Netflix’s Dark
Season 2, Episode 7: “The White Devil”
Directed by Baran bo Odar
Written by Jantje Friese & Marc O. Seng

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “An Endless Cycle” – click here
* For a recap & review of the Season 2 finale, “Endings and Beginnings” – click here
The Fall of the Damned looms over Adam as he sees Martha (Lisa Vicari) right across from him. In 2020, older Jonas (Andreas Pietschmann) sleeps while Hannah (Maja Schöne) prepares to leave, suitcase in tow, and she sees Ulrich (Oliver Masucci) like he’s at the door. Martha, in her room, sits looking at her necklace while she sees time travelling Jonas (Louis Hofmann) there, not unlike how Katharina (Jördis Triebel) sees her boy Mikkel ((Daan Lennard Leibrenz) in his room sitting in the corner.
Across time, these people long for one another, seeking an end to their pain and for a solution to their desire. A gorgeous, if not tragic montage to open this episode. A thought: if everyone is travelling through time to try and find the people they care for, won’t all those timelines get twisted, and any hopes of stopping what’s coming will get messed up? There was a mention earlier in the season that all things have to be controlled and work towards the one goal, so this may prove to sabotage what Jonas is trying to accomplish.

June 26, 1954. One day until the Apocalypse.
Older Claudia’s body has been found in the forest. Egon (Sebastian Hülk) is shocked to see her, having met her recently when Helge reappeared. They believe the woman could be the “madman‘s accomplice.” The medical examiner shows the cops Claudia’s been heavily contaminated from prolonged exposure to radiation.
In ’87, Claudia (Julika Jenkins) keeps going over the results from the year prior. She’s obsessed with figuring it all out. She realises this is the same day from the newspaper article, when her father Egon (Christian Pätzold) is found dead.

“Pain is their ship,
desire their compass.”

Older Jonas wakes and can’t find the time machine. Neither can he find his mother. Hannah’s up at the caves with the machine. She wants to go looking for Ulrich. Likewise, Katharina can’t stop thinking of her husband or her boy. Across town, Charlotte (Karoline Eichhorn) explains her past to husband Peter (Stephan Kampwirth)— the recent discovery about her mother, and her father, Noah (Mark Waschke).
What about Clausen (Sylvester Groth)? He’s got a picture that looks circa ’87. Who’s the other man in the photo? Clearly the copper has another reason for being in Winden. Right now he’s got fresh info on Aleksander (Peter Benedict) and Marburg, which has him quoting Corinthians. Is it possible Aleksander killed someone close to Clausen 33 years ago right before he showed up in town?

In 1954, Egon goes to see young Helge to ask if he recognises Claudia. The boy mentions “the White Devil.” This stuns the policeman. The boy says the old woman was going to kill everybody, and she’s not even yet begun. A terrifying thing to hear from a small boy. Later at the station, Egon gets a visit from Hannah, who says she’s Ulrich’s wife.

In ’87, Claudia goes to see Egon, asking him to take the day off. Is it the struggle to save her father that propelled Claudia across time, travelling to different eras? She’s doing anything she can think of to keep Egon safe. At chemo, her father mentions Back to the Future and believes “time travel” may exist, connecting it with what happened to Helge and Mads. His daughter knows all too well.
Martha goes looking for Hannah, only to find older Jonas. Such an intense meeting for him. He mentions “a glitch in the matrix” and she recognises it. He mentions the pendant. She understands it’s him. Soon Katharina shows up looking for Hannah. She sees her daughter with older Jonas, dropping a bombshell re: incestuous time travel stuff.

Clausen takes Aleksander into custody. They sit for a talk. He confirms his brother vanished “without a trace” in ’86— Aleksander Köhler, like Aleksander before taking his wife’s last name. Clausen has his mother’s last name. He’s never stopped searching for his brother. He hands Aleksander a letter. It contains a Freud quote and suggests answers about his brother lie in Winden, only signed from “a friend.”
In the ’50s, Hannah’s taken to see Ulrich. He’s brought out in chains. He wonders if she’s “an angel.” This is the best thing that’s happened to him since he’s been caught in that decade. All Hannah wants to know is whether Ulrich would choose her or his wife. He says he’ll be with her if she can get him out of there.
Instead, she leaves him there. Damn.
Will she remain in ’54, or go back? (Will she become part of Sic Mundus?)

In ’87, Egon starts thinking Claudia knows more than she lets on. He believes she’s involved because of the power plant. He wants to have the caves searched. OH! NO! You can see where this is going. He tries to call the police. She’ll protect those secrets however she must. They struggle over the phone and Egon winds up hitting his head. Now it’s clear who’s the White Devil / why old Claudia apologised to her father in ’54.
That night, Claudia goes home and Jonas shows up at her home. He has a key that her older self gave to him. They have things to do and little time to do them, so they have to get started. He comforts her, explaining that “next time” things don’t have to happen how they’ve happened now.
There’s hope in the future.

Soundtrack note: The last montage is set to “God’s Whisper” by Raury
All the threads are twisting around one another. Not quite as expected, and it remains incredibly exciting. Season 2, somehow, got even better than the amazing first season. What’s going to be most interesting is to see how the finale will end things here, leading into a third and final season— completing the three cycles.
There are plenty of places this ship might steer.

“Endings and Beginnings” is next.