'The Last Word' Review: German series on Netflix is a teary slice of life drama exploring death, grief and closure
Major spoilers for 'The Last Word' on Netflix
Death is inevitably omnipresent. How, when and where it will come for you can hardly ever be determined - that is a mystery we take quite literally to our graves. But in Netflix's German series 'The Last Word', creators Aron Lehmann and Carolina Zimmermann offer an insight into the subject that's rare to come by.
Karla Fazius (Anke Engelke) loses her husband suddenly on the night of their 25th wedding anniversary. The couple had spent the decades building a family, a home and making promises of a lifetime. But Stephan Fazius (Johannes Zeiler) dies of an aneurysm just as the two are supposed to retire to each others' warm embrace.
What follows is Karla's desperate methods to come to terms with Stephan's death. Soon enough, she discovers that there is more to her husband than she had known - he had kept secrets from her and their family, returning home without an iota of guilt. As Karla tries to piece it all together, she finds herself grappling to make sense of her situation, and this new world without her partner. And somehow, she finds the best way for her to become a professional eulogist, working for the same undertaker who arranged her husband's funeral, Andreas Borowski aka Andi (Thorsten Merten).
And so begins Karla's journey to find her own zest for life. The German series 'The Last Word' has us following not only Karla but also Stephan's older daughter Judith (Nina Gummich) and his younger son Tonio's (Juri Winkler) quest to accept their father's death.
15-year-old Tonio finds himself thrust on the cusp of manhood but unable to bear the loss. He shuts himself up in his father's closet time and again, wearing the leather jacket and locking up his feelings - refusing to talk to anyone. On the other hand, Judith is confronted with new responsibilities after spending half a decade away from home. In the midst of all of this, Karla's mother Mina (Gudrun Ritter) is also brought back home for trading her pills at her retirement facility. All of this threatens to ensue into chaos until it does and Karla must find a way to make it right.
Over the course of the six episodes, as we follow the Fazius' grief and loss, we also see Karla try to understand death via her newfound profession. Much to Andi's initial surprise and reluctance, she sticks to her guns giving the kind of funerals one has rarely seen in real life. She accompanies her clients and other mourners making a great effort to give them the farewell they deserve. Who? Not those who have died but those who have lived on. The series sees many different kinds of mourners - some see the departed long after they have died, others look for them in places, some find themselves lost, others cannot fully tear themselves away from memories, and even others who see their own funerals. Karla helps one and all - and yet cannot seem to find her closure. As the need to seek this closure becomes more and more urgent, Karla finds herself stretched thin.
'The Last Word' comments on a powerful, morose subject that is death with much enthusiasm via its protagonist Karla and her quest. It tells the story of how different people deal with the one subject that we can never escape. But more importantly, the series discusses the aftermath of death and the devastation it leaves behind. 'The Last Word' has its ups and downs - the enthusiasm it began with probably dips till it reaches the end - but that doesn't take away from the fact that it took on a mammoth topic and saw it to fulfillment. The series focuses on closure as much as it does on death and grief.
Grief cannot be broken down, dissected and taken care of with the help of a checklist. It needs to be lived through. Netflix's 'The Last Word' is a touching, warm slice of life series that despite its few shortcomings, makes for a teary watch.
All episodes of 'The Last Word' is currently streaming on Netflix.
