Where's Wanda?

After watching the show, and only learning towards the start of the first episode that it was in German I must say that the acting was so compelling I almost didn't need to use the subtitles. It's a quirky comedy with a complex dynamic of family emotions in a very trying time After the first two episodes. I'm excited to see more.

Wanda's mother or the actress who plays her is what steals the show. There were a few scenes in the first episode where I was completely captivated by the actresses ability to convey those complex emotions I mentioned earlier, the only downside of the show and reading subtitles while watching it is that you can find yourself missing out on incredible color pallets and visually interesting camera work trying to decipher a sentence during an important plot point.

Review of Where's Wanda?

After reading a favorable review of "Where's Wanda? In the NYT, I decided to check out this series. I'm a struggling language student looking for a respite from the drudgery of studying basic German. "Where's Wanda?" turned out to be perfect. The series, about the bumbling efforts of the suburban Klatt family to find their kidnapped daughter is funny and engaging.

Although the dialog is very simple, it is still way above my A2 German level. Dual language subtitles aren't available on Apple TV (as they are for Netflix), so there are many steps I must take to slow down the playback, capture screenshots and translate the dialog. I wouldn't go to this effort for most of the German language series appropriate for my level.

Even if you aren't a language student, this sweet, goofy dramedy is a gem. The cast of characters includes Carlotta and Dedo, the endearingly inept parents; Ole, their über-capable and nerdy deaf son; and of course, Wanda, their eye-rolling, smart-mouthed daughter. And what's not to love about a town that holds an annual festival in honor of its very own mythical evil hairy monster, the Nuppelwochen?

Many scenes are improbably silly: After Dedo detaches a (presumably) venomous snake from Carlotta's leg, he is told he cannot not let it go-the snake must go along to the ER for proper identification. As the couple drives to the hospital, an arm hangs out of the car window, grasping a brightly colored serpent. The Klatts come up with one hopelessly misguided scheme after another...but their hearts are in the right place, so we hope for the best for them.

Although it had a weird and for my taste slow start, the show got better, deeper and more intriguing along the way. I liked the combination of dark humor and an unfolding mystery that at times is best described as a tragedy. However, the beautifully written and portrait characters give it an uplifting vibe which is gripping. I felt touched and connected with Wanda's Family at any point along the way despite the many questionable actions that were taken. After the first two episodes I didn't really want to like it and then I ended up binge watching it, writing this review with a big smile on my face.

Look, we're only 3 episodes into this series, so nobody can really rate it fairly except on those three episodes.

After the first episode, I would have rated it a 5/10. After the second episode, I would have given it a 7/10, and after the third episode, I'm sticking with 7/10.

The first episode was a little goofy and just so wholesome as to be boringly corny. Add the German language and culture (which is the primary reason I'm watching this series, for language learning), and it seemed like they didn't know what they were doing. Just another poorly written German series when they're honestly capable of so much more.

BUT, after the second episode, with a decent cliffhanger-like ending that makes you question what you think you know from the first episode, you think OK, I gotta see the next episode to see what happens. Of course, that was last week and the third episode just came out a day or two ago.

So, after the third episode, you get another little morsel of potential plot twisting that teases the idea that you, the viewer, don't have the whole picture here in this story. There seems to be something completely off going on here. Like maybe I'm being played with, as the viewer. Almost, maybe, topsy-turvy.

Yeah, I'd go as far as to give it an 8/10 at this point, but not until I see some proof of what I'm seeing, proof that there may be some really ingenious writing here, not just people who seem clever, but are actually bad writers trying to be clever.

It's definitely worth hanging onto this series through the end of the season to see what happens. Take the season as a whole before deciding if this is good or not.

I guess the overall score is not representative for this fantastic, heartfelt dark comedy, you literally can't dub German humor. It's like with Korean shows such as Squid Game, you watch it in the original language with subtitles or you don't watch it at all. Axel Stein is in the business since he is a little boy, he was always sarcastic, the reason why he is still in business is because he is somewhat unique with the way he uses his voice, this will get lost in translation no matter how good the actor on the other side of the microphone is. It's a cute comedy series, with a heartfelt topic, where two average people are crossing lines into a world they never thought they would cross in order to find their missing daughter. Give it a chance, it's quite funny.