Dark has finally ended. I feel a need to write something about it. I don’t watch or read any fan theory yet because I don’t want my reaction on the series gets clouded by people’s opinion. This writing will be more like a reflection than a review since I don’t understand much about quantum physics. I promise not to spoil the plot too much.
I think some people might dislike the ending, like myself. Not necessarily disappointed, just dissatisfied. Even though I feel that it’s the most reasonable ending.
A little bit background, Dark tells a story of Jonas who travel through time after the death of his father and the disappearance of his friend/crush/girlfriend’s brother, Martha. Somehow, the seemingly unrelated incidents has connection. He travels through time might be a chance to safe Mikkel (Martha’s brother who’s missing) and find a clue behind the sudden death of his father. But as he travels further and deeper, he is faced with an implausible fact. He realise everything that has yet unveiled is bigger than what he thought he knew. Now, trapped in the loop, he determines to find an answer and bring everything back to how it was.
Different from season 1 and 2 which gave me mind blowing sensation, season 3 that I just finished watching left me with an unsettling feeling. This season is a memento that supposed to give you all answers you seek from season 1 and 2. It did succeed in filling some question marks remarkably intelligent. I must admit, I admire how the writer tailored the plot so we understand the beginning of every occurrence in the previous seasons. Dark, nevertheless is the best series about time travel and alternate universe. However, when I finally see the whole picture of the puzzle, I don’t expect it to appear like that at all.
I’ve been following Jonas’ journey passionately as if it’s my own. Even when he was frustratingly seeking the right door, frantically fixing everything, I believed he’d find the answer. Because I hoped the same thing as him. But why did he always end up facing the same faith? Every time he traveled back and made a whole different scenario, the result was the same. In fact, Jonas’s step that you followed patiently was what made of today in each time line. Everything is interconnected. But Jonas didn’t go anywhere. It’s as if he’s going circle.
“What was the point?” I told my boyfriend when I reached episode 4 or 5. “Why bother travelling and trying to change things when you end up at the same point over and over?”
Because I am not waiting a whole year for this. I want Jonas’s why; my why to be answered! Hahaha, I am exaggerated. But it’s true. I wish there was an answer for every paradox in his world, so things is not so dark.
What makes the ending dissatisfying is not the fact that the writer left some things hanging. From the first season, I have been made believe something bigger awaits Jonas. I guess, like him, I was just trying to find the meaning. But we often misunderstand meaning as this fancy, high-end brand. Perhaps that’s why. I was expecting something else for the end, though when I ask “what something else?”, I am not so sure myself.
Watching how Dark ends is like reading a fantasy story where the main character wakes up and realise everything is only a dream. But it’s surprisingly easy to embrace the ending despite of how I feel. After all, Jonas breaking free from the loop, thus finally ended his journey, was when he at last accepted to let go of his wants and chose to safe the world instead.
