Sebastian Fitzeks Die Therapie

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.

Surprised to see a German TV series on Amazon Prime just as we were getting bored with other programmes. We started watching this without much expectation knowing the ratings and reviews of this series being just about average. While we persisted in watching it, the story is getting better and better with twists and turns and a very surprising ending.

The story was weird to start with as the protagonist - Dr Victor Larenz, a psychiatrist with his wife and daughter living in a luxury villa near Berlin - was experiencing a personal crisis after the disappearance of his only child. The story goes back and forth mixing the present and flashbacks to trace the trajectory of his daughter's experience of growing up in a bourgeois family with a strict discipline imposed by her parents. Then we see the usual story of a teenager's rebellion and her final disappearance which resulted in the bitter separation of the parents. The personal crisis prompted Larenz to quit his job and travelled to a completely deserted North Sea island in the middle of a cold winter to have a soul-searching holiday alone. With excellent cinematography, the bleak winter beach scene perfectly conveys the feeling of desolation and despair of the protagonist. Then a series of weird things happened on the island.

At the same time, a side-plot developed in Berlin with Dr Larenz's colleague Dr Roth working in the same psychiatric clinic. The story exposes some of the common problems in the West - drug abuse and other social ills in the streets of Berlin. Roth helped Larenz to the end to solve the mystery of his daughter's disappearance.

A thought-provoking series which mixes the hallucinatory scenes with the bleak reality in the style of a psychological thriller. The story is not tinted by the usual "political correctness" and does not seek to sell any political agenda. It is both satisfying as an intriguing story as well as an example of aesthetically appealing cinematography without any special effects. Well worth watching. Highly recommended.

The only regret is the dubbing voices (in English) which sound a bit robotic - not natural enough as the native speakers.

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.

(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.

This is truly a psychological mystery and contains twists and turns and unexpected imaginings. I am surprised there are such low ratings by some people. The cinematography was beautiful, the acting was very well done especially the main character Victor. Such a range of emotions. The two teenage girls also I think did an excellent job of being typically moody in a very believable way. The second main character Roth also carried off his part very well. The layers upon layers of imaginings versus reality gave the plot a lot of mysterious ambience that was enhanced by the musical score. There were some very tender and moving moments especially at the end. The dubbing was pretty good so all in all I really was captivated by this Limited series.