Toward the end of last year, I was searching aimlessly for a TV show to watch when I stumbled upon Babylon Berlin, Netflix’s ambitious German import. It quickly cast a spell on me, and after a few episodes I was submerged into the enthralling world that co-creators Tom Tywker, Henk Handloegten, and Achim von Borries have created. I flew through all three seasons in just four days, and since then the lavishly addicting series hasn’t stopped consuming my thoughts.
Based on a series of detective novels by Volker Kutscher, the show — which is the most expensive non-English show to ever be made — takes place in 1920s Berlin and follows Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch), a police inspector who suffers from shell shock as a result of his experiences in World War I, and thus relies on Morphine to control his panic attacks and tremors. On assignment from his hometown of Cologne, Rath is tasked with investigating a pornography scheme with his new partner, the corrupt Bruno Wolter (Peter Kurth), and they are soon caught in a web of various interconnecting crimes.
The show’s heart lies with Charlotte “Lotte” Ritter (played by the charismatic Liv Lisa Fries), Rath’s unofficial assistant who aspires to become the first female homicide detective in the Berlin police force. By day, she works as a typist in the homicide department at the police headquarters, and by night she moonlights as a prostitute in order to make ends meet for her family. Due to the era’s rampant sexism, Lotte is often underestimated by those in her workplace, but she’s ambitious and proves to be more than capable of doing investigative work. Together, Rath and Lotte get caught up in a dizzying world of crime-riddled with secrets and political turmoil. As the show progresses, their dynamic deepens from a professional partnership to a slow-burn relationship defined by lingering looks that make your heart flutter.
On the surface, Babylon Berlin appears to be a basic police procedural that simply follows a cop and the cases that land on his desk. However, you’ll quickly realize that it is so much more, blending noir, musical, and historical drama elements to craft a unique genre that makes the show stand out among Netflix’s massive catalog. It is an epic maximalist show, with over a dozen characters and plotlines that you may lose track of at times. There are a handful of things happening throughout the show’s 28 episodes, from a stolen Soviet train containing abundant amounts of gold to a series of murders orchestrated by a masked killer on a movie set. The first two seasons focus on the former, while the third, which pays an ode to German Expressionism, shifts into an old-fashioned murder mystery narrative, with the penultimate episode ending with the stock market crash of 1929 and a final shot that will be ingrained in your mind for quite some time.
Rather than using Berlin as the backdrop for all of the action, the sprawling city is the star of the show. With over 70% of production shot on location, the production design is exquisite, with meticulously recreated set pieces and costumes. From vintage cars to the bustling streets of Alexanderplatz, Babylon Berlin encapsulates the Roaring Twenties in all of its chaotic glory.
The show is set during the Golden Years of the Weimar Republic, around ten years after WWI and a few years before the Third Reich. While Hitler is merely a footnote who is only mentioned once in the first two seasons, his presence grows as the series progresses and nears his rise to power. We see Berlin on the brink of darkness, underscored by an unstable political climate and scenes that never shy away from the gritty underbelly of the glamorous era. Babylon Berlin illuminates a period in between wars, pointing the lens towards not only the aristocratic upper classes but also the impoverished, where families were huddled up in tiny living spaces and people were struggling to find work to stay afloat. What the series does best, aside from being able to juggle multiple plot threads, is formulate a world where this darkness is balanced out by flamboyant musical sequences akin to Cabaret and Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. The Weimar period was a culturally rich time in Germany where artistic and sexual expression flourished in underground clubs before the depression and fascism struck, which the series weaves into its story to highlight the post-war years that fueled a need to escape into an exciting and accepting atmosphere.
One particularly memorable musical moment — and the scene that got me completely hooked on the show — comes from the second episode of season one, where Russian Countess Svetlana Sorokina AKA Nikoros (Severija Janusauskaite), a cross-dressing jazz singer, performs the utterly catchy “Zu Asche, Zu Staub” at the iconic Moka Efti club as the audience dances in a coordinated routine. It’s a mesmerizing and exhilarating moment that captures the Weimar era’s raw energy and shows people from all walks of life gathering to party their troubles away.
Babylon Berlin introduces us to a myriad of characters who represent the various aspects of Berlin society. There are Soviet spies, Trotskyists, Communists, an investigative journalist, a wealthy industrialist, and an Armenian mob boss. Each character is meticulously developed, and the way that their stories carefully unfold allows us to connect to them in a way that makes us deeply invested in everything that happens to them. They may be difficult to keep up with at times, but their storylines collide in the most organic and marvelous ways that ultimately allow the story to flow.
Throughout the pandemic, we have mostly found ourselves leaning towards comforting shows that will take our minds off of what is happening in the real world. While Babylon Berlin isn’t a comforting show, it is a feverish and gruesome series that offers up a slice of escapism. When I first watched the series, I was struck by how refreshingly different it was from any other show I had seen in the past year. Its compelling characters, opulent set design, and hypnotizing kaleidoscope opening credits make it worth staring at subtitles for. Babylon Berlin is truly a hidden gem buried under the hundreds of other shows available to stream, and it’s a crime that it has gone under the radar for so long.
