User Reviews

I thought this started off well and had an intriguing and creepy concept, but it seems either the writers didn't know to end it properly or the number of episodes were curtailed, as the final one was fairly poor.

Yes, there was some kind of resolution, but there was still no clarity about motives, and hardly any back story about everything that happened before Jasmine and Hannah were discovered, leaving me quite frustrated at the end. I guess you could argue that some of it was deliberately left out to create a sense of ambiguity, but I don't buy it.

As a few people have mentioned, there were some incredibly stupid characters, especially within the police. Events occurred that you know just wouldn't happen, whilst characters who were prominent at the beginning seemed to fizzle out. For someone who did everything to follow her father, and had been nurtured over years into a certain way of life, Hannah didn't seem that fussed at the end when he was dead and she was wandering around on the beach.

What about the other perpetrators that were supposed to be involved? How did Jasmine escape in the first place without triggering any mines? Too many odd plot holes for my liking.

At least once an episode i sat on my couch with goosebumbps on my whole body. It really was a thrill to watch. But unfortunately you end up with a lot of questions, plot holes and unsolved mini-mysteries within the big mystery. Such a shame after 5 promising (and 1 disappointing) episodes! Long story short: it just seems there is an episode missing, a shame! A little list with unanswered questions:

• Why was Schwester Ruth killed? Yeah, i can guess, but after here dead there is no attention to it anymore.

• Nobody cared that fraulein Tinky was just a fake cat, after they searched for it for days.

• No one thought it was strange that Hannah suddenly had Fraulein Tinky back.

• Jonathan breaks his new snowball in his room in the psychiatric center he stays. Nobody thinks it is strange there is suddenly water en glass all over his room.

• Why were all the other woman killed?

• How did the perpetrator/kidnapper/killer became the person he was? What is his story?

• Who is the father of Jonathan? Presumably the kidnapper, but it's never mentioned.

• There was a tension between the male cop and the grandmother. They once had an affair in the past. But in the series nothing was done with this information, back story. The result: unnecessary.

• The male cop used a lot of medication. No consequences whatsoever.

• I believe Hannah was suddenly resting in the camper when they arrived at the beach? Why? She was the person that wanted to go there. And when she got to the beach, where did they hid the body of here kidnapper-father?

• Is Hannah strong enough to kill a full grown man with a piece of wood? Remember that she is a 12 year old, living on energy bars and powder milk.

• There a journalists 24/7 in front of the house of the grandparents. Hannah just walks out to a camper past those journalists?

• 6 pc-monitors in a camper... That's one big, steady campervan.

The start of this psychological mystery thriller draws the viewer in and wants you to watch more and more. It is quite disturbing and well acted out by the main cast. They really portrayed each character pain and the suffering they must have endured at the hands of their kidnapper. Unfortunately the story line does lack more depth to provide you with a further understanding of character background. In particular more about the killer themselves and their motive. At the end of this series I really thought this would be the case. Instead I was left with lots of questions. Such as: Why did he kill the women. What was the motive? Why sid he keep the children. What about the boy and his father? How did she escape without tripping landmines? How did the killer fit cameras in everyone's houses? How did the girl walk out of a house surrounded by paparazzi? Why did the girl that was so brainwashed think nothing when he was killed? What was the purpose o the cop having an affair with lenas mother? Why were the police so enept? Shall I go on.....Remake the last episode. The rating will improve.

I've been pissed at Netflix lately, for so much crappy programming. This, though, knocked it out of the park. There were a couple minor plot holes, but it didn't detract enough to bother me. I didn't see the bad guy coming. He totally snuck past me, because his initial entrance into the storyline barely lasted 3 seconds. This was a well written story, very little fluff to distract the viewer. While the German-to-English dubbing left a bit to be desired, it doesn't distract enough to take the viewer out of the story. Hannah's voice didn't quite fit the character. All in all, I binged the whole 6 episodes at once. It was like a book you can't put down and finish at 4am, knowing you have to get up in a couple hours to get ready for work. It was spooky, it was sad, it was horrifying and all of the characters worked. I think there will be some viewers who don't make it past the first episode and blow it off as boring because there's no superficial soundtrack, no car chases, no outrageous fight scenes. There are explosions, but they make sense. And in the end, if you're like me, you give a cheer of "wellll, alrighty then!" and sit back, thoroughly satisfied.

First, let me say this film used flashbacks in such an astute way. I was very impressed with how the videographers capture the emotion and how the timelines were seamlessly portrayed. My final thoughts as the film ended were with the hearts of people everywhere who have a missing loved one. I don't know if this film is the kind of thing such a person should see but, no doubt, they would be drawn by it. There is always that hope and that heavy, heavy question of what happened. I think if I were in that situation, I would find the end of this series especially satisfying. The series, overall, is very engaging and provocative, although it does almost seem to stall in E5 but suddenly takes off like a horse out of the gate. I did use the English dubbing option, and the voice actors were not the best but definitely not the worst. The perp was very unbelievable, if you know anything about organized v disorganized criminals. He is very disheveled and overweight, not the profile of someone as highly organized as someone would expect for such a well-thought out and continuous crime. But since his own company was the security detail on the closed army base, it was easy for him to hold Jasmin and the kids there. Although, to be perfectly honest, as soon as they found the boy on that base I knew it had to be someone involved in the security. There's no other way they could have pulled it off. So of course, the series offers one of the guards as a potential suspect. One of the big take-aways as the series passes the middle stages is that Hannah is much more brainwashed than anyone could have understood. We see this rather sweet looking child who has been through so much and we are given clues. But we have no real understanding of the conditioning she's been subjected to and who's side she's on! Some people seemed to feel their were plot holes in how the police acted or how allegedly dumb the characters were but I think our actually reflected the mistakes that better reflect reality than thepristine crine shows that are so perfectly divided by good v bad. For me, everything became clear eventually -- well, almost everything. I thought the ending was great because here we think Jasmine has actually been so brainwashed she's going to return with papa, but she tricks papa into thinking she plans to use a knife on him so she can make him feel at ease once he takes it away from her. I really felt ecstatic to realize she was taking back her life. There are some things I felt didn't make sense but maybe I'll watch again and see if they weave together better. According to one review, the book ending is much different but I liked this one better. On a final note: Out of a relatively small number of reviews THREE made a comment about how wonderful German films are. This is not a German film; it is produced by American-based Netflix via their own German production company. Yes, the original story was a novel written by a German, but the series doesn't follow the book exactly. And to be honest, the story is not that unique. But it is a great psychological series.

This series is thankfully only 6 episodes long. It has some great psychological elements, but I found myself fast forwarding to get through interminably long sequences that did not add anything but time.

As others have noted, the entire story relies on the overpowering mind control that antagonist has over Jasmin, Hannah and Jonathan. In this world, people can hear the commandments in their heads from their "dad" several days, perhaps weeks after the fact.

The plot holes just seem to pile up. For example: The kidnapper apparently has access to land mines... how exactly? Abandoned NATO bases do not keep ammunition, let alone land mines laying around. He is able to spy on several people using security cameras and cameras hidden in smoke detectors -- which would be fine given his background in security -- but we also have to believe that he is a genius super hacker with the ability to hack any system and sneak into the private homes of whomever he desires.

We have police watching a home 24x7, but not the backdoor. We have the press surrounding the family home... but not at night.

And it is finally revealed that Hannah. Diminutive little Hannah was somehow able to sneak up on the car driver and knock him out with a tree branch. Really?? That was the big reveal?? This girl has been raised in complete isolation and apparently she is a super sleuth who can track down Lena, sneak up on a driver and swing a tree branch -- something she has NEVER even seen or felt before with near lethal effectiveness.

It gets frustrating. There is some very good tension but the police never talk to each other (as in, hey! I think I'm following the suspect! I need backup!) and just give long forlorn looks.

It's enjoyable, but be prepared to skip head to make it come together faster.

Seemed like an interesting story, but as it goes along the stupidity of the police and hospital workers drags on into complete boredom, making it seem a senseless waste of time to be viewing this series.

From very early on in the story you keep saying to yourself that's impossible and that can't happen in real life, but invariably it keeps happening and and all the rules of common sense are displaced with alienated themes.

But having said that, it is after all a fictional tale where where anything you can dream up is possible.

Liebes Kinder (Dear Child) is still worth watching if you can suspend disbelief for six episodes.

This is a little bit like Game of Thrones. Not in the genre of GOT of course, but in the fact it was a let down ending. The first 5 episodes are intriguing, I won't deny that, it certainly caught my attention span and then some. But like GOT, the last episode was an absolute disaster, a humongous let down.

I had noticed many plot holes, things that just wouldn't happen in reality and way too many convenient developments (or not as it panned out). A lot of it seemed believable, but when you cut to the chase, the writers couldn't handle the story to closure.

The baddie never featured in the first five episodes at all, not even really a hint. It all seems a bit stretched and pushed to a conclusion that just doesn't make any sense... no one could say "they didn't see it coming" because you actually couldn't see it coming at all, no hints, no backfill, no story links, nothing.

Watch it if you like a compelling grim story line, but like me I'm sure you'll be asking yourself why did they bother in the end because it went from pretty cool to ridiculous in no time.

If they can't pull an ending together that makes you think or they even bothered to backfill the story then you've maybe wasted a few hours of your life.

Great premise, woefully executed - I mean like really really bad ending.

That said, I didn't hate it, it just didn't need to end so awfully, it's a let down, disappointing to say the least considering the first 5 episodes had me hooked..

I applaud the makers of this series for making something different - it's not yet another murder mystery, cop show or romcom (definitely not a romcom).

It's a believable premise as there have been real life cases of imprisoned families along these lines. Full marks here.

I can cope with the slow pace, the acting & dubbing was ok and, unlike others, I didn't mind the ending. What spoilt it for me were the (quite unnecessary) plot holes -

• why weren't Jasmin & Hannah blown up by the land mines when they ran away ? Not sure why the makers felt the need for land mines anyway.

• I'm sure there were several scenes where Hannah is on the beach with her grandpa. Also Hannah had drawn a picture of Grandpa on her bunk, so we assume that they had met. If this was the case, then Grandpa would have seen his daughter since she went missing, but this is never mentioned to the police.

• how did the girl get out of the house, and papa drive off with her, when it was beseiged by reporters ?

• not sure why the nurse had to die.

• why didn't anyone bother when the cat suddenly turned up at the children's home ?

• the car park where Jasmin was abducted would have been littered in CCTV cameras. Indeed, how did he abduct so many women and never get spotted (not that easy in the age of security cameras, camera doorbells, dashcams etc).

If I watched it again, I'm sure I'd find a load more plot holes, but I'm not going to do that as it would spoil the memory and, despite the above, I rather liked it first time around.