The Therapy

(Translated with DeepL from German) The short series (6 episodes) begins with the disappearance of 13-year-old Josie and a completely distraught father who, at the start of the series two years later, travels to the island of Parkum (similar to a North Sea island) to find peace with his dog. By smoothly alternating between events on Parkum, which don't always seem coherent or logical from the viewer's eye, and memories of the past between the father, mother and daughter, it's still possible to get a good picture of the characters. As is typical in German crime/thriller productions, the characters are somewhat overdrawn, though less noticeably so than in other examples. Therefore, it is easy to immerse oneself in the thoughts and needs of the various roles, and to gain some appreciation for many of the important characters.

The story remains permanently exciting and offers some surprises, which greatly reduce the predictability of the plot. Thus, the viewer is kept guessing until the very end. There are a few plot holes, but they are only minor and therefore don't interrupt the thread.

In terms of setting, much of the action takes place on the island of Parkum with its classic North Sea/Baltic Sea charm. Wide sand dunes as panoramic shots and gloomy forests with stormy weather regularly remind you that this series is originally German. Other locations include the city of Berlin, the main protagonist's villa, and a clinic run by the second main protagonist, Dr. Roth, which is introduced as a second story strand at the beginning.

The Cons (Contains minor spoilers): While I had a lot of fun binge-watching the series, the setting on Parkum Island reminded me a bit unimaginatively of Shutter Island. Since other aspects of the series are also reminiscent of Shutter Island, they could have at least thought of something other than a vacation on an island. Some sub-aspects of the story were also only explained very briefly and therefore didn't fit too organically into the rest of the plot. This is exactly what other productions (like Shutter Island) do much better, probably because the roles already carry bigger signs of their past through the main plot than in "Therapy". However, the shift from thriller to heavily emotional moments (slightly overdrawn) was a pleasant refreshment.

Solid 7-8/10.

Really interesting story, a 10 but average editing, a 5.

I highly recommend.

Very good acting.

The English dubbing was excellent, I usually prefer to watch in the original language but this time I made an exception and I was very pleased.

I am usually not too fond of German cinema (of course with some exceptions). This was similar to a British production/series.

I liked the fact there was no clichés or any politically correct agenda. It is refreshing that there's wasn't any agenda forced on us.

Don't miss it.

Not predictable at all: a bonus as I tend to guess and it takes away the experience.

Maybe a bit slow as well.

I like this type of mystery series and movies. The series itself did not reinvent the wheel. And it didn't need to. What matters is how the story is told and whether the narrative holds you on all the way.

One of the key strengths of the series was that it was only six episodes long. A longer series would have meant an artificial extension and content. I would like to see more series of 4-6 episodes. With the growing popularity of series, it seems that many film scripts are being turned into 8-12 episode series. Slowly warming up a series is one thing, but artificially lengthening it without adding value is another.

But as I said, this series was the right length and had enough to hold you watching. Granted, the series did contain various silliness, but that's the way it is usually. All in all, the series was quite watchable, but this series isn't memorable. You can easily watch it and enjoy, but after somedays you won't probably remember that's much about it. And that is quite ok.

I have not read the book so I'm not sure how true the series is to the book. However, I found the series to be a very enjoyable watch and highly engaging.

The focus of the story is regarding the missing daughter of the main character, Dr. Larenz. Josy goes missing at the age of 13. The series moves between different time points starting with the day of her disappearance and it moves into the past and into the future, 2 years after her disappearance. Ultimately we learn the fate of Josy, but I won't give any spoilers away.

As well as moving between different timelines, we are also moving between different sub-plots and everything came together at the end.

The characters are believable and well acted. I watched the version with the English dubbing and it was good.

The setting of the series is in Germany. In some episodes we are taken to an atmospheric island in the North Sea called Parkum, a setting that I enjoyed.

The number of episodes and the length of the episodes was right, in my opinion.

Overall, I can highly recommend this series.

I wasn't aware of the original novel, so I came to this without prior knowledge or expectations. It seemed like the sort of thing I would usually enjoy. I watched the dubbed-in-English version which probably made it less enjoyable than a subtitled version.

At the end of episode one, my partner was keen to continue. I would have abandoned it. The pace was glacial! Oh well, only two more to go, I mistakenly thought. Unfortunately, there were six in total! Three too many!

The "what happened to Josy" mystery was quite easy to solve, unfortunately. I grew to quite like Dr Roth and the spiky older woman though, which was the only saving grace.