Babylon Berlin (Season 3)
Oct. 29th, 2020 09:56 amThis is now available on public broadcast in Germany, and so I watched it. As with the first two seasons, I was charmed, overall liked it a lot and appreciate the timeliness of its themes, but I also at some point rolled my eyes and went "really?" or "but hang on, why is there no follow up to X?"
One general observation of the Doylist versus Watsonian nature: within the show narrative, only a few months have passed between seasons 2 and 3. This is a problem not just because Babylon Berlin, like Lost, Heroes, The Americans, has some young actors who are still growing and thus visibly a year or two older at least, but also because the characters behave as if a year has passed. I did wonder why they bothered with the "only two months" thing at all instead of making the real time equal the show time more, and then I realised that it's probably because Black Friday is a major plot point,and that's a fixed in history 1929 date. Ah well.
Looks wise: the Fritz Lang cinematic influence is still going strong (now with Metropolis in addition to Dr. Mabuse). (Though Esther Kasabian is more sympathetic than Thea von Harbou.) By making the early sound movie in production a musical, the series finds an excuse to keep the singing sequences despite the relative lack of night club scenes (due to the criminal case of the season dealing with a film set and the political threads being night club free as well). There's also a blatant homage to Dr. Caligari thrown in from the silent movie days this time.
The secret rearmament and the chumminess between traditional conservative circles and the Nazis (whose presence keeps increasing) are continuing plot threads from the earlier seasons, and very well done: I can't think of a popular tv series which keeps pointing the finger so relentlessly at the way conservatives (and big industrialists, frequently overlapping groups) thought they could use the Nazis and were willing to do so while thus selling out the republic and democracy they didn't believe in. While Katelbach the journalist was already a character last season, this season puts much more emphasis on the role of the press (which in rl broke the secret rearmament story) and the way reporters and newspaper offices were getting increasingly threatened (and vandalized). Simutanously, the show tries not to idealize the press - the chief editor of the newspaper "Tempo", here standing in for a an amalgan of rl editors like Carl von Ossietzky or Siegried Jacobsohn for many an episode keeps prioritizing the sensational "Serial murder at the movies!" story over the important political "secret illegal rearming by the army" story, but also when his office gets vandalized is courageous (and thereafter gets his priorities straight) and protects his sources. That the conservatives and Nazis keep using the term "Lügenpresse" is both historically accurate and a direct allusion to our current day right wring extremists using that very term in Germany. (You don't have an orange painted creature screaming "Fake News" to find a transatlantic equvivalent, but I think none is necessary.)
In fact, this particular plot to me felt like the most successful of the season. Babylon Berlin in general is good as an ensemble story, with supporting characters being given their own lives, but Katelbach, his and formerly Gereon's landlady Frau Behnke (an excellent Fritzi Haberlandt) and new character Malu Seegers becoming the reporter-whistleblower triad outwitting bullies and soon to be murderous thugs was especially satisfying to watch. (Speaking of the press, I also liked our new m/m couple, Katelbach's reporter colleague and Gereon's police photographer.) (Oh, and it wasn't lost on me that the negative review said reporter writes of the movie that is being produced in the course of the season is a spoof of the more negative reviews Babylon Berlin itself has received among the positive ones. Talk about lampshading.)
I was also thrilled the season introduced one of the rl heroes of the time who I only learned about seven years ago, Hans Litten, for more see here, aka the lawyer who in 1931 would manage to put Hitler himself on the stand. (Not his fault that Hitler wasn't condemned before ever becoming chancellor. Litten gave it his best, and it doomed him, because no prizes for guessing what happened in 1933 when Hitler took office.) By making Charlotte become a part time volunteer in Litten's office, I suspect the show prepares ground to give her another job once 1933 arrives, because I can't see Charlotte sticking around once the Berlin police gets united with the Gestapo. (Err, another job in the sense she now will learn some relevant skills, I mean - Litten himself won't be around to work for anymore, see above.) Meanwhile, it is also good to watch her carve out a place for herself among the Berlin cops and become more and more respected for her investigative skills. There's the obligatory sexist ass, but through the course of the season we also watch the other cops treat her more and more as a colleague (as opposed to a typing girl). On that note, we also see far more than in the first two seasons of Gennat (nicknamed "Buddha" by his team), the legendary Berlin reformer of police investigative methods who was the original for Lang's Kommissar Lomann in M.
And while we're rounding off historical characters, while Gennat and Litten appear as themselves, a character who is evidently Horst Wessel shows up as Horst Kessler. (Though they keep even the first name of his girlfriend/prostitute, Erna.) At at a guess, the name change is for the same reason real life Bernhard Weiss was replaced by fictional character Benda in seasons 1 and 2 - the involvement in a fictional murder plot thread.
On the downside: when it comes to Gereon Rath himself, who gets as close to a main character as the show has, the series repeatedly commits the sin of not following up. Gereon finished last season with a cliffhanger discovery. He starts this season in a state where you're never quite sure how much of his actions are meant to be his own, and how much the result of hypnotizing by this series' homage to Dr. Mabuse, because we do not see him deal with the cliffhanger reveal. Similarly, about two thirds in, ( something spoilery happens ) But either way, it means for most of the season you have no idea what the hell is going on inside the main character. Which is just frustrating.
Deep unanswered question of the season: why is there only one therapist (with more than questionable credentials) in all of Berlin? Fritz Lang homages only allow for so much suspension of disbelief.
Overall, though, I enjoyed watching, and am looking forward to season 4.
One general observation of the Doylist versus Watsonian nature: within the show narrative, only a few months have passed between seasons 2 and 3. This is a problem not just because Babylon Berlin, like Lost, Heroes, The Americans, has some young actors who are still growing and thus visibly a year or two older at least, but also because the characters behave as if a year has passed. I did wonder why they bothered with the "only two months" thing at all instead of making the real time equal the show time more, and then I realised that it's probably because Black Friday is a major plot point,and that's a fixed in history 1929 date. Ah well.
Looks wise: the Fritz Lang cinematic influence is still going strong (now with Metropolis in addition to Dr. Mabuse). (Though Esther Kasabian is more sympathetic than Thea von Harbou.) By making the early sound movie in production a musical, the series finds an excuse to keep the singing sequences despite the relative lack of night club scenes (due to the criminal case of the season dealing with a film set and the political threads being night club free as well). There's also a blatant homage to Dr. Caligari thrown in from the silent movie days this time.
The secret rearmament and the chumminess between traditional conservative circles and the Nazis (whose presence keeps increasing) are continuing plot threads from the earlier seasons, and very well done: I can't think of a popular tv series which keeps pointing the finger so relentlessly at the way conservatives (and big industrialists, frequently overlapping groups) thought they could use the Nazis and were willing to do so while thus selling out the republic and democracy they didn't believe in. While Katelbach the journalist was already a character last season, this season puts much more emphasis on the role of the press (which in rl broke the secret rearmament story) and the way reporters and newspaper offices were getting increasingly threatened (and vandalized). Simutanously, the show tries not to idealize the press - the chief editor of the newspaper "Tempo", here standing in for a an amalgan of rl editors like Carl von Ossietzky or Siegried Jacobsohn for many an episode keeps prioritizing the sensational "Serial murder at the movies!" story over the important political "secret illegal rearming by the army" story, but also when his office gets vandalized is courageous (and thereafter gets his priorities straight) and protects his sources. That the conservatives and Nazis keep using the term "Lügenpresse" is both historically accurate and a direct allusion to our current day right wring extremists using that very term in Germany. (You don't have an orange painted creature screaming "Fake News" to find a transatlantic equvivalent, but I think none is necessary.)
In fact, this particular plot to me felt like the most successful of the season. Babylon Berlin in general is good as an ensemble story, with supporting characters being given their own lives, but Katelbach, his and formerly Gereon's landlady Frau Behnke (an excellent Fritzi Haberlandt) and new character Malu Seegers becoming the reporter-whistleblower triad outwitting bullies and soon to be murderous thugs was especially satisfying to watch. (Speaking of the press, I also liked our new m/m couple, Katelbach's reporter colleague and Gereon's police photographer.) (Oh, and it wasn't lost on me that the negative review said reporter writes of the movie that is being produced in the course of the season is a spoof of the more negative reviews Babylon Berlin itself has received among the positive ones. Talk about lampshading.)
I was also thrilled the season introduced one of the rl heroes of the time who I only learned about seven years ago, Hans Litten, for more see here, aka the lawyer who in 1931 would manage to put Hitler himself on the stand. (Not his fault that Hitler wasn't condemned before ever becoming chancellor. Litten gave it his best, and it doomed him, because no prizes for guessing what happened in 1933 when Hitler took office.) By making Charlotte become a part time volunteer in Litten's office, I suspect the show prepares ground to give her another job once 1933 arrives, because I can't see Charlotte sticking around once the Berlin police gets united with the Gestapo. (Err, another job in the sense she now will learn some relevant skills, I mean - Litten himself won't be around to work for anymore, see above.) Meanwhile, it is also good to watch her carve out a place for herself among the Berlin cops and become more and more respected for her investigative skills. There's the obligatory sexist ass, but through the course of the season we also watch the other cops treat her more and more as a colleague (as opposed to a typing girl). On that note, we also see far more than in the first two seasons of Gennat (nicknamed "Buddha" by his team), the legendary Berlin reformer of police investigative methods who was the original for Lang's Kommissar Lomann in M.
And while we're rounding off historical characters, while Gennat and Litten appear as themselves, a character who is evidently Horst Wessel shows up as Horst Kessler. (Though they keep even the first name of his girlfriend/prostitute, Erna.) At at a guess, the name change is for the same reason real life Bernhard Weiss was replaced by fictional character Benda in seasons 1 and 2 - the involvement in a fictional murder plot thread.
On the downside: when it comes to Gereon Rath himself, who gets as close to a main character as the show has, the series repeatedly commits the sin of not following up. Gereon finished last season with a cliffhanger discovery. He starts this season in a state where you're never quite sure how much of his actions are meant to be his own, and how much the result of hypnotizing by this series' homage to Dr. Mabuse, because we do not see him deal with the cliffhanger reveal. Similarly, about two thirds in, ( something spoilery happens ) But either way, it means for most of the season you have no idea what the hell is going on inside the main character. Which is just frustrating.
Deep unanswered question of the season: why is there only one therapist (with more than questionable credentials) in all of Berlin? Fritz Lang homages only allow for so much suspension of disbelief.
Overall, though, I enjoyed watching, and am looking forward to season 4.