Dark Season 2, Episode 3
"Ghosts"
Original airdate: June 21, 2019
Writer: Jantje Friese, Marc O. Seng
Director: Baran bo Odar
Cast: Winfried Glatzeder, Gwendolyn Göbel, Luise Heyer, Dietrich Hollinderbäumer, Sebastian Hülk, Julika Jenkins, Deborah Kaufmann, Arnd Klawitter, Lisa Kreuzer, Lydia Maria Makrides, Joshio Marlon, Oliver Masucci, Florian Panzner, Christian Pätzold, Tom Philipp, Anne Ratte-Polle, Peter Schneider, Christian Steyer, Antje Traue, Mark Waschke, Cordelia Wege, Lea Willkowsky
Season 2 of Dark pulls off the same magic trick as Season 1. While you might think this is a story about Jonas (and it is), it’s not just about him. Much like how the show expands and evolves with more timelines in the first season, the second season shows us the real power players of this game. "Ghosts" reveals why Claudia Tiedemann is far more important than we ever thought and, by the end of the episode, why Adam is her greatest adversary.
We begin in 1987, where Helge is strapped to the chair in the wallpapered room. Noah tells him God has chosen him. Noah utters the words “tick tock” and seemingly sears them into Helge’s brain forever.
The show continues to be sufficiently gay as we see Doris Tiedemann and Agnes Nielsen engaging in some sexual activities upstairs. They are interrupted by Claudia. While Doris is worried that her daughter knows about the affair, Agnes tells her that all families have secrets. Not true, Doris! My family has no secrets!
A young Helge returns home. Greta is delighted to see him. Egon Tiedemann is surprised he’s still alive and remains perplexed by Ulrich. How is the boy alive, and why has no one shown up looking for Ulrich?
Claudia is an influential figure in this narrative, and even at a young age, she appears to hold influence over people. As she complains to Tronte about her mother, she asks him about his time before Winden. He divulges that her mother was unhappy and that he has a brother. He then, as seemingly planned, pulls down his pants.
Thirty-three years in the future, and Claudia is looking at the time machine she’s discovered. Perhaps haunted by the words of her future self, she offers Regina a day off from school, but her daughter declines. Too late, Mom! Claudia will take A Journey Through Time and ask Helge why he gave it to her. He reveals that Noah has outlined a battle between good and evil and insists she never listen to the man.
Egon is looking at the album Pleasure To Kill, the music that has haunted his interactions with Ulrich. Meanwhile, 1950s Egon goes to question Helge, only to find the boy to be speechless. Later, Greta meets with Noah so he can lend an ear. Helge still hasn’t spoken. When the boy sees Noah, the two embrace and Helge speaks for the first time. This comforts Greta.
Also in the '50s, we learn that Agnes knows older Claudia. The two meet in the bunker, where they discuss Noah. Agnes says she is not afraid of her brother. Caudia informs her that Sic Mundus, led by Adam, are preparing for the next cycle. In what seems like another goodbye, Claudia tells Agnes that Doris makes her very happy. They hug.
In the 1980s, Claudia takes the book to H.G. Tannhaus, its author. It’s here that he explains one of Dark’s fundamental themes: the Bootstrap Paradox. He was given the book before he wrote it. Thus, when does a thing like it begin to exist? It’s an endless cycle of beginnings and endings.
Egon decides to revisit Ulrich. This time, he brings the album. It’s here, through their discussion, that Ulrich reveals himself to be a man from the future. In the 1950s, Egon revisits Ulrich since Helge returned home. Egon gets no answers from Mr. Nielsen. However, in the 1980s, Ulrich re-reads his file on the boy who appeared and discovers that Mikkel had said that his father was Ulrich. He follows up on this lead by visiting Ines. It’s here that he notices a packet of sleeping pills. Perhaps Ines finds it easier to have Mikkel forget about where he came from when he’s been drugged.
We get a confrontation between Agnes and Noah. Brother and sister. He tells her that Adam will not take her back, but she tells him Noah has the last pages he’s looking for. She wants to return before the next cycle begins and offers this news as a peace offering.
We get a triad of moments between Claudia and Egon. First, an older Claudia visits her father in the 1950s. He notices her multi-colored eyes are the same as his daughter’s. She gives him cryptic messages about being a good person who the world doesn’t deserve. He’s unsettled and asks her to leave. It certainly seems like yet another goodbye from Claudia. In the 1980s, Egon visits Claudia at the power plant and tells her his cancer has spread. Claudia doesn’t really seem to know what to say, but the two do embrace in a hug. Finally, in the '50s, Egon and his daughter, Claudia, have another interaction. This time, he tells her that he believes he met a witch (kind of rude because it’s actually his daughter!). Once again, Claudia tells her father that he’s a good person.
Bringing with him a photo of Mikkel, Egon arrives at the psych ward to show Ulrich, hoping he’ll get more information. Ulrich is incensed, believing that Egon was lying to him all these years.
The older Claudia visits Tannhaus. While he advises that the time machine has not been finished, she knows that to be the case. She provides him with a copy of A Journey Through Time, which he sees for the first time. She says that they will meet again after she dies, which confuses him. But the next time they do meet, he’ll show her how to use the time machine.
In the 1980s, Claudia activates the time machine and travels to 2020 (of all the years!). She first stops by her daughter’s house, where she sees an ailing Regina. She bursts into tears.
We get one more confrontation. This time, Noah meets older Claudia. He threatens to shoot her. She seems to know she’s about to die and asks Noah if he realizes that he, too, is being played. Adam is manipulating him, she says. He doesn’t believe her, and he shoots her. He looks for the missing papers and finds them, only to be confused by them. He then lies to Adam, saying he hadn't found them at all.
Dark keeps widening the frame, but this episode makes one thing unmistakable: Claudia Tiedemann is the axis around which so much of this story turns. What began as a show that seemed focused on Jonas slowly reveals the far greater influence of a woman moving through time with purpose, grief, and clarity. "Ghosts" shows her mentorships, her regrets, her rivalries, and her countless goodbyes, all of which shape Winden far more than anyone realizes on a first watch. By the end of the hour, the truth is unavoidable. Claudia isn’t just another player in the cycle. She’s the one person who understands its cost and, more importantly, the one person Adam fears.
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