User reviews

This series is captivating from the get-go, with a perfect blend of mystery, family drama, horror, and cop procedural show. The acting is top-notch especially from the young actress playing Hannah. She is the glue to the show and all eeriness emanates from where she comes from. The story is well-told, with excellent cinematography blending colors and darkness with the right amount to spook you. Up until around episode 5, I consider this a 10, however, the rather mundane reveal and the somewhat anti-climactic and rushed ending put a downer on what could have been a flawless new production from Germany.

Very well done series. Beautifully filmed, good acting, interesting story line. I was fully invested right to the creepy end. The end was a disappointment, so I took off three stars. It was too abrupt, and it felt unfinished.

Movies and series that end like this annoy me a bit. It seems really lazy and disrespectful to the viewer. I mean; the audience bothered to invest all their time and emotions, so have the darn courtesy of finishing the story properly please! With a better ending, I would give it 9 - 10 stars, as I do love my dark, gloomy, creepy Scandi / European crime, and this one ticked all the boxes.

I started to love German productions after Dark and 1989 because they make very intelligent programs, without too much drama (which I hate) and with a lot of suspense and mystery (which I love). So I was very hopefull for this and it didn't dissapoint. It was mysterious from beggining to end and very engaging. High quality thriller. All the actors were amazing especially the children. The girl who played Hannah was quite scarry which is very difficult to portray for such a sweet looking, child actor. Also Jasmine was pretty scary too. I watched it at night and it gave me the creeps which I love!! It has heen a long time since Netflix brought a new series that was this engaging in my opinnion so I highly recommend if you are into dark, psychologcial mysteries.

As Episode 1 of "Dear Child" (2023 release from Germany; 6 episodes ranging from 45 to 50 min) opens, we see a woman and 2 children who are locked up by a man. The woman manages to escape but she is badly injured in a hit-and-run. Somehow her 12 yo daughter makes it out as well. At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from German director Isabel Kleefeld, turning the German bestseller of the same name into a 6 part mini-series. This is a super plot-heavy psychological drama, so the less said about the story line, the better. All I will say is that what appears at first hand in the opening episode raises more questions than it gives answers. Of course all is revealed in the remaining 5 episodes. Kleefeld and the rest of the production team is to be commended for creating a very tense atmosphere from the get-go that barely lets us. Equally up to the task is the non-names (for me anyway) German cast, none more so than the girl who plays the 12 yo. Beware: some of the scenes are disturbing, borderline psychological torture, so no, this ain't for the faint of heart.

All 6 episodes "Dear Child" started airing on Netflix a few days ago. I just watched this over 2 nights (3 episodes a night). If you are in the mood for a complex psychological drama that is very tense from the get-go, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Once you start Dear Child you find it hard to look away. This beautifully crafted limited series is about a woman and two children who are held captive by a man in a windowless makeshift home, until one day the woman escapes and that is the beginning of a narrative of back and forth until the story finally resolves itself.

I was completely entranced by this series. I beg of people not to watch it subbed. The subbing takes away from it, watch it in German with subtitles as it is meant to be watched.

My only disappoint was that the series finished too soon, I would have liked to have seen what become over everyone involved.

I found some of the reviews unhelpful. I read them while working my way through the early episodes and I have to say that while some say the ending was disappointing or rushed, I don't agree. Reading the reviews nearly put me off continuing with the series.

I actually enjoyed the ending and felt that everything tied in pretty well. I also liked the fact that there was much more depth to the plot than I expected. There were some holes but overall it was a pretty decent watch. I lack patience with these types of shows and often fail to finish them but I didn't regret hanging on for the end of this one.

This is probably my favorite psychological thriller/horror/mystery of all time. The movie fascinatingly shows the story of a woman who was hit by a car, but whose story starts to unfold into something more sinister as they speak with her daughter in the ambulance with her.

This is a straight mystery, no love triangles mixed in, which I appreciated. You feel like you're one of the detectives by the fragmented way the story is told, which made it both frustrating and amazing. I'd definitely recommend for any adult who enjoys these types of movies, very graphic scenes, beware! It reminds me of a R rated version of Room, if Room was a PG.

Disappointing, especially the denouement. We missed the background as to why this happened and how the perpetrator came to this acts. The actors played well, including the children. It took a while to get into the story. The first episodes were alienating and intriguing. But it became long-winded, too little happened. The denouement was very quick and not very exciting. We would like to see and know more about the perpetrator, his background, his youth and how he related to his family and other relationships. And especially how he came to his actions. This was very unclear for us and would be interesting.

An amazing mini series with minor story holes.

First when I tried it I was sceptical, I wanted something new before going to sleep.

But, just 5 minutes intro the episode, I wasn't sleepy anymore. I was under my blanket, crossing fingers for what's going next.

I couldn't stop watching, I binged all the series in the same night until 4am.

Story is amazing, the acting, the feelings, the sadness and the happiness jumped from the screen into my soul.

The psychology in it, the shots, the dark situations. I didn't want it to stop, and when it ended, I said to myself: "I get her"

It was an amazing experience.

Pulled me in from the beginning! Writing, directing, acting, and cinematography all great. A mystery with intriguing characters, and a perspective not often seen in this genre. It can have triggers around abuse, perhaps even more around psychological, so definitely read the description. I found myself saying "oh my god, this show!" several times when something came to light. In speaking to others who have been watching it, we seem to share a highly favorable opinion and viewing experience. It seems like Germany, Sweden, Finland and that region really know how to produce this type of dark, slow, psychological thriller/drama, and this is one of the best I've seen. Highly recommend.

I enjoyed this mini-series a lot and the writing and acting were top notch. Lots of layers carefully revealed at the right time. Many plot twists and sudden revelations that cast everything in a brand new light. Like a good mystery should do, done quite well here.

The acting of the Hannah character was particularly notable for its almost chilling realism.

My only complaint is that the ending seemed really rushed and there were lots of questions left unanswered. I see this as largely a mystery effort, not wrapping up the loose ends is pretty unsatisfying. But all things considered this is a worthwhile viewing.

As this six part German drama opens we see a woman and two children, Hannah and Jonathon, in a room; when a man, whose face we don't see, enters they stand in line to have their hands inspected. Sometime later the woman and girl escape. They run through woodland but when they reach a road she is run over by a car. Rushed to hospital she is checked in as Lena. This name matches that of a woman who went missing thirteen years previously who would be around the same age. Gerd Bühling, the police officer who ran the original missing persons case hears of this and tells Lena's parents that she may have turned up. Far from being the end of the mystery more questions soon arise.

I thought this was a really gripping series. It provides plenty of tension and twists which I didn't see coming. The way we see present events intertwined with flashbacks to what happened before is effective and means we don't learn things to soon but do get to see what happened. The cast does an impressive job. By the end of the sixth episode things are nicely wrapped up so potential viewers don't have to worry about watching the series only to discover they have to wait for another season for resolution. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of Euro crime drama.

These comments are based on watching the series in German with English subtitles.

This commits pretty much all the storytelling sins this type of abduction whodunit/whydunit could possibly commit.

• Writes itself into a corner from the very beginning.

• Comes up with a pretty chilling, interesting scenario, but fails to unravel it in a way that feels satisfying to the viewer, leaving a ton of plot holes and occurrences of questionable logic in its wake. These types of stories are usually very frontloaded, blowing most of their good ideas at the start. This one is a textbook example of this.

• As usual, there is a moment when whoever is being held captive seems safe again. Of course we know that that's not true because the story is far form over. But still, the tension drops a lot and is never able to recover.

• The more is revealed to the viewer, the more the tension drops even further. In this series a certain reveal almost made me laugh out loud.

And the police are bumbling, troubled and incompetent because this has been en vogue in German crime media for ages and doesn't seem to go away because whoever greenlights them seems to think this sells.

Still, I recommend watching this one if you have nothing better to do. It really starts out quite strong before it runs out of steam a couple episodes in.

I read the book several years ago & it took me a moment to realise that this show was based on that book. Of course I had to watch to see how they'd adapted it & I wasn't disappointed. Apart from the dubbing which I do struggle with with any film, this was very well brought to the screen & I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hannah's character was particularly well done, very dark feeling but it was very well acted all around. Full of tension & really kept you guessing, even though I'd read the book I couldn't remember the whole plot line or outcome. If you enjoyed the drama, read the book you'll love it.

An interesting plot is ruined by an overly selfconscious direction and questionable casting decisions.

Constant flashbacks make it hard to get drawn into this drama. With the bungling and unrealistic police team not helping, it becomes a task to follow the zealous film crew to the revelation of the plot.

As a viewer, there are too few opportunities to get to know the characters. Their decisions are often psychologically unsound.

Locations are rarely pictured from a wider perspective, so they feel like decor rather than real life locations. Probably a conscious choice.

Even so, I'm hanging on to find out what happened.