Deutschland 83 S01E01: "Quantum Jump"

This review will likely land on deaf ears (blind eyes?) because an eight-part German-language drama that airs at 11pm on a Wednesday night on a little-watched network that's hard to find in your cable guide isn't exactly the type of program that will resonate with the mainstream. But that's shitzen because Deutschland 83 is one of two summer shows I've seen (the other being USA's upcoming Mr. Robot) that are so much better than the rest, and it deserves a smorgasbord of eyeballs.

About a young man in the East German army who is content shaking down black-market booksellers but is recruited as a spy to snoop on West Germany, Deutschland 83 most closely resembles FX's superb The Americans. And in some odd stroke of coincidence, Deutschland 83 actually begins where the third season of The Americans ended: with Ronald Reagan's "Evil Empire" speech. Although completely unintentional, it actually opened up a shared world of espionage and turned Deutschland 83 into an accidental companion piece. But where The Americans stressed spy games and family, Deutschland 83 focused on the effects of sending an impressionable young person into a new world to do bad things in the name of his country. It's almost as if this was the Paige-Jennings-as-a-spy story that we might get in Season 4 of The Americans, or a rewind to a young Phillip Jennings on his first day of work.

"Quantum Jump" laid out the premise of the show that anyone could get from the series' basic description, so all that was really left was to see how Deutschland 83 would be presented, how good the actors would be, and what kind of tone it would carry. Well, it's a gorgeous program, the performances (particularly lead Jonas Nay) are great, and the tone is equally serious as a heart attack and hilarious as a tap on the funny bone (metaphorically, obviously, funny bones hurt like hell).

What really made it work for me was the lead character of Martin/Moritz. While we're not exactly sure why his aunt immediately thought of him to recruit (because Martin's mom made a good bargaining chip he couldn't refuse?), it's obvious why he's a good fit for the show. Martin clearly has the potential to be a good spy. He can think on his feet, he has all the qualifications to pretend to be Moritz (minus the piano playing), and he's obviously capable in the field as we saw him complete the first mission of photographing the Americans' documents relatively easily after being hit with some obstacles.

But he's also got the weaknesses of a 24-year-old dude that were a constant jeopardy to his job, thickening the drama and tension that came from watching a green spy thrust into the field for the first time. He admitted he knew Cubans (oops!) and he couldn't resist trying to call his girlfriend back in East Germany from General Edel's house (double oops!), because in the rush to get him over the wall, he came in unprepared. The learning process will be where most of the fun of the show comes from, and Deutschland 83 barely touched on what will be the most interesting part of the series: the temptations of Western society and Capitalism that will really split Martin in two. If he was stoked to see so much fruit in a market, just wait 'til he's pounding beers listening to krautrock in a club.

Maybe this was just me, but I was also fascinated to see 1980s East and West Germany on television. Period dramas that dip back only a handful of decades are all the rage right now, but rarely do we get to see those time periods portrayed in other countries. This is cool, I'm not sure why, but it's cool. Adding to the location was the confident and sleek direction and cinematography, providing visual storytelling akin to the best of American television. And how about that training sequence? If we can expect more of that, then Deutschland 83 could be the best looking series of the summer.

"Quantum Jump" also did a fine job opening up plenty to look forward to in upcoming episodes. Yeah, the spy stuff was what brought people through the door, but will Martin ever see his girlfriend Annett again, and how will she react the longer he's away? How will his devil's deal to get his mom a kidney play out? How will he interact with General Edel's family, including his rebellious and incredibly hot daughter Yvonne? What's behind his aunt's motivations? And how will the politics of West Germany have an effect on him? When a pilot episode ends with this much ammunition, all I want is more.





DER AUFZEICHNUNGEN

– Well hello, Lisa Tomaschewsky, who plays Yvonne Edel. Hi, my name's Tim. You uhhh, come around here often?



– General Edel's secretary... LOOK OUT! She's going to crack some heads. And will she realize that Martin opened her desk drawer? She's an early candidate for my favorite character. She like the anti-Martha from The Americans.

– Deutschland 83's soundtrack is equal to The Americans, and better than Halt and Catch Fire's. Agree?

– I love how Martin and Edel's relationship shifted by the end of the episode from employee-boss to almost father-son. Their story is going to be really good.

– Walter Schweppenstette (love these German names) broke Martin's fingers before he even agreed to be a spy for them. YIKES. Serious business.

– Did we all think Martin was going to have to kill General Edel's sister-in-law after she caught him calling East Germany?



– Time to go get a bratwurst. Also, German potato salad is better than American potato salad. Agree or disagree?