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Anyone watching Deutschland 83?

307 replies

Destinysdaughter · 03/01/2016 21:35

Am enjoying it so far. Very intriguing
premise and beautifully shot. I don't mind subtitles, find they make me concentrate more and am very interested in this period of history. Looking forward to see how it develops...anyone else? ( guess most of you are watching War and Peace tonight!)

OP posts:
PersephonePitstop · 18/01/2016 14:55

I must have nodded off at some point. Blush

Who is Thomas? Confused

AmIthatbloodycold · 18/01/2016 15:44

I'm amazed at how quickly I forget I'm reading subtitles. Not a problem at all

rosebiggs · 18/01/2016 17:10

I noticed the petrol nozzle too!

NoahVale · 18/01/2016 17:31

it really has me on the edge of my seat, sometimes I feel I cant bear to watch, when he was in the car with his aunt, when the dog was growling.

Elendon · 18/01/2016 17:48

Thomas is the person who Annett went skinny dipping with last week.

Davros · 18/01/2016 18:27

It's nit the finest made programme with continuity errors and silly events like having a blood test sitting in a car while the boss is having a piss! But it's entertaining and different

annandale · 18/01/2016 22:27

Yes I was waiting with clenched teeth for the petrol nozzle to fall out and fuel to spray everywhere...

We're really enjoying it. TBH you get so much from the faces and the surroundings that you don't even need the subtitles that much.

AmIthatbloodycold · 19/01/2016 11:07

I'm really enjoying the way Moritz is being portrayed.

The scene on the sofa at the end of episode 2 was so sweet, almost like a teenager

And the glee when he first tried the Walkman GrinGrin

morningtoncrescent62 · 19/01/2016 12:42

I'm loving it - makes up for the disappointment that is War and Peace.

I was worried that Martin sat in his aunt's car for so long in the petrol station. Quite aside from driving off without paying, wasn't he rather noticeable?

Grin at Alex about to join a Stasi cell as a peace activist. And do we think Linda is also an East German undercover? She seemed just as delighted as Martin by the walkman, but surely they had those in West Germany in 1983?

I'm puzzled by the blood test. I don't think it's a paternity test - I mean, why would they want to? I thought she might have been injecting him with something, but he drove off quite happily so presumably not that either.

The East German computers not being able to read the floppy disk was funny. I thought the point of the joke about the drunk man looking for the ring was going to be that they would send it back to West Germany for an agent (Martin!) to read on a western computer.

justkeeponsmiling · 19/01/2016 13:42

I thought the blood test was just to keep up the pretence that they were working on the organ transplant, to keep Martin happy just before asking him to seduce the secretary.

austengirl · 19/01/2016 17:10

Enjoying it so far despite the continuity errors and implausibilities (DH couldn't believe the Stasi wouldn't have had IBMs--surely their people in Bonn could have smuggled them in?). Great soundtrack too.

The Lives of Others is one of my favourite German films and Stasiland is a fascinating read. I recommend the DDR museum in Berlin as well.

Davros · 19/01/2016 17:56

The Lives of Others is brilliant

OttiliaVonBCup · 19/01/2016 18:09

The Lives of Other is indeed brilliant.

Hassled · 19/01/2016 18:12

I'm really enjoying this - great acting, the subtitles haven't bothered me at all (to my surprise), fantastic characters. The aunt is a Class A Bitch, but so well done.

Do we think the baby is Martin's?

Would it have been possible to just pick up a phone and dial East Germany from the West as Martin did?

OttiliaVonBCup · 19/01/2016 18:21

I don't think it's Martin's.

Annett had a bit of a Hmm face when his mum asked her.

Someone would have listened to that phone call from the West, that's a given.

annandale · 19/01/2016 18:38

hassled i thought perhaps that a senior military guy might have had a connecting line which might partly explain why he took such a ridiculous risk??

RomComPhooey · 19/01/2016 21:30

Lives of Others is also really sad, as well as brilliant.

When they booted up the IBM567 I laughed my head off - a friend in uni (early 90s) had one, her Dad's old work laptop (understandably referred to as a "portable computer" as it would have crushed your legs). I had been trying to describe it to my sons and DH a few weeks ago - now I can show them! It brought it all back, that sound as it booted up...

diddl · 19/01/2016 22:09

I think that the lad playing Martin/Moritz is just wonderful.

RomComPhooey · 19/01/2016 22:10

I like him too.

The not-fierce Dobermann was good too.

morningtoncrescent62 · 20/01/2016 15:02

Yes, agree about the lad playing Martin. His allergy to the cat was funny.

Elendon · 20/01/2016 17:57

I too have been describing to my teenage son computers in the 'old age'. And the sound of it booting up was just music to my ears. Back in the day, you booted up the computer, went off and got tea/coffee, washed cups, got everyone's order, read through your 'inbox', checked the outbox was clear, maybe headed off to the post room, had a chat, went to back to the computer and then started your day.

Elendon · 20/01/2016 18:00

And for those of you of a delicate youthful age, the inbox and outbox were physical structures.

Though I always say to my older children to get some utility bills/statements sent by post.

Peevedquitter · 21/01/2016 17:44

Best thing on TV currently, the walkman was amazing for its time. Very well done and lead actor is excellent.

RockNRollNerd · 21/01/2016 21:19

I'm really enjoying this - I have the opposite problem with the subtitles, I can't not see them and it doesn't always match the German, then I get sidetracked by the way colloquiallisms are translated and have to stop my mind wandering.

I'm intrigued as to how far they go with the Alex plot, will he end up joining the Red Army Faction? I know it all came out in the nineties that the Stasi had been supporting them so it's possible Tobias will steer him in that direction perhaps?

austengirl · 22/01/2016 09:37

A good article by a German academic about what Deutschland 83 gets right and wrong about life in the East (has a spoiler alert at the beginning, but I don't think any plot points were revealed beyond what's already aired on C4)

theconversation.com/skinnydipping-spies-and-shortages-deutschland-83-brilliantly-evokes-life-in-east-germany-52935