'Dark' Season 3 Episode 4: Some truths are finally revealed while other lies remain intact
Spoilers for 'Dark' Season 3 Episode 4 'The Origin'
Even with so many episodes into Netflix's German series 'Dark', one cannot seem to skip the mesmerizing intro of Apparat's 'Goodbye'. 'The Origin' consists of a lot of big reveals so only proceed reading if you've watched and fully understood the previous episode.
In 1953, Egon Tiedemann's (Sebastian Hülk) affair with Hannah (Maja Schöne) is in full swing. At the same time, his wife Doris (Luise Heyer) is desperate in search of Agnes Nielsen (Antje Traue), but Egon pays her no heed. Later when Hannah reveals to him that she is pregnant, he wants nothing to do with it. Hannah decides that she will be getting an abortion.
Agnes is actually with Adam (Dietrich Hollinderbäumer), a part of the Sic Mundus Creatus Est. The question about the origin is still the main issue of the series. As Adam is on his quest to destroy the origin of the cycle, he begins to place all the pieces in their right places.
In Other Martha's world, in November 2052, the land is barren, the skies empty and the future grim. Here, Other Martha is finally told of the incestuous family tree and the role she has to play in it. Other Martha still hopes for this whole mess to be a dream but unfortunately for her, it is not. She is still to turn into Eva (Barbara Nüsse), and once that happens, it's a point of no return.
Later, Doris also meets the three Unknowns — played by Jakob Diehl, Old Unknown by Hans Diehl and Young Unknown by Claude Heinrich — who basically prompt her to finally get out the closet — all indirectly. The scene is terrifying as we're worried Doris might be next on their list to kill. But as she walks away, we realise what is to come for her and Egon.
We now also know the very crucial role that Unknown really plays. As it turns out, the nuclear power plant in Winden was having trouble with permissions — the plan wasn't getting approved at all. It is the Unknowns who, literally at gunpoint, get the plans approved leaving them outside Bernd Doppler's (Anatole Taubman) mansion.
Back in the Tiedemann household, Doris tells her husband that she wants a divorce. This is a long time coming, even before Agnes made her way into their lives. "The ways of the heart cannot be explained. It does what it wants," she tells him — words that Unknown told her. And which also is pretty much the theme of the series.
It is at this point that Egon begins his tryst with alcohol, eventually becoming the drunk inspector who was in charge of Mad's missing case. When Hannah shows up for her abortion, she meets young Helene Albers (Mariella Aumann). Now Hannah has changed her name to Katharina when she came to this time period. And that is the name Helene names her child — Katharina. It is revealed that the diary that is passed around from one person to the other is written by the Unknown.
Back in Eva's world, Other Martha and Jonas she'd their inhibitions and unite. With a beautifully painful background score of 'The Labyrinth Song' by Asaf Avidan. And can we just say how great actors Hofmann and Vicari are — their chemistry is unmatched. The song bears importance to the labyrinth that both Martha and Jonas find themselves in - time and again.
The sequence also seems to reveal Claudia's (Gwendolyn Göbel) and Tronte's (Joshio Marlon) love affair. Doris and Tiedemann's divorce brings the two teenagers closer to each other - a connection that doesn't dwindle years later when Tronte (Felix Kramer) is married to Jana.
Back in Jonas' world, Adam finally reveals to Other Martha what the origin of the cycle is. As it turns out, Eva sent her younger self and Jonas back to consummate their relationship. They were never meant to stop the apocalypse but were to "create the seed". And the seed, Martha and Jonas' son, is Unknown! The beginning of the knot and its end, Adam tells her.
All episodes of 'Dark' are currently streaming on Netflix.
