Jugend – Es ist kompliziert! combines the shape of a traditional studio sitcom with contemporary social concerns. Its characters search for love, happiness or simply enough money to get through the month, finding complications in everyday Berlin life.
The deliberate artificiality is part of the appeal. Rather than offering elaborate locations or an epic story, the series gives attention to interactions that can be absurd and recognisably human at the same time.
Ordinary situations provide its strongest material. Finding a flatmate or dealing with a small practical problem can reveal the pressure between self-realisation and financial limits. The humour also makes room for class, gender and housing concerns without simply embarrassing the characters.
Thomas Schubert makes Tim's uncertainty and desperate optimism convincing. Sarah Gailer combines wit and vulnerability as Cathrin. The performances fit a visual style that leaves the actors space within carefully arranged studio scenes.
The emotional continuity is less successful. Individual episodes offer amusing and thoughtful moments, but the largely separate stories limit the characters' development across the season. The viewer's connection never becomes as strong as it could.
Jugend is worthwhile for fans of classic sitcom conventions and delivers some genuine laughs. Viewers looking for deeper drama or a tightly sustained story may be less satisfied. An interesting experiment that works in parts, rather than an overwhelming addition to German television.