Dark - Season 1, Episode 3 "Past and Present"

I have been initiated into the world of Netflix's Dark, having now watched the first 3 episodes and I'm starting to get hooked.  It is a German thriller, recently made and it has a Stranger Things vibe in its supernatural, ominous tones and 1980s nostalgia.  

In episode 3 of season 1, after an initial 2 episodes taking place in modern times where children are disappearing inexplicably, we are thrown into 1986, where one of the disappearances, young Mikkel, suddenly finds himself.  Upon entering a foreboding cave, he has been mysteriously sucked into this previous time period and there is no explanation given yet for how this happened.  Like a deer caught in the headlights, Mikkel staggers zombie-like around trying to get his bearings in an unknown, unwelcoming, and unfamiliar new time period.    

Like the modern day of previous episodes, there are rain-storms of birds falling from the sky, dying in droves.  Perhaps it has something to do with the nuclear power plant, where a local woman has recently been put in charge.  A teenage girl takes an interest in the dead birds and appears to be collecting, studying and drawing them.  A large population of sheep (33 sheep to be exact) have also been discovered, totally wiped out, lying dead in a field.  When one of the sheep is autopsied, it is discovered that they all died from cardiac arrest. Why? the viewers are forced to ask themselves.

Mikkel looks for his parents and family and discovers that they are existing in unfamiliar 1986.  His father, Ulrich, is still a teenager here, and the local police officer suspects that he is responsible for the rough condition Mikkel finds himself in upon arrival. 

There is a really cool sequence late in this episode that makes use of split-screens to convey the two different time periods.  The characters older and younger selves are juxtaposed beside each other to emphasize the difference and provide dramatic counterpoint.

Like Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), the jagged, devouring, cavernous rock formation deep in the forest can be seen as a threatening, unknowable living presence.  This mysterious force of nature cannot be fathomed and to venture into it is to enter a truly dangerous place with the possibility of not returning. 

If this and the previous two episodes are any indication, this appears to be an engaging and atmospheric series and shows a lot of promise after three episodes.