Heartwarming / Charité at War

• Otto's first days back home from the front. Anni is happy to have her brother back, but she notices that he's not really well and does her best to be there for him, joking with him but also offering comfort. It's obvious that the two of them are very close, despite their opposing thoughts about the political state.
• Adolphe Jung's arrival in the Charité hospital. He's a war prisoner in all but name, conscripted to work for the Nazis as a mere assistant and get the accordingly low pay, but not only do the Sauerbruchs welcome him warmly, Professor Sauerbruch himself immediately accepts him as a renowned colleague, and Martin warns him to be careful (i. e., lock his door when he's hearing BBC news), so Jung knows he's among like-minded people.
• Sauerbruch is pissed when Martin and Otto carry little Emil down into the protection cellar, insisting that the boy should not be moved so shortly after his surgery. But, Dr. Jerk as he can be, he gives in when Emil pleads and says that he's afraid to stay upstairs.
  Sauerbruch: Handle him like a raw egg! God have mercy on you two if one of the sutures comes loose!
  • When Emil's sutures do come loose and he has to be stitched up again, Otto immediately volunteers as a blood donor (he's blood type O, a universal donor). The procedure succeeds, Jung lauds Otto's quick and courageous stepping-in, and both Martin and Otto are visibly relieved, joking and sharing a moment of comradeship.
• The Sauerbruchs' marriage, especially at the times when Margot lovingly snarks at her husband.
  Sauerbruch: I think the only person who has no respect for me is my wife. I always found that irresistible.
• Maria Fritsch and Fritz Kolbe spending some time as a couple. Seeing as they spend most of their time together for Kolbe's spy work, it's nice to see them being romantic for a change and him going out of his way to pamper his girlfriend by bringing her coffee, chocolate, and her favorite cigarettes, all of which are scarce goods.
• Everything about Sauerbruch, Jung, Otto and Martin taking care of resistance fighter Hans von Dohnanyi after his stroke, giving their best to keep the Nazi authorities away from him while helping him recover. He warmly thanks them for it, and so does his wife.
  • Von Dohnanyi's family visits him for Christmas; Otto sneaks them in with presents and a little Christmas tree, and then they are the ones who are in for a surprise: Their father/husband can walk again.
  • The von Dohnanyis' marriage. When Hans von Dohnanyi slowly regains control of his apoplectic body half, he trains his fine motor skills by drawing a portrait of his wife, and during an air raid, as they have to hide away in his hospital room, they turn on the radio and dance through the bombing night.
• Otto's Love Confession to Martin, heartbreaking as it may be, is also this. Despite all the danger, Otto still follows through with telling Martin how he feels, and despite being incredibly frightened, Martin still makes clear he returns those feelings.
• Martin and Otto in the attic, waiting out the air raid and having a bit of time for themselves when they don't have to keep a distance. Talking about after the war, Otto says he's looking forward to sleep without fear and being woken up by Martin in the morning.
  • Later on, when the Battle for Berlin has all but reached it's peak and the Russians have already closed in on Alexanderplatz, the pair are seen cuddling in the attic on Otto's bed while Karin plays, talking about what's going on outside and what will happen to them after the war. Otto even teases Martin after he says the best thing for the two of them would be going to France. It's obvious that whatever happens, they know they'll be okay as long as they're together.
• Anni tearfully confides in Otto, who's about to go out to the front: She knows by now that there's no cure for Karin. Otto encourages her, saying that Karin is a very lovable child nonetheless — "so many things in the world are not perfect, but still beautiful"; the line makes absolutely sense coming from him, seeing as Otto is in love with a crippled man.
• Somewhat drowned out in the dramatic situation, but still heartwarming when you come to think about it: Margot Sauerbruch is named by Otto as a witness on why Christel would denounce him out of spite (he rejected her), and after Margot has given her statement, she realizes that the department she has talked to on the phone is the homosexual persecution. She and Miss Fritsch put the pieces together, since Martin has just been arrested as well — and instead of losing one word about the relationship, they're just really worried if the two of them will get out unscathed. The fact that the two men are homosexuals doesn't mean anything to them; that they're their allies, colleagues and beloved friends, does.
• Anni and Otto each baring their dangerous secrets to one another — Anni that she wants to keep and raise her disabled baby, Otto that he's in love with a man and has deserted the army to find out what happened to Martin — and giving each other courage and strength. After having been somewhat at odds with each other for long, the siblings team up to find a way of putting up resistance and saving their loved ones.
  • Note that Anni does not approve of Otto's relationship at all. She protests, pleads with him, and is obviously aghast — but she still goes to de Crinis to retrieve Martin from prison, because he's someone her brother loves.
• Anni finally admits to her mother that Karin is disabled. Her mother's reaction? Offering to take care of Karin so Anni can keep up her job.
• Otto's and Martin's reunion. There's quite some hugging and kissing, and Otto explains the new situation to Martin, with his desertion and him taking care of Karin. Finally hopeful again, he promises Martin that they'll get through it — they just have to wait out the war, and the defeat of the Nazis is becoming more clear with every day passing.
  Otto: We just have to hold out. The Allied are already in Strasburg, and the Russians at the Eastern Prussian border.
  Martin: What'll you do up here when there's an air raid alarm?
  Otto: I'll sing lullabies for Karin.
  Martin: And that helps against the Tommies?
  Otto: You've no idea what an awful singer I am.
• Despite the crisis going on around them — Otto and Karin are well in their hiding place; Karin has spent the past months there and has grown to a lively, cheerful and quite healthy toddler. At the beginning of the last episode, Anni goes up into the attic to visit her brother and child, and Karin is visibly happy to see her mother; so it's apparently a daily procedure. Even in those messed-up circumstances, they have somehow made this work.
  • Anni's initial misgivings notwithstanding, she and Martin have struck up a sort of friendship, but at least a mutual acceptance, over their shared situation.
• The father of the heavily burnt boy is suddenly frightened when Anni wants to undress the kid to take care of his wounds, knowing that, even now, a circumcision is not an advantageous ID. Sure enough, Nazi nurse Käthe is still around. Artur quickly makes sure that she cannot recognize father and son as Jews.
  • For that and for helping his son altogether, said man gives Artur a yellow star patch, which was used to mark Jews, telling Artur that it can be of use to him, when the Russians come. Artur tries to reject it, but the father insists, even telling him that there are other methods to proof that he's a Jew.
• That heartbreaking look on Artur's face when he sees his daughter for the first time in more than half a year and finds that Karin has grown into a lively, absolutely darling toddler who plays, walks, develops her motoric abilities, and has formed emotional bonds to the people around her.
• When Martin asks if he can bring Otto to safety in the bunker, despite him being a deserter, Sauerbruch tells him that a doctor is always welcome — and scoffs at Christel that no one is left to whom she can denounce Otto now. Then Martin comes back with a severely injured Otto, and Sauerbruch, Father to His Men, asserts himself against the protesting Soviet occupation soldiers to get to treat him.
• Sauerbruchs reunion with one of his former students from university. Said former student is the head of a Russian Medicine Company and has also gone on to be a Professor himself. In spite of having been on opposite sides of the war, the Russian treats Sauerbruch like an old friend, tells him about his accomplishments, since university, reminisces about those days and gives Sauerbruch news of his son, who is in a POW camp, along with the promise that he will do everything in his power to return the son to his father.
• A few notes from the epilogue:
  • Anni and Artur were divorced shortly after the war, and she took a job working with handicapped children away from Berlin.
  • Karin made her way through life successfully, despite her disability.
  • Otto and Martin stayed working at the hospital and could finally be a bit more open about their relationship after homosexuality was decriminalized in the GDR, implying they stayed together for good.
  • Jung returned to his country and was fully rehabilitated, living on as a renowned Surgeon and Professor of Medicine.
  • Margot Sauerbruch outlived her husband for more than 40 years, but she remained a force to be reckoned with till old age, and she never remarried.