Critic Reviews

It’s a testament to their storytelling prowess that their climactic gambit not only works as well as it does, but brings the series to a thrilling and satisfying conclusion. No time-travel saga has ever been this headache-inducingly elaborate, original and poignant.

The season-three set pieces are gorgeous, as the German show remains fantastic on a technical level. The camerawork goes from feeling hectic and nervy to slow, steady, and measured several times throughout each episode. It’s disorienting, just like the layered narrative it’s depicting. Hoffman’s performance continues to be top-tier, especially from a young actor. ... One of the most mind-melting shows on television, and possibly the most unique Netflix original, “Dark” finishes its run with peak writing, shocking conclusions, and a bittersweet sense of finality.

Even with all that uncertainty, “Dark” has maintained that highwire act for three of the most thrilling sci-fi TV seasons ever made. To see it make it across the chasm with its ambitions and technique intact is certainly something worth remembering.

Dark's moody, mind-bending, and emotionally resonant narrative often feels like it's pulling inspiration from something closer to David Lynch's Twin Peaks.

"Dark" Season 2 is completely incomprehensible unless one has seen the first season. ... Despite all of the time travelers gadding about where they don’t belong and the mind- and time-bending activities, devoted fans of "Dark" will only be inspired to dig in more. The characters are just far too compelling to abandon in their never-ending hours of need, and the challenge of having these characters break the cycle is also a draw.

A consistently engaging genre effort in its own right, employing unsettling production values and an enormous cast of well-drawn characters for a narratively splintered investigation into questions of fate and free will. ... Come for the surface similarities to Stranger Things, stay for the unique time-travel insanity.

Jonas’s search for answers offers the pleasures of puzzle-solving, if not profound drama, and if you give Dark a few episodes you may find yourself hooked.

Dark skillfully pulls on its narrative threads until they’re head-spinningly knotted. In the four episodes provided to the press, it expands on most of its myriad aspects, developing its central relationships, introducing new antagonists (including a shadowy puppetmaster), and disclosing more about its overarching mythology.

The narrative is forbiddingly elaborate on purpose. What matters is how it feels to the members of this exclusive little club – and Dark, with its absolute sincerity and lush production, is a luxurious myth.

Dark is distilled to its essence, which is a mix of epic philosophical arguments and sad vignettes about loss and betrayal, all wrapped up in anything-goes sci-fi and gorgeous production design that delivers ice-cool ideas and imagery.