Deja-vu

* Title card
* Quote
* Date 1
* Date 2
* Date 3

## *Dark*

**"Deja-vu"** is the first episode of Season 3 of *Dark*. It premiered on June 27, 2020, and is the 19th episode overall.

## Summary

In 2019, Jonas emerges from the cave into a strange but familiar world: the town of Winden, reeling from the recent disappearance of a young boy.

## Plot

### Prologue (September 21, 1987)

*"Man can do what he wills, but he cannot will what he wills."*
―Arthur Schopenhauer
We see a montage of photos of the four families as an unknown elderly woman speaks:

*"If we knew how things would end, where our journey would take us, would we still make the same decisions? Or would we choose a different path? Could we even escape our fate? Or would what is deep within us lead us to the same end, like an invisible hand? Does it matter which path we choose if we end up facing ourselves again and again?"*

A middle-aged man with a cleft lip scar walks up to a painting in Adam's now dilapidated study and picks up dusty papers lying on the floor, among them blueprints for the portable time machine. A child and an old man who also have cleft lip scars walk in, and all three throw their lanterns and burn the place down.

### June 27, 2020 (Day of the apocalypse)

We return to the Kahnwald house on the day of the apocalypse. The alternate Martha Nielsen places an orb on the floor and whisks herself and Jonas Kahnwald away from the dying Winden.

### November 4, 2019 (Alternate world)

The teens arrive in the caves. Jonas demands to know who the mysterious Martha is, and she tells him it's the day it all began—when they first met each other. Martha tells him that her world and his world form a knot that is inextricably intertwined. She places the orb on the ground again and tells Jonas she will make everything right, before disappearing. This leaves Jonas confused.

Elsewhere, Martha Nielsen wakes up in her bed, shaken by her dream, panting. She gets dressed and goes down to breakfast. Her younger brother Mikkel is playing a video game, which their mother Katharina tells him to put away. Martha asks Katharina what's wrong with him and Katharina tells her he's been having the same nightmares. Martha tells Mikkel that maybe it wasn't a dream, maybe the dream is the here and now and none of them are real. Mikkel laughs sarcastically, as the lights in the house start flickering. Katharina takes his video game away.

Katharina asks her if her brother Magnus is awake yet, but he is still in his bedroom, having sex with Franziska Doppler. Katharina calls out to him to come down or she will come up. Magnus covers Franziska's mouth and yells that he will be there in a second. He kisses Franziska, and she leaves the house by climbing out the window (*of a parallel Kahnwald house*), as Magnus heads down for breakfast. Katharina offers them rides to school, but they decide to go on their own. She reminds Martha that the next day they will be staying with their father. Martha is annoyed by this and heads off for school.

At the Nielsen home, Ulrich Nielsen walks in on a sleeping Hannah. He strokes her and she tells him she was awake half the night. Ulrich tells her he is late due to a long line at the bakery and jokes that the apocalypse is nigh. Hannah asks him to stay, but he says he is already late. He tells her they will see each other that evening. Hannah stands up, revealing that she is pregnant. She tells him she loves him. Ulrich answers that she is beautiful.

Martha rides on her bike through the woods, wearing a yellow jacket *(like the one Jonas has in his world)*. She sees a poster that says Erik Obendorf is missing. Jonas emerges from the caves and looks around, appearing confused. When she arrives at school she meets Magnus, who tells her he won the race to get there first. They argue. Bartosz Tiedemann arrives and Martha asks him if he has seen Kilian, to which he responds no.

Kilian arrives, Martha is pleased to see him, and they hug and kiss. Bartosz asks him whether there is any news about Erik, but Kilian says there is none. They hear an announcement on the school's PA in which Katharina summons all students to an assembly in the gymnasium. Magnus points out that it could be relating to his brother, and Kilian replies that Erik had never left home for two weeks, that when things got complicated he would send a message, but this time they had not received anything. They head to the gymnasium.

At the Doppler residence, an elderly Helge Doppler with his left eye destroyed mutters "It will happen again" repeatedly while holding a coin, as his son Peter looks at him. Peter's wife Charlotte walks in, and Peter tells her the old man has been saying that all morning. He asks Charlotte how the doctor's appointment had been, and she says it was just routine, and leaves. Helge starts saying "Tick tock," visibly agitated.

Jonas walks to his home. He notices a Nielsen family picture on the wall, with Ulrich cut out. This astonishes him. He walks into his bedroom and is surprised to see a picture of Martha with Kilian and Bartosz.

At the police station, Ulrich addresses all the officers that Erik Obendorf has been missing for nearly two weeks. Torben Wöller is present, with both eyes intact, but missing his left arm. When Ulrich asks for ideas, Charlotte mentions they have not received the shift schedules from the power plant yet. Ulrich nods and asks her to check with Tiedemann.

Hannah discovers a hair on Ulrich's jacket (*as Katharina did in season 1* ("Secrets")).

At school, Bartosz explains how black holes form, but is interrupted when Jonas walks into the classroom. The teacher asks who he is, and he introduces himself, but the teacher says he was not informed of any new students. Jonas sits down at a desk, as Bartosz continues with his explanation. Jonas stares at Martha, who looks back at him.

Charlotte talks to Aleksander Tiedemann and tries to get him to give her the schedules his employees had the night of Erik's disappearance. Aleksander asks if she has a court order, but Charlotte says she does not. Aleksander tells her he will have the schedules sent to her. Charlotte asks how he has been, and Aleksander replies he is alright. She gets up to start leaving but turns around to ask him if he thought it was possible for Erik to have made his way onto the grounds. Aleksander responds that this is impossible because the access points were sealed years ago.

Hannah walks into the high school, and approaches Katharina. Hannah says she wanted to see her, and says she knows that she and the kids were a part of Ulrich and she won't stand in the way of that. "That's very generous of you," Katharina responds icily. Hannah asks her if Ulrich stopped by that morning. "No," she responds with a smile.

When the school bell rings, Jonas walks up to Martha, who asks him what he wants. Jonas says she hasn't told him why he is here. Martha is confused and asks him who he is. Jonas cannot believe she does not know him. The teacher asks him if he is okay, and Jonas asks him for the date, learning it is November 4, 2019. He walks out and sees Hannah in the hallway. They stare at each other. He says "mom" to her. Hannah is confused, and Jonas realizes she does not know him.

Charlotte returns to the police station, where she is called by Ulrich. Ulrich takes her into a room and kisses her. She tells him they have to stop doing this. Wöller disturbs them, with the findings of the tire treads.

At the school, Martha is rehearsing for the school play with Kilian. Jonas walks in. As Kilian leaves, he tells Martha to meet him at nine o'clock later that evening. Jonas walks up to her again, and she tells him to go away. Jonas desperately grabs her to try to tell her it is November 4 and mentions Mikkel and Michael, Hannah's husband. She tells her Hannah's husband is her father- Ulrich- and tells him to go away.

Magnus walks into the bunker, where Franziska is waiting. They kiss and begin having sex. They pause for a moment, and Magnus tells her he loves her, to which Franziska responds the same in sign language.

    Elisabeth comes home. Helge is still saying "it will happen again" repeatedly. She calls for her parents, using her voice. Worried, she asks her grandfather if he is alright, and he suddenly grabs her and tells her the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning.

Jonas walks to the graveyard, and sees the grave of Regina Tiedemann, who died two months earlier. He is approached by Peter, who is now dressed as a priest. Jonas asks him whether Michael Kahnwald is buried there. He says the only Kahnwald buried there is Daniel, who died in 1964. Jonas wonders whether that is why he is there, so it doesn't happen. The priest says he has a feeling he has seen Jonas before, as Jonas leaves.

### September 21, 1987 (Adam's world)

The three men with facial scars (seen at the start of the episode) approach the Doppler mansion. The boy enters and asks Bernd Doppler for the master key to the power plant, which Bernd kept after his retirement. Bernd, unamused, picks up the phone to call the police as the younger man enters, disconnecting the phone. He tells Bernd nothing is in vain and strangles him with a wire as his child and elder selves watch on.

### November 4, 2019 (Alternate world)

At night, Aleksander meets with Jürgen Obendorf, who tells him the police came by that day. Aleksander tells him that he knows what he has to do, and gives him an envelope with money.

Martha, wearing a yellow jacket, rides to the bridge on her bicycle. She sees Jonas approaching and becomes afraid. Jonas tells her he does not want to scare her, and tells her they know each other in another time. Jonas tells her she has seen this before—the light, trees, and him. She is having deja-vu or a "glitch in the matrix". Jonas thinks he knows why he is there: so he can change everything. Martha is confused. The others arrive. Jonas asks Magnus where Mikkel is, why he didn't bring him, due to the babysitter being sick. Magnus asks him how he knows Mikkel, says he is old enough to look after himself and tells Jonas to get lost.

At the police station, Ulrich tells Charlotte he is going to the parents' meeting and offers her a ride, which she accepts. Hannah gets home and smells Ulrich's jacket, on which she had found a hair earlier.

In the forest, the teenagers walk as Kilian asks Martha why Jonas acted as if he knew her. Martha says he does not. Bartosz mentions that Nostradamus predicted that the world would end that year. Magnus says that is ridiculous. Kilian says he is hoping to find Erik, who sometimes spent the night there--the police could have missed something.

Magnus asks the group if they know the story of the cave monster. They then hear loud noises. Their flashlights start flickering, and they all run away. Martha falls and gets separated from the group. She hears a voice calling her. She sees a woman covered in oil (*like Jonas saw Michael*) and runs away.

All over Winden, lights start flickering, leaving everybody in shock. Martha keeps running until she finds Kilian and takes his hand. They run into the bunker, while Jonas walks into Mikkel's room and finds him asleep (dismayed to see he did not travel back to 1986).

In the bunker, Bartosz asks if everything is over. Then a wormhole opens and a dead boy drops from the roof. Martha checks his identity: Mads Nielsen, born 1973.

Jonas walks away from what was his home and sees an old woman with a scar under her eye, who tells him she has waited for him to come back for a long time. She tells him Mikkel did not travel back, he would not become his father, and that he would never be born. She then asks him if that was not what he wanted. Despite that, this world without him will still fall apart because of him and her. Jonas wonders if the elderly woman is Martha.

### September 21, 1888 (Adam's world)

The slightly older alternate Martha, who saved Jonas from the apocalypse and has a scar under her eye, enters a building marked Tannhaus. A machine is letting off electricity, operated by a man at a desk: the Stranger, who is shocked to see her. He tearfully approaches her, amazed she is alive. She tells him she is not (his) Martha. She came to help him find the origin of everything, in his world and hers.

## Cast

* Hans Diehl as Old Unknown
* Jakob Diehl as Adult Unknown
* Claude Heinrich as Young Unknown
* Louis Hofmann as the teenage Jonas Kahnwald
* Lisa Vicari as Martha Nielsen
* Daan Lennard Liebrenz as Mikkel Nielsen
* Jördis Triebel as adult Katharina Nielsen
* Moritz Jahn as Magnus Nielsen
* Gina Alice Stiebitz as Franziska Doppler
* Oliver Masucci as adult Ulrich Nielsen
* Maja Schöne as Hannah Nielsen
* Paul Lux as Bartosz Tiedemann
* Sammy Scheuritzel as Kilian Obendorf
* Herman Beyer as old Helge Doppler
* Stephan Kampwirth as Peter Doppler
* Karoline Eichorn as Charlotte Doppler
* Leopold Hornung as Torben Wöller
* Peter Benedict as Aleksander Tiedemann
* Carlotta von Falkenhayn as the childhood Elisabeth Doppler 2019
* Michael Mendl as old Bernd Doppler
* Barbara Nüse as Eva
* Andreas Pietschmann as Stranger
* Mieke Schymura as Police Officer Jankowski
* Nils Brunkhorst as Teacher
* Natascha Paulick as Drama Teacher
* Tom Jahn as Jürgen Obendorf

## Deaths

* Bernd Doppler (from Adam's world) - Killed by The Unknown by strangling - June 27, 1987 (in Adam's world)

## Trivia

### Mysteries

* How did the Stranger end up in 1888?
* Which is the recurrent dream that Mikkel does in this world?
* But If Jonas is now in this world, how does he become the Stranger in the other world at the same time? something must have happened during the Apocalypse.
* Who are the 3 Unknown (Adult, Young and Old Version) who set fire to the Sic Mundus headquarters and kill Bernd Doppler and want the master key to the Central? How do they know Bernd still has it? Where they come from?
* It is said that it is September 21, 1987 when the Unknown goes to the Doppler house but not when, at the beginning, he sets fire to the Sic Mundus headquarters. We don't know where Adam is but it could also have happened in 1921 after Adam abandoned her. There is a big disorder in Sic Mundus Headquarters
* When Martha from the other world with the Martha scar, she calls the Stranger like Jonas. But how does she do if she doesn't know the Stranger in her world of hers? She evidently knows him or has a mission to accomplish.
* Why is old Martha talking about Jonas returning, since it's the first time he's there? Why is it Jonas and Martha's fault in this world too?

### Answers

* The lights are flickering because someone is using the caves to time travel. The traveler is most probably Alt Helge which is parallel to Prime Helge as he was the mysterious cloaked figure seen at the cave entrances in S1:E1, S1:E2 and in the montage sequence of S1:E4.
* We know The Stranger last used the time machine on June 27, 2020. The machine allows 33-year jumps back and forth but in this case something must have gone wrong. However it went 132 years back (2020-1888), that is 33 x 4, so there is some logic and justification for the introduction of this year 1888. Do not forget that there was the Apocalypse which could influence. He has been there for about 3 months when Martha from the other world arrives and it is evident that he is trying to get out of there. Most probably, Magnus, Bartosz and Franziska are with him in 1888.
* It is evident that the time machine that has the shape of a sphere allows travel between worlds and times and is therefore much more powerful than the time machines built by Sic Mundus (chair, portable machine, God particle). It does not appear that the time machine which has the shape of a sphere has the limit of 33 years or multiples. Martha of the alternative world in fact uses it to travel from November 4, 2019 of her world to September 21, 1888 that is 131 years.

### Observations

* We see new graphic in this third season : some letters in DARK at the end of music introduction are reversed and there is a graphical effect when we pass from one world to another one.
* The French phrase *déjà vu*, translated literally, means "already seen." In English, it refers to a feeling that one already experienced the current situation at a previous time.
* Several characters have reported having a déjà vu moment in previous episodes.
	+ Martha on the lights and the forest when meeting Jonas on the night of Mikkel's disappearance ("Secrets") and when the Stranger lets her into the Kahnwald family home ("The White Devil")
	+ Charlotte, reflecting on the 33-year cycle and the feeling everything was repeating ("Truths")
	+ Egon, when young Claudia tells him he is too good a person ("Ghosts")
	+ Michael, on seeing Jonas' yellow raincoat ("An Endless Cycle")
	+ Hannah, when she sees Mikkel on the day of Michael's suicide ("An Endless Cycle")

* Martha and Jonas discuss "déjà-vu" as representing "a glitch in the Matrix," quoting the 1999 American film *The Matrix*, in which conscious existence is revealed to be a computer-generated simulation (the titular Matrix) ("Secrets").
* It is quite clear that the unknown and his versions are interested in the world of Jonas today: the drawings of the chair and the time machine, the key to the Nuclear Power Plant.
* This episode mostly returns to where the series began: November 4, 2019, when Mikkel disappeared. But this is a different world. This is the world without Jonas that Claudia previously referred to ("An Endless Cycle"). Mikkel's babysitter did not get sick, Magnus did not bring Mikkel to the cave, and he, therefore, did not travel back to 1986 or marry Hannah, and Jonas was not born. No one recognises Jonas. Michael Kahnwald does not exist.
* Katharina and her children now live in what was the Kahnwald home. But everything is a mirror image of the other world: Martha's bed is on the opposite wall, the stairs run the other way. Mikkel will continue to grow up there but in 2019, not 1986. Ulrich has left her and is now married to Hannah, who is pregnant and living in his house.
* In a take It seems that Hanna has already had a caesarean section
* Martha wakes up panting, as frequently seen previously with Jonas, Mikkel and herself. She now has Jonas' room. Her boyfriend is now Killian Obendorf, the missing Erik's brother. She wears the same yellow jacket Jonas wore.
* Mikkel has nightmares in both worlds, even though the Mikkel in this world did not travel back in time.
* According to Katharina, Mikkel has a hard time falling asleep because he is an avid gamer
* Martha smells fresh milk from the fridge like Jonas
* Martha's quote to Mikkel that life could be a dream is reminiscent of the butterfly paradox that Ines tells Mikkel in 1986 in Alpha and Omega
* Magnus now has dark hair and tattoos.
* The Nuclear Power Plant has the cooling towes flipped respect to the other world.
* Martha turns left to go to the Bridge where she will meet the guys and also descend on the left. This path is completely mirrored respect to same path in the other world.
* Franziska climbs out of the window, as Ulrich did in "Secrets", but on the mirrored side respect to Ulrich.
* Ulrich tells Hannah he is late due to a long line at the bakery (as he told Katharina in "Secrets".) She tells him she loves him. He responds (as he did in Season 1) that she is beautiful.
* Ulrich makes the joke to Hanna about the apocalypse he made to Kathrina in the other world
* When Ulrich goes away with Charlotte she tells him we have to end it like Ulrich tells Hanna, in the same place, in the episode Lies, to stop the affair for a while, seeing Mikkel's disappearance.
* In the Nielsen house There is the torn photo of their family without Ulrich as Hanna had the torn photo without Ines.
* Ulrich is now having an affair with Charlotte. He is now the police chief and she an ordinary officer.
* Woller now has an arm missing instead of an eye.
* Franziska is now deaf and mute instead of Elisabeth.
* Helge in this world has his left eye destroyed, while in the other world it was his ear. He is living with his son, rather than at a nursing home.
* After finding the hair, Hanna sniffs the sweater like Kathrina in Secrets
* Aleksander has a beard in this world. He is also a lot more co-operative here. He still has affair with Jürgen and ask him support to hide the nuclear barrels, as in the other world.
* Regina has died 2 months earlier. It is not known the reason of her death.
* A light flashes in the bunker wall and a dead Mads drops from the wormhole, as occurred to Peter ("Alpha and Omega").
* The armchairs outside the cave are two and mirrored with respect to the other world.
* Martha is always acting and is preparing for Ariadne. The part she plays is the same as in the first series and concerns the knots that cannot be untied but only cut.
* Bartosz is a nerd and talks about black holes like Franziska of infinity in series 1. Martha draws infinity on the notepad as it was on the blackboard in world 1 but done by Franziska.
* After realising that Mikkel has not traveled through time and that there is no grave of Michael Kahnwald, Jonas begins to think that he is here to prevent Mikkel from escaping into the past.
* Kathrina has been abandoned by Ulrich but she seems satisfied when she talks to Hanna and she realises that things with Ulrich are not going so well.
* Charlotte is better dressed and kinder, she also asks Aleksandr how she is.
* Helge has the 1 pfenning coin like kids kidnapped in the other world. He has a key in his hand: what does he open him?
* As they walk through the woods, Bartosz talks about the Apocalypse predicted by Nostradamus in 2019. He sounds ironic.
* At the caves Magnus plays the prank of the monster as Bartosz plays the prank of the woman drowned in the lake in the episode An Endless Cycle.
* Martha sees her blood-filled figure as she flees into the woods as Jonas saw her father's figure in Secrets.
* Mads' corpse always appears in the Bunker: in the other world it appears on November 4, 2019 to Peter which is similar to this world where it also appears on November 04, 2019 to the boys who have just returned from the caves.
* Winden in the other world had constant rain. In this world, there is constant fog.
* There appear to be several Marthas in this episode- one has no scar and is in school in the alternate world and does not recognise Jonas. Another has a scar under her eye but this seems to change as she travels. She takes teenage Jonas to her world, then leaves him and travels back to 1888 to see The Stranger/Jonas. Is the old lady who Jonas meets later- who also has a scar- another version of Martha?
* Martha with the scar on her face mirrors Jonas with the mark on her neck
* Jonas does not seem to understand immediately he has been taken to an alternate world.
* The Stranger is as shocked to see Martha as Jonas was.
* The lights flicker, signifying time travel. In the first world, Mikkel travels to 1986. In this world, a dead Mads travels from 1986 to 2019, presumably to complicate the investigation into Erik's disappearance.
* The stranger is surprised to see Martha also because he thought he had imprisoned her in the Bunker on the day of the Apocalypse 27 June 2020 but could not imagine the arrival of Peter and Elisabeth in the bunker

### CALLBACKS

* Now we can see a world without Jonas as Claudia said in her speech in the episode an Endless Cycle. Indeed, terrible and similar things seem to happen, like the disappearance of children and people still have secrets. Old Martha points this out to Jonas, saying that she has been satisfied and now she sees a world without him in which she however cannot love young Martha, at least for now.

## GOOFS

* In which Country does the school start on 4th November? For sure not in Germany

## Quotes

* Helge: The beginning is the end. The end is the beginning.

## Gallery

*→ See **74** images from Deja-vu at **Images from Deja-vu**.*

## Navigation

 Season 3 | "**Deja-vu**" **·** "The Survivors" **·** "Adam and Eva" **·** "The Origin" **·** "Life and Death" **·** "Light and Shadow" **·** "Between the Time" **·** "The Paradise"