4… 3… 2… 1…
Everyone knows that there are a lot of film trilogies out there, but I don’t think that I’ve ever seen the development of an apparent trilogy of television series until I came across the Deutschland franchise. Anna and Jörg Winger’s spy epic is tense, exciting, and a lot more down to earth than a lot of other espionage titles that are out there, but you already know about that if you’ve been following this blog for any length of time. With that said, one question remains.
Does Deutschland 89 stick the landing in a satisfying way?
Oh, yes.
You Get Killed, Jailed, Or Hired.
Martin is more sympathetic here than in the other two installments, but that’s because we know what he’s protecting.
Before we begin, I’d like to point out that you won’t be able to fully understand this series without having a look at Deutschland 83 and 86. Therefore, I’m going to skip an examination of the performances and examine the character arcs of this series.
They’re all great anyway, so you’re not missing much.
One nice thing about Deutschland 89 is how it reintroduces and reinforces each of the major characters and where they ended up. The viewer spends quite a bit of time with Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay) before the plot kicks in, and that helps the audience get attached to the character again in an interesting and organic way. Sure, he is an agent of the Stasi, but his attachments and personal misgivings provide a reasonable way to look past that. After all, it seems like he’s done with the spy game, right?
Well, it turns out that the spy game isn’t done with him. He gets dragged into another trouble-fueled adventure in the shadow of history, and we’re off to the races.
Once the plot kicks into high gear, the writing clearly spells out the primary themes in a way that makes sense, so lets take a look at that!
A Wall Comes Down.
Brigitte Winkelmann (Lavinia Wilson) is back, and she has a bone to pick with our protagonist.
I think it’s safe to say that Deutschland 89 is a unique drama because of its social and political underpinnings. Much like its predecessors, it tackles the critical problems of the era, but it doesn’t commit the cardinal sin of turning the characters into obvious mouthpieces for the writing staff. Most other stories don’t work as well as this one does because they hit with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, but the scripts puts the horror, intrigue, and hilarity of the era under the microscope in a profound way.
But before we get into that, let’s look at some history!
It’s November, 1989, and the East Germans have had enough. The ruling regime has failed in all but name, discontent is in the air, and cracks are beginning to show up in the Iron Curtain. All the while, pressure has been building over what exactly is supposed to be done in Berlin. After all, a giant wall is splitting the city in two.
So, what is a spy to do?
I won’t spoil much here, but the opening episode is a representation of historical fiction at its finest. It presents a logical, reasonable, and thought-provoking shadow history for one of the most triumphant events of the 20th Century.
Yes, the real events probably didn’t play out this way, but the storytelling is a good reflection of the hope and fear that was on many minds back then. On one end, the citizens of Germany are happy and hopeful because the winds of change are blowing for the first time in a long time. On the other, many of the government officials in East Germany hilariously look like they’re on the verge of ripping their hair out over the impending fall of communism. Markus Fuchs (Uwe Preuss) even makes an excuse that NATO wants to invade East Germany just to see the luxury of communism, which made me giggle like an idiot when I first heard it.
With all of that in mind, the real meat of the story comes from the war that follows. In a bit of a reflection of the coup attempts and crises that preceded the end of the Soviet Union, the show delves into a battle between two opposing factions. On one side, there are true believers like Lenora Rauch (Maria Schrader) and Grigore Antonescu (Emil Hostina). On the other, Martin, the CIA, the BND, and a school teacher named Nicole Zangen (Svenja Jung) are making plans for the dawn of a global and liberal world order.
This setup begs the obvious question: What exactly can people do when the world as they know it is falling apart?
Of course, there are twists and turns that I won’t spoil here, but I will say that they are refreshingly original in a way that many other properties just can’t manage. There are plenty of scary and thrilling moments, but sometimes a duck is just a duck.
You’ll understand what I mean when you near the end.
Okay, What’s Wrong With It?
The writers managed to sneak in a few darkly funny observations about our modern world. I love them, but your mileage may vary.
Deutschland 89 has a few flaws here and there, but I can’t quite figure out if they are the fault of the writing or the fact that I didn’t do a binge rewatch of the previous installments before I saw this one.
To give you an idea of what I mean, I could definitely follow the main characters on their journey, but I had a harder time with some members of the supporting cast. For instance, I easily picked out Tina Fischer (Fritzi Haberlandt) because of the horrors that she had endured. However, I couldn’t remember Rose (Florence Kasumba) for some strange reason, even though I have a photo of one of her scenes from 86 in my look at it!
It’s odd.
I kind of have to ding the show because of a piece of its ending, though. At the very end of the journey, there’s a run-through of historical events that lead up to the modern day, and it ends with a shot at Donald Trump. While I’m annoyed at the goofy idiot as much as any sane person would be, that ending doesn’t really explain what rebuilds the tyranny exemplified by the Berlin Wall. Every nation polices its own borders in some way, but I got the impression from this very trilogy that tyrannical institutions emerge from overwhelming state power AND a terrible ideology.
You’ll find no shortage of quotes to that effect from the Donald, but the writers didn’t include them. Therefore, it stands to reason that some people might not get what is being said unless they’re Americans.
It’s a minor problem, but it messes with the message a little bit.
Other than that, I think that any other flaws might be cases of “Your Mileage May Vary,” rather than actual issues. Some people might not like the comic relief, others might wonder why they’re aren’t more action scenes, and still more might wonder about the semi-silly investment scenes in Episode 4, but I think that the whole package comes together in an understandable way.
Conclusion.
I genuinely like Nicole’s role in the story.
Deutschland 89 is a crowning achievement in spy fiction and an intriguing snapshot of history in one package. The story is well done, I felt like I knew the characters well, and the action scenes are intense in every conceivable way. And above all else, it actually delivers a satisfying ending to the story that was started back in 2015.
I’m inspired by it as a writer and a fan of the spy thriller, and I hope that you’ll be, too.
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