Oderbruch

Rare quality show on ARD with international cast

Without spoiling where this is going: I recommend watching the whole series either in one go or split into two.

Definitely watch the first 3 or 4 episodes back-to-back, since the first episode alone is not a good representation of what the show is like on the whole.

Those of us who live in Germany know better than to expect good writing, direction and cinematography on top of okay acting.

We do have a number of extremely talented actors here, but more often than not, the production around them fails them completely.

Not the case with "Oderbruch".

It starts benignly enough with a flood situation of the river Oder near the German border to Poland, but the flood is, like many things in this wildly ambitious series, merely a metaphore.

I mentioned DARK in the title. This series has nothing to do with DARK in terms of content or plot. It's totally different in every single way except one: like a folded piece of paper, both Oderbruch and DARK unfold bit by bit. And every time a new information is added, the nature of the series is changed forever.

This makes this series not only watcheable, but rewatcheable. Even the first episode, which as I said does not represent what the show is like, gives you more the second time around.

Not only is Oderbruch twisty, different and interesting. It is also ambitious. If a second season gets made, I am sure the story will expand even further in its scope. I am very willing to sacrifice the Fernsehgarten for that, even though the bosses at ARD would disagree with me.