I suppose this could be described as a six-part family drama, set on both sides of the Berlin Wall in the early 1970s. Two brothers live in the same apartment house in East Berlin: one has been raising his 25 year old son by himself; the other has two daughters, the younger being trained as an Olympic swimmer. The older brother is a weary but loyal patriot to the Marxist state (and an informer); the young brother is a schoolteacher, ambivalent and timid. On the other side of the Wall an American intelligence officer, his wife, and their daughter, will become intertwined with the family in the East when the 25- year-old, who is trained as a "romeo" spy, is told to set his sites on American woman intelligence officer.
With unflinching force, the series explores the way love can be repulsively distorted and corrupted by political pressures. (Thus lots of images of gloppy food, and crude strategies for seduction.). The irresistible metaphor (implied by the title) is that these two vastly different ideologies co-exist under the same sky, just as lovers, or, indeed, a family, can be brutally divided by different priorities and ambitions. The critique of any and all ends justifying "lofty" means falls more heavily on East Germany, of course, depicted as close to a slave state, but the series does allow space for those who remain socialist idealists to express their ill-conceived hopes too.
At times the suspense is riveting, but the writer also takes time, as well, to explore the psychological intimacies of at least half-a-dozen varied relationships, gay, straight, and familial, each affected by this East-West divide.
I liked this drama very much as it is, enough to hope there won't be a second season: the final image of this first season says everything about how family fear and dishonesty, and political subterfuge and ruthlessness, corrupt the very essence of innocent human affection and love. So in my view, nothing further needs to be seen or known . . . though a viewer is likely to be thoroughly attached to many of the characters by the end, and would, I suppose, be curious to know the aftermath of what has occurred in detail. Alas, though, very clear vectors have already been drawn.
With unflinching force, the series explores the way love can be repulsively distorted and corrupted by political pressures. (Thus lots of images of gloppy food, and crude strategies for seduction.). The irresistible metaphor (implied by the title) is that these two vastly different ideologies co-exist under the same sky, just as lovers, or, indeed, a family, can be brutally divided by different priorities and ambitions. The critique of any and all ends justifying "lofty" means falls more heavily on East Germany, of course, depicted as close to a slave state, but the series does allow space for those who remain socialist idealists to express their ill-conceived hopes too.
At times the suspense is riveting, but the writer also takes time, as well, to explore the psychological intimacies of at least half-a-dozen varied relationships, gay, straight, and familial, each affected by this East-West divide.
I liked this drama very much as it is, enough to hope there won't be a second season: the final image of this first season says everything about how family fear and dishonesty, and political subterfuge and ruthlessness, corrupt the very essence of innocent human affection and love. So in my view, nothing further needs to be seen or known . . . though a viewer is likely to be thoroughly attached to many of the characters by the end, and would, I suppose, be curious to know the aftermath of what has occurred in detail. Alas, though, very clear vectors have already been drawn.