BABYLON BERLIN is one of my favorite political/crime dramas, and Season 3, fresh on Netflix, did not disappoint. The great characters, intricate plots, and amazingly detailed world building against the backdrop of the Weimar Republic make this both exciting fare as well as comfort food for me.
Season 3 reboots the series after the second season wrapped up the central conflict in the first season, making it a continuation but also something new that takes a little time to find its footing. Once it does, it nails all the elements that made the first two seasons sing: decadence, political intrigue, characters that deeply invest the viewer, and a fully realized historical world that feels completely real. For me, almost all the characters are engaging, though the stars are undoubtedly Police Inspector Rath and his assistant Charlotte Ritter, both of whom remain complex and interesting people always in the thick of it.
In this season, a film funded by the crime boss “the Armenian” is plagued by a mysterious killer, Greta Overbeck is on trial for the murder of Benda, Rath’s son gets mixed up in the Hitler Youth, and Alfred Nyssen shorts the stock market on the eve of the great crash of ’29.
The series is roughly tracking to a series of books, which appears to promise at least two more seasons, assuming the show remains popular in Germany.
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