Welcome to this week’s installment of the Summer TV Binge of Netflix’s Dark, analyzing season three, episode four, of the twisted German time travel series, released June 27, 2020.
“The Origin (Der Ursprung)”
Written by Jantje Friese
Directed by Baran bo Odar
September 24, 1954: Egon has embarked on an affair with Hannah, while Doris searches for Agnes three months on from her disappearance. She, Tronte, and the mayor of Winden encounter the Unknown.
November 6, 2019/2052: Alt Martha learns about the apocalypse from her adult self.
1. The Unknown Doesn’t Kill Anyone
After his three murders, the Unknown conspicuously doesn’t kill anyone in this episode, though his presence — and leitmotif — still puts you on edge. You’re well aware Tronte will grow up to father Ulrich and Mads, but seeing the young lad come face-to-face with him is still worrying. The Unknown greets Tronte outside the main cave entrance, and gives him an ouroboros bracelet that belonged to Agnes. When asked, the Unknown reveals he was never given a name, but that he gave Tronte his, indicating he is his father.
Next, the Unknown appears at the church when Doris comes to inquire about the missing minister “Hanno Tauber” (Noah, who went back to 1921 before getting killed by his sister). Doris found a handkerchief in Agnes’s belongings with the initials H.T., and knowing her husband was a man of God, she fears that he may have kidnapped her. You’re on the edge of your seat, even more so this time, since you have no idea where Doris is in the ‘80s — but the Unknown, who discloses he was also a minister once, ends her marriage instead, first by revealing he knows she is in love with Agnes, and then by asking her to consider why her husband has been returning home late.
Finally, the Unknown corners the mayor in his car, while his older self poses as a chauffeur, and his child counterpart aims a pistol. We learn the coal lobby bribed the mayor into denying Bernd Doppler permission for building the nuclear plant, so the Unknown forces him to sign the permit anyway, thereby ensuring the cs-137 is created in 1986. Later that evening, Bernd finds the permit left on his doorstep, ironically by those who will kill him 33 years later.
All in all, as menacing and creepy as the Unknown remains, these scenes, as well as the revelation that he’s lived a pseudonymous life, help to greatly humanize him: he understands the pain Tronte and Doris are living with — having also loved, and lost, Agnes — and attempts to reach out, albeit in his odd, offputting manner. He tells Doris, “The ways of the heart cannot be explained: it does what it wants.” He is the show’s version of Frankenstein’s Monster: like Mary Shelley’s murderous brute, he is an articulate, sympathetic, and perceptive being, who would’ve been an exemplar of society, had circumstances not misshapen him beyond recognition.
2. Egon Really Messed Up
Every Dark fan saw it coming the moment Egon lit “Katharina Nielsen’s” cigarette, but it’s still disappointing learning he had an affair with Hannah — I can only think about how weird it is that he will reunite with her as an old man, when she was still a child.
Egon tells her he loves her, and gives her the St. Christopher bracelet as a gift — oh no, you wonder, is she going to turn out to be Katharina’s grandmother? He notices she looks pale, and suggests she see a doctor. He calls her “beautiful,” as Ulrich did, and the parallel is uncomfortable for her.
Hannah learns from the doctor that she’s pregnant: she responds with disbelief, claiming that’s “impossible,” and the doctor acknowledges it could be dangerous at her age. (For the record, the official website states she was born in 1972, making her 48 in 2020 and 1954.) However, we saw that the version of Hannah from Eva’s World is pregnant with Ulrich’s child in 2019, which should’ve been our first clue the prime version might become pregnant again.
Continued belowEgon doesn’t take the news well, and angers Hannah by indirectly asking her if the child may be someone else’s. Hannah’s such a sociopath, but I have so much empathy for her during her subsequent rant:
What do you think I do all day long? Fuck around? Do you think I chose this? Living in this shithole? Huh? I thought you were harmless, but you’re all the same. You all think you own the world. That you can take what you want. You eat and fuck and think that you’re God. Everywhere you go, always the same fucking smug assholes.
It seems like something every woman has probably felt like yelling about at some point. Hannah tells Egon she doesn’t want to keep it, lighting a cigarette no less. She ponders how unfair life is to her, and tells him she now believes she doesn’t need anyone. Egon leaves her with the details and cash for an abortionist Daniel recommended, Mrs. Obendorf (presumably Jurgen’s mother).
While in the waiting room, Hannah meets a 12-year old Helene Albers, who’s scheduled to go before her. Helene compliments “Katharina’s” St. Christopher necklace, wishing she also had someone to look over her. After she goes in, Hannah changes her mind, and leaves the necklace for Helene, while departing Winden with the briefcase machine. How ironic that Helene names her eventual daughter after the woman using her name as a pseudonym.
Egon returns home with flowers for Doris, who’s waiting on the staircase, having realized the truth after her conversation with the Unknown. He blathers on about having to work late, still not confessing, and she responds by asking for a divorce. She quotes the Unknown: “The ways of the heart cannot be explained: it does what it wants.” That night, Egon begins his descent into alcoholism, downing a whole bottle while lamenting both of his lost relationships. When Claudia and Tronte return home, and ask what happened, he simply repeats, “The ways of the heart cannot be explained: it does what it wants.”
3. “Exposure to sexually explicit media in early adolescence is related to risky sexual behavior in emerging adulthood”
Why have I used the title of this article for this section? Because it’s a perfect summary of Claudia’s storyline in this episode. We’re reunited with the 12-year old version of her while she’s looking at a pornographic magazine that Ines found in her father’s stash, something Jana finds very immature: the girls respond by taunting her about her feelings for Tronte, with Claudia boasting that she’s seen his penis.
Jana finds Tronte sitting by the lake after his encounter with the Unknown. He eventually opens up to her after she asks about the bracelet, revealing he thinks the man may have been his father, but he doesn’t particularly care: he elaborates he spent time in a home, and shows the burns on his arm to explain what the place was like. He adds he doesn’t particularly like his mother either, and says that she can have the bracelet.
Meanwhile, Claudia is at the Doppler mansion to tutor Helge. Bernd greets her saying, “Look at you. All grown up, aren’t you? A real lady now. Pretty. Smart as a whip. Helge will be pleased to see you. And naturally, you’ll be rewarded for your services.” She comments he’s giving her too much money, to which he responds, “I’ve some advice for you, Claudia, a lesson. If you really want something, then you must take it. Things will never happen on their own.”
On the way home, Claudia seems to take his advice literally, interrupting Tronte and Jana’s conversation so she can take him home for herself. That night, aware that her parents are distracted by their marital strife, Claudia enters Tronte’s bedroom, and surprises him by undressing. While this doesn’t excuse Tronte’s adulterous behavior in later life, it’s pretty clear Claudia imprinted herself on him very heavily, given he was also a young adolescent.
It’s another strikingly difficult topic included in the show: it’d be naive of us to assume young adolescents can’t or don’t engage in sexual behavior, but it’s queasy to think about — Claudia asking Tronte to show her penis was one thing, the mental image of the two children having intercourse is another. To the show’s credit, the undressed Claudia is only seen above the shoulders, meaning this uncomfortable topic is glanced at with the utmost tact.
Continued below4. Wann ist Agnes?
All of Sic Mundus have relocated from 1921 to 2053, Agnes included. In the plant’s control room, Adam tells her that he’s proud she returned to them, and looks at the newspaper report about Claudia’s death. Presumably, Agnes’s role is to now pass on the clipping to Claudia, another Bootstrap paradox, as it means neither her or Agnes ever cut the story out of the paper.
Agnes dons the hazmat suit, and says goodbye to Silja, a major piece of foreshadowing that I can’t go into for another few weeks. Likewise, this is the last episode with Antje Traue as Agnes, and that is also foreshadowing the final episodes: you may wonder, after Agnes enters the God Particle and informs Claudia of when she dies, if she ask her to reunite her with Doris — but if Adam accomplishes his goal of untangling the knot after everything is back in its intended place, does it matter?
5. Jonas and Martha are Literally Adam and Eva
In Alt 2052, Martha listens to her adult self in the bunker, which is covered in a chalk rendition of her family tree. Adult Martha tells her younger self and Jonas about the barrels at the plant, the apocalypse unfolding in two days, and how she will lose her family. Young Martha angrily denies that any of this is real, and flees.
Jonas asks adult Martha about finding a way to save his world’s version of her, but she responds that Eva lied, and that only one world can be saved. She encourages him to choose the one where Adam won’t come into existence, adding that in this world, he and she are not “impossible.”
Outside, Jonas catches up to the young Martha, who’s collapsed from despair. He tells her that they can prevent the apocalypse together, and she soon realizes he’s the only one who can possibly understand this nightmarish burden, as he’s already lived through this. They subsequently return to 2019 through the tunnel.
Adult Martha finishes her chalk family tree, revealing she and Jonas are the parents of Agnes’s husband. Alt Noah enters, and comments, “The beginning is the end, and the end is the beginning. We are all born of him. You gave him his life. And now he will give us ours. Him. Agnes. Tronte. Jana. Ulrich. Katharina. You. A line with no start or end. An infinite circle.”
Martha takes Jonas to her bedroom. She turns and tells him she experienced a deep sense of familiarity on seeing him enter her class, and asks what she was like in his world. She begins to sob, and Jonas comforts her, their affection transitioning to sex — the accidental aunt and nephew give into their hormones, and if this wasn’t harmful enough, they are in the act of conceiving their own ancestor.
In 2053 of the prime world, Adam shows the slightly older Martha the ruins of his home — her home in her world — and reveals to her she is pregnant, after explaining this is where they conceived the Origin. Meanwhile, in Eva’s study, the Unknown completes the notebook by writing the words, “The beginning is the end, and the end is the beginning.” He takes another look at the engraved family tree, and glares at the painting of Jonas and Martha’s Biblical counterparts, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is their misbegotten son.
Other Observations:
– Now that we know the Unknown is Jonas (Adam) and Martha (Eva)’s child, his cleft lip appears to be a reference to the Mark of Cain, as well as an acknowledgment that, regardless of having parents from different universes, he’s still the product of in-breeding.
– Greta Doppler makes her final appearance in a scene where she asks Egon for an update on Hanno Tauber’s disappearance: he asks if she saw him in “the company of a woman,” which gives her the impression that he reckons she has feelings for Noah, irritating her.
– She’s also alluded to again after the scene with Bernd and Claudia, when he looks forlornly at the advertisements for the plant featuring smiling images of him and his wife, a stark contrast to their actual relationship.
Continued below– It is strange that Helena’s pre-marital surname is still Albers: some fans have speculated this meant Helena had been abused by a family member, and that Katharina herself is a product of in-breeding. (Adding fire to the speculation is that Katharina’s father Hermann is never seen at their home, although work at the farm may have kept him preoccupied.)
– There’s a poignant scene in 2053, where Magnus tells Martha he spent 33 years wondering why she ditched them in 1888, and dwells on the irony that they turned out to be the ones who ordered her to do that.
See you next week for “Life and Death (Leben und Tod).”
