Sebastian Fitzek's Therapy (Serie de TV)

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.

I was waiting to watch something causual and call it a night ! Yea ok binge watched the whole series.

What an interesting story this was. Tugged at my heart strings and I played right into the story of this beret father.

Also so curious about the institute he had worked for. There's always a good story in a mental institution. Always.

It is a bit slow but that makes up for how quick a scene goes by that you have to rewind in your mind before another quick one comes.

Out of the blue I choose a show reading no reviews at all and enjoyed it immensely.

Great acting, captivating scenery. Lots of false clues. For a Friday night binge I saw bravo!

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.

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.