Back in the early 80's I called in sick (along with some friends) to see the opening of Petersen's Das Boot. In any case, I liked the show, even if I found some of the scenes in the later episodes hard to stomach, and I'm glad it was renewed for a second season.When a film about World War II has American audiences routing for the Germans, hoping and cheering them on for the success of their mission, one can only become conscious of the ultimate horror and futility of war. I also enjoyed seeing such an international cast and was particularly impressed with the French actors. One last thing: I watched the show without a dub and really enjoyed the realism of having the characters speak in the languages they would have realistically communicated in in their respective situations. If anything, I'd call the conflict solving on this show brutal. There are personal conflicts, of course, but none of them resolve in a remotely cheesy way. I'd be surprised if anyone called this a soap opera after having watched it all through to the end. Don't be fooled by the people saying that this is a soap opera. More than with any other show I've watched in recent memory, it felt very mature and adult in its content and themes. I'm not quite sure how to sum up how I feel about the show because there's a lot of heavy stuff in it. In the first half of the season, I enjoyed the resistance storyline more and in the second half, I enjoyed the submarine storyline more, but both managed to add up to a bigger picture in the end. I, for one, really enjoyed both storylines, however, and thought that they were well-balanced. I will agree with those who say that having two parallel storylines on the land and on the submarine might not have been the smartest decision because it splits the attention of the viewer and most will find themselves wishing that the show would switch back to the other storyline, depending on their preference. Then again, I'm a fan of Andreas Prochaska's work, full disclaimer, guilty as charged. It really elevated the writing and managed to bring a lot of inner turmoil of the characters to the surface. ![]() As for the direction: It was the best part in my opinion. As always, there are some stronger actors and some weaker ones but I don't think there's a true weak spot here. The beards also grow exponentially ) The acting is a bit stilted in the beginning and the writing a bit forced (especially the parts with the vulgar dialogue) but this improves as the show goes on and by the end I had a great appreciation for the large cast (yes, the characters are a bit indistinguishable at first but you'd be hard-pressed not to be able to tell the difference after a few episodes). The grittiness increases with the plot and I like that not everyone's covered in grime and sweat right from the start but only when it makes sense due to the situation. ![]() Lookwise, it has a touch of blandness and cleanliness in the early episodes that seems a bit too sterile and not lived-in enough for my taste but I still vastly prefer this over the ridiculously color-graded period drama look of some other contemporary productions. Now on to the review: The show is well-produced. But I still liked it well enough to continue watching it and I'm glad that I did. If I had rated the show after having watched only a few episodes, I would have rated it lower. I think that overall, the season is a success however, I thought that the second half of the season was much stronger than the first and really brought everything together. ![]() Therefore, I think I can fairly judge whether it's a failure or not. Second of all: I have seen the whole first season, all 8 episodes. It may have been financially prudent to attach the show to the well-established brand because it helped sell it around the world but I feel like the inevitable backlash this always creates when certain expectations are raised and subsequently disappointed may have done more harm than good, as evidenced by most of the user reviews on here so far. This show shares some of the DNA with the aforementioned property (most noticeably parts of the iconic soundtrack) but it's really its own thing. First of all: Don't expect this to be either a remake of the original movie or even a sequel, as has been advertised.
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