The First Episode

THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

IS ONLY A STUBBORNLY PERSISTENT ILLUSION. ALBERT EINSTEIN

We trust that time is linear.

That it proceeds eternally, uniformly.

Into infinity.

But the distinction between past, present

and future

is nothing but an illusion.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow are not consecutive,

they are connected in a never-ending circle.

Everything is connected.

JUNE 21, 2019

DO NOT OPEN BEFORE NOVEMBER 4, 10:13 P.M.

SECRETS

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Fuck.

Mom.

Mom!

You'd think by 16, they'd know how to make toast.

Mom!

The power's out again.

Mom!

Thanks for breakfast.

Coming to the meeting tonight?

I don't know.

-Katharina will be there. -And I'll be there.

Yes, you'll be there.

That's right.

Ulrich.

I love you.

You're beautiful.

MISSING

WINDEN CAVES 0.6 MILES

How was it?

How have you been these last two months?

You don't have to talk about it if you don't want.

I read the notes from your therapy sessions.

You did pretty good, especially in the group sessions.

I still see him.

In your dreams?

Why do you think you see him?

As my therapist, shouldn't you tell me?

Are you taking your meds?

I think he's trying to tell me something.

Or maybe I just want him to tell me something.

What do you think that might be?

What do I think it might be?

Why?

Why he left?

Why like that?

Why he fucking hanged himself?

And why he didn't leave a word?

Nothing to explain this fucking crap!

DO NOT OPEN BEFORE NOVEMBER 4, 10:13 P.M.

The Winden nuclear power plant has a long history.

Plans to erect the nuclear power plant go back as far as 1953.

Construction was first authorized in 1960 after the Atomic Energy Act was passed.

As part of the government's staggered plan to phase out nuclear energy,

the Winden power plant will be taken off the grid in 2020,

making it one of Germany's power plants with the longest failure-free operation.

Mikkel, you're not going to school like that.

A good magician needs a distinctive style.

Change your clothes. Thank you.

These are my work clothes.

And school sucks!

I'm sure the great Hodini went to school.

-Houdini! It's not that hard! -Come have breakfast.

-The greatest magician ever. -Are you sure he's not adopted?

-And his name is Houdini! -Same crap every morning.

Mom, where's my black hoodie?

I don't know. Maybe with the jackets.

Magnus, stop trampling like that!

-Morning, Mikkel. -Good morning.

Ulrich! Why did it take so long?

First day of school. A huge line at the bakery.

The Apocalypse is upon us. You coming to eat?

It's not with the jackets.

Ouch!

-Then maybe it's in your gym bag. -What's going on here now? Magnus?

-Breakfast. -Mom, I'm on hunger strike.

I won't stuff my face as long as a child starves to death every ten seconds.

I will.

The damn hoodie isn't in the bag.

-Did you steal my hoodie? -No, I did not!

-Can't you stop arguing for once? -Mom, I didn't do anything.

-Where can it be? -Can I please have my lines back?

Magnus, maybe it's up in the laundry.

Martha, starving won't help anyone.

Mikkel, get changed now. Last warning!

-Or we'll be late. -Whose idea was it to have kids?

-Can you please open this? -You're in the way!

Did you understand me?

All right then, Houdini.

One last trick, then off to school.

Fine, then everyone can do as they wish.

Found it!

Okay.

There...

and there.

Amazing! How did you do that?

Dad, the question isn't how,

the question is when.

Hey!

Welcome back to the madhouse.

It was damn boring without you here.

-Hey, what the hell are you staring at? -What a freak.

What idiots.

Did you tell anyone?

I told everyone you were on a two-month school exchange in France,

playing hide-the-baguette.

Relax. Come on.

It'll be fine. Let's go.

Come on.

-What about here? -You didn't miss much.

Except for the thing with Erik.

You don't give a shit!

Why is nobody doing anything? Where is our son? Where is Erik?

Mr. Obendorf.

No one is unimportant to us here. We've done 172 interviews.

We've questioned neighbors and friends, combed the entire forest,

searched the houses and basements of nearby residents.

23 officers and over 50 volunteers

have been searching for your son for days.

We're doing our job. And we'll do it better if you calm down.

-You're not doing shit! -Hey!

Calm down! Stop. Calm down now.

Hey! Come now.

Listen.

We can't rule out the possibility that no crime has been committed.

-What's that supposed to mean? -Maybe Erik left voluntarily.

He's done it before.

But when he ran away, he always came back after two days.

-He'd sleep in the basement or wherever. -It's been 13 days.

It's been 13 days now.

We'll find your son, I promise.

Now go home. Okay?

Go home.

Franziska.

Magnus.

Shouldn't you be with the geeks?

Should the principal's son be smoking a joint on school grounds?

Especially such bad weed.

Assemblies like this are for idiots. They need to get rid of them.

Maybe you did miss something.

Hey.

Hey.

How was France?

French. How else?

What a nice welcome. Thank you.

The reason I've asked you to assemble here before class

is because I wanted to talk to you about something important.

About Erik Obendorf.

You all know Erik has been missing for almost two weeks now.

I want to tell you that if you need to talk to someone,

if you have questions or if you know anything about Erik's disappearance,

you can come to us at any time.

Come to us, talk to us.

There can be no secrets in this matter.

Okay?

No one saw him after practice. Not a trace, nothing.

-As if he vanished into thin air. -Maybe he just doesn't want to be found.

The money under the bed? His phone? You'd take that if you were running away.

Sometimes people just want to get away.

49 tire tracks on the road between the school and the residential area.

Two of them are from trucks.

There are 21,312 vehicles registered in the district of Winden alone.

-That's all we have. -So we've got nothing at all.

Erik's father drives a van.

You don't think he's involved.

Why are you so certain Erik ran away?

This is Winden.

-Nothing ever happens here. -But that hasn't always been the case.

This has nothing to do with my brother.

Not a thing.

Oh, your mother called the emergency number again this morning.

Maybe you should pay her a visit.

Do you ever wonder where you took a wrong turn?

Where your life became the exact opposite of what you always wanted it to be?

FOREST HOTEL WINDEN

Hotel Winden. Regina Tiedemann speaking. How can I help you?

I see, but surely there's something we can do.

Temporarily suspend the loan repayments, for example.

Just a slight deferment of payments until things have calmed down again here.

I have not miscalculated. Are you even listening to me?

Who wants to go on vacation in a town where a child has disappeared?

Would you want that?

I have a family suite available.

A weekend with the little ones? They'd love it, wouldn't they?

You bankers sit on your piles of money and think you can bully people.

I've built up a business here. By myself. Without any help.

My husband and I have been customers of your bank for 20 years!

And now you're pulling this? You stupid asshole!

I want to speak to your supervisor.

Hello?

Hello?

Shit, shit, shit!

A black hole forms

when the center of a star collapses into itself after a supernova explosion.

Even new neutron matter cannot prevent the collapse.

You know what I've been wondering for days?

If the blackest hole of all is parked in Franziska Doppler's ass.

But, seriously, what I really wonder is this:

If Erik didn't run away, but got snuffed out or something instead,

then all his dope is still in the caves.

He kept his entire stash there.

-So? -Oh, man!

We go in there and... bingo!

-That's bullshit. -It's awesome.

You haven't been here in a long time.

Where's Dad?

You could come by more often.

Mom, if you want me to stop by then call me, not the emergency number.

I saw something in the forest again.

This time very clearly.

A dark figure with a gigantic head.

Mom.

You don't believe me.

There are things out there that our little minds

will never comprehend.

And I found this in the forest.

Mads loved those.

This business with that missing Erik...

FOR MOTHER'S DAY 1986

...like with your brother, back then.

Everything's repeating itself.

Everything is just like it was 33 years ago.

REST HOME WINDEN

It's going to happen again.

It's going to happen again.

It's going to happen again.

Bullshit. Then you'll go around selling it or what?

No, dude. We'll smoke half of it ourselves.

And if there are capacities on the market, you don't hesitate.

We'll go there and get the stuff.

Easy peasy.

Who's getting what stuff?

We're going to the caves tonight.

-You turning into boy scouts? -Bartosz thinks Erik's dope is there.

Fanny told me they once found a dead squirrel with five legs there.

You'll believe any old crap.

Just because you can't see past your nose

doesn't mean there aren't things going on out there

that the nuclear power mafia keeps secret from the public.

Don't forget to breathe.

Franziska.

Magnus.

-You got a crush on her now or what? -Shut up.

-Hey, idiot. -Okay, what the hell.

-Let's go to the caves tonight and look. -Yeah, dude!

Come on.

Can't even hold out half a day?

Impossible. I'm dying.

You coming later?

I don't know.

Everyone will be there.

Gawking at me.

I'll be in Frankfurt this weekend for training, staying in a hotel.

And...

-Um... Yeah, I thought... -You thought?

Don't think too long,

I have various candidates.

-See you later. -Maybe.

Yes, right there.

It's totally knotted up.

It's supposed to rain later.

Scars sense that.

They can see into the future, so to speak.

The tissue hardens

and cramps up.

Thanks.

Maybe the whole thing is getting to me more than I thought.

In a year, everything here is meant to come to an end.

Nearly 33 years ago to the day when I came to Winden.

I never thought it would end like this.

But there's a time for everything.

Yes.

There's a time for everything.

I'm sorry. About the thing with Michael.

How are you doing? How's Jonas?

Good.

We're good.

It's Hannah here. The power's out again.

I mean, if you want us out of the house, then just say so.

Your grandson hasn't seen you in over three months.

Do you think Michael wanted that?

That's sick.

You're sick.

DO NOT OPEN BEFORE NOVEMBER 4, 10:13 P.M.

Hannah!

How nice.

We haven't seen each other for ages.

How are you?

Okay.

Yeah, well, you know... I'm okay.

Good.

Go inside. I'll be right in, okay?

Hi.

Hi.

Where are Bartosz and the others?

Late. As always.

-The thing with Bartosz... -It's okay. You don't need to explain.

But I want to.

I wrote you a text while you were away.

Not just one.

But I never sent them.

It all sounded wrong somehow.

What happened between us last summer...

-I... -It's really okay.

Something up?

I think I'm having déjà vu.

The light, the forest.

As if all of this has already happened before.

A glitch in the matrix.

What?

If the world is a simulation, déjà vu is a glitch in the matrix.

Or a message from the other side.

I read that somewhere.

I'm glad you're back.

-Hey, what the hell? -Parents' meeting.

Heide's got a stomach bug. I'm stuck with him.

Hi, Jonas. Ultimate fist bump?

Take him back now.

-You take him back. -Relax, guys.

I'm not a baby anymore.

What's the idiot doing here?

Only I can do that, okay?

Ouch!

Well, let's go!

It's going to happen again.

It's going to happen again.

It's going to happen again.

You all know that Erik has been missing for 14 days now.

At this point, we have no new findings to report.

We're also considering that he may have simply run away.

If any of your children say anything about Erik or know anything,

please inform us.

-Thank you, Charlotte. -How long do you want to wait?

I'd like to talk about how we interact at school.

And about which measures we can take to boost security.

What kind of measures?

You heard her say it's not clear that anything even happened.

But we can't rule anything out, including that Erik didn't run away.

WILL BE OUTSIDE IN 5 MINUTES

This alarmist talk is absurd.

Charlotte, correct me if I'm wrong, but in the region,

Winden has the lowest crime rate.

There are no murderers running around here.

-Statistics only give... -But we can't just sit and do nothing.

And just wait around until Erik is found dead somewhere.

What do you guys think happened to Erik?

Kids in our class are saying someone kidnapped him,

and has him locked up in a basement.

Oh, shut up. He just ran away.

But it could be that he's locked up somewhere and can't get out.

Why would someone do that? Lock someone else up?

It's like the witch in Hansel and Gretel.

When she gets hungry, she has something to eat.

No. Even if Mom and Dad tell you that most people are nice,

there are people out there who are anything but nice.

-Like your sister. -You idiot.

My father said good and evil are a question of perspective.

Dead father, bad topic?

And if Erik is no longer alive?

If he's lying dead somewhere and no one finds him?

That would be the worst.

Even if you're dead, you want to be found.

No one is dead, and no one won't be found, okay?

Can we please change the topic now?

The most important thing is that we stick together.

That we pull together.

The most important thing is not to blow this out of proportion,

or we'll have the press in town in a few days.

We know that doesn't quite fit in with your plans, Regina.

If you mean my hotel, this isn't about that at all.

-No? What is it about then? -It's about our town.

Wrong. This is about a missing child.

Who probably just ran away. You just heard it yourself.

Maybe you should just worry about your own problems.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

It's going to happen again.

Helge!

-What are you doing here? -Is it already too late?

Helge.

It's me, Charlotte.

I'll take you back now, okay?

It's going to happen again!

I'm bored.

-Can we please go home now? -Nonsense, we're nearly there.

Jonas!

Come on!

ATTENTION!

Over there.

In the armchair.

-And? -Fuck, dude.

-It was here! -Looking for this?

-What's she doing here? -That's mine.

The definition of ownership says

that possession is nine-tenths of the law, so it's mine for now.

But I'm selling. What'll you give me for it?

A kick in the ass.

What's in here is easily worth 500.

It's yours for 200. Daddy's got plenty of money.

Stop the bullshit.

Just give it to me.

Jackpot!

What's that?

Someone's there.

Oh, shit!

Holy shit!

Shit.

-Damn flashlight! -What is this?

What's that?

-Run! -Move!

-Run! -Go!

Come on.

Mikkel?

Mikkel!

Jonas.

What the fuck, man! What was that?

No idea. Shit!

Man, what was that?

Where are Jonas and Mikkel?

Where is Mikkel?

Where is Mikkel?

Why isn't he with you?

He was with you!

Shit! Mikkel!

Mikkel!

Too late.

We're too late.

Mikkel!

Mikkel!

Mikkel!

Mikkel!

Mikkel!

Mikkel?

Mikkel!

Mikkel!

Do you have anything?

Okay.

Yes?

-Have you found him? -Nothing.

No trace of Mikkel.

-How's Franziska? -Sleeping.

Charlotte, I...

Can we...

I have to tell you...

Charlotte?

I have to go.

Okay.

Okay.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Calling all units. At the forest edge at Neuweiher,

elevation F026, two-mile marker, a child's body has been found.

I repeat, a child's body has been found.

I'm sorry.

That's not Mikkel.

That's not Mikkel.

We fall through the time stream Then awaken from a dream

But a brief blink of an eye And then returns the night

Somehow the future starts somewhere Sometime

I won't wait for long

Love is created through bravery So don't think about it twice

We ride on fiery wheels Towards the future through the night