Together with stenotypist Charlotte Ritter and his partner Bruno Wolter, Rath is confronted with a tangled web of corruption, drug dealing, and weapons trafficking, forcing him into an existential conflict as he is torn between loyalty and uncovering the truth. And we are left wondering:...
The scenes created in the legendary nightclub are nothing short of astonishing. Forget the empty glamour of Luhrmann's ostentatious Gatsby, this is the true grit and unabashed sexuality of the underground.
It's Luhrmann-esque in scale and leaves you longing to join those heady days of swing...It's tense, engaging, and a serious marker that Germany is ready to carve its place in the television landscape.
The finale was so crazy and inventive and well-executed (that Rath/Wolter shootout in particular) that I stopped questioning any of it and just went along.
Babylon Berlin is a self-conscious departure from the kind of history shows German TV cranks out by the dozens every year: Those tend to be drab, self-important, graceless and lacking in nuance.
Social context aside, the show is elevated even further by truly superb acting, and a narrative flow that assumes that viewers are intelligent enough to follow a story without having to explain every single twist.