“Dogs of Berlin” season 1 was released on Netflix in 2018. And one cannot tell why a second season of the German crime series has yet to be released. But if you like a good crime series, then this one comes highly recommended.
The story follows two police officers – polar opposites – Kurt Grimmer (Felix Kramer), a German former Neo-Nazi and his Turkish-German partner, Erol Birkan (Fahri Yardım). Kurt and Erol are drafted, against their wishes, to head a taskforce to investigate the murder of a Turkish-German footballer Orkan Erdem. In the course of the investigation, both police officers confront their personal struggles as they take on the Berlin underworld. They eventually put their personal differences aside to fight a common enemy.
One of the joys of a Netflix subscription is access to content from around the world, other than from the US or UK. If you do not know a lot of Germany, you will find “Dogs of Berlin” informative. Racial tensions between the Neo-Nazis and Turks – whom they refer to as “Kanaks” – is front and centre in this story. It was also interesting to learn of the stark similarities between the Neo-Nazis of Germany and the British skinheads of the 1960s.
But equally central to the story is human motivation. Human choice is ultimately driven by something – personal values, past experiences, fear, loss – the list is endless. And as with motivations, we may claim that we cannot be bought but “Dogs of Berlin” shows that we all have a prize. Perhaps, we just haven’t been faced with the circumstance(s) that forced us to be bought.
If you are at a loss for what to stream this weekend, “Dogs of Berlin” season 1 will be a good choice. The downside is that at the end, you might join the long list of those who are waiting for a season 2 with bated breaths.
Never mind this trailer, the series is available in English for English-speaking regions.
