For three days in a row and at prime time, ZDF is showing the new series Yesterday we were still children. The mixture of crime thriller and family drama shows off familiar faces and one Story full of surprising twists. So on paper, an exciting series highlight is coming our way. But is it worth spending the end of the day with the series?
What is the ZDF series about?
The focus of the series is the Klettmann family, who lead a well-heeled life with three children, a dog, a family home and access to a private school. But while the eldest, Vivi (Julia Beautx), tries to avoid gym class, a tragedy strikes at home. The mother Anna (Maria Simon) is stabbed and her husband Peter (Torben Liebrecht) confesses to the crime. Suddenly Vivi is alone with her two little siblings. It quickly becomes clear: This family is full of dark secrets.
ZDF/Walter Wehner
Julia Beautx in Yesterday we were children
Narrative sets Yesterday we were still children in an all too familiar pattern. It starts with a murder and the rest of the series unravels how it happened in flashbacks. The episodes sometimes jump back decades, so that we get to know the younger versions of Peter and Anna. Eventually, the two set out on a path that was supposed to end on the blood-smeared kitchen floor that day. The series wants to find out how this came about.
A picture of generations of guilt, secrets and unfortunate coincidences is painted with the help of a younger cast led by Damian Hardung (How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)). What the Klettmanns did in their youth haunts their children up to the here and now. The series thus stands out positively from the crime monotony that the public broadcasters between crime scene and SOKO: Elsewhere present.
Yesterday we were still children: ka fear of absurd turns
What also distinguishes the series by Natalie Scharf (Frühling) from the TV crowd: With the zeal of a telenovela and a narrative pace trained in international crime thrillers, it plunges from one twist to the next. Cars explode after the prom, deadly bee snacks are eaten and enough trauma is brought up that drive away any hint of boredom.
However, House of the Dragon or Game of Thrones can only dream of the impressive number of sex scenes that convert one to celibacy.
ZDF/Walter Wehner
Damian Hardung in Yesterday we were children
This narrative frenzy transforms Yesterday we were still children however, in an involuntarily funny series experience. The dramatic turns announce themselves with the subtlety of a crowbar in the plot, while the dialogue rumbles so pregnant with meaning that it sounds wooden even from the mouths of experienced cast members. Making actors like Maria Simon and Ulrich Tukur look helpless is an achievement – it just doesn’t deserve applause.
ZDF has never been so close to Netflix
So if you’re expecting the German Mare of Easttown, Big Little Lies or Broadchurch, you should lower your expectations. Because although the series behaves as a criminalistic family epic, in the end it has little to say about these people, their relationships or even their surroundings – least of all about the main character. Namely, Vivi played by Julia Beautx dragged through the story like a puppetuntil their own life falls by the wayside.
Yesterday we were kids therefore resembles a heteronormative post-boomer version of elite or an Upper Bavarian Who murdered Sara? ZDF has never been so close to the addictive Netflix guessing games. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether that is praise.
Yesterday we were still children runs from January 9th at 8:15 p.m. on ZDF and streams in the ZDF media library.