Geek Rate:Sky god worthy (5 out of 5 stars)
I was scrolling Netflix’s titles and I came across this promise on how to set-up an online illegal drugs company. Well, I immediately pressed play. Among the hundreds of titles available in Netflix, “How To Sell Drugs Online (Fast)” sure has the stand out advantage, and from there this show will have you hooked until the end.
How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) is set in the fictional town of Rinseln, Germany, and told from the perspective of high-school outcast Moritz Zimmermann. The series follows Moritz and his fellow friend Lenny Sander attempting to rekindle Moritz’s love for ex-girlfriend Lisa Novak, through selling ecstasy online. Whilst starting off as a small time business, it quickly spirals out of control and Moritz and Lenny learn to deal with the consequences of large scale drug trafficking. The series is inspired by a true story, which took place in Leipzig in 2015
There are many shows about the dumb things done by teenagers in the name of love. For “How To Sell Drugs Online (Fast),” a coming-of-age comedy-drama web television series, that’s just the start of it.
Moritz Zimmermann (Maximilian Mundt) and Lenny Sander (Danilo Kamperidis) are two geeks who, just like any other geeks, are into playing video games, hacking online stuff, and writing codes. But they are very, very far behind the offline world, again, just like any other geeks. Angry with the real world which values the famous kids at school, they did not surrender, instead in the style of geeks, write a code which creates an encrypted website and start selling drugs. Just like what the cool kids do, but on a massive, safe, and impressive scale. Beat that famous kids at school.
It is cool when beautiful people do stuff like this, but it’s crazier and more fun when it is the geeks’ turn. The plot is not new but the generation is different. The crime story wrapped in this world of Generation Z is an all new experience to watch. The show is very-well written and funny. It centers on a high school story with romantic angles but front and center is the friendship of Moritz and Lenny. The show’s themes are universal. All in all, it works.
I will be surprised if Mundt who played the character Moritz is not a geek in real life. His acting was so real and his character is lovable from the very beginning that you will be hooked to finish his story until the end. The character development makes you attached to Moritz and the cast with their personal lives and problems: an absent mother, a dying friend, a lost girlfriend, and some other factors that directs the characters’ decisions in the show. Danilo as Lenny is the heart of the show, as well as its master coder, and together with Moritz, they make a perfect duo. Anna Lena Klenke as Lisa Novak (star of the 2017 movie “Rock My Heart”) impressively plays the role of a confused teenager (or a lost one), while Damian Hardung as Dan Riffert, our popular kid in the show, gives just the right amount of swag and vulnerability to his character which is as real as it gets. Most of the young characters in the show are very straight forward, and what is more commendable is their effort to showcase the real lives of a Gen Z, which made the show authentic.
Gen Z are always online and the modern-style computer vibes editing of the show to stress the presence of social media in this generation’s lives are just the right amount of cool. This style is not just there for some decoration, but it serves as purpose of making it as real as possible, while also giving off the energy needed for its story. It is not that heavy with techy, sci-fi-like stuff that might discourage the older audience who are used to regular cinema editing style.
In “How To Sell Drugs Online (Fast),” the online world is front and center and is all too happy to show how the young characters navigate the cyber world which is awe-inspiring and maddening at the same time.
Take for example, zum beispiel, this scene were Moritz is chatting with Lenny online.
I think Lisa might be seeing Dan.
Moritz wanted to say, but instead he send this message:
Oh never mind. All good with you?
Lenny, on the other hand, wanted to say this:
I think my mom wants to replace me when I’m dead.
But instead he replied:
Yeah all good.
Then Lenny went on playing video games, saying on the chat group the very same thing he refused to say to Moritz to complete strangers. What kicks me in the stomach is the small smile on his face when someone in the chat group he did not know messaged him: if you want to talk, call.
Don’t worry because “How To Sell Drugs Online (Fast)” will not put your time into waste. It has only 6 episodes with 25 minutes total running time each. You will press play after you finished the first episode until you’ve reached the last one without feeling guilty afterwards. “How To Sell Drugs Online (Fast)” is in German, no problem for me, but you will find reading subtitles as natural part of the show. The show claims that it is based on a real story but we will not possibly know how creators Philipp Käßbohrer and Matthias Murmann changed Mortiz’s story compared to the original one.
Geek Rate
Sky god Worthy (5 out of 5 Stars). There are TV series that when you finished it, you would want to see the next season immediately. That’s the mark of an interesting series, and “How To Sell Drugs Online (Fast)” is surely one of those rare ones.
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