The introduction of the Bootstrap Paradox theory into the story raises several questions not the least of which addresses the true creator of the time travel device. From whom did Claudia obtain the original blueprints she gives to H. G. Tannhaus in 1953? Dave and Wayne break down season two’s third episode “Ghosts” which narrows the focus to 1954 and 1987. While the episode centers itself on the activities of Claudia Tiedemann and her father Egon, it’s the side of the policeman we’ve rarely seen that drives one aspect of the narrative. 

Having left Ulrich Nielsen in 1953 after his journey through time, we must now wrestle with the events and the mindset that cause his thirty-four year confinement in a psychiatric facility. Though his meeting with Egon Tiedmann reveals his son Mikkel’s fate after his 2019 disappearance from the Winden woods, Ulrich’s reaction that “you knew and didn’t tell me,” speaks to a disconnect that likely keeps him from being released.

1987 Claudia, now in possession of the portable time machine, decides to travel to 2020, and the scene in which she watches her cancer stricken adult daughter Regina marks one of the series’ most poignant exchanges the mother’s comment to her teenage daughter in 1987 now becomes even more meaningful. Arguably the episode’s biggest reveal occurs when we learn that Noah and Agnes Nielsen are actually brother and sister, and her involvement with Sic Mundus Creatus Est has been an ongoing event. Now, however, she seeks to return to Adam’s good graces, but as always, individual motivations remain murky.

Fred from the Netherlands checks in with pointed feedback and awesome screenshots. He reminds us that the parentage of Charlotte Doppler, Helge Doppler, and Regina Tiedemann are still to be revealed, and also suggests that the hosts refer to the actors by their names rather than “the actor who plays Ulrich.” 

Episode Grade: A