When Dark first debuted in 2017, Netflix’s time-travel saga was often compared to Stranger Things, and understandably so. Both shows begin with the disappearance of a boy, and both are also set in a fictional small town where plenty of weird things happen. But that's where the similarities end.
Where Stranger Things is a coming-of-age story wrapped in '80s nostalgia and monster drama, the central mystery in Dark is, well, much darker and much more complicated too. Across three seasons, the show has combined Greek tragedy-style family drama with a head-scratching, time-hopping epic, along with lots of Biblical and mythological references too. From the performances and the music to the stunning visuals, there's a lot to recommend, but what ultimately makes Dark so addictive is the central mystery itself, along with all the shocking twists and turns that come with it.
This is the kind of sci-fi show that wants you to find X only with an equation of A and B. And while doing so, it presents you a reality where someone’s daughter can also be their own mother. Bonkers, right?
Well, if you thought that what happened in season two was already too much to handle, you won’t be ready for what’s to come in the final chapter. Check out this season two recap in case you need to refresh your memory and then join us as we help you make sense of how this story concludes.
Who is Eva? And what's her deal? At the end of season two, Martha was shot to death by Adam, setting Jonas on the path to eventually become Adam. But then out of nowhere, another version of Martha arrived and whisked Jonas away to a parallel world with some golden Poké ball. Right before she leaves, this Martha tells Jonas that he needs to prevent the apocalypse and break the cycle so that both versions of Winden along with its people can live.
But of course, things are not that easy, even for Jonas who has seen almost every part of the cycle. Not only does he have to deal with a new version of Winden, but he also has to face a powerful new force in the form of Eva, which happens to be the older Martha who's in charge of making sure everything in this parallel universe happens exactly the way it’s supposed to.
The problem that Jonas has to face here, however, is not that different than the one he tries to solve back in his own world.
Just like how Adam manipulates Jonas and Noah in his world, Eva only uses Jonas and the younger Martha as pawns in a much bigger play. Her goal? She wants to preserve the knot and makes sure that the time loop keeps happening while Adam wants to do the opposite; to sever the knot and break the cycle so that he could destroy both of these worlds and create a new one where time does not exist. But there’s a real reason why Eva wants to maintain the time loop, and it’s all explained in the season’s fourth episode 'The Origin'.
During his visit to this version of Winden, Jonas has sex with Martha. And then Martha is impregnated with a baby whom Eva and Adam refer to as "the origin", the beginning of everything that connects these two worlds in the same time loop. Adam wants to kill this version of Martha and destroy the baby in an attempt to end the cycle once and for all. Eva, on the other hand, wants the baby alive. That’s why she makes sure everything in both worlds falls into place, ensuring that the apocalypse happens over and over again, so her baby is able to survive.
For the majority of this final chapter, the battle between Adam and Eva becomes the focus of the story. But the show never reduces this to just a story of good vs evil. Adam and Eva are just two flawed, if egotistical people who battle each other in the name of love – one for her son, and the other for everyone that he cares about.
Aside from free will and determinism, love and loss have always been the two biggest themes explored in Dark. And through this conflict between Eva and Martha, the show manages to drill that theme home even deeper, showing us the extreme lengths people will go to save their loved ones.
Claudia, the unsung hero. While Adam and Eva are busy fighting each other, Claudia Tiedemann, otherwise known as the White Devil, emerges as the unsung hero of the season. Not only does she manage to distance herself from both Adam and Eva, she also learns how to break the cycle and end the time loop once and for all. And this all begins when Claudia realizes that she’s been manipulated by Eva in the show’s brilliant penultimate episode, 'Between the Time'.
Throughout the first two seasons, Claudia’s waged war against Adam. And early on this season, it’s revealed that the reason why she and Adam are on different sides is that Eva promises Claudia she will save Regina and everyone in Winden from the apocalypse. Then one day, Claudia remembers that her older self once said, "If everything goes right, Regina will live," which hasn’t been the case in all the time she’s helping Eva preserve the knot. That’s when she realises that Eva’s been playing her.
In an attempt to break the time loop, Claudia A kills Claudia B who’s been guiding her all this time, then assumes her identity to infiltrate the universe where Eva comes from. It’s at this point where Claudia finally learns that minutes before the apocalypse, there’s a fraction of seconds where time stands still. This allows everyone to break free from the loop, thereby creating two overlapping realities in the same universe. While Adam doesn’t know anything about this, Eva’s utilises this knowledge to send one Martha into one direction and another one to a different path.
Claudia takes advantage of this moment and does the same thing to Eva, sending a middle-aged version of her into two different journeys: one leads to a path where she’ll end up getting killed by Noah, and another one to where she is now.
Claudia also realises that these two worlds aren’t supposed to exist in the first place, and it’s actually a mistake created by the clock-master HG Tannhaus in the original world. When he tried to invent the first time-traveling apparatus, he ended up splitting the world into three. Hence, the triquetra — the original universe, Eva’s, and Adam’s.
How season three concludes The only way to destroy the time loop is to prevent Tannhaus from creating the apparatus in the first place, which is triggered by the death of his son, his daughter-in-law, and his granddaughter Charlotte in a car crash. Claudia explains this to Adam so he can guide Jonas and Martha into the original world and prevent that car crash from happening.
Jonas and Martha head into the original universe via the cave's passageway to complete their final mission. But here comes the catch: if they prevent the car crash and the creation of the time-traveling apparatus, all who are born out of the time loop will not exist in the original world. That includes both of them, Charlotte, Noah, and plenty of others, which of course, is a big sacrifice. Unfortunately, that's also the only way they can save their loved ones from suffering inside the time loop, including their mothers, Hannah and Katharina.
In the end, Jonas and Martha choose the "right" option, preventing the car crash which would’ve inspired Tannhaus to invent the time-traveling apparatus. Because of this, they and all the people that are part of the knots slowly vanish from the world in a particularly heart-wrenching scene. But that’s not the end, exactly. Before the credits roll, a pregnant Hannah — who’s married to Wöller in the original world has dinner with Katharina, Peter Doppler, Regina, and Benni. Together, they all talk about déjà vu, and then when Katharina asks Hannah what her baby’s name will be, she says, "I think Jonas is a beautiful name." It’s hard to imagine a better way to conclude this epic saga.
Dark may begin as an intricate show about time-travel and loss, but it ends as something completely different: a bittersweet love story and an emotional look into human nature. Of course, it’s sad there won’t be any more episodes, but just as how Dark reminds us in these final moments, all beautiful things must eventually come to an end.
Dark seasons one, two, and three are all available on Netflix now.
