Cassandra is a surprising German science fiction thriller series created by Sina Flammang and Benjamin Gutsche. A modern-day family is forced to move due to traumatic circumstances. Without any prior knowledge, they move with the entire family to their new home in a remote area. When they arrive, their house turns out to be a kind of retro home from the seventies. There is a lot of space and it even has a swimming pool. But to their greatest surprise, the house also has a great technological gadget called…Cassandra (Lavinia Wilson).
Cassandra is a robot that functions as a kind of old-fashioned maid. She looks friendly, familiar and is of course very helpful to everyone. By means of built-in TV screens throughout the house, she can be present everywhere and help anyone who needs it. Nice gadget, right? Certainly, but of course there is a catch that gradually becomes clear.
First of all, the robot/Cassandra has a very nice design. Her funny wooden movements, her slightly too big TV screen as a head and her charming appearance make her a special and unique character. She quickly makes her beloved by the new family. Everyone becomes an instant fan of the newest ‘A.I.’ helper. Although, the only one of the family who is not immediately sold is the mother Samira (Mina Tander).
She is the only one in the family who is somewhat suspicious of Cassandra's helpfulness. When she notices that the robot acts differently towards her when they are alone, she tries to convince the others that something is wrong. This is not an easy task for her because the rest of the family is very happy with their new helper.
[quote-7838] Cassandra is a series that has definitely taken its cue from similar stories about a group of people who unsuspectingly enter a new house and where their worst nightmare becomes reality. In this trend, this series already lives up to its premise. The series neatly builds up the tension in the six episodes. Even though you know roughly how it will go, it is still gripping enough to watch.
What is so sublime about this series, and also stands head and shoulders above the rest, are the great flashbacks of the robot Cassandra. Throughout the story we get to see the tragic story of a woman named Sandra who tries to keep her family together in difficult circumstances in the seventies. This storyline is really beautifully executed and almost makes you forget that this is a science fiction thriller. The transformation from Sandra to Cassandra is very well done, even though it comes quite late in the series, and also makes the modern character of Cassandra clear. The actress deserves a big compliment for her amazing performance.
Okay, is Cassandra sublime in every way? No, the series has a lot of good things, but there are a few things that undermine the credibility of the story. These are especially true for the ‘present day’ timeline. As described above, the family is too naive with the robot from the start. We know that this story is set in modern-day Germany and that in a modern-day society there is no talk of intelligent robots of this size.
Even though this robot is a bit retro, it is an astonishing example of artificial intelligence that has never been seen before. You would really expect a bit more surprise from the family members, but everyone accepts Cassandra in no time without asking too many questions. Because this logical 'human suspicion' is missing, the credibility falls partly into the water. This leads to rather stupid plot twists because Cassandra can actually go her own way in the story much too easily. As a result, the tension is often not as 'tight' as it could be, let's say.
The last episode is also seriously disappointing. The series does build up well towards the end, especially with the excellent flashbacks, but is reduced to a rather laughable 'B' movie at the very last moment. Very unfortunate, because despite these disappointments, this series plays very well with themes such as the power of motherly love, eternal life and the danger of digitalizing emotions.
I could easily write a few more pages about it, but I leave it to the viewer to discover it for themselves. I give it a solid 7. The contemporary timeline was a bit unbelievable here and there, but the fascinating flashback scenes made up for a lot.
Recommended for those who like fresh contemporary science fiction.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
