Genius (TV Series) Einstein: Chapter Six (2017) User Reviews

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[edwagreen · 10/10 · 1 June 2017]

If you're not science oriented like myself, the concepts of his theories regarding light and gravity may be difficult to understand, but yet this series remains terrific due to the performances and the emphasis on Einstein's personal life.

The advent of World War 1 interrupts his theory when he sends his assistants to Russia to gather scientific information during an eclipse. Go know that the guys are caught up as war breaks out and they're invariably accused of spying.

Elsa shows that she is a prim and proper woman for pre-World War 1 times, not wishing to continue her life with Einstein until he dissolves his marriage. His wife, brilliantly played by Samantha Colley, refuses to give him a divorce and in rebellion, starts an affair with a mathematician who is trying to disprove Einstein's theories.

The end of this episode is poignant as his wife realizes that her situation is hopeless but takes herself and the boys out of Germany to return to Switzerland.

Possibly the Low Point of Einstein's Astonishing Life

[lavatch · 10/10 · 16 June 2017]

In this episode of the remarkable series on Einstein, there are two main narrative strands: (1) Einstein's failed attempts to prove that the sun's gravity bends sunlight and (2) Einstein's failed marriage to Maleva Maric. In addition to all of this turmoil, Einstein is caught up in the calamity of World War I.

Bummer!

The date is 1913, and the episode begins in the majestic Harz Mountains of Northern Germany when Einstein's able assistant, Erwin Freundlich, is betrothed to Kate Hirschberg. Einstein's current research is addressing the theory that invisible lines are curved. Einstein believes this may happen when starlight passes by the sun.

With the unique occasion of a solar eclipse, Einstein sends Freundlich and another assistant to the Crimea. Yet with the start of The Great War in 1914 and with Germany and Russia now bitter opponents, the Einstein photographic crew is apprehended as spies transporting surveillance equipment. It takes a delicate set of negotiations between the Czar and the Kaiser to get the young scientists released.

Einstein has now moved Maleva and the two boys to Berlin. At the Academy, he faces rabid anti-Semitism from fellow scientist Philipp Lenard. Without the full funding for his Crimea venture, Einstein approaches industrialist Alfried Krupp, who has recently seen the "Big Bertha" gun invention through to completion.

Einstein was only able to meet with Krupp through the efforts of his cousin Elsa. Einstein continues to enjoy his affair with his cousin, but she now insists that Albert must divorce Maleva if their relationship is to continue. Unfortunately, Maleva refuses to grant Albert a divorce.

Perhaps unwittingly, the filmmakers have made Maleva Malic the most interesting character in the middle of this miniseries. The actress brings complexity to her character, and it is impossible not to empathize with her situation that had to be filled with frustration and unhappiness. It was both the mores of the age and Einstein's insensitive treatment of Maleva that are depicted in the film.

Maleva herself begins an affair with a fellow Serbian, the scientist Vladimir Varicak, who has demonstrated that Einstein's premises are flawed in in his theory of relativity in that he did not satisfy Mach's principle. Maleva tries to warn Einstein, who is distracted and rages against Maleva for suggesting to the boys that their father is "cruel." The audience is left to ponder just how cruel Einstein was in his marriage to Meleva and what a struggle it must have been for Maleva as brilliant scientist herself to sacrifice her career for the advancement of Einstein's.

By the end of the program, Maleva has finally agreed to Einstein's terms for a divorce. In an emotional farewell at the Berlin train station, Maleva and the two boys leave a distraught Einstein, as they begin their lives anew.