Babylon Berlin

Anyone seen this? It's a must watch - in German though (change your Netflix settings to avoid the terrible dubbing).

It seems to me to be doing what BOARDWALK EMPIRE originally aspired to do, using the jumping off point of a film noir plot (as opposed to Boardwalk's gangster plot) to explore the pre-Nazi/post-WWI era more broadly.

Production values are top notch. The nightclub scene in the pilot is spectacular - lots of little directorial decisions that add up to a lot (the crowd singing along with the performance, everyone looking to each other to see what dance moves they should be doing) and make it feel 'real' in a way a lot of scenes like this don't.

Not on Netflix in the UK. I'll see if I can track it down.

I think you'd really enjoy it. It has everything from a Maltese Falcon-style MacGuffin that serves to bring in a huge pile up of various agendas and plots, and brings in some real un-dumbed down politics (the Trots are out to get Stalin, the Embassy is out to get the Trots, none of them want anything to do with the Berlin Communists, who the police are out to crush, but there are corrupt police with other agendas, there's militant post-WWI military factions, Armenian mobs, pro-Kaiser royalist movements). It's also just beautifully shot and written and has a pretty unique sensibility.

Main characters are a shell-shocked WWI vet cum police inspektor in the Vice squad and a slum rat cum typist. Produced/directed/written by Tom Twyker of Run Lola Run fame. Personally as someone of the humble age of 26, I love that one scene above is one of the most effective depictions of the feeling of long nights in a club with other young people that I've seen, to the extent it can stir up some real nostalgia, yet it is set in the 20s.

I think Sky might be a co-producer in the UK which might be why it isn't on Netflix there? Has Uncle Rupert put together a streaming platform over there yet?

I've heard good things about this from people's whose opinion I tend to trust but I haven't gotten around to checking it out for myself.

With so many platforms out there, we are reaching the point where there is almost too much decent to good scripted drama out there to possibly even attempt seeing it all.

I think there's a lot more *good* stuff out there, but not much excellent stuff.

Obviously this has yet to run its full course, but the first two seasons to me were comparable to Mad Men/The Sopranos/The Wire in quality. I'd post more clips to recommend it but I genuinely fear it would ruin the experience of watching it for the first time - out of context these don't give too much away. As I alluded to earlier, I very much feel it is the show Boardwalk Empire *wanted* to be.

I'm working through the second season now.

I have been more than pleasantly surprised by the acting, story, choreography and set designs. Clearly Netflix put some money into making sure the production value are excellent.