‘Echos’ Recap: ‘Die Verschwundene’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Four of ‘Echos’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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Over the course of the past couple of weeks, the Sundance Now series, Echos, has offered up quite the compelling and powerful story. One that has not only offered up incredible commentary on wealth inequality in our world and how those that ‘have’ view the ‘have nots’, but it has also provided us with a compelling plot. The kind that has featured all kinds of mysteries and twists and turns, alongside some genuinely moving moments between characters that are beyond stressed and at their breaking points. But while it has been fascinating to watch everyone deal with the fallout of the rave party fire and learn about our world and the people that populate this one, at some point… answers to the mysteries have to come our way and a push toward resolution must begin and it turns out… the next episode of this story served as the perfect moment to make that happen.
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For ‘Die Verschwundene’ is a story that started to move the plot along and answer some of our questions and it accomplished that latter feat, by focusing heavily on Officer Kaltbrunner. For her motivations to explore the underground and the people that populate it, has been mired in mystery for some time. But here we learned that all of her out of place behavior isn’t related to something illegal or wrong, but out of nobility. For Kaltbrunner has an estranged daughter that left home ages ago and came to Munich to start over, and she failed in that and is now living underground and that’s why mom has worked so hard to find her. To reunite her family and make her relationship with her daughter, whole again, and this was quite the surprise revelation for certain, since it paints Kaltrbunner in a whole new light, one that is shockingly positive in nature.

But of course, before we dive into the plot progression… we need to take a moment to discuss how this story also brought forth a moment of reckoning for Janosch. Because his wild behavior at dinner left his father worried, enough to the point where he was eager to check out what kind of life his son was leading and that led to quite the confrontation. One where Janosch was kicked out of the house and his boyfriend’s life since his lavish style was derided and chided by both men. Leaving him on the street and unsure of what comes next, and this was powerful to say the least. Since Janosch is indeed something of a lost soul in this tale and drifting through life and having him go through this… will hopefully serve as a wakeup call for him… in addition to how it set the stage for something quite important. Since Janosch also came to learn that he apparently has a doppelgänger in the tunnels below the city and that kind of reveal has to play into something larger.

As for the major plot push, well that came about by way of Tyler in this tale. Because shortly after Tyler basically screwed the pooch when it comes to the money she was trying to extort from Nellie, some of Tyler’s friends in the underground finally pushed back upon her plan and well… the whole thing quickly unraveled in this tale. Since Max’s friend was finally put to death by Spider, bringing more fear to the surface that Max might not make it and well… there’s good reason for that worry. Because in the closing moments of this tale, he was finally released from the tire room and cut free from his restraints and blindfold, and he was left in a place that was easy for him to escape. But someone… quickly made an effort to ensure that wasn’t going to be the case and well… that is quite the cliffhanger to leave us on. Since we don’t know if Max made it or if another attempt at revenge by a group of people that have simply had enough is about to come to fruition.

In the end however, this really was another quality episode from this incredibly unique story. One that really did a fine job of closing out an important mystery and moving the plot along so we can properly enjoy the final two episodes of this fascinating and unique series. Wherein we will undoubtedly have our questions answered about the remaining mysteries, such as what is going on regarding Janosch’s ‘twin’ and of course, we still need to learn more about whatever Max and Nellie’s mom is up to and above all else… we have to know if Max is going to make it out of this whole nightmare alive and well, that definitely compels us to continue the journey. For now, we know that this series isn’t going to leave us hanging and it will be quite interesting to see how everything comes together in this harrowing and poignant story. Until next time.  

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