in33years - Tumblr blog

in33years · 7 years ago

Text

Complete Recap, Details & Thought Starters [1x1 “Secrets”]

Sliding everything under the cut so as not to expose anyone to spoilers…

What follows is:

A complete 1x1 recap

Rundown of details from this episode that seem important (to me)

Questions/statements from the episode that I’m pondering…

RECAP

Damn. The first scenes of this damn pilot got me. You’ve got a man (Michael) hanging himself with an eerily specific suicide note left beside what we’d assume is a family portrait… Then you have a boy (Jonas) waking with a start, in a cold sweat, downing pills, clearly distraught… and then a bit later, Jonas’ mom is straight up fucking some guy (Ulrich) while Jonas is trying to decide what the hell he can salvage out of the fridge for breakfast… uh, WOAH.

Needless to say, I knew within minutes that this show was gonna be a wild ride.

Next, you’ve got an intro to Peter Doppler, who is apparently Jonas’ therapist, taking a walk with Jonas in the woods checking in on how he’s been doing these past few months since his father’s passed. Jonas has a breakdown of sorts (poor baby) about how many unanswered questions his father’s passing have left him with.

We meet Ulrich’s family next and they’ve got what feels like a quirky if not a tad bit tense family dynamic. It’s a bit fun at first glance. There’s Ulrich (fresh from another woman’s bed and a jog through the woods), his wife Katharina, daughter Martha (who seems to be a bit of a social activist), older son Magnus (brooding bad boy?), and youngest son Mikkel who is just too stinkin’ adorable with his skeleton PJ’s and his magic tricks.

Jonas goes to school and has a short exchange with his friend Bartosz Tiedemann, wondering if Bart told anyone that he’s been away getting treatment for the past couple of months, and Bart lets him know that the lie he’s spread is that Jonas was away in Paris on an exchange program playing “hide the baguette”. (L O L)

Next, Ulrich walks into the police station and we learn that he’s an officer. Erik Obendorf’s parents are there raising up a stink about their missing boy. They feel like the police haven’t done enough to investigate and both Ulrich and another officer, Charlotte Doppler (Peter’s wife), are fighting to calm them down.

A mysterious figure emerges out of a cave wearing a black, hooded coat!!!

Cut back to the high school where Magnus, brooding bad boy that he is, is skipping class, smoking a joint. Franziska Doppler (Peter & Charlotte’s daughter) happens upon him and they exchange some barbs. “Shouldn’t you be inside with the geeks?” is Magnus’ first thought and Franz comes back with a cool, “Should the son of the principal be smoking a joint in school… especially such shit weed” after taking a hit. And so maybe she’s not much of a geek at all, huh? ;-)

Back inside school, there’s an assembly and Jonas and Bart are waiting in their seats when Martha walks in. Jonas smiles at her so big that my heart almost bursts but Martha is giving him a look that reads “oh, shit…”. Jonas looks downright horrified when Bart and Martha kiss and Bart takes her hand. Martha looks clearly uncomfortable and then asks Jonas “how was France?” which makes it obvious that they haven’t talked in some time. Martha’s mom, Katharina, comes up on the stage to start the pep rally, begging the kids to come forward if they know anything about Erik’s disappearance, while Jonas can’t tear his eyes away from Bart and Martha’s joined hands… This is a moment, right here, y’all. I want to delve deeper into it. I will, too. You’ve been warned.

At the station, Charlotte and Ulrich are talking about Erik’s disappearance, too. She seems convinced that this is connected to Ulrich’s brother Mads and has a deeper meaning, which is interesting. Ulrich thinks not, and seems to think that Erik may have just run away of his own volition.

There’s a gorgeous, lavish-looking Hotel Winden and Regina Tidemann’s (Bart’s mama) at the front desk taking a call from the bank, begging for a deferment on payments. Evidently business isn’t going well, due to the disappearance of Erik (because who wants to vacation in a town where a kids’ just gone missing?… But honestly, I think the bigger question is who wants to vacation in a town with a nuclear plant? I mean, Amiright!?)

Bart and Jonas are in class and Bart’s somehow found out that Erik left his stash of drugs in the Winden Caves before his disappearance. Bart thinks their crew should go snatch it. Jonas seems to think that’s crazy…

Now, Ulrich’s visiting his mother, Jana, who apparently he hasn’t seen in a while. She’s seen something in the woods again. “A dark figure with a gigantic looking head”. But Debby Downer Ulrich doesn’t believe her. She’s also found a candy bar wrapper in the woods and it was Mad’s favorite candy…

Then there’s older Helge Doppler (Peter’s dad, Charlotte’s father in law), staring off into space in a haunting scene, chanting “it’s gonna happen again.”

Okay, creepy scene alert! Here’s where the show catapults us into this strange little room - the brightest scene that we’ve seen by far, totally contrasting the dark, gloominess of Winden - where “you spin me right ‘round” in all it’s 80′s glory is playing on an old box TV and the missing kid, Erik, is laying on a bunk bed looking… concerned. Worse, there’s a super terrible looking chair-thing in the center of the room…

Then we get The Squad in the school hallway. Jonas and Bart meet up with Magnus and Martha (and Bart and Martha kiss… again… poor Jonas) and they go back over the plan to steal Erik’s drugs from the caves that night to smoke some of and sell the rest. Oh and Franz and Magnus have another awkwardly tense run in, too… there’s a story brewing up in there there, btw. And we need more of it. Jonas is the deciding voice, eventually, with his definitive “Okay, let’s go to the caves tonight.” And that seems to be all the group needs to hear to decide to move on it.

Back at the Nielsen house, Katharina is cleaning up (But is school over already? Why isn’t she there? She’s the principal… right?) and finds what we’d assume is another woman’s hair on Ulrich’s sweatshirt. It’s the same sweatshirt he pulled on after sleeping with Hannah that morning so like.. we know it’s hers. Katharina sniffs the sweatshirt, too. For good measure. She’s definitely suspicious… and for hella good reason, smh.

Hannah’s at work in the nuclear plant as a masseuse and she’s massaging Aleksander Tiedemann (Regina’s husband, Bart’s dad). Aleks seems a little melancholy over the fact that the nuclear plant is closing soon. Apparently it’s been almost 33 years to the day since he first came to Winden.

Ines Kahnwald enters now (Michael’s mom, Jonas’ grandma), sitting in a doomy gloomy living room, receiving a voicemail from an angry Hannah about how Jonas hasn’t seen Ines in months and how the power in Hannah and Jonas’ house is out again and how, according to Hannah, Ines is “sick”. Ines doesn’t seem that bothered by Hannah specifically, though. She’s all about the “suicide note” that Michael left behind which she’s got in an ornate little box, at the living room table, staring anxiously at the clock over her shoulder, waiting for it to be after 10:13pm.

Trifling Hannah show’s up at the town meeting at the high school and hugs Katharina who may suspect Ulrich is up to something but clearly doesn’t suspect it’s with Hannah. Hell, they seem to be friends because Katharina hugs Hannah, asks how she’s doing, gives her a warm smile…

Cut to The Squad meeting up in the woods to grab those drugs. Jonas and Martha are there first and they have an exchange - Martha giving something like an apology for this thing she’s got with Bart now. Apparently she wrote Jonas a couple of texts while he was away but was scared to send them because of how Jonas’ dad died last summer. Somehow the texts felt “wrong”. Jonas swears it’s okay. Then Martha has a case of deja vu about feeling like she’s been there in the forest with Jonas before…

Magnus and Mikkel show soon and despite Martha telling Magnus that he needs to take their little brother back now, they don’t, Bart showing up and bopping Mikkel on the back of the head before one of my favorite lines from Magnus: “Hey! Only I can do that!”

As the group sets off into the forest, older Helge is loose on the streets, still chanting “it’s gonna happen again”…

Back at the town meeting, Charlotte is addressing the adults in the town, asking people to stay vigilant and report anything they hear about Erik and Katharina is talking about how there’s new security measures at school. Regina is real mad during this, and it’s obviously because the increased security measures and whispers about there being a murderer in Winden is hurting her hotel business. Regina’s taking it personal and her and Katharina have a smidge of a heated moment right there in the meeting as Hannah sneaks out…

With The Squad, sweet Mikkel is worrying about Erik’s disappearance as the crew walks through the woods. He says, “So what if Erik’s lying dead somewhere and no one finds his body? That would be the worst. Even if you’re dead, you’d want to be found”… this is poignant, especially later when we find out what happens to Mikkel and how he becomes connected to Erik…

Older Helge busts up in the Winden community meeting and Charlotte stops him. He asks “is it already too late? it’s gonna happen again!” and the only thing he’s regarded with are curious and pitiful stares as Charlotte leads him out of the assembly room.

Meanwhile, we see that Hannah’s snuck out to meet Ulrich behind the school and they’re now kissing in what looks like it could be the very same alley where Franz and Magnus had their moment earlier in the day. I don’t wanna judge nobody but… that’s messed up, Hannah!!! His wife is literally right inside!

The time has finally come for Ines to open Michael’s letter… but as she does, we get no insight into what it says just yet…

The Squad reach the spot where Erik’s drugs are supposed to be and surprise, surprise, Franz has beat them to it. She tries to sell it back to them for a couple hundred bucks and then Bart has the nerve to actually snatch it from her and push her down. I was really surprised when Magnus didn’t step in here to Franz’s defense, especially knowing how he feels about her and having just seen her get pushed down in the dirt… But, shit, I suppose chivalry is dead ‘round Winden, huh?

Anyway, the whole little scene is interrupted by a growl-like sound booming out of the Winden caves, twigs snapping nearby, and the sudden malfunction of all of the flashlights that The Squad are holding. Needless to say, the group takes off running for their lives in what’s one of the scariest scenes of this episode.

Jonas falls and when he gets up is when he realizes that he’s lost sight of Mikkel who, just a few seconds before, was running by his side. It’s blood curdlingly scary when Jonas hear’s someone… something… call his name. And when he turns around it’s his father, seemingly back from the dead, staring at Jonas, covered in a strange black liquid. Jonas bolts and it’s pouring rain now. When he meets up with the rest of The Squad there’s a terrifying moment when they all realize that they’ve lost the youngest of their group, Mikkel.

Back at the school, older Helge looks up into the rain as Charlotte leads him out and says, “It’s too late to stop it” just as the Winden adult’s all start getting phone alerts that interrupt the meeting and Ines closes the “suicide note” back into her special box and collapses over it.

In the woods, Ulrich, Charlotte, Regina and Hannah are all running to their babies, embracing them. They’ve heard the news. Ulrich takes off into the woods with his flashlight, yelling for Mikkel, but we get the feeling that it’s much too late… there seems to be no one out there to find but Ulrich does hear the same ominous sound booming out of the cave again just before the scene cuts.

The next morning, the nuclear smoke stacks are still billowing faithfully but the people of Winden are morose. Charlotte and Ulrich are out in the woods where the police are conducting a full out investigation. Peter calls Carlotte and says he needs to tell her something but Charlotte rushes him off of the phone and he’s left to stand alone in their study, praying the serenity prayer to himself.

A body is found in the woods and Ulrich has a gut wrenching moment of gently removing the leaves from the body before realizing that…. it’s not Mikkel.

We cut back to that scary, bright room with the dangerous looking chair and now Erik’s being strapped into it, a penny on a red string being placed around his neck just before the machine’s head lock-thingy is closed over his eyes.

DETAILS THAT SEEM IMPORTANT

Mother’s Day, 1986: the date on the childhood pic of Mads & Ulrich at his mom, Jana’s house

June 21, 2019: the date of Michael’s suicide

November 4, 2019: “Present day” where Erik Obendorf has been missing for 13 days and the town’s nuclear plant is soon going to be shut down with a stellar record of no incident

November 4, 10:13 pm: the do-not-open-before-this date/time on Micheal’s “suicide note”

The scar on Aleksander Tidemann’s back during the massage scene with Hannah.

The Walkman found with the body of the dead boy who turns up in the woods the morning after Mikkel’s disappearance and the 80′s sounding song that it’s playing, “we fall through the time stream then awaken from a dream”…

“The question isn’t how. The question is when.” - Mikkel to Ulrich after his magic trick at the kitchen table.

“You ever find yourself wondering where you took the wrong turn in life? When your life started becoming the exact opposite of what you always wanted it to be?” - Ulrich to Charlotte a the station after they discuss Eric’s disappearance.

“You know this whole business with that missing kid, Eric? It’s like your brother back then. Everything’s repeating itself. Everything’s like it was, 33 years ago.” - Jana to Ulrich at her home.

“Just because you can’t see past your own nose, doesn’t mean there’s not really weird stuff going on out there. The kinda stuff that the nuclear power mafia keeps secret from the public.” - Martha to Magnus.

“The light? The forest? It’s as if it’s all happened before.” - Martha to Jonas in the woods, before The Squad meets up to grab Erik’s drugs.

“My dad used to say good and evil is a matter of perspective.” - Jonas to The Squad in the woods.

THOUGHT STARTERS FOR PONDERING

1. How long do we think Hannah and Ulrich have been sleeping together? Since just after Michael’s death? Like, was this whole affair a coping mechanism against the grief for her? Or do we think they were sleeping together even before Michael passed? I mean, I could sympathize with the former a bit more than the latter but if this show teaches us anything it’s that people are capable of some pretty fucked up things. What do you all think?

2. The yellow piece that Mikkel makes “disappear” in his kitchen table magic trick… does that thing remind anybody of a tiny Jonas in his yellow rain coat? Think about that… Jonas disappearing… or more specifically, Mikkel making Jonas disappear… hmmm.

3. Notice that Charlotte seems to already suspect something weird going on in Winden when she and Ulrich are at the station talking about Erik’s disappearance… She seems to already be making a connection to Ulrich’s brothers’ disappearance… just wanted to throw that out there… She’s got a head start on a lot of the others where that’s concerned.

4. There are two times when Jonas seems distinctly mesmerized by the smoke stacks at the nuclear plant: once when he’s riding his bike to school and then later, in the woods, when The Squad are going to steal Erik’s drugs. For a kid who’s grown up his whole life in Winden, you’d think those things wouldn’t be anything special for him anymore. Hasn’t he been seeing them there billowing smoke since… well, forever? What exactly is it about the vision of the smoke billowing out of the stacks that draws him in so?

5. When Michael appears to Jonas in the woods after Mikkel is lost, he’s covered in black liquid of some sort. The first thing I wondered was whether or not it’s actually black rain/ nuclear fallout. I mean, Jonas has been mesmerized by the smoke billowing out of the nuclear plants all episode long, hasn’t he? Could it be that in some alternate time, the plant has malfunctioned and Michael was near enough to it to be affected by the fall out?

6. When Peter calls Charlotte while she’s out at the crime scene after Mikkel’s disappearance, what was he wanting to confess? Was he going to confess the affair he’d had? Or was he going to share something about Winden’s disappearances/the body about to turn up in the woods? Because later on in the series we learn of what he sees in the cellar and how he’s not exactly innocent in all this…

Whew! Okay, long post dunzo. I know these episodes can be a bit mind bending so if anyone’s confused, I hope the full text recap of 1x1 up top can be helpful.

Y’all, please hit me up and let me know what you think about the questions/statements I’ve raised or if you’ve got some of your own. Let me know if you caught any other little details that you think should be recorded here so that we can come back to them. I’m doing my best to create thorough records here so that as the season continues to build, and Season 2 builds further, we can come back and remember key points from the episode and think about how they relate to what is revealed about Winden’s past, present and future.

Much love and can’t wait to talk with those of you in this fandom more!

(tagging my new friends: @bobwithextramullins; @windener, @coloradoartistspotlight)

-Janelle

#dark netflix #dark series #jonas kahnwald #ulrich nielsen #dark #text post #j speaks #recap: 1x1 #spoilers #netflix dark

25 notes · View notes