'Dark' Season 3 Episode 2: Winden's residents try to find their loved ones with the apocalypse three days away
Major spoilers for 'Dark' Season 3 Episode 2 'The Survivors'
From the minute Other Martha (Lisa Vicari) arrives in September 1888, Stranger refuses to fully trust her. At the end of the previous episode, Other Martha had left Jonas (Louis Hofmann) in her world and travelled back to his world. Why? She hasn't explained herself — just as most people on 'Dark' don't — but she left with the promise that she will make everything right so that their loved ones in both worlds survive.
Stranger (Andreas Pietschmann), Magnus (Moritz Jahn), Franziska (Gina Stiebitz) and Bartosz (Paul Lux) arrive in 1888 just as the apocalypse takes place barely avoiding it. Here, Stranger is trying to build the machine that will enable them to time travel but without dark material, it is proving to be mighty difficult.
In 1987, Katharina (Jördis Triebel) is desperately looking for Mikkel (Daan Lennard Liebrenz). She is living in Ines' (Anne Ratte-Polle) house as the two of them seemingly aren't there. It is then revealed that child protective services know about their whereabouts and about Mikkel's whereabouts. But because of Ulrich's actions in the previous season, they gave him his. Ulrich Nielsen (Oliver Masucci), on the other hand, is in solitary confinement.
She meets her younger self, a younger Ulrich and Maja Schöne's Hannah (she even sends a timely threat her way) when looking for Mikkel. It is here that she finds out about the madman aka Ulrich and meets him in the psych ward. At the hospital is her mother Helene Albers (Katharina Spiering) — this is one of the most disconcerting interactions in the episode. Katharina is clearly still terrified of her alcoholic abusive mother.
In yet another terrifying interaction, the three Unknown arrive at the plant and kill a very pregnant Jasmin (Lea Willkowsky), Claudia's assistant. Why? We can't tell head or tail at the moment, honestly.
The Nielsen family is shown going through a particularly difficult time following the disappearance of Mads Nielsen (Valentin Oppermann). After waiting for several months, the family decided to do the funeral even though the body is never found. In the same breath, Jana (Tatja Seibt) makes a ruckus over her husband's increasing obsession with the missing Claudia Tiedemann (Julika Jenkins) but not his own missing son. She also points out how Claudia never said who the father was, hinting that she strongly believes they have had an affair.
Tronte (Felix Kramer) is ripped apart by grief at the thought of losing Claudia. He searches high and low without avail, even asking Regina is a desperate bid to find out any detail he might have missed, going through her actions over and over again.
Back in Jonas' time, which is the time and world that we started our story with, Winden is destroyed following the apocalypse. Peter and Elisabeth Doppler continue to look for Charlotte and Franziska when they meet a young Noah who is apparently looking for food. Can we just point out how we have never seen anyone in 'Dark' eat something? You'd imagine that all the travelling between times, realities, worlds and whatnot would wear you out.
But is the apocalypse completely avoidable? Winden's residents are about to find out. As Winden's residents travel across worlds and realities, Death too seems to be a passenger. The old Tronte (Walter Kreye) returns, making an appearance after what feels like forever. He is here to kill Regina (Deborah Kaufmann): "I'm so sorry it has to happen. She said it is the only way to save you," he tells her before suffocating her with a pillow. But doesn't say who really sent him.
Back in 1888, Other Martha tries to turn the survivors against Stranger by telling them that he is only Adam. At the end of the episode, Eva (Barbara Nüsse) foretells the inevitable end. All episodes of 'Dark' are currently streaming on Netflix.