When Stories Get Real: How ‘Drops of God’ Offers Advice on Breaking Free of Generational Trauma

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Tomohisa Yamashita and Fleur Geffrier in "Drops of God," now streaming on Apple TV+.

There are a great many concepts that human beings cherish in this life. For instance, we are beings that believe deeply in the power of love and connection and that drives us to find a romantic partner that fills a special spot in our soul and friends that fill in the rest. Plus, we also cherish children and make sure we protect them and guide them in the hopes of having their generation lead us to a better tomorrow. But above all, what we cherish the most in this life, is tradition. Because every family out there and our species as a whole, harbors little quirks or big quirks that we pass down from generation to generation to keep alive memories and keep alive notions that would in fact, fade without such work, and we cherish these so much… that there are people out there that will push for them to stay alive and be passed down, even when they are negative in nature. 
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Which means that sadly… there is a dark side to the things that we cherish. Since we cherish love and relationships so much in this life that we will surround ourselves with the wrong people to be feel whole. And there are those who feel so pressured to be part of giving rise to the next generation, they’ll have a kid when they’re not ready or never wanted one in the first place and make life hard for that innocent kid and yes… there are traditions we take part in that are toxic and negative in nature and should stop, but don’t. But what’s truly fascinating and unfortunate about the darker side to the elements of life that we cherish, is that some of them have combined and given rise to subconscious traditions that cause more harm than good. Such as generational trauma. Where a child that grows up enduring unique abuse or is constantly exposed to negative emotions and toxic behaviors… imparts those same ugly elements upon their own children when they become a parent. 

Because sadly… those behaviors are all we know and we trust our parents to do the right thing and guide us the right way, so we accept that toxicity and treat it as a different kind of gospel and well… this is a concept we are only now really beginning to dive into and explore and understand from a scientific standpoint. Which means for countless generations this has existed and we’ve all taken part in it in some form or fashion and that does leave all of us wondering actively now… how do we break this cycle and this tradition so that we can start to remove the ugliest parts of humanity and really grow as a species. Well as it turns out, science is now working on that, and there are creative minds pondering upon how we remove it from our lives and believe it or not, Apple TV+ is host to a series that takes the time to explore how we can shatter Generational Trauma, and that makes Drops of God a supremely important series. 

For this is a story that really takes the time to explore every aspect of this problem. Since it establishes how it comes to life since we watch our main characters be subjected to it, and struggle with it as they grow older and try to get over it… only to fail when it returns to the forefront of their lives through the death of Alexandre Léger. For he makes sure to impart more trauma from beyond the grave upon Camille and Issei, and Issei even suffers from fresh bouts of it from his own parents. And while this aspect of the series does a phenomenal job of backing up the reality that this is something we accept and practice because it is all we know, it doesn’t take long for this story to really shine by pointing out how wrong this is and the pain and confusion it causes children and how it isn’t something parents can resort to. Instead, they need to be better, they need give their children the world and well… the show points out that the first step in breaking this cycle at any level is to recognize that echoing what our parents imparted upon us… is wrong. 

But it is more than just recognition that breaks the cycle, as evidenced by Camille and Issei’s journey. Since they take the time to confront their traumas and stand in front of them and acknowledge the pain it caused them… and resolve it. Resolve it in this instance by besting their father’s challenges and proving him wrong every step of the way, but that speaks as an allegory for how the rest of us can break the cycle. In that we too… should confront it, and heal from it, preferably with the help of a medical professional… but that we also most… carve a better path for ourselves mentally. One that separates us from the toxic past we know so we can embrace what could be. Which could involve cutting toxic family from our lives or it could involve forging our own path in life and ignoring our legacy and the nonsense that can sometimes come with that. But the important thing is… we recognize and change and embrace our agency over anything else. 

If anything, all of these elements make for a powerful journey. One that really does teach us plenty about generational trauma and offers some sound and simple ways to escape it, and it doesn’t hurt… that these lessons are buried beneath a story that ponders upon the wonder of wine and the majesty of finding our own path in life. Since that allows for the lesson to never be overwhelming, and that’s a big deal. since this is subject matter that can be quite heavy at times. But make no mistake about it, the message is never diluted, just handled with grace, and that only adds to the wonder of this series. One that speaks to a topic that remains taboo and offers us a great deal of powerful and uplifting messages as well. Such as how important it is to never let our past define us and to live in the present over anything else and enjoy that moment, because it will never come again, and you simply cannot go wrong with a story that takes the time to offer up those messages and offer us guidance regarding a problem that continues to plague humanity, when it shouldn’t. For with some effort… we could let go of our shadows and embrace our better angels and build that better tomorrow through kindness and understanding for the children we cherish.   

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