5 reasons why you must watch Babylon Berlin
Recently I decided to finally watch Babylon Berlin, it has been on my watchlist for a couple of years now and I don’t quite know what I was waiting for.
Needless to say, I watched all 3 seasons in like a week and now I’m reading the books it’s based on to be a little nerd and compare the two. This is something I do quite often, just to see if the book is better or if perhaps it’s one of those rare cases when the adaptation stands proudly superior to its source material…only time will tell.
Anyway, let’s get on with the show…
5 reasons you must watch Babylon Berlin
1. It’s a fascinating historical drama
And an utterly beautiful and frightfully expensive one at that (it’s the most expensive German tv show ever made!). Because the show is set in the late 1920’s you get fantastic fashion and music but you also get Weimar Germany, the interim between WW1 and WW2. It’s an utterly fascinating time and unlike all the characters in the show, we know what darkness lays ahead (the wall street crash and Nazis!) which makes for some great tv.
2. A homage to neo-noir detective stories
Hardboiled detective fiction never goes out of fashion, and this twisty and stylish adaptation really likes to play with traditional neo-noir imagery. The main detective Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch) is almost never without his hat and trench coat and his shadow is often present on-screen too especially if he’s hunting down a criminal. There’s also a very Fritz Langesque ‘talkie’ film at the centre of Season 3’s mystery and how the whole crime unravels feels very pulpy and I loved the vibe.
3. The soundtrack
The background music really makes all the difference and immerses you even deeper into the story and the time period it is set in and helps build tension in all the right places. There’s also a couple of performances and dance moments that are really fantastic, especially the one in episode 2 that introduces you to the song ‘Zu Asche, Zu Staub’ (to ash, to dust) which becomes a reoccurring motif throughout the first 2 seasons and tbh I can’t get enough of the song and the several remixes that have been released.
4. A fantastic will they won’t they relationship
Herr kommissar, eh hem I mean Inspector Gereon Rath has a very complicated love life and things get even more complicated when the intelligent, beautiful and ambitious Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries) enters his life. They grow closer and closer together over the seasons and the chemistry between Bruch and Fries is brilliant, I challenge you not to root for the two while watching.
5. You like very ambiguous characters and political intrigue
Game of Thrones was once the pinnacle of TV, it was a cultural phenomenon that entranced viewers (myself included) because of its dark themes, characters with very questionable morals and firecracker political tension. Babylon Berlin has all of these in spades and fingers crossed it doesn’t lose all sense and sabotage character arcs as it continues to be adapted. Sorry GOT, you really did shoot yourself in the foot!
and one more for luck
6. The elevator
Yes, you read the right. Some scenes of the show are shot at Rathaus Schöneberg (the city hall of Tempelhof-Schöneberg) and many of those scenes include the trippy Paternoster Elevator. I mean just look at how cool it is…
Well, it’s safe to say that I am obsessed with Babylon Berlin and I can’t wait for season 4 to come out next year!