becomes a labyrinth of endless choices and decisions but ultimately all self defeating - this is the nihilism in the show.

Where's free will? This is one of the concepts explored. Where does free will exist in this construct where everything exists simultaneously - the past, the present and the future and are all interconnected. Your future self can travel to a time before you were born and your younger self can travel to a future far greater than your life span. When does your life begin? When you are born? But how can that be so if before you were born, you were already walking the planet, say as your future self?

In any case, I don't think in the show they ever solved the puzzle. In the construct the main characters learn that their world is a product of another world. Their action is therefore to travel to this other world to stop a certain event from happening. This action is meant to be transcendental, it is meant to be something outside the loop, something that is happening for the first time. Why? Because if it had happened before they wouldn't be there to do it as the action is meant to stop their world from ever having existed.

The only problem is in one of the scenes as they were travelling to this original world, each of the 2 characters saw the other character when they were small and those small characters saw the older ones looking at them.

Later on, whilst in this new world, one mentions to the other this sight they had whilst in this "time travel" tunnel and the other basically says that they remember that from when they were young, but they thought it was a dream. To me that meant the puzzle wasn't solved... That meant this journey they were making wasn't for the first time but had happened at least more than once before as when they were young they essentially saw their future selves in this tunnel.

So for me, the question of what free will is remained unresolved.

Free will to me is the ability to make choices to shape the future but the show raised questions about how one can shape the future if it already exists. Same as the past I guess!

From the above I guess you can see why the show is somewhat dark.

It's dark in that there's no escape from the suffering and pain. It's dark because it paints a picture where everyone is essentially a prisoner of time and because they are a prisoner of time, they can't do anything any differently no matter how hard they try. They can't escape the consequences of their decisions and it's non linear effects which result in exactly how things should be, have always been and will always be.

The main characters notice this prison, they literally commit their lives to essentially BREAK time but alas, in my opinion they can never.

Time is more than something out there but it's also something that lives through our decisions. Everything is so intertwined that it's impossible to break the knots as it were.

That's why in the trailer you hear all the philosophical discussions. They literally are trying to escape and exploring every which way to do it.
 
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I watched the first season, with English subtitles. Takes place across three centuries in the town of Winden, where a cave beneath a nuclear plant is involved in disappearances of townsfolk kinder. It turns out to be not about where they're gone but "when" they've gone.

An Einstein quote at the beginning of the pilot show of season one sets the tone: "The distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."
Branching timelines, parallel universes and steam punk time machines, with an evil-doer psychopath, followed from childhood to adult. Oh yeah, and an apocalypse.

I found the series well written, produced and conceptually interesting, albeit fairly low budget. It takes three seasons to sort out the mess they make of things, so I'll ride it to the end.

IMDB - 8.8 rating
"A family saga with a supernatural twist, set in a German town, where the disappearance of two young children exposes the relationships among four families."
 
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