Welcome to this week’s installment of the Summer TV Binge of Netflix’s Dark, analyzing season two, episode seven, of the twisted German time travel series, released June 21, 2019.
“The White Devil (Der weiße Teufel)”
Written by Jantje Friese and Marc O. Seng
Directed by Baran bo Odar
June 26, 1954/1987/2020: Hannah goes looking for Ulrich. Egon learns about the White Devil. Claudia tries to prevent her father’s death. Martha and Jonas reunite.
1. Clausen Gets a Win
In 2020, Aleksander Tiedemann is arrested on charges of identity theft and obstruction of justice, after a records search for his alleged premarital name confirms he is an impostor: there was only one Aleksander Köhler registered in the Marburg region in 1986, and he was Clausen’s brother — and he can tell that he is most certainly not him. In the interrogation room, Clausen lays his pistol on the table. He explains his brother disappeared in 1986, much like Mads Nielsen: trouble is, there are over 700 Aleksander Köhlers across the country.
He reveals, “It wasn’t easy to track down each and every Aleksander Köhler, especially someone who chose to take the last name of their wife. Believe me, I’m speaking from experience. After my parents separated, I took my mother’s last name. From Köhler to Clausen. For some people I’m still untraceable to this very day.” However, he received an anonymous letter, largely consisting of a Freud quote, but also saying the “answers about your brother can be found in Winden.” The question is: who handed over Aleksander?
2. A Woman Scorned
Hannah takes Jonas’s time machine before he wakes up, and goes to the cave; dressed appropriately, she enters the police station in ‘54, while posing as Katharina Nielsen, a woman who believes the apparent child killer may be her husband. Egon is skeptical, but he agrees that the silent prisoner may finally talk on seeing her.
At the prison, Hannah asks to speak with the straitjacketed Ulrich alone, for five minutes. It’s initially sweet seeing Ulrich be greeted by a familiar face, but we know he remains trapped here for another 33 years, and the reunion turns sour when he asks about his family. Displeased, Hannah asks if he had to, would he choose her over Katharina? He claims he will leave her if she gets him out, but alas, he can’t outwit the ultimate liar.
After Ulrich is dragged away, alternately begging and insulting her, Hannah obliquely tells Egon there’s a resemblance, but that’s not her husband. Back at his office, Egon offers her a cigarette. He remarks she has an unusual surname (after all, it is a Danish one), and asks if she knows Agnes Nielsen: she replies she doesn’t. Having lost her husband, Ulrich’s interest, and the trust of her son, she tells Egon she doesn’t plan on returning home, and that she’s looking for a fresh start. He lights her cigarette for her, and they smile.
3. Meeting in the Middle
Meanwhile under the bridge, Martha shows the other kids the St. Christopher medal Jonas left on her bed, confirming Bartosz’s prediction that he would return came true. They agree they need to inform the adults about what’s been going on; however, when the Doppler girls and Magnus show the time machine to their parents, it dawns on Franziska that they already knew. Charlotte says they should stay out of this, but Franziska responds that that’s “ridiculous,” stating their secrets — the affair, the time travel — are “what ruins everything.” Angrily calling them “incompetent assholes,” she storms out of the living room.
Martha goes to tell Hannah, and knocks on her door: the old Jonas, who is stranded thanks to his mother’s actions, takes a deep breath on hearing her voice again. He backs away very slowly after opening the door, like she’s sacred and holy. Martha states this shy, shaggy stranger is giving her deja vu, and decides to leave, but Jonas replies it’s “like a glitch in The Matrix.” He asks if she found the pendant, and they both begin to weep.
Continued belowAfter he explains where he was, Martha caresses Jonas’s face, beginning to understand this is the version who kissed her at the lake. “It makes sense all of a sudden. It’s obvious now that I understand,” she says. However, their reunion is interrupted when Katharina smashes through the door, still determined to use his time machine. She’s outraged seeing him with her daughter, and reveals the truth of their relationship. Martha’s rendered speechless by this bombshell, while Jonas apologizes for not telling her sooner.
He informs Katharina Hannah took his device, causing Martha to snap out of her daze and reveal Magnus has one: Katharina takes her home, all while warning Jonas to “keep your dirty hands off her.” At home, Martha learns about her father and brother’s location, and processes that by reassuring her mother they’ll find them, and bring them home. Magnus returns with Bartosz’s machine, but admits he doesn’t know how to use it, leaving Katharina to examine the device. At night, Martha and Jonas reflect on the missed opportunity to talk — if there’s a flaw in this episode, it’s that we don’t get more insight into how learning that she committed incest is affecting her.
4. The White Devil
Also in 1954, Egon is present during the examination of old Claudia’s body: he recognizes her instantly as the one who visited him on “the same day that little Helge reappeared.” He and Daniel speculate her unexplained apology could mean she was Ulrich’s accomplice: Tiedemann goes to the Doppler home, and shows Helge a photo of the body. The boy states “he” (Noah) told him about her, and that she’s the White Devil, who wants to kill “all of us.” Egon reassures him she can’t hurt anyone anymore, but he ominously replies “she hasn’t even begun yet.”
In 1987, Claudia is well aware this is the day her father dies, and cancels all her appointments again so she can keep an eye on him, driving him to and from his chemo appointment, as well as insisting he move in with her. Over the course of the day, an increasingly weary and emotional Egon reflects bitterly on his mistakes, telling Claudia he’s come to believe time travel may be real, and that Ulrich, Mikkel, Mads, and Helge are all connected.
Returning to his apartment to get his meds, Egon gradually deduces there’s something in the caves, because Ulrich kept returning there. He realizes from Claudia’s abrupt behavior, and dismissive tone, that she knows about it too — perhaps subconsciously, he remembers that she has the same eyes as the White Devil. He decides to tell the police the plant is hiding something, but she cuts him off, admitting, “The thing inside the caves is beyond any other scientific discovery. It turns everything we know about the universe upside down. And you’re willing to jeopardize that? For nothing?”
He calls her selfish, and the ensuing struggle over the phone causes him to fall over and crack his head. Seeing he’s bleeding to death, Claudia calls for an ambulance, but suddenly — almost as if she’s possessed — disconnects the call, remembering the words of her older self, about how there will be sacrifices. We now know why the old Claudia apologized to her father: in trying to prevent his death, she tragically became responsible for it, and then allowed it. With his last breath, Egon proclaims that she is the White Devil.
It is so distressing to see Egon so helpless, struggling to breathe, and believing everything — his dedication to scientific detective work, his daughter’s love — was all a lie: even thinking about the sheer unfairness of it all is just upsetting. It’s the capstone to an incredible performance by Christian Pätzold, whose portrayal of the old Egon took an antagonistic committee man and imbued him with real pathos — you took to him like your own grandfather. It’s also a reminder of how great Netflix’s commitment to overseas productions is, that it gives us the opportunity to encounter veteran actors like Pätzold, who were obscure outside their home countries until now — that’s something we can all be grateful for.
Continued below5. One Year Later
After watching over her father’s body for several hours, a shattered Claudia returns home. She finds a note from Regina stating she’s sleeping over at a friend’s home, and washes her father’s blood off her hands, before finally losing her composure, and weeps. Like Lady Macbeth, who became obsessed with washing a “damned spot” of blood off her hands, Claudia’s ambition has turned to ashes in her mouth.
Suddenly, someone enters the house with the keys — Claudia picks up her frying pan, but her anger eventually gives way to the realization that this stranger has been sent by her older self. It’s young Jonas, but he feels older: his hair is slightly longer, and he’s shed his yellow raincoat for darker clothes resembling those of his adult counterpart. More importantly, he’s patient, and understanding of what she’s been through, consoling her like a grown man — you can tell he must’ve been with the old Claudia since they met on June 20, 1986/2019, and like an endless waltz, it’s now his turn to mentor her.
“I know what you’ve done; she told me,” he tells her. “But she also said it didn’t have to happen again.” Now it’s time for her to disappear like the papers said: into the future.
Other Observations:
– Jonas and Claudia both indirectly killed their fathers trying to prevent their deaths.
– Old Egon references Back to the Future, a reminder of how popular culture can make bizarre scientific concepts like time travel palpable for laymen like him.
– The coroner in ‘54 notes Old Claudia’s body is heavily contaminated by radiation: the only explanation he can suggest is that she was a radiographer.
– While Claudia was technically born during the war, she’s close enough in age to baby boomers (those born from 1946 to 1964), that her father’s description of her as “selfish” echoes the common characterization of that generation.
– Aleksander/Boris killing Clausen’s brother in Marburg further suggests Winden is in the state of Hesse, as well as him being from the Eastern Bloc, as Hesse bordered East Germany until the country’s reunification. (Coincidentally, tomorrow marks 30 years since reunification.)
– Clausen gets another win in this episode, when one of Winden’s police officers recognizes he’s quoting Freud.
– It’s actually awe-inducing seeing Katharina break into Jonas’s home with a crowbar: it’s as if a part of her teenage self has reawakened in her.
– During the cold open, Adam imagines Martha on the seat opposite him while dwelling again on the necklace they found, which thankfully spares us the sight of a sex dream with him (although she is wearing the dress the night they lost their virginity). It further raises the question: will she survive the apocalypse?
We’ll find out next week when we discuss the second season finale, “Endings and Beginnings (Enden und Anfänge).”
