I've just finished watching this eight-part series streaming on Apple TV, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The storyline is quite straightforward: a young woman goes missing and her family are convinced that she was kidnapped by someone nearby, so they start investigating everyone in the neighborhood, in the process uncovering all sorts of odd and illegal behavior.
I think the series is properly categorized as "black comedy," combining true comedy with dark elements of murder and endangered-animal trafficking. The cast were all new to me, but presumably well known to continental viewers: "International Emmy Award nominee Heike Makatsch (“Love Actually”), German Comedy Award winner Axel Stein (“The Vault”), multiple award-winning actress Lea Drinda ("The Gryphon”), newcomer Leo Simon, entrepreneur, actress and author Nikeata Thompson (“How to Dad”), presenter and actress Palina Rojinski (“Welcome to Germany”), Kostja Ullmann (“My Blind Date With Life”) and rising star Harriet Herbig-Matten (“Maxton Hall”)." All of them are excellent in their character portrayals.
Because of my German-as-a-second-language background, I enjoyed leaving the audio set up as the original German with English subtitles. And I was pleased to note that in the closing moments of the eighth and final episode, just 15 seconds before the end credits started to roll, there was a totally unexpected out-of-the-blue plot twist which undoubtedly foreshadows a second season. A quick search revealed that a second season has not yet been announced; presumably the creators are waiting to see the response to this first season in order to secure funding, but with a score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, I should think a second season is guaranteed.
Oh nein, sie haben es auf Englisch synchronisiert !
ReplyDeleteYes, that's the way I set up the trailer since most of my audience are Americans. If you would like to hear it auf Deutsch, use the "Settings" button on the video to make the switch.
DeleteMy European friends ask me why so few Americans (meaning people from the USA) speak a second language. I think it's a shame that we don't but if from Reykjavik to Istanbul and Helsinki to Gibraltar everybody spoke the not only the same language but basically the same dialect, I doubt many Europeans would speak more than one language.
ReplyDeleteApparently 20% of Americans speak more than one language, which is going to cover people for whom English is a first language but also those that have English as a second language.
DeleteSurprisingly, 36% of Britons are fluent in more than one language, which is possibly because there are the native speakers of Irish, Welsh and Scottish, a sizable Asian population and a history of EU inward migration.
A second language was mandatory when I was at school, and I think it still might be, but my smattering of French and German is limited to ordering beer.
Oh, I'd also say that even if there was homogeneity of language across the EU, unless they settled on English there would still be a lot of people wanting to learn English for practical (business) and impractical (mass media entertainment) reasons.
DeleteAlso, if the EU ever decided they should pick one common language I would guess we would be closer to WWIII sparking off over the negotiations than anything Putin has managed so far.