DARK Season 3: Episodes 3 and 4 Recap

In DARK season 3 episodes 3 and 4 we get some answers about the origin of this crazy, cyclical world and we also get to revisit one of our favorite characters and she what kinda crazy she’s up to!

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SPOILERS AHEAD!

Some Things We Missed

Before we dive in, we want to make note of a few things we missed in our discussion of episodes 1 and 2.

We knew there had to be a point to the Lip Trio having the cleft lip. A little googling told us that cleft lip and cleft palate are thought to be caused by a combination of genetics and other factors, such as things the mother comes in contact with in her environment.

Astute observers might have already taken this clue that the Lip Trio is the child of two people that are genetically related. But with this show, that could be a lot of people…

We missed that Killian is the older brother of the missing boy Eirk. He does exist in World A, although he was never formally introduced in the show before.

We have confirmed that it was Bernd Doppler that the Lip Trio kill in the mansion to get the master power plant key and that Daniel Kahnwald is Ines’s father, who died in 1964.

Episode 3: “Adam and Eva”

Why do they call older Martha “Eva” instead of “Eve?” Eva is the standard biblical form of “Eve” in many European languages. Since we are American, we wondered if there was any significance to the use of “Eva.” But because DARK is a German show, Eva is just what they would normally use. The use of these biblical names symbolizes that Martha and Jonas are the beginning of everything, but a flawed version of God’s creation.

In this episode, we start in the future with older Martha/Eva telling Jonas that he needs to save both worlds. He needs to show World B Martha who she is so she can become “Eva.”

We are seeing that Eva wants everything to continue as it always has, while Adam wants to break the cycle. Eva tells Jonas, “If you want to save your Martha, you have to choose the side of light. And you must make me what you see I’ve become.” Jonas is frustrated and tired of all the manipulation.

We also learn that Eva is in charge of the Lip Trio. They are doing her bidding throughout time, just like Noah is doing Adam’s bidding in World A.

Then we go to 2019, still in World B. Ulrich is investigating the dead boy who mysteriously showed up in the bunker. He believes the boy, Mads, and Erik are somehow connected, but he doesn’t know how yet. He breaks things off with Charlotte. This all parallels what happened in World A.

Badass Martha, back in 1888, tells Bartosz that Jonas is Adam, which leads to a fight between Bartosz and Jonas. What was Badass Martha’s reason for going to 1888? We later find out that Adam sent her to give Jonas the God Particle to power the time machine. She then takes her gold orb device and goes to the future to meet up with Adam.

Martha, like Jonas, seems unsure of her path. She is being manipulated by Eva, just as Jonas is by Adam, but we see in many instances that both Jonas and Martha seem to “fight against their older selves.” I wonder if Badass Martha told Bartosz about Jonas being Adam in order to stir up trouble and make the other teens (Magnus and Franziska are also stuck in this time) distrust Jonas?

Back in World B 2019, Charlotte finds a necklace in the bunker with a penny on it – just like the one Helge is holding. When she questions him about it, he confesses to killing Mads.

Hannah bribes Alexander to destroy Charlotte – just like she bribed him to destroy Ulrich in World A.

Jonas shows World B Martha the cave and takes her to meet her older self.

Episode 4: “The Origin”

DARK season 3 episode 4 is a great episode that plays out largely in World A 1954 and answers some questions we’ve had (Hannah!)

It starts with Young Tronte walking by the Winden Cave. He stops and seems entranced by the dark mouth of the cave. The Lip Trio are suddenly there and the leader tells Tronte, “We are attracted to the dark like moths to the light.”

Lip man says he knew Tronte’s mother long ago (that would be Agnes). He also said he chose Tronte’s name! Could this be the husband Agnes spoke about – the one she ran away from? Are THEY the origin??

Lip man gives Tronte a bracelet with a snake on it, saying it belonged to his mother. Snake is significant, symbolizing temptation. But temptation of whom?

Egon, Hannah, Doris & Agnes

Next we see Egon and Hannah having sex. (Yay – we are so excited to see how Hannah’s story goes!) Egon says he loves her, which is symbolic because Ulrich never said he loves her – he would just say “you’re beautiful.”

Egon gives her the St. Christopher traveler’s pendant. Then he says “You’re beautiful,” which makes her think of Ulrich.

Agnes has disappeared from 1954. (We know she went to the future and teamed up with Adam.) Egon’s wife Doris is desperate to find Agnes (you’ll remember they were having an affair). She brings Egon a handkerchief she found with Agnes’s clothing. It has “HT” embroidered on it. A minister who disappeared around the same time was named “Hanno Tauber.”

Mrs. Doppler also visits Egon about the missing minister. We know from a previous season that Mrs. Doppler was very fond of the minister – and that was Noah. So Hanno Tauber is Noah.

Doris goes to the church, looking for more info about Hanno. The Lip Trio are there. The leader says he knows she is really looking for the mother. “The ways of the heart cannot be explained. It wants what it wants. Just ask your husband.”

So why did the trio want Doris to know this info? To make her leave Egon? We know Egon is a drunk in the future… Does Doris’s decision to leave him send Claudia in a specific direction?

We also find out that Hannah is pregnant! She tells Egon and he asks “is it mine?” OOOF. What NOT to say Egon. Hannah realizes men are all the same. Everything repeats itself and this is her lot in life.

Egon gives Hannah the name of a woman who can give her an abortion. She goes, but meets a young girl while waiting. Hannah doesn’t get the abortion, but she leaves the St. Christopher necklace for the young girl who is getting hers. The young girl is Katharina’s mother, Helene! We see her wearing the pendant in 1987 when Katharina meets her at the mental hospital.

Tronte, Claudia, Tronte

Meanwhile, Jana talks to Tronte in the woods. She likes him. He gives her the bracelet. But Claudia wants Tronte… We know that Jana and Tronte get married, but also that Tronte was having an affair with Claudia in the future.

Claudia is at the Doppler mansion and we hear Bernd arguing with someone in the next room. He comes out and gives Claudia money, saying “Helge will be pleased to see you.” She is tutoring Helge, I think. She tells Bernd he’s given her too much money and he basically tells her to take what she deserves. This scene could be a clue to how Claudia became so ambitious and power-hungry.

When the man in Bernd’s office gets in his car, the Lip Trio are there. They force him at gunpoint to sign the building permit for the nuclear power plant.

Alt Martha Accepts Her Fate

We jump to November 6, 2052. Adult Martha shows World B Martha her future and that everyone is dead. She tells Martha the apocalypse happens in both worlds – in two days. Martha won’t believe it.

Adult Martha tries to get Jonas A and Martha B to stop the opening of the barrels at the power plant. She tells them they can only save one world, and she wants Jonas to save World B. She tells Jonas, “You’ve seen what becomes of you [in the other world.] In this world, the two of you can work.”

Again, this middle-aged Martha seems to be working against what Eva wants. Martha and Jonas are constantly unsure of what to do and trusting of no one.

World B Martha runs out of the cave and Jonas chases her. She finally accepts it’s all real and that she has to help Jonas make things right.

Noah shows up in the bunker with adult Martha who just sent Jonas & Martha off. He says, “You gave him his life, and now he will give us ours… you, Agnes, Tronte, Ulrich, Katharina… a line without beginning or end.”

My head was exploding at this point! Who is the “him” that Martha is giving life to? We soon find out…

We jump to the future, maybe 2052? Agnes & Silja share a long hug. What is between them? Adam, Franziska, Magnus, and Badass Martha are also there to send Agnes into the God Particle. Not sure where she is going, but I’m guessing to the past to do her part to continue the cycle.

Badass Martha asks Adam what the origin is. “I kept up my end of the deal,” she says. Adam says it took him 66 years to figure it out and it’s time she understood, too.

Then there’s a montage with the song “Ariadne” playing. Great soundtrack in this series!

• World B Martha and World A Jonas have sex.
• Lip Trio leader writing in the book. These guys are so creepy.
• Hannah takes the time machine and leaves 1954.
• Teenage Claudia takes her clothes off for Tronte.

Adam tells Badass Martha that Eva sent Jonas and Martha to create the seed. “This is the origin. What’s growing inside you is the bridge between both worlds.”

One thing (well, there’s more than one!) I’m confused about it is Badass Martha’s role in all this. If she is working for Eva, why is she in World A with Adam? Is she working as a double-agent to find the origin for Eva?

So WHO will Martha & Jonas’s child be? My first thought was Noah and Fadra’s first thought was the Lip guy.

They immediately cut to a shot of creepy lip guy looking up at the Adam & Eva paintings. Since we don’t know who he is, it makes sense HE might be “the seed.”

Here’s a thought on the infinite loop:

• Lip man is father of Tronte.
• Tronte is father Ulrich
• Ulrich is father of Mikkel
• Mikkel/Michael is father of Jonas
• Jonas is father of Lip man.

It’s starting to come together! The end is the beginning and the beginning is the end.

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