As the second episode of All The Light We Cannot See begins, members of the 565th bomb squadron are engaged in a dogfight. A girl asks her Papa and Uncle Etienne to come home. Uncle Etienne said he’d be gone for one hour but has been gone for days. Marie-Laure (Aria Mia Loberti) tries to reach her dad and Uncle Etienne using a radio before a bomb hits her building. Marie gets up and says she is going to continue her reading of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Marie uses braille to read the book for her listeners. It appears that Werner (Louis Hofmann) is listening elsewhere. Another soldier offers Werner brandy since he doubts they’ll see Germany ever again.

Werner explains he hears the bombs on the radio so it means the girl is in Saint-Malo. He used to listen to a French professor on the radio and broke the Fuhrer’s rules. Frank Volkheimer reminds him that listening to foreign broadcasts is punishable by death. Werner believes they’re both dead anyway. The radio station that taught him French was on shortwave frequency 13.10. He has been turning it to that station ever since they left Ukraine. Werner says he’ll never know who the girl is. They say goodbye to each other before a bomb hits their building. Marie-Laure finishes the broadcast. She finds a message as she walks to the edge of the window. After the intro, Sergeant Major Reinhold von Rumpel (Lars Eidinger) eats at a restaurant among the rubble.

He makes the French restaurant owner (Douglas Russell) tell him what the Americans are saying. It says they’ll be back tomorrow at midnight. Although they’re being told to leave, they can’t because they’ve locked the gates. Reinhold claims he is a jeweler who is there to track down the finest jewels in Europe and deliver them to the Fuhrer. He is there to find someone who has something he wants. It is a blind girl who is in Saint-Malo. Reinhold tells the owner that he has ten more seconds to give him the address of Marie-Laure LeBlanc. When the man refuses to cooperate, Reinhold shoots him and says he’ll find her without his help. Werner finds that the other soldier died in the bombing. Marie remembers being with her father in Paris, France ten years earlier in April 1934.

Paris, France – April 1934 – Daniel LeBlanc (Mark Ruffalo) shows young Marie (Nell Sutton) a model of the town. He uses the model to show her directions. Then, he takes her into town to see if she can remember the directions. Daniel also tells his daughter he is going to get her a chocolate crepe for her birthday. They go to the museum where they find a bunch of stuffed birds. Marie listens to bird sounds on a record. Then, Daniel lets her feel diamonds. He says there is one other stone that’s more valuable than the rest of them put together. It’s called the Sea of Flames. Marie wants to touch it, but Daniel reminds her it is time for lunch. Daniel explains that there is a legend claiming the Sea of Flames is cursed. Whoever touches the stone is also cursed. Supposedly, if you touch the stone, whoever you love will suffer a terrible misfortune.

If you possess the stone, you will die. When Marie asks if he touched it, Daniel refuses to answer.

St. Malo – August 1944 – Marie grabs money because she wants to go out and buy bread. Werner tries to fix the radio. He goes outside to see if he can find wire to fix it. Locals scream at him to open the gate and curse him. He finds wire among the rubble. Monsieur Caron (James Dryden) is surprised to see Marie, but informs her that he doesn’t have any bread. He gives her a stale scrap for free. He also has someone who heard her message last night. Etienne LeBlanc (Hugh Laurie) comes out from another room. He claims he has been working for the Americans and British who are coming to free them.

He caught the attention of the Germans so he can’t come home and put her in grave danger. Marie confirms she has been reading the pages he told her to read. Etienne says she is sending messages in code that will help them win the war. He instructs her to skip ahead to Chapter 20 and read one page before skipping to Chapter 21. Caron warns her that a German officer is looking for her. As she prepares to return home, Werner is approached by other soldiers. He introduces himself as Corporal Werner Pfennig and is warned looters will be shot. Werner explains what he is doing. The officer cuts the wire for him before telling him about the leaflets dropped by the Americans. Werner is instructed to tell his unit no one is leaving and no one will be allowed to leave. Werner admits he is the last man.

The officer says he will do what he can to help. Werner returns and tries to fix the radio. As he works on the radio, he has a flashback to the time he was in an orphanage.

Viktoriastrasse Orphanage – Essen, Germany – 1934 – A staff member at the orphanage talks about Werner (Lucas Herzog) and how intelligent he is. Werner tells Frau Elena (Rosie Hilal) he believes the radio is ready. Once he turns it on, the radio begins playing classical music. Later that night, his sister Jutta finds him listening to the radio under his sheets. When she asks what he found, Werner claims to have found the whole world. He lets her listen to shortwave 13.10 from France. Daniel finds Marie listening to the radio station late at night. She tells him about the professor before he makes her go to bed.

The professor said the most important light is the light you cannot see, but Daniel interrupted before she could find out what that meant. Daniel gives her the headphones and allows her to listen for ten more minutes.

1944 – Marie tells her listeners she wants to say something from her heart. Werner hears her as she talks about the professor who used to play a particular piece of music. She explains that the professor always spoke about light. Marie details what he said about light lasting forever. Darkness lasts not even for one second when you turn on the light. Another soldier interrupts and orders Werner to get up there. Capital Mueller (Jakob Diehl) orders him to work upstairs from now on. Mueller reveals the bombing last night was not random so someone is giving them information. Werner denies detecting radio frequencies from inside the city. He says he was at the top of his class. Schmidt (Felix Kammerer) was as well so he will now help Werner with his work.

Mueller warns him that the possession of any radio equipment in the city walls of Saint-Malo is now punishable by death. Once they’re alone, Schmidt tells Werner that he can’t drink while on duty. Werner asks about his time at the institute. While walking around at night, Reinhold sees a light on in a window nearby. Sandrina is reading inside. He barges inside and finds the book. Sandrina says her profession was to cut flowers and she hopes it is again. She believes he is there for sex, but Reinhold says is there for something else. He is taking some very serious medication for a very serious condition. Reinhold asks if she has heard about a German officer who is looking for a particular girl. He wants to give her money for information about Marie.

Werner listens to Marie speak to her father on the radio. When he hears a vehicle, he quickly unplugs the radio. When Schmidt wakes up, Werner claims he found nothing. Werner offers to take his shift, but Schmidt refuses and tells him to go to sleep. Schmidt finds the power plug unplugged. Werner claims he did that to check him out. Werner goes on to say he doesn’t remember him from the National Institute. He suggests Schmidt was one of those who didn’t make it. Schmidt admits he lied because he didn’t want to get sent East. Werner threatens to turn him in if he doesn’t cooperate. Marie finishes her broadcast. She goes out. Schmidt gets sick after drinking alcohol. He admits he was at the institute for two weeks. His father hasn’t spoken to him since he was dismissed. Schmidt says he is not an idiot.

He knows they both have a secret. When he turned on the radio, someone was broadcasting. Schmidt asks who. Marie goes through a gate and walks down to the water. Werner tells Schmidt that 13.10 is a frequency he used to listen to when he was a child. A professor told them facts while everyone else was giving them opinions. Since Werner became a radio operator, he has found hundreds of frequencies and located the transceivers. He watched the operators get shot. He has always listened to 13.10, but there was silence until he reached Saint-Malo and heard a girl reading a book. It might be the professor’s daughter or someone else who used to listen to him. Werner says she is okay so 13.10 is in good hands. Schmidt doesn’t think he can trust Werner with his secret.

He pulls out a gun and points it at him. Before he can shoot Werner, they begin fighting. After getting the gun, Werner says he will spare shortwave 13.10 before shooting Schmidt. Reinhold finds Marie and explains someone told him she used to come there with her father. He grabs her to prevent her from leaving. He claims he won’t harm her if she gives him what he wants. The war means nothing to him. He just wants to live and he believes she can help him. He gets her knife which belonged to her father. Reinhold tells her that he is looking for the Sea of Flames. According to Reinhold, the legend says it can cure any illness and whoever possesses it will live forever. Marie doesn’t believe the legends. Reinhold points a gun at her and gives her 10 seconds to tell him where the stone is.

Marie insists she doesn’t know where it is. Her lantern goes into the water before a gunshot is fired.

 

All The Light We Cannot See Review

The first episode of All The Light We Cannot See did a good job of establishing the core story and providing backstories for Marie-Laure and Werner. The story obviously has the potential to get very good and deeply emotional as it eventually reaches the climax. However, there might be a few problems preventing the series from being a memorable experience. The dialogue could be a lot better. The dialogue seems to think viewers are unintelligent since every little detail has to be spoken.

Viewers could’ve put the pieces together themselves without having to hear it from the characters in unconvincing ways. A bigger problem could be the overall emptiness of the series and Saint-Malo. It really feels low-budget because there are so few people in the series. Where are the innocent bystanders who want nothing to do with either side? Instead, everyone is either cartoonishly evil or saintly good. It is odd to see American and English performers in certain roles, but that has become a staple of Hollywood and is usually the other way around.

At the very least, Louis Hofmann is very good as Werner who seems to be the most intriguing character so far. There are still three episodes for this to turn into an emotional experience, but the first episode was empty. It scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of All The Light We Cannot See can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link.

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