Bodies – A Sci-Fi Series Worth Comparing to Dark, Terminator, and Sysiphus

I didn’t think that I’d get to watch a mind-bending series like Dark ever again. It was like “Dark is a true masterpiece and no other time-traveling series could ever match its vibe”. Yet here I am comparing it to Netflix’s sci-fi series Bodies. 

The fun fact is that Bodies was originally published as a graphic novel (comics) back in 2015. It was 2 years before the release of Dark. Bodies turned out to be way better than my expectations. It cleverly gives off the same expression as Dark but in a less-complexed way. 

Bodies also remind me of our all-time favourite American film, Terminator and a Korean drama series, Sysiphus. Watch it and you’ll see how perfectly it wrapped every time-traveling sequence we have ever watched while maintaining a unique tone. 

Just like Dark, we see different parallel timelines in Bodies: 1890, 1941, 2023, and 2053. The tricky part is that a same dead body found is in each timeline, at the very same place, Longharvest Lane, London. The corpse is all-naked, having a bullet hole in his left eye with no exit wound. Ringing any bells? Yeah, it sounds like Terminator and Sisyphus.

A detective from each timeline discovers the body, leading to its murder investigation. This is exactly what sets Bodies apart from other time-travelling series. It has elements of crime and police investigation. 

Do you know what Forbes says about Bodies? It is “Dark Lite, Very Lite”. This means that it does share the same vibe, but isn’t as meticulous as Dark. I agree with this but still, Bodies managed to intrigue and impress on so many levels.

The central point which makes Bodies primarily similar to Dark is the generational cycle bound by a time travel paradox. A never-ending time loop.

I honestly don’t want to give spoilers but if you have watched Dark and loved the climax about who started the generational cycle, when, and how – you must watch Bodies as well. You may not find it as mind-bending as Dark, but it is definitely smartly sequenced and covered all the way long from episode one to eight. The beginning is the end, the end is the beginning!

You’ll have to watch Bodies till the end to see how it has the same elements as the K-drama Sysiphus. I will definitely not spoil it, but here’s a hint: a massive-level explosion which changes the world forever.