It's gratifying to report that after a dip in quality for Season 2, the third season of "Das Boot" was right back on the money. Told over 10 roughly 45-minute episodes, this run followed the voyages of a new German WW2 U-Boat, U-949, this time on a secret mission rendezvousing off the American coast with a Japanese ship, taking on a heavy consignment of gold. This precious cargo is to be delivered back to neutral Portugal for the purpose of buying the valuable metal tungsten, used to build battleships for the German Navy.
The sub has a new, young, green commander, who we soon learn is only there due to the influence of his well-connected mother but who on an early assignment shows his inexperience and dents the confidence of the crew in his capability. Lucky for him then that he has on board the bearded Chief Engineer Ehrenberg, seemingly recovered from the traumas of his time on U-612 where he relapsed into alcoholism. Ehrenberg has come to the notice of the top brass for rescuing another submarine on which he was serving with an ingenious if morally suspect maneuver placing the boat directly beneath the struggling survivors of a stricken boat. Decorated for his actions, his honour as a man of the sea is nonetheless troubled by what he personally saw as a cowardly if necessary act of survival.
On the new boat we also see life, as ever, from the bottom up, with the German Navy recruitment drive so desperate now that they are almost press-ganging delinquent teenagers to serve as we follow a group of youngsters forced into that very position.
There's danger aft for the submarine too in the shape of a vengeful and ruthless British sea-captain in charge of a newly equipped destroyer out to avenge the death of his son who went down in a Royal Navy boat sunk by, you guessed it, a U-Boat.
As in the previous series however, there is as much action and intrigue on land as on board with the location this time being neutral Portugal where German and Allied personnel engage in spying activities. Here we meet up again with our old "friend", the Gestapo officer Forster on special assignment to flush out an enemy of the state working out of Lisbon. And don't forget the deposed U-612 captain Hoffman who also finds his way back to Lisbon after his American adventure where he and indeed his retired WW1 Naval hero father and unhappily married sister are drawn into proceedings.
Really, there were so many characters this time, with so many story arcs to follow but I felt that all were treated credibly and effectively. There were a number of memorable scenes to savour, among them how the U-Boat turned impending capture into victory over its British nemesis if again by a dubious act of deceit, the beaten British captain's sacrifice in the wake of his humiliation and especially the ultimate fate of Forster whose reaction to finally being forced to confront his role in carrying out the Final Solution forms the final shocking sequence of the series.
The attention to detail on the labyrynthine, interconnected narrative and on each character and their individual motivations, not forgetting of course the unique excitement and drama involved in the duel between the U-Boat and the chasing British ship, all combined to make this series, if anything, my favourite of the three so far while the final scenes offer plenty of scope, no pun intended, for a fourth series revolving principally I would imagine around the reunited Hoffman family.
This was proper adult entertainment, with, it has to be said, some adult, near-graphic depictions of sex, not shy of including frontal male nudity. In conclusion it was good to see this series resurface so strongly with this latest engrossing and compelling drama of the deep.
The sub has a new, young, green commander, who we soon learn is only there due to the influence of his well-connected mother but who on an early assignment shows his inexperience and dents the confidence of the crew in his capability. Lucky for him then that he has on board the bearded Chief Engineer Ehrenberg, seemingly recovered from the traumas of his time on U-612 where he relapsed into alcoholism. Ehrenberg has come to the notice of the top brass for rescuing another submarine on which he was serving with an ingenious if morally suspect maneuver placing the boat directly beneath the struggling survivors of a stricken boat. Decorated for his actions, his honour as a man of the sea is nonetheless troubled by what he personally saw as a cowardly if necessary act of survival.
On the new boat we also see life, as ever, from the bottom up, with the German Navy recruitment drive so desperate now that they are almost press-ganging delinquent teenagers to serve as we follow a group of youngsters forced into that very position.
There's danger aft for the submarine too in the shape of a vengeful and ruthless British sea-captain in charge of a newly equipped destroyer out to avenge the death of his son who went down in a Royal Navy boat sunk by, you guessed it, a U-Boat.
As in the previous series however, there is as much action and intrigue on land as on board with the location this time being neutral Portugal where German and Allied personnel engage in spying activities. Here we meet up again with our old "friend", the Gestapo officer Forster on special assignment to flush out an enemy of the state working out of Lisbon. And don't forget the deposed U-612 captain Hoffman who also finds his way back to Lisbon after his American adventure where he and indeed his retired WW1 Naval hero father and unhappily married sister are drawn into proceedings.
Really, there were so many characters this time, with so many story arcs to follow but I felt that all were treated credibly and effectively. There were a number of memorable scenes to savour, among them how the U-Boat turned impending capture into victory over its British nemesis if again by a dubious act of deceit, the beaten British captain's sacrifice in the wake of his humiliation and especially the ultimate fate of Forster whose reaction to finally being forced to confront his role in carrying out the Final Solution forms the final shocking sequence of the series.
The attention to detail on the labyrynthine, interconnected narrative and on each character and their individual motivations, not forgetting of course the unique excitement and drama involved in the duel between the U-Boat and the chasing British ship, all combined to make this series, if anything, my favourite of the three so far while the final scenes offer plenty of scope, no pun intended, for a fourth series revolving principally I would imagine around the reunited Hoffman family.
This was proper adult entertainment, with, it has to be said, some adult, near-graphic depictions of sex, not shy of including frontal male nudity. In conclusion it was good to see this series resurface so strongly with this latest engrossing and compelling drama of the deep.
