frandroid

So that was another fun season of Babylon Berlin! The writing was a bit convoluted and all over (so many intertwined plots, so unlikely to be wound together! Lotte is the queen of being in the right place at the right time!) but the characters were still pretty enthralling. I had given up on Lotte and Gereon coming together so that was a nice surprise, especially in that party setting with the sweet singing voice of Gräf. (I thought he had a crush on Gereon?)

I separately learned while watching the series that dueling scars were A Thing in some upper class Austro-German circles at the time, which explains the fabulous scar on Wendt's fabulous face (and on a few other characters, maybe in the first seasons, I seem to recall?) Actor Benno Fürmann is really creepy in this role!! Good job replacing Brooooono as Gereon's main political nemesis. His figuratively nearly-exploding head in his final scene was hilarious.

The events of Blutmai were a lot more severe in real life (33 killed!) than what was depicted in the series, and Zorgiebel (the real life police chief, aligned with the social democrats) was probably a much less charming character in real life...

The architect of the series of murders, as well as that big reveal episode were a huge let down for me. Seriously, wtf? All this for this convoluted resolution? From... this?

The final final scene at the stock exchange was pretty awesome. I like how this season continued into wild/headspace territory, with the occult and Kriminaltelepathie bits, even as I was rolling my eyes. (Putting me in league with an unsavory character!!)

Communists Hans Litten and Marie Luisa Seegers are based on a real life characters, but it's the latter I want to hear more from! Hopefully she further needles Wendt (or better) during the next season. Unfortunately I don't think we'll see Dr. Völcker again, Greta's cellmate and Isabella Rossellini lookalike.

Die Rote Burg, the fabulous polizeipräsidium building, was destroyed during WWII, and its outside appearance during the series is all CGI, while the scenes under the vaults were filmed at the Berlin city hall (which I think I've been to, or at least one that looked like it... Awesome place.) I'm a big sucker for large red brick construction...

It's interesting how Lotte and Gereon's professional lives are only looking up, while their personal lives are pretty much collapsing around them.

I love this protrayal of Weimar Berlin, even though it seems like life was harsh as hell. Lotte goes through a lot of stuff...