The End?
The season finale of We Are The Wave sees a dramatic conclusion to this tale, one that sets up the pieces for a possible second season while concluding this first season in a satisfying manner, even if some may be put off by the anticlimactic finish at Hacke&ABT. The episode begins with Tristan grabbing Lea and hurrying to the hospital with her. As her parents arrive, Tristan hurries back to the others. After some time, Lea wakes up in hospital where we learn Inspector Serner has been suspended following the incident with The Wave. Frustrated, he rips an advert off the wall while Tristan heads in to see Rahim, blaming him for what happened given the hotel was a ploy to get back at the property developers renovating his old flat. Tristan heads in to see Lea during the night and tells her The Wave is finished before they talk about the future together. She believes there is a future for The Wave but Tristan defiantly leaves, heading back to the others where he tells Zazie The Wave is finished. However, she convinces him to go ahead with his next elobatore scheme, this time going after the weapons factory Hacke&ABT. While being shown around, Zazie secretly films their route while Inspector Serner refuses to let the case go, tipping off a rogue police officer and managing to secure an entire box of files that may help solve the case. When Lea returns home, she checks online and sees that The Wave has spread across to Berlin, Munich and a number of other German cities; their movement has sparked some real change. After filling Tristan in on this exciting news, he heads back to the SUV and hands over the money. The lorry speeds away while Tristan feigns frustration; it turns out he played them the whole time. Back at the weekend hang-out, Lea talks to Rahim and tells him the original idea of The Wave is over. However, he decides to stay with Paula, prompting Lea to hurry off to find Hagen and Zazie. Eventually she catches up with them and there she learns the trio are planning to blow up the weapons factory. As tensions rise between them, Tristan reveals he’s doing all this because of his Mother, who was killed thanks to weapons developed at this factory. After a touching moment with her grandfather, Zazie snatches up the gun from the safe and heads out with Tristan and Hagen while Lea goes home. The next day, the operation begins. Zazie feigns a car breakdown outside the gates of Hacke, attracting the guards, while Hagen and Tristan hide in the boot. After she spikes them with homemade cake, as soon as they pass out the trio head inside. At the same time, Inspector Serner realizes that Hacke is being targeted and hurries there himself. He finds the trio of Wave members and manages to overpower both Zazie and Hagen, taking their security badges and heading for Tristan’s location. Tristan, meanwhile, receives a call from Lea after arming the bomb and realizes she may be on the rooftop. After turning off the timer, Serner confronts him and a scuffle ensues between the two. Eventually Serner gets the upper-hand and takes Zazie and Tristan outside in handcuffs. There, he finds Lea and a group of other students protesting peacefully. As Serner retreats, Zazie leaves too, unable to commit to peaceful protests and unhappy that Hagen has turned his back on her and joined Lea. The protest itself takes place as reporters watch on, with the students firing red paint at one another and dropping to the ground. As Lea takes to the megaphone, she voices her opinion to rapturuous applause while Inspector Serner watches from afar. The police arrest the young activists while back home, Zazie opens the bag to reveal the bomb. As far as season finales go, We Are The Wave certainly does a good job building tension and personally I really enjoyed the final scenes. It’s a clever change of perspective from the anarchist acts of vandalism early on and the interesting change of colour, with bright whites and yellows dominating the scenes, show the changed perspective from the group. There’s plenty left unanswered here too, setting things up nicely for a second season while finishing things off in a satisfying manner as well. While you could argue Zazie and the bomb is a bit of a cliffhanger, there’s enough open to interpretation here if the series ends and isn’t renewed again. I’ve really enjoyed this German teen drama but it’s also a series with a bit of an acquired taste. It won’t be for everyone, and some may be disappointed by this anticlimactic finale. For me though, the overall theme around violence not being the answer to these big, global problems is a thought provoking idea, and one that’s perfectly captured in this final episode. Will this be renewed for a second season? For now there’s no definitive answer but the easy-to-digest six episodes should be enough to see you through to the end.
