Bad Banks

I really enjoyed season 1 but season 2 is just a mess of over the top acting and cringy dialogue

If you are familiar with international finance then you will know that the setting is unrealistic but the characters are all too recognizable. The twists and turns that swirl around the plots and counter plots can be dizzying but very fun to watch. There are no good or bad people, just winners and losers.

This show is a thrilling fiction based on the financial districts of Germany.

I've been working for several banks in recent years and I very much feel at home when I watch the show. From my perspective, people in Frankfurt - despite the fictional story - behave very much like the characters depicted in Bad Banks.

Camera, lighting, post-edit, costumes, dialogs, screenplay, actors ... all crafts have been performed excellently by great staff members.

However, from my perspective, for some of the main cast members I suggest to further attend acting school soon or to go performing on a live stage to drastically improve their pronunciation. Being a native speaker for decades I often find myself rewinding the show because I didn't understand a word.

I binge-watched Bad Banks because it was THAT good. It's pretty high-brow i.e. I feel that you need to concentrate to follow what is going on if you are unfamiliar with the banking world; however, you come out of every episode feeling as though you've learnt something. Also, the suspense is great.

I rated the first season as 10 out of 10, but unfortunately I am not so enthusiastic about the second season. The basic setting has changed from Frankfurt to Berlin and also from traditional banking to the startup scene, but it appears a bit over the top. The dialogues are poorly written and loaded with clichés, the actors limit themselves to stressful looks in the camera, and directing is chaotic. I know the financial world quite well and it is almost funny to see how most extras have been cast: they need to have colorful hair, strange habits, big piercings and tattoos, whereby the reality is that people who are looking like normal human beings also can work in the startup scene. I am under the impression that the writers and producers wanted to do their utmost to provide a realistic view of banking in the year 2020, but this is simply too much. It is really a pity, because the first season was excellent.