The Therapy

Surprised to see a German TV series on Amazon Prime just as we were getting bored with other programmes. We started watching this without much expectation knowing the ratings and reviews of this series being just about average. While we persisted in watching it, the story is getting better and better with twists and turns and a very surprising ending.

The story was weird to start with as the protagonist - Dr Victor Larenz, a psychiatrist with his wife and daughter living in a luxury villa near Berlin - was experiencing a personal crisis after the disappearance of his only child. The story goes back and forth mixing the present and flashbacks to trace the trajectory of his daughter's experience of growing up in a bourgeois family with a strict discipline imposed by her parents. Then we see the usual story of a teenager's rebellion and her final disappearance which resulted in the bitter separation of the parents. The personal crisis prompted Larenz to quit his job and travelled to a completely deserted North Sea island in the middle of a cold winter to have a soul-searching holiday alone. With excellent cinematography, the bleak winter beach scene perfectly conveys the feeling of desolation and despair of the protagonist. Then a series of weird things happened on the island.

At the same time, a side-plot developed in Berlin with Dr Larenz's colleague Dr Roth working in the same psychiatric clinic. The story exposes some of the common problems in the West - drug abuse and other social ills in the streets of Berlin. Roth helped Larenz to the end to solve the mystery of his daughter's disappearance.

A thought-provoking series which mixes the hallucinatory scenes with the bleak reality in the style of a psychological thriller. The story is not tinted by the usual "political correctness" and does not seek to sell any political agenda. It is both satisfying as an intriguing story as well as an example of aesthetically appealing cinematography without any special effects. Well worth watching. Highly recommended.

The only regret is the dubbing voices (in English) which sound a bit robotic - not natural enough as the native speakers.