dahmenjudith

To be honest, I don't watch a lot of German film productions because frankly, many of them are full of clumsy dialogie which throws me off and keept me from getting immersed in the story. I only gave "Kohlrabenschwarz" a chance because it was created by Tommy Krappweis, whom I knew to be a fantastic author with refreshingly-creative ideas, capable of writing thrilling stories, which - in contrast to most other German productions - would never lack a good amount of clever humor.

All of that would not have been worth anything if the actors hadn't delivered a convincing performance, but luckily, every single casting choice was a brilliant one, and I honestly was hooked from the first minute on.

When you throw a thrilling crime drama in a blender along with some mystery and a good deal of humor, that's when you get Kohlrabenschwarz. I know it sounds weird to combine these three, but trust me, this show is SO worth your time, and I almost dare to _promise_ you that you'll be well entertained.

I wish there were more German shows of this high value.

Remember the movies? These two films which basically had _nothing_ in common with the books except the names of the places and characters?

As a long-time fan of Rick Riordans books, I was very sceptic when I first heard that Disney+ was planning to take on the Percy Jackson stories, but when I learned it would be a series this time (meaning probably less rushed, more time for world building and character development), and that the author would be heavily involved in the production, I dared to be cautiously-hopeful.

What shall I say? This series is everything we had hoped for and more! This is what "bringing a story to life" means. It is SO true to the books, and the few subtle changes they made are reasonable and even give some scenes more value. It's not a word-for-word copy of the book, which seems to be what some viewers did expect, but that's not how adaptations work. The story does tick off all the important waypoints of the book though and leads to the same status quo in the end.

All actors give their 100%, and some talents blew me away, like what especially Walker Scobell, Aryan Simhadri, Virginia Kull, and Toby Stephens can convey with facial expression alone, without a single word being spoken? Astounding! The chemistry among the entire cast seems to be fantastic, and it shows. The props and sets are all so beautiful, especially the lighting in every scene, and along with the enchanting soundtrack by Bear McCreary, the whole package is a magical experience which made my little nerdy heart very happy.

Throughout the entire season, the script writers have done a phenomenal job. I've never seen a show before where so many things come full circle at a later point. The writing is so coherent, and you feel like not a single word is placed in the script without being given some thought and value.

Also, I know some people have been complaining about the action scenes being too few and too short, but if you go back and read "The Lighting Thief" novel, you'll notice that book 1 didn't have a lot of action in it to begin with, and I honestly appreciate that this show kept the action sequences short and crispy, which left more room for precious character development and worldbuilding. Plus, by keeping the fights short, the CGI department could give their all and create stunning-looking, almost beautiful monsters.

I wouldn't know what to improve if I had done the show myself except maybe two things: 1. Longer episodes in season 2, please.

2. Where IS the season 2 announcement? Don't let us hang here, Disney Plus, this show SO deserves to be renewed because it's fricking outstanding!

Last night, I watched the first episode of Der Greif ("The Griffin", available with English subtitles on Prime Video).

I was sure I wouldn't like it, I was sure it would be typical German cringe since there aren't many German productions I like, and the trailer looked just like what I had expected.

I can't say yet if I'll like the entire show, but what I can say is that episode 1 was truly captivating. It captures school and family life in Germany in the 80s and 90s really convincingly, and the atmosphere surrounding this whole Black Tower prophecy thing is dense and thrilling.

To my own surprise, I'm planning on watching the rest of the show as soon as I can find a little time to do so. 👍