Life and Death

Life and Death
Season	3
Writer	Jantje Friese
Dark
← Previous	The Origin
Next →	Light and Shadow

"Life and Death" is the fifth episode of Season 3 of Dark. It premiered on June 27, 2020, and is the 23rd episode overall.

Summary

In 2020, a visitor delivers a warning to Claudia. The day before the apocalypse, Jonas begins to question Eva's motives.

Plot

September 25, 2020

Middle-aged Claudia Tiedemann buries her daughter, Regina in the woods.

A narrator asks whether the time of our death is predetermined. Could we escape it if we knew when to expect it?

September 25, 2053

Adam tells Charlotte Doppler that she will always be led to Elisabeth and to him. He asks her what she has decided and tells her that they only need to wait one more day to unravel the knot they are in once and for all, but she has to play her part. She asks Adam if he is going to play his part. He tells her that Eva will never achieve her goal because her world is no more deserving of salvation than theirs.

November 7, 2019 (alternate world)

Jonas wakes up from an illusion, sensing the dead Martha from his world touching him. Startled, he wakes and sees Martha from the alternate world in the room. They get dressed in silence and Jonas hands her yellow jacket to her and says they need to go. She calls out to him, but then says it's nothing. They head downstairs, where Katharina asks furiously where she has been and where Jonas came from. They hug and Katharina asks Martha what is wrong, but Martha only says she has to go.

September 25, 1987

Katharina visits the elderly Ulrich at the psychiatric ward and tells him to wait by the door at 10 pm so she can get him out of there. Katharina tells him they will bring Mikkel and go back home. Ulrich apologizes for everything.

H.G. Tannhaus is working in his shop when (teenage) Charlotte arrives. She asks him if he ever wondered if it was possible to rewind time. Tannhaus replies he has. He tells her he has wanted to turn back time for some time but his place is not in the past or the future, but in the present, with her. He hands her a picture of a couple with a baby. Charlotte asks if they are her parents but he tells her it is his son, his wife and granddaughter, who all died in a car accident. He tells her that when it happened he heard a noise in his store and saw two strange women, who were carrying Charlotte, telling him that everything would be taken from him, but then he would be given everything. Later he received the call telling him about the accident. They only found the bodies of his son and daughter-in-law but his granddaughter's body was never found. He shows Charlotte the only thing that was brought with her- a pocket watch engraved "for Charlotte". Charlotte says she does not understand. She asks Tannhaus who her parents are but he says he does not know. Charlotte then storms out.

November 7, 2019 (alternate world)

Charlotte visits Aleksander Tiedemann to ask him some questions regarding the dead boy found in the bunker. Aleksander mentions he has been planning the plant's demolition in a year. He looks at the bag Hannah had given him when she blackmailed him into ruining Charlotte. Charlotte asks him when he arrived in Winden and started working there, and he tells her fall of 1986. He asks her if she received the shift schedules he sent her, and she nods. She asks if previous shift schedules at the plant had been archived, going back to 1986.

September 25, 2020

Claudia cautiously enters the dilapidated police station. She finds a familiar sight waiting for her- herself- from the alternate world, who tells her she is there to guide her because there are two groups involved in time-travelling and she should join Eva's side. She tells her she cannot trust Jonas because he belongs to the dark side and wants to destroy both worlds, while Eva wants to save them both. She tells her that her older self told Jonas he could change the world, Jonas opened the passage in 2020, his older self closed it in 2019 after first opening in 1986, leaving behind traces of cesium which expand endlessly, creating the passage. The apocalypse is triggered by opening the nuclear barrels, Everything has to repeat, life and death,

Elisabeth comes out of the trailer, followed by Peter. She stops to look at Charlotte's pocket watch. Peter tells her they need to go, but Elisabeth tells him she is not coming with him as Charlotte and Franziska are both dead. She tells Peter she no longer wants to look for them and walks away.

November 7, 2019 (alternate world)

Jonas takes Martha to the nuclear plant and cuts the wire fence. He tells her an accident happened there in 1986 which released a substance that makes time travel possible. He slides through. Martha follows him but receives a cut from the wire below her right eye. Jonas looks at her in disbelief, realizing the Martha that brought him there also had a scratch on her face. He realizes that everything repeats itself, that if this Martha turns into her, everything stays the same and that Eva lied about there being a way to save his world, Maybe she doesn't want them to stop the apocalypse but to trigger it. No matter what he does, things only get worse. He tells her he has to go back to Eva to find out what the truth is. He leaves and Martha goes after him.

September 23, 1987

Charlotte waits at the bus stop. A young man gets out and asks her how long it would take to walk to Winden, but Charlotte tells him to reconsider because most people never leave Winden. She asks him what brought him there. He tells her his mother recently passed away and his father, who she only just told him about, lives there. Charlotte asks if he believes there is a way to bring someone back from the dead- before they die. The boy introduces himself as Peter. Later he goes to the Doppler cabin, while Charlotte returns to Tannhaus.

November 7, 2019 (alternate world)

Charlotte asks Elisabeth what she is doing home from school. Elisabeth tells her she is not going. Peter enters and Charlotte tells him that she found out from Aleksander that on the day Mads disappeared Helge's shift at the plant was over at 6:00 p.m. and Mads disappeared around 6:21 p.m. Peter tells her he is certain his father had nothing to do with Mads' disappearance and had been with him all night. She says Ulrich is right, and everything is connected. "Ulrich?" asks Peter.

September 25, 2020

Elisabeth goes back to their trailer to find a strange man in there. She tries to leave. He tells her not to be scared and bangs her head against the door, leaving a wound above her eye. Later she wakes to find herself tied up. The man asks if she lives alone. He sits next to her and starts eating, telling her he does not remember the last time he had warm food. He offers Elisabeth some but she backs away from him. The man pats her head, then tries to undress her, just as Peter enters the trailer. As the two men struggle, Elisabeth reaches for a knife and lunges at the man but he grabs Elisabeth as she tries to stab him. He manages to get Elisabeth off his back and elbows her square in the face. Peter then gets up, grabs the knife, and tries to stab the man. They struggle, but the man eventually stabs the knife through Peter's throat, causing him to die. Elisabeth then hits him repeatedly from behind with a fire extinguisher to his head, bludgeoning him to death. She turns around to find her father motionless. She drops to the floor and starts to cry. Later, she reaches young Noah in the caves.

September 25, 2053

The older Elisabeth looks at the God Particle and then hugs Charlotte and older Franziska. Adam tells Franziska that it is time to let go, and she opens a door for her mother and sister, who put on yellow suits. Adam pulls a lever which stabilizes the God Particle, which Elisabeth and Charlotte then approach.

September 25, 2020

Alternate world Claudia hands her other self the Triquetra book and tells her Adam must never untie the knot. She needs to lead Jonas, Noah and Elisabeth to maintain the knot. She must guide Jonas and then defy him. It is all in the book. She winds an orb and disappears, promising they will see other again soon- in her world.

November 7, 2019 (alternate world)

Jonas and Martha approach the cave and Martha asks what if it is true that only one world can prevail. Jonas tells her he did not want any of this. Martha asks if he meant he did not want what happened between them the previous night. Jonas says that he is wrong there and does not belong. Martha kisses him and asks him if that was wrong. Jonas hesitates. Martha walks away toward the cave, Jonas follows her.

September 25, 1987

Helene Albers walks through the woods, while Katharina follows her. She eventually turns around and asks what she wants. Katharina holds a knife at her and asks for the key card. Helene asks how she knows her. Katharina tries to grab Helene's bag but Helene grabs Katharina's arm until Katharina pleads for her to stop, calling her "mother". Helene runs away in shock. Katharina chases after her but trips over. She gets up and eventually catches up with Helene and again tries to grab her bag and they struggle, Katharina finds a rock and proceeds to hit Helene's face, until she does not move. Katharina then takes her bag and looks for the keycard, however, Helene gets up, and hits her head from behind, telling her she is not her mother, that Katharina is from hell and is not real. They struggle and Katharina pulls off Helene's St. Christopher's medal. Helene repeatedly strikes Katharina with the rock, telling her she aborted her until Katharina is dead. Later, she puts rocks in Katharina's backpack and drags her into the lake. The St. Christopher's medal is left lying on the shore.

A taxi brings Mikkel and Ines back to their home. Ines tells Michael to go inside. Ines asks him if he wants some hot chocolate, as Mikkel looks at the broken window.

Teenage Katharina is studying at the table when her mother returns. Helene goes directly to a cabinet and starts drinking straight from a bottle. She notices she is bleeding and asks what happened. Helene looks at her hands and starts to wash them. Helene grabs Katharina and notices a bruise on her neck. She asks if it was caused by Ulrich. She starts slapping her, telling her she is a shameful tramp who is not worthy of the name she gave her. She tells her she should have got rid of her too.

In the meantime, Ulrich waits by the door as instructed by Katharina, in vain.

November 7, 2019 (alternate world)

Jonas and Martha enter Eva's study. He shows her the pictures of Adam and Eva and tells her this is what will become of her. Eva enters and announces: "so it begins all anew." Jonas asks her why she lied about being able to save both worlds and demands to return to his world. But Eva tells him there is no way back for him. Eva tells him a human lives three lives: the first one ending with the loss of naiveté, the second with the loss of innocence, and the third with the loss of life itself. She tells him that his life ends right here and now because he has accomplished what he was sent to do in that world but Martha exclaims they have accomplished nothing and have not stopped the apocalypse. Middle-aged Martha enters and tells her she will understand everything when it is the right time. Martha that brought Jonas to the alternate world then enters. Jonas looks at them all in disbelief. Young Martha approaches the time traveller and asks who she is. Time-travelling Martha tells her she is sorry, pulls out a gun, and shoots Jonas. He falls to the ground as Young Martha goes to him, starts crying and tries to stop the bleeding. The others all leave. Jonas holds her face to comfort her and hands her the St. Christopher's medal. Martha promises to make everything right before Jonas closes his eyes and dies.

Time

• The touched period are the following : 07-11-2019 ALT World, 25-09-2020, 25-09-2053, 25-09-1987

Mysteries

• If Jonas is dead how are Adam and The Stranger still alive? There is no return from death.
• Why do they use caves when they go to Eva's? In what time / place is Erit Lux located? Why don't we see anyone physically enter Erit Lux from the outside?
• Here is the sacrifice that Adam asks: Charlotte and Elizabeth have to leave but where are they going? Do they have anything to do with the two women Tannhaus spoke of?
• Jonas knows that the truck with the barrels arrives today: how does he know?

Answers

• The Triquetra book written by the unknown and containing all the information of both worlds, is given by Alternate Adult Claudia to Claudia who must prevent Adam from untying the knot. All of Claudia's knowledge in Series 1 and 2 comes from there. Then she will pass to the Stranger, to Noah (who will kill Claudia) with exception albeit with the missing pages and then to Adam, but Jonas / Adam have known a part of it even before, while they were with Claudia.
• Now we know that the woman with the red hair is Franziska, Adam called her.
• The mission of this Jonas in this world was to give birth to the origin.

Analysis

• Young Noah previously told Peter he will protect Elisabeth after he is killed in The Survivors.
• Helene appears to think Katharina is the baby she aborted in The Origin, telling her "I made you go away." Later she tells her teenage daughter she should have made her go away too, not realizing the woman she killed was her daughter grown up.
• Katharina is restrained in attacking Helene Albers because after all she is her mother.
• Katharina dies and Ulrich is again left in the past. Mikkel returns shortly after and will also remain in the past, ensuring that Jonas is born.
• Katharina uses a stone like Ulrich when she beats Helge in As you sow, so you shall reap. Helene reacts with the same stone and resembles the scene of Elisabeth killing the man in the trailer with a fire extinguisher
• In the evening it is a paradoxical scene: her daughter Katharina asks Helene why she is stained with blood. Helene notices a hickey on Katharina's neck and beats her again, saying he had to get rid of her too, as he just did with adult Katharina (without knowing exactly who she was). When he says he had to get rid of her too it can also be understood that he wanted to have an abortion since Helene appears to have a history of abortions.
• Jonas dies in much the same way Martha died in season 2.
• Eva describes the 3 stages of life as did Adam in Lost and Found.
• Helene's St Christopher medal is later found by Jonas (An Endless Cycle). In that episode, Bartosz tells Martha about the story of the woman who drowned in the lake.
• Tannhaus tells Charlotte that her place is here in the present as told to the Stranger in As You Sow, so you shall reap.
• At the bus stop, Charlotte asks Peter the same question she asked Jonas in Alpha and Omega that is if the dead can be brought back to life and gives the same answer that Jonas gave her that is that she needs to do it before they die which basically means changing theirs past.
• The Claudia of this world sees the sphere of time
• Jonas says he didn't want it to go like this but Martha tells her she didn't think so when they got it up the night before. It is exactly like in Everything is now where she told him if the kiss was wrong and Jonas repeats that this is all wrong but Martha kisses him anyway and asks him the same question, that is what was this.
• Even in the alternative world, the power plant is being dismantled.
• Aleksander says the same sentence that he says in Secrets to Hanna that is that he didn't think it would end like this for Central and that there is a time for everything.
• Charlotte asks to Aleksander the same questions that Clausen does in The Travelers episode, although here Charlotte also asks for the 1986 roster and discovers that Helge dismounted at 6pm and Mads disappeared at 6:21 pm.
• In this world it is Peter who suspects Charlotte's betrayal, in the other Peter is cheating on Charlotte with the Transgender Benni

Cast

• Julika Jenkins as adult Claudia Tiedemann
• Carlotta von Falkenhayn as young Elisabeth Doppler
• Stephan Kampwirth as Peter Doppler
• Jördis Triebel as adult Katharina Nielsen
• Karoline Eichhorn as adult Charlotte Doppler
• Dietrich Hollinderbäumer as Adam
• Louis Hofmann as Jonas Kahnwald
• Lisa Vicari as Martha Nielsen
• Winfried Glatzeder as old Ulrich Nielsen
• Katharina Spiering as Helene Albers
• Stephanie Amarell as young Charlotte Doppler
• Peter Benedict as adult Aleksander Tiedemann
• Pablo Striebeck as young Peter Doppler
• Sandra Borgman as adult Elisabeth Doppler
• Carina Wiese as adult Franziska Doppler
• Daan Lennard Liebrenz as Michael Kahnwald
• Anne Ratte-Polle as adult Ines Kahnwald
• Nele Trebs as young Katharina Nielsen
• Max Schimmelpfennig as young Hanno Tauber
• Nina Kronjager as female stranger
• Moritz Heinklin as busdriver
• Isaak Dentler as burglar

Deaths

• Peter Doppler (from Adam's world) - Bludgeoned by a marauder - September 23, 2020 (in Adam's world)
• Katharina Nielsen (from Adam's world) - Bludgeoned by Helene Albers (from Adam's world) - September 23, 1987 (in Adam's world)
• Jonas Kahnwald (Timeline B) - Shot by Martha Nielsen (from Eva's world) - November 7, 2019 (in Eva's world)

Soundtrack

• "In The Woods Somewhere" by Hozier