Alpha and Omega

* Title card
* Time card
* Date

## *Dark*

**"Alpha and Omega"** is the tenth and final episode of Season 1 of *Dark*. It premiered on December 1, 2017.

## Summary

Peter gets a shock. Jonas learns the truth about his family, but there are more surprises still to come. Helge makes a sacrifice.

## Plot

### The day of Mikkel's disappearance (November 4, 2019)

During the showery night, a hesitant Peter Doppler drives to Bernadette's trailer, where she is already standing at the entrance. He then changes his mind and drives off. He stops at the Doppler cabin and sits in the bunker. He slaps himself out of guilt and recites the Serenity Prayer. Suddenly, a horizontal rift in time and space materializes at the center of the bunker, facing downwards. Peter watches it open, dumbfounded. The rift spits out a motionless boy with charred eyes wearing 1980s clothes. The rift disappears, and Peter is completely taken aback by this scene. He attempts CPR but realizes the boy is dead. He finds his school ID on him: Mads Nielsen (born on December 4, 1973), dated October 28, 1986.

On the brink of tears, he calls Tronte Nielsen to come, stating that there is a situation related to Mads. This prompts Tronte to rush towards the bunker, where he kneels over the body, sobbing in disbelief, seeing his son's body after thirty-three years. Someone's footsteps descend the stairs, and the person is an elderly Claudia Tiedemann, whom Tronte recognizes. She assures them that she will explain everything, but first, they need to move Mads to where he is meant to be found.

### November 12, 2019

In his room, Jonas Kahnwald feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks behind him and sees Mikkel Nielsen lying in bed beside him, smiling. It turns out to be a nightmare, as he wakes up panting. He grabs his pills, but before taking them, he tosses them in the trash bin, believing they're just placeboes. He eyes the orb light and the Geiger counter.

Meanwhile, Martha Nielsen is weeping in her room, and Bartosz Tiedemann is with her. She apologizes to him and says she hasn't been herself since Mikkel disappeared. Bartosz tells her it doesn't matter and hugs her.

Charlotte Doppler visits the nursing home. Nurse Clara Schrage brings her to Helge Doppler's room, where he has yet to return. Clara adds that he has never been missing for this long before. She asks if Ulrich Nielsen has been by again, but the nurse says no. She adds that Ulrich was last seen on Saturday when he lashed out at Helge because he thought that Helge had something to do with the case.

### November 12, 1986

Helge wakes up in a high watchtower and stares into the open field.

### November 12, 2019

Jonas visits his adoptive grandmother, Ines Kahnwald, in her apartment. He asks her if she knew Michael's (Mikkel) secret. She remains silent, indicating that she did. Ines decides to give out Michael's letter to Jonas since it was addressed to him. He is shocked at the sight of the letter because he has burned it. Jonas asks how long she has known, so Ines tells him how she first met Michael, thinking he had a troubled past and an overactive imagination. Jonas then quizzes that if she did know all along, why didn't she stop him from committing suicide?

He is distraught, crying out that he now knows his actual relatives are people close to him: the Nielsen family. He tearfully tells her there's nothing wrong with them and only he is the anomaly. Ines tells him that she believes that scenarios, even the strangest ones, happen for a reason. Now that Jonas exists, who knows what the future will bring? He wails that he just wants things to be normal.

### November 12, 1986

Mikkel is showing Ines a magic trick that involves teleporting a sugar cube from beneath one cup to another. He says that all Houdini dreamed of was to become a magician. Mikkel says that he has the same dream, but the magic he wants to do is impossible, which is to "wake up." Ines asks him about Master Zhuang's paradox. One day, he dreamed he was a butterfly and woke up confused if he was still a person who dreamed he was a butterfly or if he was a butterfly who was dreaming it was a person. She asks Mikkel what he would think he was, to which he responds both. He removes the cups, revealing a second sugar cube.

### November 12, 1953

Ulrich Nielsen is in the custody of the Winden Police. As his mugshot is taken, Officer Egon Tiedemann introduces himself and asks Ulrich for his name, which he ignores. He laughs at the recognition of his old nemesis, quoting a lyric from Kreator's "Pleasure To Kill," the song that Egon despised in 1986: "My only aim is to take many lives, the more, the better I feel." Egon asks him whether he is a Satanist, to which Ulrich replies that he's an officer–an unbelievable statement. Ulrich menacingly tells him that the quote is from an '80s song he will dislike. Egon questions why he killed the children, but Ulrich denies this and declares that he wanted to save them. Egon asks what he did to Helge, and Ulrich realizes he's still alive, or else the children wouldn't be dead. He pleads with the officers to let him go so that he can change it, but they ignore his words. The other officers drag him to the cell as Ulrich taunts Egon, asking whether he has started drinking or if that will happen after his wife leaves him. They handcuff him to the bed and close the door.

### November 12, 2019

Jonas goes to school as it rains, noticing a frustrated Bartosz by the entrance. Bartosz reminds him how he waited for him on Thursday (November 7). He reminds him of how he covered for him, not telling anyone he was in therapy. Jonas apologizes, but Bartosz tells him that Martha told him he kissed her. Jonas tries to explain, but Bartosz gets too furious and shoves him to the ground, saying he is just like his father, at which Jonas lunges at him, and they wrestle on the floor. Martha exits the school and sees them, so she yells at them to stop. Bartosz shouts at Jonas never to come back there. Jonas walks away, his lip bleeding.

### November 12, 1986

The Stranger returns to the clockmaker's shop and notices that H.G. Tannhaus has repaired his portable time machine. Tannhaus shows him he has two devices: the one the Stranger brought, which shows how the device looks in the future, and the one he built many years earlier. He reveals that he needed to inspect the older version to complete the younger version, observing the beginning and end of something simultaneously to understand the origin. He removes Ulrich's smartphone from his drawer and moves it around the machine, prompting beeping noises and cylinders of gears to protrude. Tannhaus demonstrates that the smartphone from the future sends a signal to the device of the past to intensify the latter's power; the future really influences the past.

The Stranger takes out a vial which he reveals contains Cs-137, a radioactive isotope of Cesium that was the toxic waste of the incident that he stole from the yellow barrels the night before, on November 11, 2019. As Tannhaus openly speculates how a wormhole is formed through these reactants, the Stranger installs the vial into the container of the new version of the machine and packs it. The Stranger asks why he decided to help him, and he proceeds to recount. Tannhaus unfolds the question of why he even did it–whether he was following the cause-and-effect cycle's forces or doing it out of instinct. He suggests that this moment was what his life led to and that he's part of a puzzle one can neither understand nor influence. Before the Stranger leaves with his briefcase, Tannhaus asks what the future is like, but he replies that he hopes by the next day, everything will be different.

### November 12, 2019

Charlotte is in her car, still outside the nursing home. She calls Peter to ask him about his father being kidnapped as a child. Peter is driving, and when he wants to tell her something (his discovery from almost nine days ago), she disregards it and asks again. He replies that it was the fall of 1953, precisely sixty-six years ago, 33 times 2. She declares, "It's all connected." She politely hangs up when he attempts to speak again and drives off.

### November 12, 1986

Helge arrives back home to see someone sitting by his porch. It is the older Helge who tells him that he has to stop. The younger Helge pretends not to know what he means. The old man continues that everything Noah says is a lie. When his younger self attempts to act again, Helge removes his beanie to reveal his disfigured ear, signifying his true identity. He affirms that Noah's words are false and that he's evil, much to his younger self's shock. He hugs the distressed man, pleading with him not to make the same mistakes he made, but Helge abruptly pushes him and runs back to his car. The elderly Helge yells his warnings as his younger self drives off. After a moment of thought, he concludes, "I have to stop."

### November 12, 2019

At home, Jonas goes to the attic to look at the horizontal wooden pole in the ceiling where Michael hung his noose, ultimately deciding to bring Mikkel back, even though it will erase his existence. When he goes downstairs, Hannah notices his cuts. He explains that he got into a recent fight, but it doesn't matter who he fought. He hugs her, assuring her that "everything will be fine." He exits the house, leaving Hannah puzzled.

In the bunker, Tronte is sitting with Peter. The latter voices that Charlotte asked about the cabin and Helge, as well as what happened in 1953. Tronte expresses that "it'll all be over" in a few hours, and Mads will live. Peter, however, is visibly doubtful and anxious, asking if he really believes Claudia. Tronte assertively replies that everything she and the triquetra notebook predicted has happened in the last eight days. Peter hastily questions why the last pages are torn out and what happens after today. Tronte says that after today, everything will be new.

Katharina returns home and rests her head on Martha's shoulder in the living room. Hannah smokes in the dining room. A dead-eyed Jonas enters the cave and then the passage.

### November 12, 1986

A disturbed Helge stands outside the church with Noah. He asks the priest if there is no God, then why do people believe in a lie? Noah explains that people prefer a lie to numb any pain. He then tells the story of when he was a young boy, a man with a suicidal expression came to him and his family, intending to rent a room to stay in. He slept next to Noah's room, and during the nights, he would talk in his sleep, but Noah couldn't understand him. One night, the man came to stand in the doorway to Noah's room and, with wide open eyes, declared, "Nothing is in vain. Not a single breath, not a single step, not a single word. Not pain. An eternal miracle of the One."

Noah continues that he only understood that pain years later and that the horrible experiences of everyone's lives aren't in vain because those memories shape who they are and what they do. He grabs Helge, averring that his pain made him who he is, but it no longer has power over him. After reconsidering his dubiety, Helge asks who is next. Noah checks his triquetra notebook and says, "Jonas Kahnwald." Meanwhile, Jonas exits the caves and puts on his hood.

Caseworker Selma Ahrens comes to the hospital to pick up Mikkel, who is sitting on the bed, dressed and ready to be discharged to the children's home, but the boy refuses. Ines brings Selma outside the room, declaring that she wants to adopt him. Selma says it's a complicated process, but Ines responds that she is the only person he lets close to him and that they have grown attached.

The young Charlotte sketches dead birds in the forest until Jonas goes up to her and asks for the date. After answering, Charlotte asks him what he is doing here. He replies that he is bringing someone back from the dead. She then asks if he can get the dead birds back to life, and he says that you'd have to find them when they were younger. She states that they wouldn't be dead yet, but Jonas says that it doesn't change the fact that they're going to die. She calls him crazy, and Jonas admits he might be.

### November 12, 2019

At the police station's files storage, Charlotte reviews microfilm of 1953 newspaper articles about nine-year-old Helge Doppler's kidnapping. She clicks to Page 5, where the headline says, "*Is This Man a Child Murderer?*". She is astounded and taken aback by the sight of the suspect in the mugshot: Ulrich.

### November 12, 1953

Egon, Daniel Kahnwald, and a group of officers visit Ulrich's cell to intimidate him. Ulrich begs them to let him go to find his son, but Daniel doesn't listen and furiously questions him about Helge's whereabouts. When Ulrich doesn't talk, the officers beat him with their batons.

### November 12, 1986

It is nighttime. Jonas is walking down the dimly lit corridor of the hospital, reaching Mikkel's room. Inside, he sees Noah reading the sleeping boy a bedtime story. He asks who he is, but Noah shushes him. Suddenly, Helge appears from behind the door, covers Jonas' face with an oiled towel, and Jonas faints from the scent.

He wakes up in the brightly lit bunker, noticing the chair at the center. The door slot opens and reveals the Stranger, who says he doesn't need to be afraid. Jonas goes to the slot, banging on the metal door, accusing the Stranger of kidnapping him. The Stranger clarifies that it was Noah, much to Jonas's confusion. The Stranger explains that he will be used as a guinea pig for a prototype time machine and that the passage in the cave is directly underneath the bunker. If the passage is opened, then energy directly flows through that bunker. Jonas begs for him to release him, but the Stranger says that "it's the only way for things to be normal again." Jonas asks him who he is, but the latter responds, "Don't you know?" He tells him that the reason the letter exists despite being burned is that he will carry the letter that Ines gave him for thirty-three years before he passes it on to himself at an earlier point in his timeline from when Ines gave him the letter. There is a dramatic silence, and the Stranger leans in to say, "I am you": he is the grown-up Jonas Kahnwald.

He continues that everything that he is experiencing, he has already experienced. He burned the letter just like his younger self did but got it back from their grandmother. He already had this conversation but was on the other side then. He establishes that everyone thinks they're free, but they aren't since their younger selves would follow the same path repeatedly. Jonas is in tears, yelling that this is all crazy. The Stranger admits that for a long time, he thought that this was crazy, but if he lets him out then he wouldn't become who he is now, and thus he won't be able to destroy the wormhole. He asks Jonas why he kissed Martha and adds that people are not free in what they do because they are not free in what they want. Jonas tearfully begs him to stop and bangs on the metal door, wailing that he wants all of this to stop. The Stranger assures him that he wants the same thing, but their father is just a "small part of a sprawling sickness." He apologizes and closes the slot, leaving Jonas to cry.

Helge drives up to the T-intersection near the bus stop during the rain, stopping at a red traffic light. He focuses his mind on the song encouraging listeners to look forward to the future. When the light turns green, and he continues his path, another car barrels toward him from the left and crashes into Helge's left side. The driver-side door is caved in, the windows are shattered, and Helge's face is streaked with his blood. He limps out of the car and struggles his way to the other to find out who the driver is. He is startled when he sees Helge, his older self, dead in the driver's seat.

### November 12, 2019

Charlotte hangs a newspaper clipping for Helge's car crash on the board of the evidence-discussion room. Meanwhile, Bartosz meets up with Noah again in his car. Noah tells Bartosz that everything is about to begin. He adds that the older Jonas (the Stranger) will attempt to destroy the wormhole but doesn't realize that in the process, he will be the one to "trigger its existence." He claims Claudia lied to the Stranger, as he is a pawn in the war to control time travel. He continues that two forces fight to control time travel: light and shadow. He promises that he and his followers belong to the light; they must make sure every step in the time loop is repeated exactly as it was before. He states Claudia is "inhumane" and "belongs to the shadow," and the Stranger is her puppet. Jonas will grow up to follow that same path. He hands Bartosz his triquetra notebook and says he must be strong to free humanity from immaturity and pain. Bartosz answers willingly. Noah checks his watch and says, "It's time."

### November 12, 1986

(Noah's monologue narrates through multiple scenes.) The Stranger enters the caves, armed with his new time machine and orb light. At the location of the car crash, a bandaged Helge is carried into an ambulance. The elderly Helge's corpse is being zipped up, as Egon observes. The middle-aged Claudia reads *A Journey Through Time* in her car.

### The closing of the passage

The Stranger crawls through the caves, opens the door (greeted with the usual strong wind), and enters the wormhole intersection. At the center, he activates the device using Ulrich's mobile phone. Gears start turning, and electric sparks are generated. The Stranger sits down and peacefully notices a hallucination of his father covered in a black liquid. A dome of dark matter is formed from inches above the device.

In 1986, Ines and Mikkel arrive at the Kahnwald family home, and Mikkel starts to cry. The two hug each other and begin their new lives. In 2019, Charlotte meets up with Peter in the bunker. Katharina, sitting in Mikkel's room, as usual, tries to call Ulrich.

Lights start flickering, and the ground begins rumbling in all three periods. In 1953, a battered Ulrich sits in his cell as the lamp blinks. Tannhaus is working on the device in 1953 as the lights flicker around him, much to his concern. He feels the ground rumbling as scrolls fall from the shelves. Bernd and Greta Doppler notice the lights flashing in their parlor as they sit together. Agnes Nielsen and Doris Tiedemann have a toast of drinks at the dining table as they witness the lights flickering. They hold hands in this paranormal scenario. In 1986, Claudia notices the blinkers flickering. In 2019, Katharina sees the lights of the solar system model in Mikkel's room flashing. Charlotte and Peter hug each other at the sight of the flickering lights in the bunker. Hannah nonchalantly sits in her dining chair as the lights in the house flicker. She aims her gun across the table as if she were about to shoot someone. Tronte and Jana Nielsen embrace each other in their shaking apartment. Glitches start to occur as well. Magnus Nielsen and Franziska Doppler are in the living room watching TV as a Raider commercial from 1986 plays onscreen. Aleksander and Regina Tiedemann exit the car (with flickering blinkers) and take a gaping sight of a massive dome of dark matter looming above the forest, slowly closing the cave wormhole. In the post-apocalyptic future, in the woods, Claudia has a shotgun on her jacket. She raises her hands to the level of her chest, feeling the air snowing with chemical ashes.

In 1953, a bloodied Helge crouches in the bunker in fear, grasping the pfennig coin necklace. In 1986, Jonas is in the bunker, now a decorated torture room. The ground rumbles in both years, and a vertical portal suddenly materializes in the center of the bunker, connecting 1953 and 1986. The two of them can see each other. Jonas and Helge reach out their fingers to touch each other. As they do so, they are transported to different years.

### November 13, 1986

The young Helge wakes up on blue carpeting. He surveys the room that he is in, the bunker. He spots the chair in the center and touches the metal headpiece.

### November 13, The Future

Jonas wakes up with a start, panting. He is still in the bunker, but the wallpaper is missing, and the room is dim. There are stacks of shotguns, survival equipment, and hanging items. Behind him is the string wall, where his photo is connected to the Stranger's by red string. He goes outside, where the sky is gloomy, and it's snowing ashes. The T-intersection has become a contaminated war zone, where trucks are dumped; signs with the warning "Caution, Radiation, Restricted area" are hung, flaming barrels are standing, and a set of barbed wires line the area. The nuclear plant, from a distance, is visibly in ruins. Jonas walks through until a truck full of face-masked soldiers approaches him, forcing him to drop to his knees and raise his hands. A teenage female soldier stands tall in front of him, and the other men surround him, aiming their rifles. He asks what year it is. A futuristic drone-plane flies overhead. The girl answers, "Welcome to the future," and shoves her rifle into his face, knocking him out.

## Cast

### Main

* Stephan Kampwirth as Peter Doppler
* Valentin Oppermann as Mads Nielsen
* Walter Kreye as Tronte Nielsen
* Lisa Kreuzer as Claudia Tiedemann
* Louis Hofmann as Jonas Kahnwald
* Daan Lennard Liebrenz as Mikkel Nielsen
* Lisa Vicari as Martha Nielsen
* Paul Lux as Bartosz Tiedemann
* Karoline Eichhorn as Charlotte Doppler
* Hermann Beyer as Helge Doppler
* Angela Winkler as Ines Kahnwald
* Anne Ratte-Polle as Ines Kahnwald 1986
* Oliver Masucci as Ulrich Nielsen
* Sebastian Hülk as Egon Tiedemann 1953
* Christian Steyer as H.G. Tannhaus 1986
* Andreas Pietschmann as The Stranger
* Peter Schneider as Helge Doppler 1986
* Maja Schöne as Hannah Kahnwald
* Mark Waschke as Noah
* Jördis Triebel as Katharina Nielsen
* Stephanie Amarell as Charlotte Doppler 1986
* Christian Pätzold as Egon Tiedemann 1986
* Julika Jenkins as Claudia Tiedemann 1986
* Arnd Klawitter as H.G. Tannhaus 1953
* Anatole Taubman as Bernd Doppler 1953
* Cordelia Wege as Greta Doppler 1953
* Antje Traue as Agnes Nielsen
* Luise Heyer as Doris Tiedemann
* Tatja Seibt as Jana Nielsen
* Moritz Jahn as Magnus Nielsen
* Gina Alice Stiebitz as Franziska Doppler
* Peter Benedict as Aleksander Tiedemann
* Deborah Kaufmann as Regina Tiedemann
* Tom Philipp as Helge Doppler 1953
* Lea Van Acken as Girl From The Future

### Supporting

* Florian Panzner as Daniel Kahnwald
* Sebastian Rudolph as Michael Kahnwald
* Anton Rubtsov as Benni/Bernadette
* Lena Dörrie as Nurse Clara Schrage
* Barbara Philipp as Caseworker Selma Ahrens

## Deaths

* Helge Doppler (from Adam's world) - Killed in a car crash - November 12, 1986

## Quotes

* **Martha**: *[In tears]* I'm sorry. I really fucked up. Since Mikkel disappeared... I don't recognize myself anymore.
*[Bartosz goes to her]*
Bartosz: It doesn't matter, okay?
*[Bartosz embraces Martha]*
**Bartosz**: Everything's okay. Everything's okay.
* **Jonas**: Did you know?
**Ines**: Did I know what?
**Jonas**: The boy from the future.
*[Ines takes a deep silent breath]*
**Jonas**: You knew.
*[Ines stands up to collect her wooden box from her drawer. She opens it to reveal the suicide letter]*
**Ines**: This is for you.
*[Jonas clutches it in his hands and stares at it, confused]*
**Jonas**: *[Bewildered]* That's impossible.
**Ines**: What?
**Jonas**: I burned it. How long have you known?
**Ines**: I've always known, really. When your father came to me, he was a disturbed little boy. I just thought he had an overactive imagination. That something bad must have happened to him, something he couldn't bear. He told me... he came from the future. I didn't believe him.
**Jonas**: If you knew... why didn't you stop it?
**Ines**: *[Visibly regretful, slightly stuttering]* I didn't know that he would take his own life.
**Jonas**: *[Crying out]* But you could have saved Mikkel! *[Jonas smacks the table]* Now I have another grandma and she's the principle of my school! Her husband, who's fucking my mom, is looking for his son, who's my father! A few days ago I kissed my aunt.
[Ines sits silent and solemn]
**Jonas**: And the crazy thing is... there's nothing wrong with any of them. They're okay. I'm what's wrong.
**Ines**: I think things... no matter how abnormal or strange they seem to us, happen for a reason. Who are we to play God? What's past is past. But you... live in the here and now. *[She holds his hand]* Who knows what the future will bring.
**Jonas**: I just want everything to go back to normal.
*[Ines smiles at him]*

* **Mikkel**: As a kid, all that Houdini dreamed of was becoming a magician.
*[Mikkel places one of the two cups over a sugar cube, and turns the other upside down as well. He taps the top of both of them, and takes out the first cup, which was empty, but the second had the sugar cube. The impressed Ines 1986 smiles]*
**Ines 1986**: Do you have the same dream?
**Mikkel**: Yes. But the magic I want to do is impossible.
**Ines 1986**: Which is what?
**Mikkel**: I just want to finally wake up.
**Ines 1986**: Have you heard of Master Zhuang's paradox?
*[Mikkel shakes his head]*
**Ines 1986**: I dreamt I was a butterfly. Now I've woken up and no longer know if I'm a person who dreamed he's a butterfly, or if I'm a butterfly who's dreaming it's a person. What are you? A person or a butterfly?
*[A moment of thought later]*
**Mikkel**: Maybe I'm both.
*[He takes out both cups to reveal a second sugar cube, and the two of them smile at each other]*
* *[The Stranger enters the clockmaker's shop, where Tannhaus 1986 is fixing his time machine right next to the younger version]*
**The Stranger**: You repaired it.
**Tannhaus**: *[Pointing to The Stranger's]* That one's yours. *[Pointing to his own]* And this one's mine. I built it many years ago. It's the same device, but in a different condition. You see. *[He steps aside to allow The Stranger to see the two machines side by side]* It's as if one could look at the beginning and end of something at the same time. Wait a moment. *[Tannhaus 1986 takes out Ulrich's smartphone]* This thing here it sends a kind of signal. *[He turns on the phone]* An electromagnetic impulse. As if it were trying to communicate with something. And look at this.
*[Tannhaus 1986 twists a control knob. He moves the phone around the machine, prompting beeping noises and cylinders of gears to protrude].*
**Tannhaus 1986**: This part has never moved. It was included in the blueprint, but I never knew what it was for. This thing communicates with the device.
*[He moves the phone away]*
**Tannhaus 1986**: It's not just the past that influences the future. The future also influences the past. You see. If you hadn't shown me what the device looks like in the future, I wouldn't have been able to build it. A paradox. *[He points to both openings for the cylinder fuel storages]* These openings didn't exist either.
*[The cylinder protrudes]*
**Tannhaus 1986**: I have no idea what their purpose is.
*[The Stranger takes out a vile of fuel that he took from the yellow barrels in November 11, 2019]* **Tannhaus 1986**: What's that?
**The Stranger**: *[Placing the vile into the cylinder]* Cs-137. A radioactive isotope of Cesium.
**Tannhaus 1986**: *[Openly calculating]* The device generates a Higgs field. It increases the mass of the Cesium, An electromagnetic impulse causes it to implode into a black hole. The same thing must have happened during the nuclear power plant incident.
*[The Stranger has packed the newer machine in his suitcase and is preparing to depart]*
**The Stranger**: Why did you decide to help me after all?
**Tannhaus 1986**: Why? *[Sits down]* That's a big word. Why do we decide for one thing and against another? But does it matter whether the decision is based upon the consequence of a series of causal links? Or whether it stems from an undefined feeling inside me? That perhaps everything in my life boils down to this one moment. That I'm part of a puzzle. One that I can neither understand nor influence.
*[The Stranger sets forth to the exit]*
**Tannhaus 1986**: Will you tell me what the future's like?
**The Stranger**: I'm hoping that by tomorrow, it'll already be different from today.
* **Helge**: You have to stop.
**Helge 1986**: *[Acting]* What do I have to stop?
**Helge**: He's using you. All of his promises are lies.
*[The two men stand tall in front of each other]*
**Helge 1986**: I think you're mistaking me for someone else.
**Helge**: I think you're mistaking me for someone else. *[Takes off his beanie to reveal his scars]* I've said that before. Everything Noah says is a lie. He's not the chosen one. You're not the chosen one. He doesn't want to save the world from evil. He is evil.
*[Helge hugs his distressed younger self]*
**Helge**: Today is the day. The beginning and the end. Don't make the same mistakes I made. Don't make the same mistakes I made.
*[Helge 1986 abruptly pushes him and runs to his car]*
**Helge**: You have to stop. *[Proceeds to run after Helge 1986]* You have to stop!
*[Helge 1986 manages to drive off, leaving Helge to make a perilous decision]*
**Helge**: I have to stop.

* **Peter**: Charlotte asked me about the cabin. About what happened in '53.
**Tronte**: A few more hours, and it'll be over. Mads will live.
**Peter**: *[Doubtful and anxious]* Do you believe her?
**Tronte**: Everything she said would happen has happened in the last eight days. *[Points to a passage in the notebook]* Just as it's written here.
**Peter**: Then why have half the pages been torn out? *[Nervous]* What happens after today?
**Tronte**: After today... everything will be new.
* **Helge 1986**: But if there is no God, then why do we believe in a lie?
**Noah**: Because we prefer any lie to the pain. Years ago, I was still a little boy. A stranger came to us. He looked as if he'd been in the war. Didn't talk much. There was this sadness in his eyes. The kind you sometimes see in those who want to die, but life won't let them. He took a room in our house. The bedroom right next to mine. And... sometimes I heard him talk in his sleep. Confused words. But one night, he was suddenly very clear. He stood in the hallway, his eyes wide open, and said... "Nothing is in vain. Not a single breath, not a single step, not a single word. Not pain. An eternal miracle of the One." I didn't understand any of his words. Only years later, when I felt the pain, did I understand what he meant. That none of the horrible things that befall us should be in vain. That they make us what we are. That they give us our strength.
*[Noah grabs ahold of Helge 1986's head]*
**Noah**: *[Assertive]* Your pain made you who you are, Helge. But it no longer has power over you.

* **Jonas**: What day is it today?
**Charlotte 1986**: The 12th.
**Jonas**: What year?
*[Jonas was about to leave]*
**Charlotte 1986**: '86. Are you from here?
*[Jonas shakes his head]*
**Charlotte 1986**: What are you doing here?
**Jonas**: Bringing someone back from the dead.
**Charlotte 1986**: How does that work?
**Jonas**: It's very hard to explain.
**Charlotte 1986**: *[Eying the dead birds]* Can you bring these back?
**Jonas**: No, you have to find them when they're younger.
**Charlotte 1986**: But then they're not dead yet.
**Jonas**: That doesn't change the fact that they will die.
**Charlotte 1986**: You're crazy.
**Jonas**: Maybe.
*[Jonas walks off]*
* *[Jonas wakes up in the decorative bunker, and is surprised by the sight of the electric chair in the centre. He hears footsteps outside, and the slot opens to reveal The Stranger]*
**The Stranger**: There's no need to be afraid.
**Jonas**: *[Running to the door and speaking through the slot]* Hey! Hey! What's this suppose to be? What is this? Why did you lock me in here?
**The Stranger**: It wasn't me. It was Noah.
**Jonas**: Who's Noah? Where am I? What is this?
**The Stranger**: This is a kind of prototype of a time machine. You're the guinea pig. The passage in the cave lies directly under this bunker. If opened, the energy flows through this room. But it needs to be increased. No DeLorean. No hissing or steam. The first time machine is a bunker with four walls. But it still doesn't quite work.
**Jonas**: Let me out of here.
**The Stranger**: I can't. It's the only way for things to be normal again.
**Jonas**: Who are you?
**The Stranger**: You don't know?
*[A brief pause]*
**The Stranger**: The letter. You burned it. And yet it still exists. You'll carry that letter for almost 33 years before you pass it on. To yourself.
*[A dramatic silence, and The Stranger leans forward]*
**The Stranger**: I am you. My name is Jonas Kahnwald. I sent the letter to you. Or should I say, to me. Everything you're experiencing, I've already experienced.
*[Jonas was visibly shocked and disturbed. The Stranger leans back]*
**The Stranger**: I burned the letter, just like you. I got it back from our grandmother. I've already had this conversation. But I was on the other side then. We think we're free, but we're not. We follow the same old path. Again and Again.
**Jonas**: *[Distraught and shouting]* That's crazy! It doesn't make any sense! You can decide to let me go now. Come on, let me out!
**The Stranger**: I thought it was crazy for a long time. That I'm crazy. But I can't let you out because then you won't become what I am today. If I now change my past, I will change who I am right now. And then I won't be able to destroy the hole once and for all. Why did you kiss Martha? We're not free in what we do, because we're not free in what we want. We can't overcome what's deep within us.
**Jonas**: *[Tearful]* Stop it. Stop. Please stop. I have to bring Mikkel back. I want everything to go back to normal. *[Banging the door]* I want all this sick shit to stop!
**The Stranger**: You still do. Thirty-three years later. I still want that. But Mikkel... Our father is just a small part of a sprawling sickness. I've seen things that no one should ever see. I'm sorry.
* **Noah**: Everything is about to begin. The older Jonas will destroy the hole, but... he doesn't realize that he will be the one to trigger its existence. A paradox. The cesium in his useless machine won't destroy the hole forever. It's what creates it in the first place. He thinks he's the savior. But Claudia lied to him. Most people are nothing but pawns on a chessboard. Led by an unknown hand. Their lives exist only to be sacrificed for a higher goal. Jonas, Mikkel, the children, they're nothing but unfortunate, yet necessary chess moves in an eternal war between good and evil. There are two groups out there fighting to control time travel. Light and shadow. We belong to the light. Don't forget that. Even though some of what we do is of a dark nature. But no victory is ever won without sacrifice. As long as we're in this time loop we who know have to make sure that every step will be repeated exactly as it was before. No matter how inhumane it seems to us. No matter what sacrifices it demands of us. But believe me, the others are the ones who are truly inhumane. They have lost all humanity. They belong to the shadow. Your grandmother, Claudia, belongs to the shadow. Never trust her, No matter what she says. Jonas trusted her before and he will trust her again. Jonas thinks he will change everything... but he's just her puppet. He doesn't deserve any better.
*[Brielfy chuckles and hands Bartosz his triquetra notebook]*
**Noah**: Time is an infinite field. Millions and millions of interlocking wheels. We have to be patient to be victorious. But our time will come. We will free humanity from its immaturity. From its pain. But you must be strong. Can you do that?
**Bartosz**: Yes.

## Trivia

### Mysteries

* Is Claudia really the hero that the Stranger and Tronte follow, or is she as evil as Noah claims she is? Why would she lie?
* Why did Claudia tear out the last few pages of the triquetra notebook?
* Basing on what Tronte Says that Mads will live again? Is it written on Triquetra’s book?
* Who was the traumatized man that temporarily stayed with Child Noah's family?
* What pain did Noah experience that drove him to do what he does?
* Who wrote the triquetra notebook?
* How will Jonas grow up to become the Stranger?
* How does Jonas know that his mother Hanna is having an affair with Ulrich?
* The Stranger says to Jonas that Noah has imprisoned him. How and when the Stranger has met Noah?
* Noah says that there are two groups out there fighting to "control time travel". Those two groups are "Light and shadow/Good and evil". What does he mean by this? Is this related to the conflict between him and Claudia?
* Why does Noah want to maintain certain events in the time loop even though he wants to free humanity from its pain?
* Which was Noah's plan once kidnapped Jonas? Was Jonas time travel to the future part of the determinism?
* How will Helge return back to 1953 to grow up?
* What happened in the future? Why is Winden run by what appears to be a military cult?

### Answers

* The shared secret between Peter and Tronte is revealed. On the night of November 4, 2019, Peter discovered Mads's body and called Tronte over in the middle of the night. Just then, Claudia appeared and instructed them to move Mads's body into the woods. This explains why Peter was upset the morning after, why Tronte had blood or red soil on his sleeves when he was doing the laundry, and why Peter has red soil in his Volvo. Claudia explained the entire time travel situation and the fact that everything is in a time loop. She likely revealed her plan to destroy the cycle and set time straight. She handed them a copy of the triquetra notebook, which states certain paranormal events in Winden and records on time travel.

* On the night of November 11, 2019, the Stranger stole Cs-137 from the yellow barrels. This substance is capable of time travel, and he needed that as fuel for the time machine.
* In "Double Lives", Helge said that he needed to stop someone. Although it's confirmed that he wanted to stop Noah, he ended up trying to stop his 1986 self.
* The chair needed to be built in the bunker because it was above the wormhole.
* The Stranger is the grown-up version of Jonas. Jonas would carry his desire to destroy the time loop for the next thirty-three years. This explains how the Stranger knows Jonas so well and why he's been anonymously assisting him in his journey. He wants to maintain his own past in order to be where he is right now, desperate to destroy the time loop.
* Now it is more clear why the Stranger stopped Jonas at the Hospital when he was thinking about bring Mikkel back. The Stranger is interested that Jonas will survive in order to allow him to try to change the past. Mikkel is only a pawn of the puzzle
* The accident that happened to Helge Doppler on November 12, 1986, (mentioned in "Crossroads") was the car crash with his elderly self.
* The opening memory of Helge in "Crossroads" is explained: He ended up in 1986 via a portal.
* The string wall is in the future, which is also the year that the time traveling Claudia resides in.

### Themes and Motifs

#### Time

* In "Secrets", Mikkel vanished right before it started raining. During the flashback with Peter, it was already raining. This means that he discovered Mads after the disappearance.
* Mads was born on December 4, 1973.
* The events of "Crossroads" in 2019 took place on a Saturday.
* The events of "Truths" took place on a Thursday.
* Helge Doppler's disappearance happened exactly sixty-six years before 2019.
* Tronte and Peter have been observing the occurrences of the last eight days.
* Jonas would carry his desire to destroy the time loop for the next thirty-three years.
* Helge is listening to a song encouraging him to look forward into the future before getting into the crash.

* The newspaper stating the severe car crash is dated Thursday, November 13, 1986.

#### Time Travel

* Mads's corpse traveled from November 4, 1986, to November 5, 2019, via the chair.
* Even though the three time periods are separated by thirty-three years, people can move rapidly between them and events seem to happen simultaneously. So Mads can be killed in 1986 but be sent to 2019 and appear to have been dead a few hours. Erik and Yasin can be killed in 2019 but sent to 1953. Gretchen can disappear in 1953 but be found unchanged in 1986. Mikkel and Ulrich can hear each other thirty-three years apart. Helge and Jonas can touch each other, though separated by thirty-three years.
* The Stranger traveled from 2019 to 1986.
* Jonas travels from 2019 to 1986.
* Noah travels from 1986 to 2019 to meet with Bartosz.
* Helge travels from 1953 to 1986.
* Jonas travels from 1986 to the future.

#### Determinism

* Ines tells Jonas the belief that everything that happens, no matter how abnormal, happens for a reason. Jonas is born for a purpose that's yet to be revealed.
* Jonas reproaches Ines that he could have stopped Mikkel's disappearance if he had opened the letter before November 4, 2019 but Ines respected Michael's wishes.
* Noah tells the philosophy of how pain shapes a person's desires and actions. The Stranger adds that people aren't free in what they do because they aren't free in what they want. This can be applied to multiple characters:
	+ Ulrich lost both his brother and his son. His depression left him to be overactive and determined to find Mikkel. He even resorted to bludgeoning Helge to attempt to change the future.
	+ When Egon confirms to Ulrich that two guys are dead, he assumes that Helge is still alive. Maybe Ulrich now understands the determinism, he cannot change the past, since these guys are dead in the future. Exactly like Jonas cannot bring back Mikkel in the future, since he (and The Stranger) are existing.
	+ Jonas's depression and will for his father to live is what drives him to his current goal. He wants to end the time loop and every other paradox just so that everyone will be free from the pain that time travel has cause, even if it erases his existence. He'll carry this goal as The Stranger.
	+ Noah experienced something in his life which drives him to perform his acts in order to find his own salvation.
	+ Tronte is desperate for Mads to live, which is why he follows Claudia without questioning her or the missing pages in the notebook.
	+ Helge suffered trauma as a child and he aids Noah in performing acts of achieving salvation in order to numb his own pain.
	+ Helge's desperation to stop his younger self led him to attempted self-murder.
	+ Old Helge 2019 cannot kill Adult Helge 1986 since Old Helge 2019 is already existing.
* Jonas can't bring Mikkel back, because his future already exists.

#### Colors

* Jonas's bedsheets are blue. Plus, he wears his signature yellow raincoat.
* Helge wears a blue jacket.
* Charlotte wears a blue beanie in 1986.
* Claudia wears a green silk shirt in 1986.

####  Paradoxes

* We see Tannhaus did have another machine ("As You Sow, so You Shall Reap") and built one for Claudia in 1953 ("Everything Is Now"). It relies on the smartphone Ulrich took from 2019 to 1953. The Stranger's version guides him how to build the first one. The past influences the future, the future influences the past.
* Ulrich tries to get under Egon's skin by reciting the lyrics from the song he knows he hates but this makes Egon 1953 believe he is a Satanist and his reasons for trying to kill Helge make him believe he is a lunatic.
* Mikkel and Ines converse about Master Zhuang's paradox. A human dreamed of being a butterfly. Once he wakes up, he can't tell whether he's a human who dreamed about being a butterfly or if he's a butterfly dreaming about being a human. This can relate to Mikkel's situation. He can't tell whether he's a boy who traveled from 2019 to 1986, or if he's a boy from the past taken to 2019 and is placed in his home. That's what he means by "wake up": He wants to know what he is. The sugar cube trick could also be symbolic to this paradox. The cube is Mikkel, the first cup is 2019, and the second is 1986. The cube (Mikkel) somehow traveled from the first cup (2019) to the second (1986). When he theorizes that he's possibly "both", he reveals two cubes in each of the cups. He believes that he might as well have originated from both time periods.
* The construction of the portable time machine relied on time travel itself. Claudia instructs Tannhaus to build the machine. Thirty-three years later, the Stranger reveals to him as to what it is and leaves behind the oldest version of the machine. Tannhaus observes both the beginning and the end of the device, in order to understand the origin. He inspects the complete yet broken machine in order to finish the new version. He also uses Ulrich's smartphone to send signals to the gears. The future influences the past in various ways, to where hardly any event makes sense.
* The Stranger wouldn't have known what to do with Michael's letter if it weren't for his older self telling him to do so, just like how he told Jonas.
* The journey of Michael's letter is a circle. Michael wrote it before hanging himself, and it somehow landed in Ines's hands. She then gave it to Jonas, who keeps it until he grows up into the Stranger. He would pass it down to his younger self, who reads it and burns it. Only days after it's destroyed, Ines hands the letter to Jonas, and everything repeats itself.

#### Historic Recurrences

* Conflict between a Nielsen and a Tiedemann. Ulrich got arrested by Egon. Ulrich and Katharina have been bullying Regina for over thirty years. Jonas is biologically part of the Nielsen family, and he ends up having a fight with Bartosz.
* The Stranger says that everyone in the time loop follows the same path over and over again.
* Noah states that Jonas will grow up to trust Claudia just like the Stranger did.

#### Religion and Mythology

* Alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet and a title of Christ and God in the Book of Revelation. It can be interpreted to mean *The Beginning and the End* (with the show based on there being no beginning or end).
* The title "Alpha and Omega" comes from the phrase "I am the Alpha and Omega," an appellation of Jesus in the Book of Revelation. When it appears, it is clarified with the additional phrase, "the beginning and the end." (Christianity)
* Peter recites the Serenity Prayer before witnessing Mads's body.
* Egon suspects Ulrich as a Satanist.
* The image of Jonas and Helge reaching their fingers towards each other through the wormhole is reminiscent of God and Adam reaching out to touch in *The Creation of Adam*, a fresco painting by Michelangelo which illustrates the Biblical creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God gives life to Adam, the first man. (Christianity)

###  Observations

* Before November 4, 1986, Erik and Mads were likely together in the same room. There was a bunk bed, and Erik was sleeping on the bottom. Mads was taken on October 9, and his possible cellmate was taken on October 22.
* Peter seems to have known Tronte before November 4, 2019, judging by the fact that he said "It's me, Peter."
* Helge wakes up in the same watchtower that Jonas woke up in at the beginning of "Crossroads".
* Ulrich appears in this episode. This makes him the only character to appear in all ten episodes of Season 1.
* Jonas still tries to return Mikkel to 2019, even though it will erase his existence (like his father he is prepared to end his existence). Before doing so he cuts ties with Martha and hugs his mother, telling her everything will work out.
* Even though Ulrich is innocent, he is visibly going insane due to grief.
* During interrogation, Egon asks to Ulrich again about Helge. In reality, when Ulrich has been stopped by Egon just in front of the cave, Ulrich has already confessed that he has killed Helge.
* November 12, 2019, marks the end of Jonas and Bartosz's friendship.
* Another attempt is made to murder Helge after Ulrich failed. This time the elderly Helge tries to kill his younger self to stop him but again does not succeed.
* Noah is not simply kidnapping and murdering the children. He appears to be following the instructions from his notebook and "makes sacrifices" in order to replicate events as they must happen.
* Ines adopts Mikkel, who will grow up to be Michael Kahnwald.
* The scene of Helge waking up on the floor of the torture room is the same scene as at the start of "Crossroads".

* The Stranger (older Jonas) believes he can close the wormhole despite telling Jonas that we don't have free will.
* H.G.Tannhaus has been capable to keep the Ulrich's mobile phone working using old fashion battery for 33 years!
* This episode sets Jonas's goal to destroy the cycle.
* In the transition from the ending of Jonas's conversation with Ines in 2019 to Mikkel showing a magic trick to Ines in 1986, both versions of her are smiling, and the camera moves to the opposite side of her.

* Noah's statement about the Stranger mistakenly creating the wormhole in the caves might be a lie.
* As he closes the wormhole, the Stranger hallucinates his father Michael covered in a black substance, just as he appeared in both "Secrets" and "Lies".
* The Stranger failed in destroying the time loop, because if he did, then Jonas shouldn't exist.
* On the string wall, every member has their young, adult, and old selves pasted together, in order to display the fact that they're the same person. However, that doesn't apply for Mikkel and Jonas, since they are connected to photos of their adult selves by red string.
* It's never explained why Jonas ends up in the future instead of 1953. It's possible that it's simply a glitch in spacetime, caused by the closing of the wormhole. An example of this glitch is when a 1986 Raider commercial is being played momentarily in 2019. It is also possible that, like certain future events that involve random time travel, the destination is simply predetermined to ensure the timeline continues as it should (Jonas always went to the future and influenced events there, therefore he is always sent to the future).
* According to the official website for *Dark*, the Girl From The Future's name is Silja.

### Cultural References

* ***Back to the Future:*** The Stranger says that the electric chair time machine isn't like the DeLorean from this time travel based movie. *Back to the Future* is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox as teenager Marty McFly, who accidentally travels back in time to 1955, meeting his future parents and becoming his mother's romantic interest.

### Soundtrack

* **"Goodbye"** by Apparat
The opening song.
* **"Partita: III. Courante"** by Roomful of Teeth
Charlotte sees Ulrich's mugshot in 1953. Ulrich is beaten by the 1953 officers. Jonas is kidnapped by Noah and Helge 1986.
* **"Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann"** by Nena
Helge 1986 listens to this song on the radio before being hit by Helge.
* **"A Quiet Life"** by Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld
The Stranger closes the passage.

### Goofs

* On the morning of November 12, after Jonas throws his medicine in the trash, he looks to his desk and sees the orb light, Geiger counter, and the suicide letter. However, he previously burned the suicide note on November 9.
* Tannhaus says to the Stranger that if he wouldn't give the Old Machine, he would have never built it. In reality, Tannhaus has built the machine in 33 years, starting from 1953 using the Blueprints from Claudia. In the Episode 8, Tannhaus takes from a shelf a device identical to the one left by the Stranger, but brand new, built in 33 years. So in reality the Stranger has helped him in finishing the construction with few missing details, among which the housing for the cesium vial

## Gallery

*→ See **80** images from Alpha and Omega at **Images from Alpha and Omega**.*
The truck stop.Bernadette's trailer.1x10 0002 ShackNight.jpgComing to the shack.1x10 0003 PeterAnxious.jpgAnxious.A rift opens.Peter in shock.Attempting CPR.Mads Nielsen returns.Mads' ID.Calling Tronte.Tronte arrives at the bunker.Mikkel returns in a dream.Jonas's gear.Bartosz and Martha.A distracted hug.Charlotte comes to the nursing home.The elevated hunter's blind.Helge awakens in the forest.Ines meets with her grandson.Jonas is distraught.Mikkel at the hospital.Ulrich gets his mugshot .Jonas and Bartosz fight.The last of Jonas.Two devices.The effects of a phone.Adding fuel.Helge arrivesHelge-Helge encounter.Helge makes his choice.Hannah and her extortion box.Hannah and Jonas hug.Hannah concerned.Peter and Tronte wait for the time.Noah and Helge 1986 outside the church.Noah reassures Helge 1986.Noah asserts to Helge 1986.Katharina and Martha.Egon 1953 peers into the cell.Social worker Selma Ahrens.Birds on Charlotte 1986's notebook.Charlotte 1986's sketches.Charlotte 1986 in the forest.After meeting Jonas.Unidentified bodies found.Helge Doppler 1953 in newspaper."Is this man a murderer?"Furious Daniel.Ulrich gets a beatdown.Jonas returns to the hospital.Noah and Mikkel.Noah reads Mikkel to sleep.Jonas caged.The Stranger comes to visit.Jonas, the chair, and the bunker.Jonas in the bunker.Helge 1986 gets T-boned.The car crash.Helge 1986 lives.Helge dies.Helge after the attempted self-murder.Article about the accident.Noah's car at the bridge.Claudia returns.Bird's eye view.Through the portal.Greta 1953 and Bernd 1953.Doris and Agnes toast.Jana and Tronte.Magnus and Franziska.A Raider bar ad in 2019.Regina and Aleksander.Up in the sky.Claudia in the forest.Helge 1953 crouched in terror.Reaching across time.The string wall.After an apocalypse."Welcome to the future".
## Navigation

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