The Defeated

This was a decent miniseries, and I won't bother to discuss it in terms of acting, writing, etc.

It paid great attention to the post-war time in which it's set, 1946, except for the one glaring detail that drives me crazy in SO many productions that have been made in the 21st century. Stubble beards were NOT a thing then, especially for American police officers. Why, oh why, don't directors insist that their actors be clean shaven to fit in with the time period of their movies? Why does one actor's vanity trump the desire for authenticity?

Clearly there are a lot of bots on here - so many of the negative reviews either didn't watch beyond the first episode or take issue with the portrayal of the Russian or some other stupid thing that is ultimately unrelated to the show.

This show is fascinating that, while largely in English, Germans speak to one another in German, Russians in Russian etc - for people that aren't fond of foreign language films or subtitles it can take some getting used to, but it is very immersive and a cool take.

The pilot/first episode was slow to me and the weakest of the episodes and ultimately I think the scripts could have been better overall - but I found that as the series progressed I became more and more engaged with the storyline and what was going to happen/what would happen.

To me, each episode is better than the last.

Mala Emde (whom you might recognize from 2019's Charité at War or the 2015 Anne Frank movie "Meine Tochter") is a stand out. Great actress - hope to see more of her in English language films.

Logan Marshall-Green has a great performance - I won't spoil his role here.

Nina Hoss is another standout.

Solid performances by Taylor Kitsch (something about his accent just took me out of the scenes at times - maybes because it is so different than his "normal" accent) Michael C. Hall also had a solid performance but nothing compared to what he brought in those early season of Dexter and at times he comes across as more of a caricature of a guy from 1946 with his accent and appearance.

Really happy to hear that production has already begun on the second half of this limited-series.

Interesting to see where this will lead us.

In response to KkonaW's review about Soviet brutality after the war, I think it's the opposite. The brutality of Soviet is not exaggerated. The brutality of Soviet soldiers is largely overlooked. Japan occupied northeast China for over 30 years but it was the Soviet army that exerted brutal force there - rape and robbery were just their standard practice. But the Chinese Communist Party just looked the other way.

Remember what they did to the Polish resistance? Statin tricked them. Then the Soviet arrested them sent them to Siberia.

It's not stereotyping. It's the reality.

About the show itself, the story of the main character felt very faky. The love story with Claire was really puzzling. His attitude towards Claire was really hard to understand the presumptuous.

The rest of the show was overall good.

Was surprised to see so many negative reviews and low score so had to leave my thoughts here.

I though this series was very good. In every aspect.

Things that really stood out to me compared to other series:

• amazing opening credits that set the perfect post war film noir vibe

• insane set design, very rich, dense and real. It really felt like huge city that was recently destroyed. I can only think of the eye for detail and money that went into this. Also the use of real explosions and real buildings really amazed me multiple times

• Showing the horror and horrible things people did during and after the war without holding back. There is some serious f'up things that happen in this series but I think it's only fair to show these cruelties in a post war series. If this was a netflix series I'm sure it would've been way softer and not so real.

• Excellent acting. Loved all the actors, German and American. Also loved that they spoke German a lot. All the storylines of each character is really gripping. With the right ise of flashbacks at perfect timings.

• Very well written. The story almost felt like a theatre play in a good way. Small additions to the story like the testimony scenes of the characters with the white light where they talk about something very personal were a beautiful addition and made the story that much denser and more believable

And so much more! I really recommend this series. You can see a lot of work and thought went into every aspect of this. I see a lot of critique of being not historically accurate but I have to disagree. They show the map of Berlin a lot and try to clearly show the different occupied areas and the problems that come with it. Also the upcomming cold war between Russia and America plays a big role in the dynamics of the characters towards the end.

Give this non-Netflix series some support! Would love to see a second season.

There's something about Berlin that seems to inspire writers, and this particular series reminds me of another( probably better) police series called Babylon Berlin, although it was set in another era.

The magic of this series lies in the unique way that postwar Berlin is presented. It is a fascinating mix of ruins and decrepitude, shown in stark relief by the way some inhabitants live, particularly the Americans.

Having said that, there are many plots and sub plots the main one being the terrible crimes committed daily on the streets by all nationalities. There is a bit too much going on, so following all the different threads is probably helped by using sub titles.

The brutal nature of the series is I think helped by the engaging leading man. Several people have been critical of him, but I think a really tough guy actor would have turned a lot of people off. Elsie is an engaging character, and Max's brother is a great study in psychopathic behaviour.

It's not an easy watch, but it is an interesting one if you like to see how Berlin became the important city it is today, then this series can only enhance that experience.