I think this is supported by the MAD officer telling Alexander that they first suspected him to be the spy. He must feel like an utter failure in that moment. And it must sting that Martin didn't try to turn him, didn't trust him. The envy, the betrayal. If Alex had also been informed that Tischbier was an operative…

Haha who knows? So many possibilities. I mean I could also see them introducing a whole new set of characters but I think that would be a pity because we'd have to spend so much time getting to know them again and then the season's over. If we do get to see the Wall fall, I feel like it'll have more impact if we've…

I don't remember that scene at all. Was it in the same episode? I'll have to go back and watch it again. Still, they should've wrapped that up in more than a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment. I agree that it was entirely logical that he would not have been informed of the circumstances (though I think that the presence…

The other guy was Hartmann, the same guy who dealt with the floppy disks. (That's why the guy with the glasses talked to someone else in the lab when he went looking for the original NATO Report.)

Thomas is about to get murdered by Tobias unless he can get away

Thanks for reminding me about the Renate thing because I also found that pretty funny. In other cases I understand that they supply contextual info in the subs for anyone who doesn't know who Lindenberg is ("rockstar"!) or that the Luther celebration was a 500 year anniversary or simply political intricacies. But the…

It's weird because one little scene would have sufficed. Not to acknowledge it at all (other than General Jackson giving Alexander some side-eye when he came to the base in the next episode) was pretty weak. They should have shown General Edel getting the news, maybe him inquiring what happened and then being rebuffed…

What if neither Alexander nor the General killed themselves but Alexander killed his dad? Unlikely but not impossible, if a little grim.

I want to thank the AV Club for providing weekly reviews of this show when no one else would! (Let's ignore their factual inaccuracies for once ♥)

Yeah, I'm German and I hadn't heard about this show outside of reading about it in the newspaper when it aired at the Berlinale and then again here. Now, I don't watch promos on TV but none of my friends have heard about this. There isn't even an air date. I'm sure they'll promote the hell out of it though when that…

One question I had last night, did Gen. Jackson ever out Alexander
(pardon the pun) to his dad as the one who took him hostage in that
brothel?

Was just about to comment the same thing. It was the translation blunder of the episode for sure and completely unnecessary. Unless they didn't trust the American audiences to know who he's talking about? Very mystifying.

Excellent! I liked season 1 and loved season 2. You stopped the coverage at exactly the wrong moment. Please pick it up again?

Oh yes, we have some delectable men in Germany. Max Riemelt was my first TV crush. Also agreed on Benno Fürmann (to a degree, his voice isn't a turn on, though it's worse with Til Schweiger) and Jonas Nay. And then there is Elyas M'Barek who is just damn fine or Alexander Fehling… it's a good generation of actors with…

Imagine having read Orwell's 1984 and then being interrogated by the Stasi. It must have felt like life imitating art. Nightmarish. The spotlight trained on Thomas' face for no good reason other than stressing him was a good quick example of this "Zermürbungstaktik".

Jonas Nay is a dark blonde. At least that's what his acting agency states in his profile (and I'd concur).

The show is quite fun and he's really gorgeous in it. Give it a try if you find a way to watch and aren't allergic to subtitles.

I was on vacation the last weeks so I only just now had time to catch up
and there were so many things in each episode that I wanted to remark
upon (esp. translation stuff) but since I marathoned them I've forgotten all of it already. Oops. Should've taken notes.

I loved the scene with the lamp because it was adorable, especially since the hotelier wasn't actually using the German words (which would've been something like "heller, heller, heller; dunkler, dunkler, dunkler" and which would've sounded pretty stupid) but he was being sort of… onomatopoeic I guess? I don't know…

Whenever I hear it and forget what it was called, I google what the opening piece in The Fall was.