Into the Woods

One of my peskiest chores is scouring through the vast number of what I call “watchables” available for streaming to find something that suits my taste. Clearly my taste is strange, because there’s so little that suits it. Why do so many people want to watch stories that are set in places just like the places they live in, with characters just like the people they know (though the characters are usually quirkier and richer). Why would I want to watch stories about an office, for heaven’s sake, having finally retired and gotten out of them? I occasionally check my bookmark to The Decider just to get the creeps about what is currently popular. Wrestling?? Building yurts?? Baby-sitters?? A jeweller?? Yet another suburban sitcom?? Who watches that stuff?

When I come across science fiction, or anything that is not set in the here and now, I pause to consider whether it’s worth checking out. For a long time, watchables for those with strange tastes were ruined by the vampire fad, then the zombie fad. Fortunately now we seem to be in a post-apocalyptic fad and an Iron Age fad. That’s an improvement, to my taste. Maybe a better word than “strange” is “exotic,” since all “exotic” really means is not from around here.

“Tribes of Europa” is a six-part German series, (poorly) dubbed in English and streamable from Netflix. It’s set in 2074. A global catastrophe has killed off most of the population, and the survivors have divided into tribes. The plot centers around a family from a tribe called the Origines, who live a sylvan Iron Age lifestyle in a forest. It’s not terribly original, and I’d give it at best a B minus, but I haven’t been able to find anything better lately.

Much of what makes it interesting (and more exotic), since I’m an American who is always curious about Europe, is how “Tribes of Europa” reflects contemporary German culture. Or is it just Berlin culture? The details are edgier, coarser, and kinkier than watchables from the U.K., though series of this type always make an effort to shock us.

If there is a season 2, and I suspect there will be, I’m sure I’ll watch it. But now I’m out of watchables again, so it’s back to scouring through the dreck.