johnnysokko

I've seen this movie before; it's called Ad Astra. Ambitious, but emotionally absent(and inconsiderate, I guess) husband leaves perfect wife behind to go on vital space mission. In both movies, the man is plagued by memories of a deeply flawed father, leaving them emotionally scarred and unable to reciprocate their perfect wives' love.

While in Ad Astra, Brad Pitt's character discovers his shortcomings pieces at a time: though memory, experience, and various encounters - here, they forgo all nuance. We simply have a spider companion who directly and endlessly tells Adam Sandler what an ass he is to his wife. But both movies share one emotional theme: fathers suck and their sons are not much better. Relationships are all about men needing to open up more. This is not so bad by itself. But I've seen this in so many movies and TV shows by now it's starting to get tiresome. With all the fancy camera-work, heavy performances, and ambient music, this story still just beats you over the head with it's message without offering anything other than an overused cliché.

Other movies in the past have a truly more nuanced approach. Try Solaris(either version), for example. I appreciate the production of this film, really. It's just that this come off as a feminist fantasy rather than good science fiction.

While the crime in Der Pass is interesting, the real treat of this series is the two police detectives tasked with solving it. German detective Ellie Stocker(Julia Jentsch) is friendly and enthusiastic, while her Austrian counterpart, Gedeon Winter (Nicholas Ofczarek) is apathetic and completely uninterested in the case of a murder on the border of their two countries.

Winter, in particular is strangely appealing as someone who's seemingly given up on life. Still, he does care just a little. Ofczarek's performance steals the show, imo. He is amazing. Meanwhile, Ellie, is shockingly(by today's standards) quite normal. Yes, she's determined and smart, but not angry and overly-aggressive as women are required to be depicted in typical police dramas. She's a refreshing character, and it's absolutely fascinating for these two personalities to slowly trade moods in opposite trajectories throughout the show.

Season 1 is essentially perfect. The ending is bittersweet and goes where it should. So I was surprised to find out there were two more after that. They weren't really necessary, but Season 2 does add some interesting dynamics, and Season 3 delves into Winter's past, hinted at in the first season. But his background story and the crime everyone's trying to solve have nothing to do with, and distract, from one another. I wonder if they could have been handled separately. That said, I'm glad I watched them all, and really appreciate the characters the show created.

We finally get to see the Sermon On The Mount. Although Christians are well familiar with its words, it's something else to see it affecting disciples visually.

Jesus also meets Judas, formally. Unlike all other invitations to join him, this particular offer sounds...heavier. It's written and played with an excellently deft touch. The writers and Dallas continue to impress with nuance and awareness.

My only gripe is that shaky-cam is back. I didn't notice it much in the second season, but back in the first season they were using this method too much, to the point of distraction. Now, in this episode is becomes noticeable again, especially in the scene with John The Baptist and Andrew. The camera is moving all over the place for such a still scene. I wish they would calm down with that.