R29 Binge Club: Netflix’s Dark Final Season Recap

Welcome back to Winden — what year is it adagain? Netflix’s German sci-fi thriller Dark has returned for its third and final season, and there’s a lot going on in this fictional town, regardless of what timeline (or universe) you’re in. 

If there’s one thing to know about Dark, it’s that time travel is a very real thing. Time is essentially a circle, as characters are able to travel 33 years into the past and future, bringing us everywhere from post-apocalyptic 2053 to 2019, the 1920s, the 1950s, and the 1800s. The time travel allows for impossible romances (and incest) as the four families at the centre of Dark are connected to each other in a myriad of ways, crossing over decades and murky timelines. (Who knew it was possible to be your mother’s mother, like Elisabeth?) 

When we were in Winden last, the world had ended — kind of. 2053 Elisabeth turned on the time machine, activating the dark matter and opening a portal to 2020 Charlotte. Katharina, meanwhile, opened the Sic Mundus gate in the cave. Jonas, sitting over Martha’s lifeless body, was then met by a chic Martha with bangs, who said she’s from another world — not another time. Who is this alternate reality Martha? What happened to Elisabeth and Charlotte? Can the apocalypse still be stopped?

Get ready to dust off the Winden family tree, it’s time to dive in.

The season kicks off with a quote from the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer: “Man can do what he wills, but he cannot will what he wills.” (I see what you did there, Dark.) The camera focuses on a wall of framed photos of the four families as a voice-over asks us if, knowing what we knew, would we still make the same decisions — or choose a different path? 

A strange man walks through a room littered with papers, holding a lantern. It’s not immediately clear what year we’re in. He picks up one and blows dust off it, only to reveal what appears to be a smaller blueprint of a time machine. A young boy and old man enter the room with lanterns, revealing Adam’s study, only to set it ablaze. All three men have the same scar running from just under their nose to their upper lip and wear the same outfit — are they three versions of one person? The photo wall from the opening montage burns as the camera focuses on Martha Nielsen and Jonas Kahnwald. 

Jonas is confused while chic Martha with bangs tells him, “We don’t have time now.” She takes a gold orb-like device, twists it, and places it on the ground. Jonas is exasperated as the device whirs, asking her what time she came from. “The question isn’t what time,” she says, “the question is what world.” The 2019 Martha we know is on the ground, her face and shirt covered in blood. The device whirs and suddenly light particles are dancing in the air, transporting Jonas and Martha to the cave. 

Jonas is frustrated and wants answers — who is she, how did they get down there? 

“Today is the day everything started,” Martha tells him. “The day we first met each other.” It’s the first day his world and her world formed a knot that is inextricably intertwined. 

Martha twists the gold orb again and places it on the ground. She promises Jonas she will make things right as the device buzzes and she ditches him in the cave. 

It’s 4th November 2019. Martha wakes up, sweaty — and she has bangs. They’re a little scraggly and her hair is longer than chic Martha’s, though, signalling this is a third Martha. She goes downstairs to the kitchen, where Mikkel Nielsen is sitting at the table. “If I Could Turn Back Time” by Cher is aptly playing in the background. Katharina Nielsen (who is now sporting glasses and some chic centre-parted bangs of her own) tells Martha that Mikkel has been having “the same nightmares.” Martha teases Mikkel that maybe it wasn’t a dream, “maybe none of us are real.” (Are you real, Martha?) The lights keep flickering as Martha and Mikkel have breakfast. 

Katharina calls up the stairs for Magnus Nielsen, who is a little too busy having sex with Franziska Doppler — and has dark, shoulder-length hair and several tattoos. Franziska sneaks out of the house through his window, a scene eerily reminiscent of Ulrich Nielsen sneaking out in season 1. The opening credits’ symmetrical images make total sense now: mirrored images across parallel universes. 

Katharina reminds Martha that tomorrow she is staying with her father. Martha doesn’t seem too thrilled by the prospect of seeing him. The camera cuts to a framed photo of the Nielsen family with half the image torn out, Ulrich notably missing. 

Next, we’re with Ulrich, who has a bag from the bakery. He wakes up Hannah Kahnwald. It’s the first day of school and the line at the bakery is long. “The apocalypse is nigh,” he jokes. Hannah tells him she loves him before getting out of bed, revealing she’s pregnant. 

Martha bikes through the fog to school, wearing a yellow rain jacket similar to Jonas’. She pauses at the stoplight by the power plant, staring at the stacks, and glances at a poster. “Missing: Erik Obendorf.” Seems some things never change. 

Jonas exits the cave and takes in his surroundings as Martha enters school. Martha runs into Magnus as Bartosz Tiedemann — who also has shoulder-length hair — catches up to them. Magnus is wondering why they’re bothering with school since “we all die in the end.” Martha greets Kilian Obendorf, Erik’s brother, with a kiss. 

We cut to Helge Doppler, who is missing an eye and holding the penny on the red string. He warns, “It will happen again.” Peter and Charlotte Doppler (who now has longer, wavy hair) watch as Helge repeats his warning. “Tick tock,” Helge says, agitated. 

Hannah is vacuuming as a photo of her and Ulrich sits on the mantle (starting to sense a theme here). She pulls a hair off Ulrich’s jacket and sniffs it. Has he been up to his old ways? 

Back at school, Bartosz is explaining how black holes work. (Very handy information for this show, to be honest!) Jonas enters the classroom and the teacher has no clue who he is but lets him join. Martha watches him carefully as he takes a seat in the corner of the classroom.

At the power plant, Charlotte is questioning Aleksander Tiedmann (who sports a beard) about Erik’s disappearance and notes tire tracks, but she doesn’t have a warrant. The entire conversation feels eerily familiar. She’s wondering if he made it onto the grounds since the caves extend under the power plant, but Aleksander says the access points were sealed years ago. 

Back in the classroom, Jonas approaches Martha and asks why he’s there. She has no clue who he is. Jonas then asks the teacher what the date is. 4th November 2019. A different world indeed. He then encounters Hannah, who was visiting Katharina, in the hallway, but she doesn’t know who he is. 

Back at the police station, Charlotte and Ulrich nearly kiss — yet again some things never change. 

Elisabeth Doppler comes home as Helge continues to repeat his warning. She doesn’t appear to be deaf in this world. “The beginning is the end,” he tells her. “The end is the beginning.”

Jonas stumbles upon Regina Tiedemann’s grave, which notes she died on 2nd September 2019. Jonas is trying to look for his father, Michael Kahnwald, for answers, but the only person buried is a Daniel Kahnwald from 1964. 

Suddenly it’s 21st September 1987. The trio from the opening scene enters a home, looking for the master key to the power plant. They kill a man in a wheelchair as he tries to call the police. 

We jump back to 2019. Martha bikes to the woods and searches for Kilian but encounters Jonas instead. He explains they know each other in another time — it’s deja vu — but she doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Jonas thinks he’s figured it all out: he’s there to change things. Magnus, Kilian, Franziska, and Bartosz appear, but Mikkel isn’t there. The group ventures through the woods, wondering who Jonas is as they search for Erik. “The apocalypse is just around the corner,” Bartosz reminds everyone.  

Magnus tells a story about the “cave monster.” As he begins to explain how experiments were done in the cave, a sinister noise rumbles from the entrance and everyone’s flashlights begin to flicker. (Way to go and freak everyone out, Magnus.) Martha breaks off from the group and hears her name coming from the cave. A Martha covered in a black matter reaches her hand out. 

The group finds their way in the bunker as the black hole opens up, dropping a boy with burned eyes: Mads Nielsen. 

Jonas, meanwhile, is approached by an older woman with bangs who tells him she’s waited for him to return. Mikkel didn’t travel back, she explains, and Jonas will never be born in this world. The world, unfortunately, has the same fate. It’s been damned, and everything will fall apart because of him — and her. 

We travel to 21st September 1888, where Martha walks past a gate that reads “Tannhaus.” In the factory, the lights flicker as devices buzz and spark lighting bolts. Jonas tears up, relieved to see her alive — but she isn’t “his Martha.” She came back to help him find “the Origin,” the one thing that is the beginning of everything in both worlds.

Burning questions: Just how many Marthas are there? Does this alternate-reality Martha genuinely not know Jonas? And what exactly is the Origin? 

We begin with Martha’s steamy and sinister dream (or is it a memory?). Martha and Jonas are having sex, cut with clips of bloody hands and Martha standing at the entrance of the cave. She wakes up to see the 1888 Jonas, who is holding a letter addressed to himself. 

Martha changes and enters the factory, where Bartosz, Magnus, Franziska, and Jonas are waiting with her. They all seem stunned to see her alive — but Jonas informs them she isn’t Martha. She’s there so everything can end at last. 

We bounce to 22nd September 1987. As a disheveled adult Katharina descends the stairs, the answering machine goes off with a cheery greeting from Ines and Michael Kahnwald. The message is from the postal service threatening to cut off phone service as a pile of mail sits on the floor, implying the Kahnwalds aren’t around. Katharina bags some missing posters for a young Michael/Mikkel as she leaves.

Next is Mads’ funeral, but the coffin is empty. Jana Nielsen is furious and berates Tronte Nielsen in front of everyone for sleeping with Claudia Tiedemann as Mads went missing. (Yikes.) She tosses newspaper clippings on the ground: Claudia has been missing since 26th June, the same day her father was found dead. 

We jump to 22nd September 2020, where everything is in shambles. As a hooded figure (is that you, Claudia?) enters the boarded-up police station, a radio informs us scientists around the world have been trying to figure out what happened on 27th June 2020. The presumed origin of the catastrophe is Winden, of course. French scientists believe the world stood still for a nanosecond, causing the divergence of tidal forces. It sounds like the rest of the world experienced quite the event: tidal waves, plane crashes, and electrical outages at nuclear power plants. 

We move back to 1888, where the group is trying to figure out who this Martha is. They seem doubtful of what she’s saying: a parallel world where Mikkel didn’t disappear, Franziska is mute, and Jonas doesn’t exist. Everyone’s dead because her world ends just like theirs. 

An older, blind man in a top hat enters and informs Martha she has a visitor and that he sees more than those who have sight before we move back to school in 1987. 

Katharina is asking students if anyone has seen Michael/Mikkel as she runs into a teen Ulrich. He doesn’t recognize the older Katharina as the teen Katharina comes over to greet him. Both Katharinas are visibly uncomfortable and the teen Katharina is understandably suspicious. Teen Hannah informs the adult Katharina that someone grabbed Michael and took him to the cave. 

Next we’re with 2020 Claudia, who is hanging photos of Tronte through the years. We immediately cut to Peter and Elisabeth, who are staring at a similar wall of photographs — only here, everyone is in a body bag. They’re looking for Charlotte and Franziska. 

Back in 1987, adult Katharina is furious and wants answers as to where Michael/Mikkel is, but she won’t give up any information about herself. She’s informed Child Protective Services know where Ines and Michael are. 

In 2020, Claudia is broadcasting a message: it’s three months on and she is one of the only survivors. If the God particle can be stabilised, it could provide a way to return to the past — and save everyone. 

Back in 1888, Bartosz apologizes to Martha and explains how they arrived in that year: they traveled at the exact moment everything was destroyed. The device, unfortunately, is empty, as nuclear material is difficult to find in the 1800s. 

The blind man asks Jonas if Martha is a traveler as well — when he found Jonas, it was a “sign.” They’re going to create paradise, he says, and destroy the world’s suffering before it exists. “Sic mundus creatus est,” he says, which is also etched into his cane. Well, if that ain’t a familiar phrase.

Back in 1987, adult Katharina visits Ulrich at the hospital — who is even older than she is. He’s been there for 34 years and was just released from solitary. She vows to get him out. 

In the 2020 police station, Tronte visits Regina as she lays in a bed, visibly sick. “It’s the only way to save you,” he says as he suffocates her with a pillow.  

As we jump further ahead to 22nd September 2053, Elisabeth enters the cave where a group is resting. “Everything will be okay,” she signs. 

Back in 1888, Bartosz brings Martha to a large study full of empty chairs. It’s a secret society, Bartosz explains, and Tannhaus’ father thought he could supersede the rules of time and space. Bartosz asks Martha who Adam is. Martha seems stunned Bartosz doesn’t know — Jonas is Adam, she tells him. 

The shot abruptly transports us to the older woman with bangs in a study-like room with two Adam and Eve paintings side by side. Is this yet another Martha?! “We don’t know our end, but our end knows us,” she tells Jonas as she walks across the room. On the floor are two elaborate family trees proving just how intertwined everyone in Winden is. In the centre, linking the trees together? An infinity symbol. “They’re all going to die,” she tells Jonas. The apocalypse can’t be stopped. 

Burning questions: Did the two Katharinas seeing each other affect anything? Where’s Charlotte in the 2020 timeline? Can the apocalypse actually be stopped? 

The episode opens with a horse-drawn carriage making its way through the woods in the rain. The inhabitant is wearing a ring with the Sic Mundus logo and has the blind man’s cane with the etched phrase. He closes the book he’s reading — Ariadne, the same play Martha left behind in the classroom. “This play was beloved by your mother,” he tells the blind boy sitting across from him. He opens his pocket watch to reveal an engraving: “For Charlotte” — the same one Noah gives Elisabeth in season 1. 

“Why do we die?” the boy asks the man. “The dead are never truly dead,” he explains. “Everything that once lived lives on and on forever in the eternity of time.” We cut to the older version of the blind man holding the same book and pocket watch in a horse-drawn carriage. The strange man stabs the horses and enters the carriage. Tannhaus figures out he’s a traveler and wants to tell the world. The man has a different plan as he approaches Tannhaus, poised to kill. 

Back in the room with the Adam and Eve painting, Jonas asks Martha where they are. Martha asks him if he remembers what he told her under the bridge. “A glitch in the matrix.”

“Why am I here?” he asks her again.

“You and I, Adam and Eva,” she says,” that’s what we are. A glitch in the matrix. You want to know why you’re here? To save them. Your world — and mine.”

We jump to the police station in the alternate reality as Ulrich informs everyone that Kilian, Bartosz, Franziska, Magnus, and Martha found a boy’s body with clothes, a Walkman from the ‘80s, and an ID card. Ulrich is visibly shaken as Charlotte pulls him aside and tells him to go home. Ulrich thinks someone held on to Mads’ belongings for 33 years and stashed them in the bunker with the kid. An exhausted Ulrich finally tells Charlotte he can’t cheat anymore. 

Over in 1888, Bartosz and Martha return to the others. Jonas and Bartosz are arguing as Bartosz demands Jonas tell everyone how Martha really died. Jonas runs outside and Magnus pushes him, prompting a fight as Bartosz calls on Jonas to tell everyone who Adam really is. “Jonas was always the problem,” Bartosz tells the others. “He is Adam.”

We’re back with Martha/Eva and Jonas, who tells him that he can’t let Martha go — they’re tied for eternity with an invisible ribbon. Adam tried to sever it, but it’s impossible. She hands Jonas the silver pendant he gave her. He pulls it out of his own pocket as well. “If you want to save your Martha, you have to choose the side of light,” she says. 

Jonas isn’t happy with the “must.” “I’m sick to death of having all these obligations!” he says. 

“Then consider what you want,” Eva says. “Should she live?” 

In 2019, Ulrich visits Martha, wanting to know what really happened in the bunker. Martha explains exactly what happened, how the body fell down, but all Ulrich doesn’t buy it and demands to know what drugs they took. 

Hannah arrives at the police station with brownies, looking for Ulrich. She hugs Charlotte and gives her a surreptitious sniff — someone has clearly figured the affair out.

Eva tells Jonas that everything repeats itself for eternity because no one is prepared to let go of the past. Martha needs to see her future to understand what must be done, she says, and Jonas must be the one to do it. “It is your fate she’s bound to, just as you are to hers.” She hands Jonas an angular device that looks similar to the orb light he previously used in the cave.

Back in 1888, Martha is holding the silver pendant. She insists she didn’t write the letter and asks Jonas what Sic Mundus is. Tannhaus’ father tried to bring his wife back to life, Jonas explains, and thought every error could be corrected before it occurred. “But it doesn’t bring back salvation,” he says. “Only damnation.” Everyone is dead in her world, Martha says, and she won’t give up. She wants to earn Jonas’ trust. 

Outside, Martha digs up the same gold orb she traveled with. She hands Jonas her only way out of 1888. 

The trio come to see Eva. They bring her a folder, the play, and pocket watch. “We must preserve the knot,” she tells them. Martha must die so all others can live. In the folder are two keys and paperwork for the nuclear power plant’s volume control system. 

Charlotte returns to the bunker and finds a penny attached to a red string. We cut to Helge, who’s also holding the penny. “Tick tock,” he says as he gets up. 

Hannah wants to offer Aleksander a deal. She unfolds the plastic bag and asks him if he recognises it. The contents are in a safe place, but only if Charlotte is destroyed. 

Charlotte visits Peter at the church. She wants to know where Helge went after dinner and begins interrogating him about 1987. She wants to know if he used the bunker for anything and pulls out the penny. Peter suddenly gets a call — Helge is at the police station, confessing even though he never left the house. 

An angry Ulrich asks Helge what he did. “You’re alive,” Helge says to Ulrich in wonder. “It was him,” he repeats. Charlotte finally figures out there are two pennies on red string. 

Over in the woods, Martha runs into Jonas. She’s frustrated and wants to know how they know each other. Jonas begins listing childhood memories of Martha’s. “Where I come from, our paths are nearly identical,” he says. He knows Martha saw her future self last night in the woods. He wants to show Martha how everything is bound.

Back in 1888, Jonas fires up the time machine, but it doesn’t quite work. Martha, meanwhile, goes to her bedroom and uses her orb to leave.

In 2019, Jonas and Martha enter the cave. We then jump to 20th September 2053. Martha, still in her 1888 clothes, carries a lantern as she goes to Adam. “Did you give it to him?” he asks her. “I always was too gullible.” 

We return as Jonas and Martha exit the cave, but everything is unrecognisable: it’s sunny and desert-like, a soft blue sky and no trees in sight. A woman approaches them, a scarf covering most of her face. She slowly takes it off to reveal she’s adult Martha. “Welcome to the future,” she tells them as she removes the scarf.

Burning questions: Whose side is Eva on? Why did Helge confess to the murder of Mads? And will the others ever make it out of 1888? 

We begin with a younger Tronte walking to the cave. “We are attracted to the dark like moths to the light,” the strange man tells him. He tells Tronte he knew his mother, “but that was long ago.”

“Who are you?” Tronte asks.

“I don’t have a name. I was never given one,” he says. “But back then it was me who chose what to call you.” The older man and boy come from within the woods, surrounding Tronte. The strange man pulls out a bracelet that belonged to Agnes Nielsen and places it in Tronte’s hand. 

We’re back with adult Hannah, who’s having sex with an unidentifable man before freshening up at a vanity. The man in the reflection isn’t Ulrich, however — it’s 1954 Egon Tiedemann. He tells her he loves her as he pulls out a jewelry box. It’s the same silver pendant, but Hannah’s reaction is lukewarm, as she isn’t feeling well. Egon calls her Katharina as he says he’s glad she decided to stay in Winden. 

We’re firmy on September 24, 1954. A young Ines and Claudia are in the woods flipping through a porn magazine, wondering why versions with men don’t exist. Jana looks on, aggravated and ready to go to school. Ines and Claudia wonder aloud what happened to Tronte’s mother.

Egon arrives at work and encounters Doris. She hands him a handkerchief embroidered “H.T.” she found when washing Agnes’ clothes, wondering if it would help. The initials on the handkerchief match those of the missing minister, Hanno Tauber. Doris thinks something sinister is at play — why would Agnes leave things behind?

Adam has an unexpected guest: Agnes. “You have chosen the correct side,” he tells her. He hands her a newspaper clip detailing a woman’s body found in the woods and instructs her to give it to Claudia “when it’s time.” Agnes asks Adam if he will tell Martha what the Origin really is.  

Martha suddenly wakes up with an adult Magnus by her side. He’s been wondering for years why she abandoned them in 1888. Martha apologizes, but Magnus says it doesn’t matter anymore — Adam is waiting for them.

We jump to the sunny November 6, 2052. The adult Martha explains it’s their future, 33 years from yesterday. They’re in a shed with Jonas where the walls are covered with chalk rectangles outlining the family trees. Martha wants to know what the door in the cave is. It is a path that connects the past and future, adult Martha explains. Some of the names are crossed out — those who will die in two days when the apocalypse occurs. Martha insists she isn’t real. It’s their future, adult Martha warns them, if they fail to stop the apocalypse. 

Back in 1954, Hannah is at the doctor’s. She’s been there for three months, and it’s “less complicated” than where she came from. Not for long, however: she’s pregnant. 

Mrs. Doppler visits Egon at work, demanding answers regarding the missing minister. She’s afraid if no one looks after the church, “it leaves the door open to the devil.” Egon is immediately intrigued and wonders if the minister was seen in the company of a woman. 

Doris heads to the church, but there are three people already there: the man with no name, the older man, and the boy. Doris asks them if they know about Agnes, saying she’s concerned about her son, but the man insists she’s interested in Agnes and knows Egon is cheating on her. 

Hannah drops in on Egon at work, who is upset to see her — the last thing he wants is to get caught. She informs him she’s pregnant, and he doesn’t take it well.

Adult Martha tells Martha and Jonas the barrels at the power plant will start the apocalypse and they must prevent them from being opened. Adult Martha delivers harsh news: Eva lied to Jonas. There’s no way to save both worlds — Jonas must choose one of them and stop the apocalypse in two days. But he must let his Martha, his world, go. 

Martha, meanwhile, is fed up and leaves. Adult Martha explains that in this world, the two of them can work together. 

We jump to 2020, where Agnes and Silja embrace as Adam, Martha, and several others look on. “It’s time,” Adam says. Agnes opens a door and steps through as a lever is pulled. She returns in a yellow suit with a comically large helmet. 

In 1954, Jana and Tronte are walking through the woods. Jana is curious who Tronte’s father is, but his mother didn’t say much about him. Tronte tells Jana a secret: he doesn’t know who the man at the cave is and he’s glad his mother is gone. He gives her the bracelet. Claudia interrupts and takes Tronte’s hand. 

Hannah lights a cigarette as Egon asks what she’s going to do with the baby. She won’t keep it, she says, but wonders aloud why destiny gives some people so much and others nothing. She finally understands she doesn’t need anyone as she asks Egon to leave.

We jump to November 4, 2052, where Jonas and Martha enter the cave. Adult Martha continues working on the family tree, drawing the infinity symbol, with Jonas and Martha’s names above it. 

Egon comes home with flowers for Doris, who is sitting on the stairs. He does a pitiful job of groveling as she stares straight ahead. Doris knows what he’s done with “that girl,” however, and wants a divorce. 

Hannah asks to see Mrs. Obendorf for an abortion. A young Helene says Mrs. Obendorf believes the “ones who are gotten rid of” go to hell. Helene admires Hannah’s Saint Christopher pendant. Hannah takes it off and sets it on the chair for Helene before leaving without getting an abortion. 

Martha wants Adam to keep his end of the deal: where is the Origin and how can she destroy it? It took Adam 66 years to figure out everything they know is bound together. He thinks it’s time Martha understood too. 

Martha tells Jonas when he arrived at school she had a feeling they knew each other from a dream. Jonas apologizes “for everything.” Martha wants to know what she was like in his world and the two finally kiss and sleep together. 

The man with no name opens the triquetra notebook. “The beginning is the end. And the end is the beginning,” he writes and the old man and young boy look on. 

Adam guides Martha to the ruins of what appears to be her bedroom. It’s where everything began in her world, he says as he hands her a notebook. Martha’s older self sent her and Jonas back for one purpose: she was never supposed to stop the apocalypse — she was supposed to create the seed. “This,” Adam says, “is the origin. What’s growing inside you is the bridge between both worlds. It is the beginning of the knot and eventually also its end.” Her son is the origin.

The strange man with no name walks to Eva’s family tree and stands where the infinity symbol is — guess we found their son. 

Burning questions: How does Hannah and Egon’s baby fit in the storyline? At what point does Martha give birth to her son? 

Claudia drags a dead body into a shallow grave in the woods as sirens sound in the distance. She pushes a wooden cross bearing Regina’s name into the ground as her voice-over asks, “Why do we die?” Everyone has one truth in common, she says: we are born and we die, no matter what path we take to get there. 

“Time plays a cruel game,” Adam says. We’re one day from the apocalypse. He wants Charlotte to play her part in it and believes Eva will never achieve her goal, confirming her world is separate from his. 

Jonas dreams his Martha is beside him, but he wakes up to the Martha with bangs. It’s time to go to the power plant. The pair head down the stairs to a furious Katharina wondering what happened to Martha and who Jonas is. “It’s all okay,” Martha assures her, tears in her eyes.  

Adult Katharina in the ‘80s is ready to spring old Ulrich out of the hospital. Katharina vows they will bring Mikkel back with them. Ulrich apologizes “for everything.”

A young Charlotte visits Tannhaus in his shop. She asks him if it’s possible to rewind time. She’s adult enough, he reasons, as he explains he’s wanted to turn back time but that his place is in the present. He hands her a photo of his son, wife, and granddaughter, who died in a car accident. The same night, he heard a noise down in the store as two women carried a bundle — Charlotte, with the pocket watch. His granddaughter’s body was never found. 

Charlotte wants to question Aleksander about the boy in the bunker. She asks him when he arrived in Winden (fall of ‘86) and when he started working at the plant (around the same time). She wants shift schedules...from 1986.

Adult Claudia enters the police station and encounters a younger version of herself. There are two groups fighting for superiority, she explains, light and dark. She implores Claudia to join her side — Eva’s side. Jonas isn’t trustworthy, she says, because he belongs to the dark. Jonas opened the passage in 2020, she explains, but the older Jonas closed it in 2019 after it had been open in 1986 for the first time. In all three moments, the activity left behind traces of cesium residue, a component of the black matter. The passage is the result, and everything in the loop has to repeat, she explains. 

Elisabeth and Peter exit the trailer they’ve been staying in and make their way through the various checkpoints. Elisabeth pauses in her tracks and tells Peter she thinks Charlotte and Franziska are dead — otherwise, why didn’t they search for Elisabeth and Peter? 

Jonas finally starts piecing things together. The Martha he’s with has a scratch under her right eye — just like the Martha who took him there. If this Martha turns into that one, everything stays the same. “Why did Eva lie?” he asks. “Maybe she doesn’t want us to stop it. Maybe it’s us who make it all start.” Ahh, there you go, Jonas. Jonas insists he has to go back to Eva to figure out what the truth is. Martha follows him through the fence. 

Back in the ‘80s, Charlotte is waiting at the bus stop as a boy gets off. He asks her how long the walk to Winden is, but she tells him to reconsider. “Winden is like a black hole,” she says. “What brought you here?” she asks.

“It’s complicated,” he says. His mother recently passed away, but his father lives here. He introduces himself: Peter. 

We jump to the older Charlotte, who asks Elisabeth why she isn’t at school. Charlotte tells Peter she discovered Helge was working at the plant the same day Mads disappeared. “Ulrich was right, it’s all connected somehow,” she says. 

In Elisabeth and Peter’s 2020 trailer, a man knocks Elisabeth out and ties her up so he can rummage for food. He tries to speak to her but with her hands tied behind her back she’s unable to sign. He pulls Elisabeth’s sweater up and presses her down on the bed at the exact moment Peter arrives. The man whacks Peter in the head with a can several times while Elisabeth grabs a knife and tries to stab the man. Elisabeth ends up tossed on the bed and while the man Peter struggle with the knife. Peter is ultimately unsuccessful as the man backs him into a corner and stabs him in the throat. Elisabeth comes from behind and bludgeons him with a fire extinguisher until he’s dead. Elisabeth begins to cry, blood spattered across her face.

Adult Elisabeth, Charlotte, and Franziska embrace, but Adam tells Franziska it’s time to let her go. Charlotte and Elisabeth enter the same chamber Agnes did, where we see a yellow suit hanging. Adam pulls the lever as the electricity crackles and the two exit in their yellow suits. 

Claudia hands 2020 Claudia the notebook with the trinity knot as she instructs her to make sure Adam never unties the knot. Claudia must lead Noah, Jonas, and Elisabeth along the same path again and again to maintain the knot in this world, she says. She pulls out one of the gold orbs and transports away, saying they will see each other again in Claudia’s world.

Martha and Jonas head for the cave as Martha wonders if it’s true that only one world can make it, his or hers. She knows Jonas decided a long time ago to return to his world. 

“I didn’t want any of this,” he tells her. He’s wrong in this world. 

Martha doesn’t seem to care, however, and kisses him. “So that’s wrong then?” she asks before stomping off to the cave.

Over in the ‘80s, Katharina follows Helene through the woods and pulls a knife on her, demanding the key card. She slips up in the struggle, however, saying, “Momma, let go!” Katharina finally knocks her out with a rock and pulls the key card out. Helene takes the rock and kills Katharina with it, insisting she isn’t real. Katharina pulls the Saint Christopher pendant off her right before she dies. Helene packs Katharina’s backpack and drags her into the lake, leaving the pendant in the dirt.

Helene comes home covered in dirt and blood as ‘80s Katharina does homework at the table. Katharina is trying to figure out what happened to her, but Katharina can barely stand to look at her. She notices a hickey on Katharina’s neck and starts slapping her. “I should have made you go away too,” she says. 

Jonas and Martha enter Eva’s room. It appears to be empty as they walk towards the family tree and Adam and Eve paintings. “What is this place?” Martha asks.

“It’s what will become of you.”

Eva enters and Jonas demands he return to his world. Eva explains a human lives with three lives. The first ends with the lost of naiveté, the second the loss of innocence, the third the loss of life itself. “Yours ends here and now,” Eva tells Jonas as adult Martha enters. They have accomplished what they were meant to, Eva tells them. The Martha who traveled to 1888 walks in the room, bearing the same scar under her eye and another one across her cheek. She apologizes to Martha as she shoots Jonas. In his last moments he hands Martha the pendant, her hands bloody — the same shot we saw earlier in one of Martha’s dreams. 

Burning questions: Is this the end for Jonas? Why does Martha seem to recall moments in dreams before they’ve happened? 

A dome engulfs the power plant as the episode cuts to bloody, bangs-free Martha on the ground. Jonas promises her he will make things right. The house blows up as the adult Jonas wakes up in 1888 — it was all a dream. 

Jonas opens the letter from Martha. “You promised you will make everything right again,” it says. The letter tells him he will, and that he must never lose hope that there’s a way out of this maze to save the two of them. “But we have to make sacrifices, do unimaginable things to untie the knot at the end. Each fate in this knot is linked to the next.” Everyone’s actions are linked in light and in shadow. “But the apocalypse must take place. You must let me die so I can live,” the letter says. In the future, Martha is locked away as Adam holds the same letter. 1888 Jonas burns it. 

It’s the day of the apocalypse. Martha, in her yellow jacket, walks to her house. She furiously scrubs Jonas’ blood off her hands and tries to wash it off her face and out of her hair. She shoves her bloody clothes in the trash as Magnus enters, wondering where she was all night. 

“Bartosz was right when he told us in the woods about the end of the world,” she tells Magnus. Bartosz’s father is trying to cover up an accident. “The world is going to end today.” 

Magnus doesn’t believe her and thinks their mom doesn’t deserve whatever is going on with Martha. 

Martha pulls the Saint Christopher pendant out of her pocket as we cut to adult Martha and chic Martha. “He had to die,” adult Martha tells her. They’re standing in Eva’s room but it’s unrecognizable. Sunlight filters in as tables and chairs are covered in tarps. The Adam and Eva paintings were burned, covered in soot so only their chests and heads are visible. 

We jump to Martha in the cage. Adam enters and Martha is furious he lied to her. “Sic Mundus,” Adam says as he caresses one of the gold orbs. He begins discussing “old Tannhaus” and the paradise he believed he was creating. Adam has finally realized what the paradise is: unending darkness in which nothing exists. For that, however, both apocalypses are needed in his world and Martha’s. 

It’s six hours until the apocalypse. Aleksander is on the phone with Obendorf, wanting to know where the containers are. Bartosz enters, wondering if everything is okay. Aleksander tells Bartosz someone is blackmailing him as he hands over a newspaper clipping about a murder 33 years earlier.

Then, he drops a bombshell. “My name is not Aleksander. It is Boris,” he says. “Boris Niewald.” He insists what happened was an accident and that he isn’t a murderer. If that’s the case, then why did Helge confess to Mads’ murder? Regina doesn’t know about any of this.

Charlotte pays Ulrich a visit, but a pregnant Hannah answers the door. The two have a tense conversation as Hannah says Ulrich is in the shower. Hannah asserts her territory: Ulrich belongs to her, and that won’t change. 

Ulrich comes down the stairs and is startled to see Charlotte. Once Hannah leaves, Ulrich tells her to never come by again. She dropped in because the forensic results of the two pennies came in: they’re exactly identical, the same penny. “It’s as if the penny traveled through time,” she tells Ulrich. 

Martha looks at herself in the mirror, the pendant around her neck. She grabs the ends of her wet hair — the same ends that were covered in Jonas’ blood earlier — and chops them away with a pair of scissors, finally resembling the chic Martha.

Claudia stares at the photo of Jonas on her wall as she holds plans to the power plant. In big red letters it says, “Follow the signal.” 

She enters the power plant in one of the yellow suits. Everything is in ruins but there’s a glowing bubble of electricity. She reaches for it as the Geiger signal goes off like crazy but Jonas, in an identical yellow suit, tells her to stop. “Jonas, you’re alive,” she says.

Martha is writing the letter to Jonas as adult Martha and Eva look on. She wants to know why he’s still alive in his world if she murdered him. Eva draws an infinity symbol. She explains how two realities can overlap on the same line. On one road, Jonas dies, but on the other, he doesn’t. They repeat endlessly in the loop as one triggers the other. “Quantum entanglement,” she says. Adam has tried to sever it so her child would never be born, but it’s impossible — the worlds can never be disconnected, and Jonas can’t escape his fate.

Back at the power plant, Jonas explains to Claudia the God particle was left over after the catastrophe. The cave is gone and the passage is destroyed, but he can use the resources in the power plant to go back and save Martha and Mikkel. Claudia figures out she and Jonas brought the substance into the passage again and the variables have changed, but Jonas doesn’t want to wait 33 years to try again.

It’s three hours until the apocalypse. Martha visits Bartosz and explains how an accident at the power plant 33 years ago created a strange substance his father helped to cover up. The substance starts the end, she tells Bartosz, and they must talk to his father. 

At the police station, Ulrich is checking on Mads’ body again. He’s wondering if the body could have been dead for years and somehow preserved. Ulrich heads to Helge’s cell — he’s figured out Helge killed Mads and wants to know why the boy in the bunker looks just like Mads. Helge reveals he was instructed to send Mads to the future to fill the gaps. 

“I must stop him,” Helge says.

Ulrich asks who.

“You.” 

Boris/Aleksander asks Charlotte to go to the plant — he wants to show her something.

Meanwhile the man with no name is pushing a lever, causing the dark matter to settle on a platform. The young boy enters it, followed by the older man, and the matter rises into the air again. 

Martha is finally let out of the cage. Silja tells Martha to take her clothes off as she explains the chosen few must “fill the gaps” so everyone can reach salvation. Adam, meanwhile, pulls a lever as Magnus and Franziska look on.

We’re one hour to the apocalypse and Magnus and Franzieska are holding hands. She asks him what the birds, light, and boy in the bunker mean in sign language. Magnus thinks Martha is simply losing it. “If we die today, then together,” Franzieska signs. 

Bartosz is giving Martha a ride on his bike as Boris/Aleksander leads Charlotte to a mysterious door. Meanwhile, Helge is walking to the cave, repeating, “Tick tock.” Ulrich is on his trail as he calls Charlotte and asks her to test a DNA sample — he knows the kid in the bunker is Mads. 

Martha and Bartosz are approached by the adult Magnus and Franzieska in the woods. They’re from the future, says, but not her’s. The pair urge Martha and Bartosz to choose their world and trust Jonas, who is alive in their world — and knows where the Origin is. The only way, however, is to save Jonas from the apocalypse. Magnus asks Martha and Bartosz to travel with them to another time to prevent it. 

Martha wants Bartosz to come along but Franzieska doesn’t allow for it. Apparently Bartosz is “one of the others,” she says, and “they” will save him. Martha, Magnus, and Franzieska leave Bartosz behind. 

Meanwhile, Adam has moved each of his tokens into position, Eva says, and it’s time for them to do the same. She addresses the group of adults and Martha as the knot of dark matter dances above them. Bartosz must save himself to save everyone’s lives. Claudia must be their eyes in the other world. Egon must create his past to preserve the family tree (aha, so that’s why Hannah is pregnant). Noah brings love to make everything new. 

Back with Adam, a cut-free Martha is crying and asking where the others are now. Everyone is fulfilling their destinies and sustaining the cycle. “This is the end we’ve reached,” he tells her. “What’s growing inside you, the Origin, must die.” It can’t be killed by normal means, however; it demands the energy of both worlds to destroy it — the apocalypse in both worlds. “Your son only exists because the matter exists,” Adam says. He believes everyone was wrong and Martha must die. 

The trio of men enter the volume control room at the plant and start pressing knobs and twisting levers. Charlotte and Boris/Aleksander, meanwhile, don red suits as they open one of the barrels. The black matter rises above them. As the lights flicker a pregnant Hannah begins bleeding and Egon from the future enters the room. Martha is still chained below the matter as Adam watches the bolts strike her. Magnus and Franzieska watch the black dome engulf the power plant and spread. It’s apocalypse time, baby. 

Burning questions: Will the apocalypses actually destroy the men with no name? What happened to Jonas?

A younger Tannhaus asks us what reality is — is it singular in nature, or do several parallel realities exist at the same time? He explains Schroödinger’s cat with a cartoon. It abruptly cuts off to bring us to Martha. What if it applied to the world with a macrocosm? Could different realities exist side by side? We’re shown a split screen of two Marthas. One runs into the house while Bartosz stops the other, warning her Adam will kill her in the future. He asks for her trust and say she will show her what the Origin is. The two teleport away. 

We’re in 1974. Tannhaus is in his workshop, building a machine. The older Tannhaus muses about mortality and turning back time in a voice-over as the younger visits his family’s grave. 

In 2021, Noah and Elisabeth are struggling to pull rocks out of the cave. Beneath the rubble they spy a door. Elisabeth asks him what paradise is like. It’s free of pain and sorrow, he says. Everything they’ve ever done is forgotten there.

Jumping back to 1890, Jonas is still trying to make the machine work. The electricity bubbles — this looks promising until he’s hit with a bolt of lightning that burns his arm. He goes upstairs to Bartosz, who is bitter since Jonas doesn’t know how the portal functions. He thinks Jonas doesn’t want to go back and that the apocalypse isn’t his intention. 

Bartosz walks through the woods, where he meets Silja for the first time. We then abruptly move ahead to 2023, where the God particle is still in what remains of the plant. Claudia flips a lever on. The bolts try to strike it, but it has an impenetrable dome around it. 

Jonas ventures through a destroyed Kahnwald house. Martha’s body isn’t there, but there’s a noticeable mark on the floor. He hangs a noose and ties it around his neck. He jumps from the stool and kicks it away, but he’s still alive. Noah enters the room and cuts the rope, freeing the noose from around Jonas’ neck. “Are you following me?” Jonas asks.

Adam made him a promise: the apocalypse must happen. Jonas, it turns out, cannot take his own life. He hands Jonas a gun, who promptly puts it to his head and pulls the trigger, but nothing happens even though it’s loaded. Time won’t allow Jonas to kill himself since he already exists. Noah takes Jonas to the cave and shows him what he and Elisabeth uncovered. They venture through the passage but cannot get through the other side. It will open, Noah says, and then Jonas — Adam — will take them through the other side to paradise. 

Back in 1904, Silja gives birth to a boy as Bartosz kneels by her side. She decides to name him Hanno, which means Silja and Bartosz are Noah’s parents. 

Jumping ahead to 1974, then 1986, Tannhaus spends years moving time machine equipment into the bunker. Next we’re in 2040. The protective dome around the God particle is finally broken and it webs up, swelling into the now familiar electric knot of dark matter — but it still isn’t working. The adult Noah wonders why the adult Jonas trusts Claudia, while Jonas insists the portal will work. 

The two Claudias speak to each other. The matter must not function — the Claudias will make sure the knots stay up in each world, one says. The other Claudia wants to untie the knot so Regina can live without repeating her suffering. She seems skeptical of Eva and why she is so all-knowing. She then shoots the other Claudia dead. 

We go back to 1910, where a young Hanno is asked to be strong for his father. Silja is lying in bed, the sheets and white dress covered in blood between her legs. A pregnancy has gone very wrong here. An adult Bartosz is devastated. We learn Silja wanted to name their newborn daughter Agnes, further filling out our family tree.

Skipping ahead to 2041, Elisabeth sobs as she lifts a child in a bassinet and exits the room.

It’s 1986 and Tannhaus is staring at his family photo in the bunker, which boasts a sprawling, spider-like machine. Tannhaus presses two red buttons and the machine comes to life, an almost firey orb in the center. We don’t stay here for long though — we roll back to the Tannhaus building in 1911. 

Bartosz is outside repairing a car when adult Hannah approaches him, holding her daughter’s hand. Bartosz recognizes her immediately: Silja. Our family tree just got a little more twisted. Hannah is looking for Jonas, but Bartosz warns him he’s changed — traveling has taken a toll. 

The trio enter the study, where Jonas is staring at a painting, his back to everyone. He turns around to reveal a disfigured face — a younger version of the Adam we know. He asks Hannah how he found them. Eva showed up at her door, she explains, and said she knew where Jonas was and that he needed Hannah. Hannah and Silja stay the night, but Adam sees a problem: all the pieces must be in the correct position and Hannah and Silja aren’t. Adam caresses Hannah’s face before pressing his thumbs into her eyes and killing her. He wakes Silja up and tells her he’s going to show her a secret. 

It’s 1920 now and adult Noah is looking for a room, having traveled very far. Young Noah comes down the stairs and the two lock eyes. Adult Noah visits Adam, who tells him to find the missing pages in the triquetra journal — they will lead him to Charlotte and, ultimately, paradise. Helge will help, Adam says as he hands over a Bible. This trip will be Noah’s last cycle in time.

We jump ahead to the picture wall in 2052, where old Claudia has important news: the matter can be stabilized. The downside? Everything must first happen in the same exact way — everyone must lead their younger self down the same path. She instructs adult Jonas to destroy the passage and the knot with it as she hands him a copy of A Journey Through Time, by Tannenhaus. This time he’ll get it right, she says. 

Our penultimate scene montage pieces together moments from past episodes. The Stranger/Jonas hides under a hood as he makes his way through Winden. Noah, in his priest clothing, snaps the top part of the time machine in the blue-wallpapered bunker. An older Claudia visits her younger self. Bartosz approaches a car as Noah asks, “Don’t you want to get in?” Teen Jonas tapes the final pages of the notebook together in his bedroom, creating the map. Young Claudia uncovers the box older Claudia buried. A young Helge sits in a time machine in the blue-wallpapered bunker as it closes around him. Noah opens the notebook to the date we know all too well, June 27, 2020, with a photo of him and a baby. He shows it to an adult Charlotte and tells her he’s been looking for her for years. “You are not my father,” she responds. A furious Noah tosses pages at Adam. “You used me,” he says. Agnes shoots adult Noah in front of Adam. Young Noah approaches a group in the bunker as teen Jonas and Martha kiss. “We’ve come full circle,” Adam says.  Adult Jonas starts up the smaller time machine as teen Bartosz, Franziska, and Magnus enter. Martha begins bleeding from the mouth as Jonas pleads with her. It’s the apocalypse. 

Teen Martha and Bartosz from the alternate reality enter the remains of Eve’s study. They walk over to the burned Adam and Eva paintings. “They’re the only ones who will save us,” Bartosz says. 

“They’re the ones who made all of this happen,” an indignant Martha says.

“No,” Bartosz responds. “They are the light.” 

A door opens and Eva enters. They have nothing in common, Martha asserts. Eva says she has spent her whole life believing this moment could never repeat itself. Sixty-six years have passed and she finally understands: some pain is never forgotten. It brands us, she says. Her and Martha share that pain and bear the same scars, she explains as she takes a knife out. She slashes Martha’s face, giving her a gash identical to the scar on her face. Choosing Eva’s side is choosing life, she explains. Choosing Adam is choosing death. 

We jump to Adam, who activates the machine as Martha writhes in pain under the dark knot. The knot spins into itself and vanishes along with Martha. Adam stares at his gloves. “This can’t be,” he says as Claudia enters and greets him as Jonas. 

Burning questions: Where did Adam take Silja? Is Martha dead? 

Well, we’ve made it: the finale. We open at the Kahnwald house, where an adult Michael stands on a stool and tightens a noose around his neck. 

Teen Jonas wakes up abruptly as the voice-over tells us his journey has no end. “I’m here to finally make your journey come to an end,” says the voice as we focus on an older Adam. 

“Impossible,” Adam says. “You should be dead. I had you killed.”

“You still have no idea just how this game is played,” Claudia tells him. He wants to destroy the knot but every action he takes continues its existence. Adam is confused. He killed Martha and the Origin in her. 

His world and Eva’s world both should have never existed, Claudia explains. The Origin exists outside both worlds. Everyone thinks in dualites — black and white, light and shadow — but we need a third dimension to fulfill it all. The triquetra, or trinity knot. Turns out there’s a third world, and it gave birth to the knot. 

We see Tannhaus in the bunker with his spider-like machine. A single mistake was made in this world, Claudia explains. Tannhaus tried to bring someone back from the dead but ended up dividing and destroying his world — and created Adam and Eva’s two worlds. The only way to destroy the knot is to prevent the invention of time travel. 

Adam surveys the ruined study, Claudia on his heels. His path has to remain unchanged, she says, up until the moment they’re in. He has tried to destroy the Origin an infinite number of times, but this is the first time he and Claudia have been together in this moment. His and Eva’s actions have maintained the knot, and they keep creating themselves anew.

Eva and Martha are staring at the Adam and Eva paintings. “They must die,” Eva says. Everyone must die so they can be reborn correctly. Martha carries both worlds inside her, Eva says — Martha’s son is the Origin. He gives everyone their lives alternately in the two worlds, Eva explains. The man with no name, boy, and older man enter. “He’s waited a long time for you,” Eva says. The young boy walks up to Martha and embraces her. 

“You want to destroy your son,” older Claudia says in a voice-over, “and the knot along with him. Eva wants him to live, therefore she must maintain the knot.” Everything Martha and Eva have done — and will do again and again — has been out of love, but they have only brought pain and suffering. 

Adult Martha enters the room holding a stack of clothes with a gun resting on top. 

We cut to Martha holding the gun as a scene we’ve already watched plays out, Martha and Jonas pleading with Eva and adult Martha. The other Martha enters the room with the gun and the teen Marthas approach each other. Martha apologizes as she fires the gun, but we don’t see who she was aiming for. 

Back in the ruined study, Claudia tells Adam that he and Eva should have never existed. He seems skeptical and wonders how she knows so much. Claudia has spent 33 years searching for answers across both worlds, trying to piece the puzzle and family tree together. 

We cut to Claudia at Regina’s grave. She finally figured out not everyone is part of the knot. Both worlds are an ulcer that grew from something else. Removing it destroys everything that was born of it — but keeps everything in the origin world alive. An adult Tronte comes over, saying he believed for years she was his daughter. Claudia admits she wished Tronte was the father as well, but that it’s better Regina isn’t tied to the knot. 

We learn that for years, Claudia was searching both worlds for a way for Regina to live, but she can only survive in the origin world. Claudia’s voice-over admits to Adam that she lied to both him and Eva to keep the knot tied and ensure everything kept happening on course. 

The same scene plays out in two different timelines. In both 1953 and 1986, Ulrich walks up to Helge Doppler and asks the date. He can change the date, he says. “I can change the past, and what’s to come.” In 1953, Ulrich tries to kill Helge, but Helge bites him and scampers away. Ulrich catches up to him and beats him with a rock. In 1986, Ulrich and Helge struggle until Helge receives the same fate. Ulrich brings Helge to the bunker in both worlds, barren in ‘53 while ‘86 is covered in a cheery yellow. In the 1986 bunker, Ulrich watches Helge open one eye, his other disfigured and bloody. Old Helge surprises Ulrich from behind. “It was you,” he says as he kills Ulrich with a crowbar and slips the penny evidence bags out of his pocket. Claudia enters the bunker as young Helge struggles on the floor. 

Back in the study, Claudia tells Adam she’s figured out where the loophole to untie the knot is. It’s time — during the apocalypse, time stood still for a fraction of a second, throwing everything out of balance. When time stands still, she says, it also momentarily breaks the chain of cause and effect. Eva knows this, Claudia reveals, and uses it to send her younger self in different directions, maintaining the cycle. Claudia used it as well to arrive where she is in this moment, while Adam must use it to send Jonas on a different path and break the cycle. Jonas and Martha must be sent to the origin world so they can finally put an end to everything. 

We’re back at the apocalypse as Jonas promises Martha (who is dead) he will make everything right. Adam enters and promises he will tell Jonas everything if they leave first. He puts the gold orb on the ground and transports them. Jonas asks Adam what time it is. “The question isn’t what time, but what world,” Adam tells him. “There is a way where you can avoid becoming me.” He asks Jonas to trust him.

Jonas and Adam exit the cave. Adam tells Jonas he must save the “other Martha” — they are two parts of the same whole. Only together can they return to the origin world. 

Helge is walking through the woods as Ulrich runs after him. Today is the day of the apocalypse in her world, Adam explains, and time will stand still. Jonas must get Martha before Magnus and Franziska get her. 

Back in the ruined study, older Claudia explains everything to adult Claudia. Adult Claudia wants older Claudia to tell their father she’s sorry. 

Bartosz and Martha meet the adult Magnus and Franziska in the woods. Jonas, standing on the sidelines, activates the gold orb as he runs towards them. He grabs Martha just in time and teleports them to the road in front of the power plant. Martha is stunned to see Jonas alive. “You look exactly like her,” Jonas says. Martha asks Jonas what time they’re in. It’s June 21, 1986 — the day their worlds were created. “Not here, just in his world,” Jonas clarifies. Tannhaus will open the passage for the first time today and they must prevent it from happening. 

Adam stands in front of the Adam and Eve paintings, holding a torch, and sets them on fire. He returns to the knot, which is still dancing, and pushes the lever. It turns into a sphere. 

Jonas and Martha enter the cave. Jonas says they’re returning someone from the dead, but must get to them before they die. “It’s difficult to explain,” he says — understatement of the year, Jonas. 

“We are the glitch in the matrix,” he tells her. 

Adam meets Eva in the study. He’s holding a gun. “In the end, every death is a new beginning,” she says as she puts the gun to her heart. She explains what will happen: he will kill Eva, Martha will find her body, and it will turn Martha against Adam. Eva picks up the gun and pulls the trigger herself, but nothing happens. Adam opens his hand and bullets fall to the ground. Things aren’t right here, Eva says. “You always have me killed.”

“You will die,” Adam says. “I will die. And everything that has grown out of us.” 

Teen Jonas and Martha reach the Sic Mundus door as Adam tells Eve they’re the ones responsible for the never ending deja vu and must be the ones to end it. “We are the mistake.” Adam explains that Tannhaus could never let go of his pain, so Jonas and Martha must take it away in the origin world. 

Jonas and Martha are sitting in the passage at the first moment it was opened in any world. A bridge will come at any moment, connecting all three worlds. Jonas and Martha must travel back to the moment Tannhaus’ suffering began in the origin world. 

Tannhaus activates his machine in the bunker. Particles dance past them in the air. Adam and Eva embrace. 

Jonas opens his eyes. He’s standing on some sort of plane, the particles dancing around him in all directions. “Martha?” he asks, his voice echoing. There is nothing ahead of him. Martha calls for Jonas on an identical plane. There is nothing ahead of her either. Jonas hears distorted sounds in the distance. A door opens and a child Martha pushes the clothes in her closet aside to look at Jonas. “He looks so sad,” she says, but Katharina doesn’t see anything. 

A key turns a lock and a child Jonas in his yellow jacket opens the door to the basement. He points at Martha, but Michael doesn’t see her. Katharina and Michael close the doors and they fade away. Jonas and Martha both walk backwards until they bump into each other. Jonas pulls the gold orb out and activates it as they walk forward.

We’re in Tannhaus’ shop, where his son, Marek, is arguing with him. Tannhaus wants to give him the shop, but he’s not interested. Tannhaus notes it’s raining outside. “Is that all you have to say to us?” Marek says as he grabs his things. Tannhaus knows everything about black holes but nothing about his son, Marek says. Sonja hangs back and promises Tannhaus Marek will cool off. 

Sonja and Marek argue as Marek drives in the rain. He doesn’t understand why his father cared about moons, stars, universes, galaxies but never saw him. 

The two kiss as Marek continues driving. Martha and Jonas teleport to the middle of the road and the car swerves out of the way, narrowly missing them. It halts in the middle of the road and the baby cries. Marek gets out of the car to berate them. Martha and Jonas say nothing. 

“The bridge isn’t open,” Jonas tells Marek. “There’s been an accident.” 

As Marek walks away, Jonas repeats the phrase Marek used moments earlier with his father: “What we know is a drop. What we don’t know is an ocean.” 

“Your father loves you,” Martha calls out. 

Sonja exits the car with the baby, asking if everyone is okay. “The bridge isn’t open,” he tells her. Marek and Sonja return to Tannhaus’ shop. Sonja tells Tannhaus Marek thinks he saw a pair of angels. Tannhaus embraces Marek. Sonja passes the baby over to Tannhaus. “Take good care of Charlotte,” she says, confirming what we suspected: Charlotte’s lineage. 

The rain has stopped but Martha and Jonas are still on the road. Martha is skeptical that what they did worked. 

Jonas explains he saw Martha “in the light” as a child. Martha remembers the moment — she thought it was a dream. “I wonder if anything of us will remain,” she says, “or is that what we are? A dream? And we never really existed?” (Mikkel and Martha’s breakfast conversation in episode 1 makes a lot more sense.) Jonas doesn’t have an answer for her. 

“You and I are perfect for each other,” he says. “Never believe anything else.” The particles float around them as they hold hands and look to the bus stop. 

Adam and Eva disappear with the same particles. Jonas in the 1800s vanishes as he sits in bed, holding the Saint Christopher pendant. Adult Martha begins to vanish as she draws her chalk family tree. The family tree disintegrates as well, beginning with the infinity symbol. Claudia watches her hands disintegrate as the photos on the wall slowly disappear. 

We return to the Kahnwald house. It’s dinnertime and everyone is in a joyous mood. Hannah, Benni, Peter, Katharina, and Wöller, all toast Regina. 

Peter notes Wöller’s eye is in better shape — no bandage here. He begins to explain the story. “Last summer,” he says as thunder booms and the power goes out. 

Everyone begins laughing as Benni jokes, “Is this the apocalypse?” Hannah stares at a yellow jacket by the stairs as the others get candles. 

“I think I just had a deja vu or something,” she says. Last night, she dreamt about what just happened — and the world had ended. “It was just dark and it was never light again,” she explains. “And the weird thing is that it felt really good for everything to be over.” No wants, no needs, unending darkness. 

“You should really talk to someone about that,” Benni jokes as Hannah, who is pregnant, blames it on hormones. 

Regina asks everyone what they would wish for if the world were to end today. 

“A world without Winden,” Katharina says. “Let’s drink to that.” The lights turn back on. 

“Looks like Winden doesn’t want to disappear,” Peter says. 

Hannah is asked if they decided on a name yet. “I always thought Jonas was a good name,” she says. 

Burning questions: So, uh, did Hannah just figure out Paradise? Or bring us right back where we started?