A Recap of Season Two of ‘Babylon Berlin’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Liv Lisa Fries as Charlotte Ritter in Season 2 of ‘Babylon Berlin’. (Photo Courtesy of MHz Choice.)

One particular truth about modern crime dramas, regardless of their setting… is that they each have a ‘thing’ they bring to the table. For some, it’s about deep commentary about our world and the state of it through the crimes that the heroes solve. While others teach us about a particular era in time through the setting of the story to give us an understanding of what life was like back then, and how hard it was to solve crimes back in the day. Or… they simply offer up amazing character studies that explore the human condition with amazing depth. And that… is but a sampling of what crime dramas do since so many more have their own niche, and one unspoken rule amongst them… is that you never combine elements. You stick with the hook and never deviate and that is why the MHz Choice series, Babylon Berlin is of note.
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For this is that rare crime drama that thumbs its nose at such concepts. For it wants to be about life, and history, feature commentary, and offer incredible character dynamics through and through and it indeed combines those elements into its stories, as evidenced by its second season. For year two of Rath and Charlotte’s travels through pre-WWII-era Germany, featured juicy cases for them to solve. One that was in many ways, was left unresolved from season one, and the fight to solve it and others allowed for our heroes to dig deep into conspiracies and surprises and give us a crime story that was engaging and powerful, and stayed true to the era, via the difficulties both parties faced in finding the truth and in bringing bad guys to justice, and that made for a compelling season of storytelling, one rife with big moments we will come back to in a moment. 

Because we’d be remiss to not point out, how the characters were indeed a big focus here. After all this is a story that deeply explored Gereon’s actions in the First World War and how those actions led to his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and formed him into the bold man we met in the series premiere of this amazing tale, with some amazing twists and turns of course. Because the truth about ‘Dr. Schmidt’ was simply a stunning moment, and all of those moments only connected us to Gereon further since we found relatability in his plight and we of course, found that with Charlotte as well. Since she too has her own growth and hardships in this tale that are very human and very powerful and well, both of these elements blended together seamlessly. Showcasing that a crime drama can focus on both elements no problem and offer a powerful tale, and it can add more to the mix.

Since of course, there were more relevant and parallel history lessons to be found in this tale. Because this season featured the chilling arrival of a scary truth that we all knew was lurking behind the scenes but did not want to focus upon. In that the Third Reich was slowly coming to life behind the scenes, and its proud and misguided members were slowly preparing to properly reveal themselves to the world. Reminding us of the darkness that awaits and how this moment was indeed the right one for them to seize power since Germany was clearly in tatters at this point in time. Not to mention, the desire to return Germany to its pre-war standing by some parties in this tale offers echoes of now, since there are so many around the world who want to turn the clock back and stunt humanity’s growth because of fear and close-mindedness and that plot thread was eerie to say the least and reminded us of the need to be vigilant.

But what mattered most here, was that this season of storytelling… featured a beautiful tapestry of sorts. One that defied convention by blending together all of those elements in a beautiful fashion. Which in turn allowed for an engaging season of storytelling that pulls you into this period of time and the lives of these lovely characters and holds onto you tight. For one cannot look away and one is eager to experience the controlled chaos of this story and all the other elements it has to offer. If anything, the best way to describe season two is to call it… epic in nature. Because it just offers so much and left us wanting more. To see how on that twist involving Rath would come to resolution and of course, to enjoy more of this gentle period in time that we know litlte of, before it is overshadowed by the machinations of a madman.

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