Das Boot

It appears that many viewers were expecting a re-hash of the great 1981 film, DAS BOOT. This series pays homage to the plot of that film, but it goes in a different direction when it comes to the U-boat storyline. And that turns out to be a good thing. Writers decided to combine the submarine story with a Resistance narrative, on land, in La Rochelle where the U-boat base was located. While not perfect, the alternating and intertwining plots in Season One work quite well. Not only is the submarine action extremely well-handled, but period-feel is very strong as well. A major flaw is in the Resistance story where an American woman is placed as leaser of a Resistance cell. Research shows that there was in fact an American woman who was deeply involved in Resistance work (Virginia D'Albert-Lake, born in Ohio), but her story is quite different from that of Ms Monroe in this series. That character in itself is not a fatal problem for series, nor is the briefly depicted romance between Monroe and Simone Strasser. That plotline does seem forced and unconvincing, but it's easy to ignore it amid all the excellent drama that surrounds it. The series shows the often shockingly brutal treatment of French citizens by German occupation forces, and this is drawn from fact. The brave people of the Resistance were truly risking their lives and this series doesn't shy away from showing just how horrific the consequences could be, while never sensationalizing them.

On board the U-boat things are also very convincing: the claustrophobic atmosphere, volcanic tensions between crew members and officers. It's a gripping tale, more than worthy of comparison to the famous film. In this, as in the Resistance narrative, the acting is top-of-the-line.

With Season Two a more serious flaw comes in. Here, there are three plotlines. The added one, about a young Navy officer who is seen as unfit to lead the U-boat mission, is replaced by a mutinous revolt and he ends up in, off all places, New York City. The story set there is rarely convincing and seems much too manufactured, probably to increase viewer interest, something not required since the original two narratives were more than enough. Those two storylines are now well-developed and extremely intense at times. No Spoilers. This is a very good, imperfect series, worthy of anyone's time.

First of all: Don't expect this to be either a remake of the original movie or even a sequel, as has been advertised. This show shares some of the DNA with the aforementioned property (most noticeably parts of the iconic soundtrack) but it's really its own thing. It may have been financially prudent to attach the show to the well-established brand because it helped sell it around the world but I feel like the inevitable backlash this always creates when certain expectations are raised and subsequently disappointed may have done more harm than good, as evidenced by most of the user reviews on here so far.

Second of all: I have seen the whole first season, all 8 episodes. Therefore, I think I can fairly judge whether it's a failure or not. I think that overall, the season is a success; however, I thought that the second half of the season was much stronger than the first and really brought everything together. If I had rated the show after having watched only a few episodes, I would have rated it lower. But I still liked it well enough to continue watching it and I'm glad that I did.

Now on to the review:

The show is well-produced. Lookwise, it has a touch of blandness and cleanliness in the early episodes that seems a bit too sterile and not lived-in enough for my taste but I still vastly prefer this over the ridiculously color-graded period drama look of some other contemporary productions. The grittiness increases with the plot and I like that not everyone's covered in grime and sweat right from the start but only when it makes sense due to the situation. The beards also grow exponentially ;)

The acting is a bit stilted in the beginning and the writing a bit forced (especially the parts with the vulgar dialogue) but this improves as the show goes on and by the end I had a great appreciation for the large cast (yes, the characters are a bit indistinguishable at first but you'd be hard-pressed not to be able to tell the difference after a few episodes). As always, there are some stronger actors and some weaker ones but I don't think there's a true weak spot here.

As for the direction: It was the best part in my opinion. It really elevated the writing and managed to bring a lot of inner turmoil of the characters to the surface. Then again, I'm a fan of Andreas Prochaska's work, full disclaimer, guilty as charged.

I will agree with those who say that having two parallel storylines on the land and on the submarine might not have been the smartest decision because it splits the attention of the viewer and most will find themselves wishing that the show would switch back to the other storyline, depending on their preference. I, for one, really enjoyed both storylines, however, and thought that they were well-balanced. In the first half of the season, I enjoyed the resistance storyline more and in the second half, I enjoyed the submarine storyline more, but both managed to add up to a bigger picture in the end.

I'm not quite sure how to sum up how I feel about the show because there's a lot of heavy stuff in it. More than with any other show I've watched in recent memory, it felt very mature and adult in its content and themes. Don't be fooled by the people saying that this is a soap opera. I'd be surprised if anyone called this a soap opera after having watched it all through to the end. There are personal conflicts, of course, but none of them resolve in a remotely cheesy way. If anything, I'd call the conflict solving on this show brutal.

One last thing: I watched the show without a dub and really enjoyed the realism of having the characters speak in the languages they would have realistically communicated in in their respective situations. I also enjoyed seeing such an international cast and was particularly impressed with the French actors.

In any case, I liked the show, even if I found some of the scenes in the later episodes hard to stomach, and I'm glad it was renewed for a second season.

I have no idea why so many bad reviews. It's not like the original, so what . The cast, the settings and attention to detail is top notch. Good story lines far better than most programs available. Yes I like it .

I've got no problem with updates, re-interpretations or for that matter complete revisions of prior works and narratives. In my mind it is perfectly fine to take a Shakespeare play and tell it a completely different way.

That said this "sequel" to Das Boot is absolutely terrible. it is simply a strange soap opera.

The 2018 sequel of the monumental "Das Boot" from 1981 would be great if the makers hadn't made one big mistake. They shouldn't have made this two parallel plot thing between the story of the crew of the submarine and this useless resistance story. By telling 2 parallel stories they automatically killed whatever made the original "Das Boot" such a great success. Watching this great sequel unfortunately you will never get this claustrophobic feeling as in the original. Right when you get the right feeling, they throw you out of the atmosphere of the submarine and continue with the story of this resistant group. This is what prevents the show to be nearly as good as the original. By telling these 2 parallel stories, there is no time to introduce the crew of the submarine suficiantly or getting into more details about their characters.. What I really whish? A second season that only takes place on a submarine and a fan-edit of the first season that cuts out all of this resistance-plot. I would give this edit perhaps 10 stars.