History YMMV / Dark2017

* AwesomeMusic: The soundtrack by Ben Frost is ''beautiful'', and that's not even getting to the haunting opening with the song "Goodbye" by Apparat featuring [=Soap&Skin=].

* {{Wangst}}: Bartosz is apparently very hurt by the fact that Jonas stood him up for Bartosz meeting his drug dealer in the middle of the woods at night for a small bag of weed. Meanwhile, everyone else has to deal with Bartosz' poor girlfriend having a nervous breakdown in front of half the town over the fact that her brother is missing.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Whereas his sympathy is in the eye of the beholder, [[spoiler:Helge Doppler]] qualifies as this. His life was shattered beyond repair after a murder attempt when he was just a little boy, for [[spoiler:crimes he hasn't even committed yet]]. The broke man is then manipulated by Father Noah [[spoiler:into committing the very crimes he was almost killed for]], and while his past doesn't excuse his actions, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he eventually comes to realize what he's done]]. [[spoiler:He dies in a futile attempt to stop his past self from listening to Noah any longer, a sad, lonely old man consumed by guilt.]]

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Whereas his sympathy is in the eye of the beholder, [[spoiler:Helge Doppler]] qualifies as this. His life was shattered beyond repair after a murder attempt when he was just a little boy, for [[spoilers:crimes he hasn't even committed yet]]. The broke man is then manipulated by Father Noah [[spoilers:into committing the very crimes he was almost killed for]], and while his past doesn't excuse his actions, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he eventually comes to realize what he's done]]. [[spoilers:He dies in a futile attempt to stop his past self from listening to Noah any longer, a sad, lonely old man consumed by guilt.]]

** Regina. As a teenager, she was neglected by her mother and bullied by her classmates, driving her to [[SelfHarm cut herself]] in order to cope with the stress. As an adult, she still hasn't received any apology from her former bullies, struggles financially, and is [[spoiler:diagnosed with cancer]].

** Elisabeth, Charlotte's deaf daughter who bluntly doesn't wish for Mikkel to return home. ''She is a fucking first grader''.
*** True, but as a kid she probably doesn't fully understand what she's wishing for. She just knows she doesn't have to deal with the annoying kid anymore. She's not thinking about the fact that him never coming back likely means he was brutally murdered.

** Is [[spoiler:Claudia helping Future!Jonas or is she in cahoots with Father Noah]]?

** The Stranger/[[spoiler:Future!Jonas is very liked due to his badass appearance]].

* TheScrappy: ''Hannah''. She spends most of her time being obsessively cruel towards [[spoiler:Katharina]] over the fact that [[spoiler:Ulrich breaks up with her after realizing he loves his wife more]]. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
* {{Squick}}: The fact [[spoiler:Mikkel becomes Jonas's father]]. Brr.

** Magnus and Franziska are well, mainly due to their lack of contribution to ''anything''.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Within a show of depressive, sociopathic, or downright broken people...well...:

** Arguably one of the big criticism people have towards ''Dark'' is unlike shows like ''Series/TwinPeaks'' and ''Series/StrangerThings'' which have some witty characters or a sense of dark humor, it has ''none'' of that and feels more or less a drag of depressive, angry, and borderline ''unlikable'' characters.

** Hannah ''appears'' to be this, but afterwards...not so much.

* {{Narm}}: It's a very dramatic scene in 1953 when two boys from 2019, [[spoiler:Yanis and Erik]], are found and appear to be from the future. It's a little less dramatic when one of the things that tips off the coroner is a ''Franchise/MyLittlePony tattoo.''

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:

* {{Wangst}}: Bartosz is apparently very hurt by the fact that Jonas stood him up for Bartosz meeting his drug dealer in the middle of the woods at night for a small bag of weed. Boo hoo.

* FriendlyFandoms: With Series/StrangerThings, due to the multiple comparisons.

** Aleksander / [[spoiler:Boris]], due to [[spoiler:defending Regina in 1986 from Katharina's bullying]].
** The Stranger / [[spoiler:Future!Jonas is very liked due to his badass appearance]].

** Ulrich, Katharina, and Regina. Both are ''definitely'' scummy people but in regards to what we see of [[spoiler: the timelines]], it's hard not to sympathize.

* NightmareFuel: The concept of the show alone is unnerving and invokes AdultFear, but the idea that [[spoiler:everything is predetermined by a StableTimeLoop makes it chilling, implying anything the characters will do will be for naught]].

* TheWoobie: Jonas and Charlotte. Someone ''give these people a hug''.

** Is [[spoiler: Claudia helping Future!Jonas or is she in cahoots with Father Noah]]?
** [[spoiler: Father Noah]] himself also qualifies: Is he a WellIntentionedExtremist who genuinely believes that his ruthless actions are ultimately for the greater good of mankind, or is he just a self-serving ManipulativeBastard who enjoys having power over others?

* BaseBreaker: Helge. You either will sympathize with him and like his attempts to become TheAtoner or [[spoiler: you find him deplorable for the same reasons with no redemption]].
** Bartosz as well. There's two divisions with him: Either he's a likable JerkWithAHeartOfGold who slowly performs a FaceHeelTurn who didn't get what the heck was wrong with Jonas ''or'' he's a cock who [[spoiler: knew about Jonas's crush on Martha and took her from him]].
* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: A common criticism of the series is that ''nothing ever goes well for anybody'', especially since [[spoiler: all attempts to set things right are inevitably doomed to fail thanks to the concept of everything being a StableTimeLoop]].
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Charlotte, due to being the most level-headed of the characters determined to get to the bottom of the disappearances and even getting down to [[spoiler: everything happening every 33 years]].
** Aleksander / [[spoiler: Boris]], due to [[spoiler: defending Regina in 1986 from Katharina's bullying]].
** The Stranger / [[spoiler: Future!Jonas is very liked due to his badass appearance]].

* JerkassWoobie: Arguably Ulrich, Katharina, and Regina. Both are ''definitely'' scummy people but in regards to what we see of [[spoiler: the timelines]], it's hard not to sympathize.

* MemeticBadass: [[spoiler: Future!Jonas]], as considering how [[spoiler: [[TheWoobie 2019!Jonas]]]] is, it'd be refreshing to see how he became so level headed.

* YMMV/{{Narm}}: It's a very dramatic scene in 1953 when two boys from 2019, [[spoiler:Yanis and Erik]], are found and appear to be from the future. It's a little less dramatic when one of the things that tips off the coroner is a ''Franchise/MyLittlePony tattoo.''
* NightmareFuel: The concept of the show alone is unnerving and invokes AdultFear, but the idea that [[spoiler: everything is predetermined by a StableTimeLoop makes it chilling, implying anything the characters will do will be for naught]].
* TheScrappy: ''Hannah''. She spends most of her time being obsessively cruel towards [[spoiler: Katharina]] over the fact that [[spoiler: Ulrich breaks up with her after realizing he loves his wife more]]. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
* {{Squick}}: The fact [[spoiler: Mikkel becomes Jonas's father]]. Brr.

** {{Squick}}: The fact [[spoiler: Mikkel becomes Jonas's father]]. Brr.

* Bartosz as well. There's two divisions with him: Either he's a likable JerkWithAHeartOfGold who slowly performs a FaceHeelTurn who didn't get what the heck was wrong with Jonas ''or'' he's a cock who [[spoiler: knew about Jonas's crush on Martha and took her from him]].

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Is [[spoiler: Claudia helping Future!Jonas or is she in cahoots with Father Noah]]?
** [[spoiler: Father Noah]] is all this.
** Hannah, Jonas's mother: BrokenBird or full blown sociopath?
* BaseBreaker: Helge, you either will sympathize with him and like his attempts to become TheAtoner or [[spoiler: you find him deplorable for the same reasons with no redemption]].
* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: A common criticism of ''Dark'' is that ''nothing goes well for anybody''. Especially in regards to [[spoiler: any action is predated thanks to the concept of everything being a StableTimeLoop]].

* MemeticMutation: "Everything is connected".

* TheScrappy: ''Hannah''. She spends most of her time obsessively cruel towards [[spoiler: Katharina]] over the fact [[spoiler: Ulrich breaks up with her after realizing he loves his wife more]]. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.