Dark has
been
given a third
and final season
by Netflix.REVIEWS TV
Project Blue
Book:
Season One
Deny everything
Release 29 July
Showrunner David O’Leary
Cast Aidan Gillen, Michael Malarkey, Laura
Mennell, Ksenia Solo, Neal McDonough
Distributor Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Certificate 15
Format
We’re constantly looking for a
show to fill the void left by The X-Files:
two partners travelling across the
country investigating the paranormal
and shady government forces covering up the
truth. While Project Blue Book doesn’t hit the
highs of an X-successor like Fringe, it has the
allure of being ‘based on real events’.
The show is drawn from the case files of
Dr J Allen Hynek (Aidan Gillen), a college
professor who was recruited by the US Air Force
to investigate the sudden rash of ‘paranormal’
events in the Fifties. He’s partnered with
amiably surly former pilot Captain Michael
Dark:
Season Two
Time is not on your side
Release Out now
Showrunners Baran bo Odar,
Jantje Friese
Cast Louis Hoffmann, Karoline Eichhorn,
Maja Schöne, Jördis Triebel, Lisa Kreuzer,
Julika Jenkins, Mark Wasche
Distributor Netflix
Certificate 15
FormatIf you were wondering whether
you should go back and rewatch the first
season of Netflix’s mind-bending SF series
Dark before jumping into Season Two, we
have to tell you: it’s a good idea. Despite a wait of
nearly two years, the show barely gives you time to
take a breath before throwing you into the midst of
its time travel puzzle. It’s every bit as complicated,
every bit as bold and every bit as thrilling.
Teenage Jonas (Louis Hoffman) is trapped in the
apocalyptic Winden of the future and trying to find
a way to get home and save the lives of his friends
before whatever it is that goes boom does so in six
days. Police chief Charlotte (Karoline Eichhorn) has
been seconded into a new taskforce to investigatethe disappearances, while the older Claudia (Lisa
Kruzer) heads into the past to tell her younger self
that she’s sitting on a time travel device. The older
Jonas (Andreas Pietschmann) reveals the truth about
his identity to his mother Hannah (Maja Schöne),
while the sinister priest Noah (Mark Waschke) is
hard at work... but who’s controlling him?
With eight hours to play with rather than ten,
there is a greater sense of narrative propulsion here
and not just because each episode starts by telling
us how long is left until the end of the world. The
first season’s sense of slowly unfolding mystery is
somewhat missed but while the revelations come
thick and fast, the showrunners never rush past the
emotional impact of each one. The writing continuesto dazzle in its sheer complexity but this season is
full of reminders of just how good this cast is.
Because as much as this season is about
racing to stop the apocalypse, it’s also about
consequences. We see the ripples of each choice
spanning over decades. We see reconciliation and
betrayal, people are saved and people are lost. The
reason why Dark has the impact it does is because
it makes sure that its mind-bending twists have an
emotional impact. This continues to be one of the
very best shows out there, do not miss out.
Jonathan Hatfull
Quinn (Michael Malarkey), who takes his loyalty
to his bosses more seriously than the idea that
anything could really be out there.
But as they look into everything from The
Flatwoods Monster to The Lubbock Lights, the
duo begins to suspect that there is something
bigger going on than spy planes and swamp gas.
The presence of Robert Zemeckis as producer
is a nice stamp of quality, but the whole creative
team deserves credit for finding the fear and
paranoia under the period sheen. Everyone
involved is having fun with it (no one more
than veteran scenery thief Neal McDonough,
going all-out as smilin’-and-sinister General
Harding), but there’s a commitment to depicting
the knife-edge atmosphere which played a huge
part in these incidents. Laura Mennell may only
be given one note to play as Hynek’s fearful,
manipulated wife Mimi but it’s a strong one.
Things do get a little silly when the show
leans into genre. While the Steven Williams
cameo is lovely, the writers can’t always balance
their clear desire to make a thrilling SF show
with their place on the History Channel. It also
never quite settles on a comfortable dynamic for
its two leads and, despite good performancesfrom Gillen and Malarkey, we only really feel
like they’re bonding because they say so.
Still, it’s more than entertaining enough and
there’s plenty of ground left to cover in the
confirmed second season. Fans of strange lights
in the sky should definitely give it a look.
Jonathan Hatfull