Dark, Netflix’s time-bending German-language series, is a fresh and fascinating take on science fiction dedicated deeply to its characters. With its first season, the series managed to take emotion and story surprises to a level a lot of others of its kind struggle to pull off, at least as effectively.

Its second season continues this trend and expands the story while still keeping the small, intimate nature to its core. All of the disappearances and search for answers lead characters down unexpected avenues, the town of Winden becoming a ground zero of timelines complementing and echoing back on one another.

The second season drops you into the deep end right away, hoping you can keep up and remember how everything’s connected. It may prove formidable for some in this sense, as it hits the ground running and doesn’t stop. The show smartly moves these characters and their timelines down a path of discovery, to fulfill their destinies that we, as an audience, may not have realized during the first season’s run.

Dark is a fair more open with its secrets this time, allowing first season mysteries their natural evolution while new strands begin to burrow deep into its fabric. It’s exciting, this new approach of not holding onto anything for longer than needed. Everything is moving quickly, and for good reason. The threat is more physical now, given a shape where before it is malleable and more a sense than a presence.

This may sound incredibly vague, but it’s in letting surprises achieve their maximum effect. The show holds these surprises close to the vest, and for good reason. They’re tied to character impact, delivering on them to further their journey. The second season, at least in its first half, has these impressive reveals built in such a way that it changes the way you view the show.

Louis Hofmann’s Jonas Kahnwald continues to be a fantastic lead for the show, his desperate struggles to find his way home in a bleak and dangerous future timeline leading to some of the more compelling moments. Jonas becomes a key figure of the story, and Hofmann handles it excellently.

One of the pitfalls of such a large cast is some of them falling a little to the wayside due to how the first season played out. Characters like Oliver Masucci’s Ulrich Nielsen come off as a touch underused when their performance before is so fantastic and would be welcome here. This can certainly change in the following four episodes, but in these first four episodes, it’s the somewhat disappointing case.

An extra emphasis on visuals makes this season a looker. The first season looked great, but this second season has a striking style. Fog-laden future landscapes, eye-popping color schemes and costume design, and fascinating special effects all help make the show visually interesting and larger scale than before. The new title sequence, as well, keeps to the previous style but takes the kaleidoscope effect to a new level.

The second season of Dark takes the great foundation built by its first and escalates the stakes, the emotion, and the goodwill built up. It’s a hugely successful effort, proving itself as one of Netflix’s absolute best in their line-ups.

Backed by a mesmerizing score by Ben Frost and the drive of creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, Dark cements itself as one of the most engaging science fiction series in years.

What did you think of Dark‘s second season? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Dark is available on Friday, June 21st on Netflix.

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