This six-part psychological thriller hails from Germany and is based on a successful eponymous novel by Romy Hausmann. The TV miniseries adaptation was written and directed by Julian Pörksen and Isabel Kleefeld, and stars Kim Riedle, Haley Louise Jones, Naila Schuberth (Bird Box: Barcelona), Hans Löw (I’m Your Man), Julika Jenkins (Dark), Justus von Dohnányi (Woman in Gold, The Monuments Men, The World Is Not Enough), and Sammy Schrein.
Premise: In a picturesque yet enigmatic small town, a mysterious woman escapes from her harrowing captivity to land in a hospital after a near-fatal accident. Accompanied by Hannah, a young girl who was at the scene of the accident with her, this woman’s reappearance will point investigators toward the dark truth behind an unsolved disappearance 13 years earlier.
Review: Dear Child is the kind of investigative psychological drama that will have you adjust, adapt, and/or re-evaluate your theories as to what’s going on. Nothing is spoon-fed, even though some elements are made obvious enough, but there’s more than enough space to think and speculate as the story unfolds.
One of the things that might set this miniseries apart is the care and attention brought to the effects of trauma on all those involved. It’s both a bit frustrating and easy to understand when the length and the nature of the trauma are taken into account. You might find yourself thinking ‘I’d be stronger than that,’ ‘I wouldn’t be as easy to manipulate,’ or even ‘I wouldn’t have been as selfish even if it had been such a long time,’ but you’ll also understand some characters actions even the one that you might suspect to be involved in the crime.
The main focus of the show is the victims and the psychological effects of the crime – which is very well represented in some of the victims. The investigation is almost an afterthought, it looms over the show like the PTSD and pain on display, when details of what happened are uncovered they bring us closer to figuring out who did this but also serve to better understand the children and the woman who were kept captive. So when we see the after-effects of their trauma, the ordeal they went through, make any sign of regression or delusions understandable.
I tend to watch foreign-languaged shows with subtitles but Dear Child was captivating enough that I was drawn into the story not realizing that it was watching the English-dubbed version. It usually happens the other way around so they’ve done a great job with the dubbing. The whole cast is solid, the little girl playing Hannah is both creepy and endearing,. The child actors do not bring this down.
The show feels like a novel, I’m still curious about reading it but in the meantime I recommend this show.
The series is now streaming on Netflix
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