I think Young Adult is a cancer on modern culture, and I think German TV is among the worse national TVs in Europe (and I live in Germany!). So I am not exactly the perfect client for this series, and yet... it kinda works!
Sure, it does suffer from the usual ailments of both categories. On the one hand, it gives in the character-based narration, it builds up rhythm through artificial conflicts, it isolates groups without exploring their new dynamic, etc. On the other, it is packed clichéd yet vague political undertones, it flirts with difficult questions without really engaging them, it is 'socially aware' without giving enough time or depth to its social themes.
But (unlike much German TV) it's actually quite decently acted, the script is rather good and understated, and the characterisation is (despite trying too hard on one or two occasions) is actually roundly conducted. The male lead (billionaire ecologist) is the main draw-back, hardly credible and vapid. The female lead is more interesting, but would have benefited from more screen-time. Again, here, the system of 'one character per episode' is a bit weak, and dilutes the important questions (solidarity, collective guilt, self-policing, etc.) which the script does engage.
On the whole then, it's not perfect, but it is both an achievement for German TV (something actually watchable!) and a reminder that the problem, with YA, is not the age of the participants, but the indulgence of the writers in the worse and most shameless clichés. When YA quits peddling fulfilment fantasies and dumbed-down love-stories, it can actually engage political themes without undue naivety. I doubt there's much of a public for that, but who knows?
Sure, it does suffer from the usual ailments of both categories. On the one hand, it gives in the character-based narration, it builds up rhythm through artificial conflicts, it isolates groups without exploring their new dynamic, etc. On the other, it is packed clichéd yet vague political undertones, it flirts with difficult questions without really engaging them, it is 'socially aware' without giving enough time or depth to its social themes.
But (unlike much German TV) it's actually quite decently acted, the script is rather good and understated, and the characterisation is (despite trying too hard on one or two occasions) is actually roundly conducted. The male lead (billionaire ecologist) is the main draw-back, hardly credible and vapid. The female lead is more interesting, but would have benefited from more screen-time. Again, here, the system of 'one character per episode' is a bit weak, and dilutes the important questions (solidarity, collective guilt, self-policing, etc.) which the script does engage.
On the whole then, it's not perfect, but it is both an achievement for German TV (something actually watchable!) and a reminder that the problem, with YA, is not the age of the participants, but the indulgence of the writers in the worse and most shameless clichés. When YA quits peddling fulfilment fantasies and dumbed-down love-stories, it can actually engage political themes without undue naivety. I doubt there's much of a public for that, but who knows?