Episodes 01

“Deja-vu”

In 1987, the “Unknown”—a time traveler appearing as his child, adult, and elder selves at the same time—burns down the Sic Mundus church, and later assassinates Bernd Doppler in his home, stealing the keys to the nuclear power plant.

Amidst the apocalypse in 2020, Jonas and the “other” Martha travel to a parallel world where Jonas was never born; Martha then disappears. As of November 2019 in this alternate dimension, Katharina and Ulrich are divorced; Hannah is married to and pregnant by Ulrich, who is having an affair with Charlotte; Franziska is deaf instead of Elisabeth; and Regina is deceased. Jonas later meets an elderly Martha, who tells him that even though he does not exist in this world, it will nonetheless fall apart again and again. Alternate-dimension Martha travels back to 21 September 1888 to meet adult Jonas, who has spent the past months building a device to activate the God Particle. Martha informs him she has come to find the origin of events in each of their worlds.

Episodes 02

“The Survivors”
“Die Überlebenden“

In 1888, Franziska, Magnus, Bartosz, and adult Jonas learn about the second world from alternate-dimension Martha. The elderly Gustav Tannhaus – H.G. Tannhaus’ grandfather – promises Jonas he can create a paradise. Bartosz shows Martha a secret lodge where Gustav’s father Heinrich attempted to build a time machine. Martha reveals to Bartosz that Jonas is Adam.

In 1987, adult Katharina visits Ulrich in the psychiatric ward and promises to liberate him. Tronte’s marriage with Jana is strained following Mads’ disappearance and Tronte’s affair with Claudia. Tronte visits Regina, whom he believes is his child, and decides to stop investigating Claudia’s disappearance. The Unknown breaks into the power plant and murders Claudia’s secretary.

In September 2020, three months after the apocalypse, an ailing Regina is visited by the elderly Tronte, who reluctantly smothers her to death. Peter and Elisabeth learn that a perimeter wall will be built around Winden. They encounter the teenage Noah, who promises to protect Elisabeth.

In alternate-dimension 2019, the elderly Martha shows Jonas the full Winden family tree. She tells him that in her world, the apocalypse will happen in just three days.

Episodes 03

“Adam and Eva”
“Adam und Eva“

In 1888, the Unknown murders Gustav Tannhaus. Bartosz clashes with Jonas, enraged that he did not disclose that he is Adam. Jonas tells Martha about Heinrich’s attempt to build the time machine to prevent his wife’s death. Jonas attempts to activate the particle, but the power fails. Martha uses the distraction to travel to 2053, where she is revealed to be taking orders from Adam.

In alternate 2019, the elderly Martha tells Jonas that she is “Eva” — Adam’s counterpart in this world — and that her connection with Jonas ties the two worlds in an inseparable “knot”. Eva claims that whereas she wants to save both worlds, Adam wants to destroy them, and that if Jonas wants Martha to live he must guide the Martha of Eva’s world to become Eva herself. Later, the Unknown is shown to be working for Eva and delivers her the keys to the power plant’s control system. Elsewhere in Eva’s world, Ulrich informs the police about an unidentified child’s body bearing Mads Nielsen’s ID card. Helge confesses to the police that he killed Mads. Hannah learns of Ulrich’s affair and blackmails Aleksander to ruin Charlotte’s life. Jonas takes alternate Martha through the wormhole in the cave. The two emerge in a future desert landscape and are approached by an adult Martha.

Episodes 04

“The Origin”
“Der Ursprung“

In 1954, young Tronte meets the Unknown, who implies he is Tronte’s father. Egon is having an affair with Hannah; she becomes pregnant and tells Egon, who gives her money for an abortion. While waiting, Hannah meets a young Helene Albers — Katharina’s future mother. Hannah ultimately reconsiders and leaves. Jana begins to fall for Tronte, while Tronte loses his virginity to Claudia. Doris learns from the Unknown that Egon is having an affair; she decides to divorce him. The Unknown coerces Winden’s mayor into approving the power plant.

In 2052 in the post-apocalyptic Eva’s world, the adult Martha tells Jonas and young Martha they can prevent the apocalypse if they can stop the opening of the barrels in the power plant. After they leave, Noah of Eva’s world appears and remarks that the Winden family lineage is an infinite circle. Martha and Jonas return to 2019 and have passionate sex.

Adam has moved Sic Mundus‘ base of operations to 2053. Agnes says she knows the true origin of the cycle and later enters the God Particle. Adam reveals to Martha that she is pregnant, and that her child with Jonas—the Unknown—is the origin of the family tree.

Episodes 05

“Life and Death”
“Leben und Tod“

In 1987, Katharina tries to rob Helene, who works at the psychiatric facility, to obtain her keycard. Helene bludgeons Katharina to death with a rock and drowns her body in the lake. H.G. Tannhaus reveals to the teenage Charlotte that she was given to him by two mysterious women shortly after his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter were killed in a car accident.

In 2020, Peter continues to look for Charlotte and Franziska, despite Elisabeth believing they are dead. Returning to their trailer, they encounter an intruder who murders Peter before being killed by Elisabeth. She goes to the cave and is comforted by Noah. Meanwhile, Claudia is met by her doppelgänger from Eva’s world, who assigns her to save both worlds and gives her the journal for the first time.

In 2019 in Eva’s world, Jonas leads Martha to the power plant to prevent the apocalypse. After she injures her face in a similar manner to a scar on Eva’s face, he realizes they are merely perpetuating the cycle of events in her world. He and Martha go to confront Eva. She tells Jonas he has served his purpose, after which another teenage Martha emerges and shoots Jonas dead.

Episodes 06

“Light and Shadow”
“Licht und Schatten“

In 2020, Claudia and Jonas — apparently still alive — go to the abandoned power plant and find the God Particle in a dormant state. Claudia persuades Jonas to help her restore it.

In 2052 in Eva’s world, Eva explains to her teenage self that Martha’s death in Adam’s world is the point at which two parallel realities overlap in quantum entanglement: in one scenario, alternate Martha saves Jonas from the apocalypse; in the other, Jonas survives on his own, eventually becoming Adam.

Martha of Eva’s world travels to the day of the apocalypse. Unable to reach Aleksander, she and Bartosz race to the power plant, but are intercepted by the adult Magnus and Franziska from Adam’s world, who send Martha on her mission to rescue Jonas. Bartosz encounters his adult self, sent by Eva alongside the other acolytes of Erit Lux (transl. Let There Be Light, her world’s counterpart to Sic Mundus). The Unknowns travel to the year 1986 in both worlds to release radioactive waste at the power plant – this eventually causes the wormhole and the apocalypse. Aleksander and Charlotte open the barrels at the power plant, unleashing the apocalypse in Eva’s world.

In 2053 in Adam’s world, Adam tries to destroy the origin by activating the God Particle at the time of both apocalypses and releasing their energy onto Martha, killing her and the child forever.

Episodes 07

“In Between Time”
“Zwischen der Zeit“

In one scenario of the 2020 apocalypse, Martha from Eva’s world saves Jonas; in the other, she is stopped by Bartosz of Eva’s world. He takes Martha back to Eva, who instructs her to kill Jonas when he arrives with the other Martha.

In 1890, Bartosz meets Silja, who was sent from 2053 by Adam. They go on to have two children together: Hanno (Noah) and Agnes (whose birth results in Silja’s death). In 1911, Hannah arrives with her daughter Silja to stay with Jonas, who has begun to transform into Adam. Jonas murders Hannah and sends Silja to post-apocalyptic Winden.

Jonas and Claudia work fruitlessly to reactivate the God Particle through 2041, by which point Charlotte has been born to Noah and Elisabeth. The adult Elisabeth and Charlotte from 2053 travel to 2041, kidnap baby Charlotte, and deliver her to Tannhaus. Noah’s search for his daughter leads to his initiation into Sic Mundus by Adam in 1920. Claudia kills her alternate self and begins posing as her for Eva, all the while collecting information about both worlds. In 2052, the elderly Claudia sends the adult Jonas on his 2019 mission to Winden.

In 2053, Adam’s attempt to destroy the Origin fails to erase his existence, baffling him. He is then met by an elderly Claudia, who tells him she knows how the worlds are connected.

Episodes 08

“Paradise”
“Das Paradies“

Claudia explains to Adam how he and Eva are locked in an inextricable triquetra knot that originated outside both their worlds. Claudia directs Adam to prevent the origin in a third, original world where H.G. Tannhaus created a time machine to prevent the death of his family, inadvertently splitting his world into the worlds of Adam and Eva.

Adam takes Jonas to Eva’s world, urging him to collect Martha and prevent the origin. Adam then confronts Eva and, to her shock, refuses to kill her as she remembers discovering. Recognizing that the cycle has been broken, Eva embraces Adam. Jonas and Martha travel to the origin world through the passage in the cave and successfully save Tannhaus’ family, thereby erasing both worlds from existence.

The only main characters who remain in the origin world are those whose birth was not a result of time travel. Peter is in a relationship with Bernadette; Katharina and the cancer-free Regina are single; and Hannah is expecting a child with Bernadette’s brother Torben. At a dinner party, Hannah notices a yellow raincoat in the corner of the room and experiences a brief moment of déjà vu. Asked what she will name her child, Hannah answers that she has always liked the name “Jonas”.