8 Tage

Starts out fairly overacted and overly melodramatic. But there's some great character building and even more very interesting twists and turns that make it better and better as it goes on. The ending is not only thrilling but also gave me goosebumps due to the personal drama that unfolds as the world as we know it is ending.

After the brilliant Pagan Peak, this is another pretty good German production made by Sky. Actors whose fame never reached beyond "Tatort" suddenly begin to shine, and when you never know what will happen next, you really start to hope that German television has finally arrived in this new century.

I managed to spread this mini-series over two days but it was pretty compellingly viewing all the same. Quite nice to have a guilt-free apocalypse saga for a change. A huge ambivalent asteroid will crash to earth and a US attempt to obliterate it in space failed. Ho hum. No need therefore for all those ridiculous flag-filled 'Incident room' scenes with telemetry screens, telex printers, flashing LEDs, multi-starred generals thumping desks, a relentless hunt against the clock to find the antidote / expert nerd / brave hero who could save mankind etc etc. Instead a mesh of interconnected individuals surrounding a central family unit in a comfortable, suburban Berlin milieu fight to make sense of their imminent death/survival options against a backdrop of contorting societal breakdown. The heart of the story is delivered early on by the terminally ill character who has read and explains about the five psychological stages of death/bereavement. However, the diversity of character, back story and dramatic arcs within the series is exemplary in developing these themes. The acting is also very good. Each of the characters faces multiple challenges and painful setbacks and each, for the most part, continues to rally themselves in defiant hope of salvation (of one sort or another). Often this is achieved by the simple dramatic means of awakening on the floor from last night's drinking. There are areas of relief, sentiment and human insight to be found amongst the stress, carnage, hedonism and self-interest and I feel this helps to serve a broad audience well. I would also give final commendation for the naturalistic photography and economical editing throughout all 8 episodes.

The show started of well with a good plot, good character and character building, twists and turns and good camerawork. Very binge-worthy.

But... like "Lost" and "GoT", the ending is very, very disappointing. The whole show builds up to a massive letdown. Therefore I don't recommend spending time on it.

Also over the top sex scenes (sometime close to porn) that don't always add up to the story.

Gets better from episode to episode. You just have to discuss or think about: would you do the same as the characters? Great classic music. And a lot of fun for people who know Berlin to see the empty burning streets and abandoned places. People who criticise overacting have to think about the most extreme situation of Armageddon.

Really struggling to understand why anyone would criticise this series - it's simple a great story with decent acting, realistic characters and provides much food for thought - glimmers of hope whilst experiencing the end. Thoroughly enjoyed. Wow