The fifth episode of ‘Dark’ Season 3 begins with Adam sending Charlotte and Elisabeth through time to play their part in the story and allow things to happen exactly as they have. Katharina decides to get Ulrich out of his prison but meets with an unexpected turn of events with her mother. Tannhaus confesses to Charlotte about her not being his real granddaughter; while Claudia gets a visit from Claudia of the parallel world.
Meanwhile, Jonas and Martha embark on the quest of preventing the apocalypse, but when Martha gets a scratch on her cheek, the one he had noticed on the face of the Martha who had rescued him, he realizes that he is being used as a pawn once again. He confronts Eva about her intentions, and it turns out that he did play his part after all. Also, did you notice that the scratch on Martha’s cheek is flipped in the parallel world? If you haven’t caught up with the entire series yet, head over to Netflix. SPOILERS AHEAD
Dark Season 3 Episode 5 Recap
The fifth episode marks a lot of deaths in ‘Dark’, all of which bring one or the other arc to a close. Let’s start with Peter in the post-apocalyptic world, whose death had been foretold by Noah. Peter finds it difficult to believe, but soon enough, he and Elisabeth land in trouble, out of which he does not come out alive. This also marks another phase in the family tree drama, where Elisabeth runs to Noah for help and eventually ends up marrying him and giving birth to Charlotte.
The next death is Katharina’s, whose bad luck never seems to end as she loses her son, her husband, and in the end, her life. This part also brings the story of the St Christopher necklace to a close, as it ends up in the same place where Jonas and Martha find it in 2019. The most important death, however, is of Jonas, which is shocking because his future already exists. How can he possibly die? This event pokes at the curtain of multiple possibilities which is explained by Claudia in the end.
Dark Season 3 Episode 5 Explained
Ever since she came to know about the twisted system of time travel in Winden, Charlotte knew that, somehow, she was connected to all of it. Her grandfather, Tannhaus, had been involved in it too, and she knew that her parents must also have been a part of it. However, the identity of her parents remained a secret for a long time.
Back in 1986, Tannhaus tells Charlotte that he had adopted her, and he never knew her parents. His own family had died in a horrible car accident. His son, his daughter-in-law, and his granddaughter perished the same night when two women brought baby Charlotte to him and told him that his life was to change forever. He realized that she was all he needed in life and gave up his pursuit of time travel, which is why, even though he made a machine for the same purpose, he was never compelled to use it.
Later, we find out that Tannhaus blamed himself for his son’s death. He had been too absorbed in his work and never paid attention to his family. His son got fed up with his father’s behavior and decided to leave him. The same night, he died in the accident. When Tannhaus found baby Charlotte, he believed that she was his chance at redemption. He would give all his attention and care to her, to make up for what he didn’t do for his son. Time-travel, even when it had become so easy for him, was one of the things he decided to leave behind as his penance.
It later turns out that the two women who had given him Charlotte were older Charlotte and Elisabeth. They stole her from Elisabeth and Noah, which then pushed both of them on their separate paths. Noah went back in time, much more dedicated to the cause of Adam, until he found his daughter after reading the final pages from Claudia’s notebook. With the revelation of Charlotte’s parentage and that of Tronte, in the previous episode, we realize that there is another aunt-nephew pair whose fates have been romantically connected through different worlds- Magnus and Franziska.
Katharina’s Death
The family connections in ‘Dark’ are intertwined through life and death. Apart from the bunch of incestuous relationships, we also find several characters guilty of familicide. Sometimes, children kill their parents, while other times, parents bury their children in obscure places, not knowing what they have done. This time, the culprit is Helene Albers, who kills the older version of her daughter, Katharina.
Katharina arrives in 1987 with the goal of bringing back her son, Mikkel. But she also discovers her husband, Ulrich, who has been stuck in the past for 34 years. She decides to free him first, and in this quest, crosses paths with her mother, Helene. She tries to get the card that would allow her entry into the hospital, but Helene fights back and kills her. This marks a double tragedy for the Nielsen family as not only is Katharina killed by her own mother, never getting to reunite with her son, but also, Ulrich’s another attempt at escape is thwarted. He never goes back home.
Read More: Dark Season 3 Ending, Explained