In 2015, the police raided the house where Maximilian S. lived with his mother. He rushed into his bedroom and began to disconnect all his hard drives, but didn’t do any good. A few minutes later, in another room, the cops found 320 kg of drugs. Maximilian, 20 years old and a nerd spirit, had become one of the greatest drug dealers in Germany.

How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) is a German original Netflix series released in 2019, co-created by Philipp Käßbohrer and Matthias Murmann.

A true story

Lenny and Moritz, two nerds’ best-friends, open a website to sell drugs. They do it a bit for fun, a bit for revenge against their problematic adolescence. The reason seems almost trivial, but it makes sense with the speed of the series.

The plot of How to sell drugs online (Fast) opens with a very difficult time in the life of its main character, the shy Moritz (Maximillian Mundt). His girlfriend Lisa (Anna Lena Klenke), who after a year in the US, finally returns to Germany. But as soon as she sets foot on her native soil, she decides to leave him, determined to find herself by making new experiences, including the use of drugs.

Without even having time to realize it, the two boys find themselves in the hands of a drugs empire that they struggle to manage. Soon they will deal with the increase in demand, the control of the quality of the goods, and, above all, the law.

«Nerd today, boss tomorrow»

The protagonist may seem the characteristically shy and unlucky geek in love. In this case, it’s a bit different. Maximillian Mundt is very good at representing the turmoil of his Moritz.

After the initial loss, he quickly embraces the new businessman role, comparing himself to self-made men of the caliber of Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs. In this, Moritz’s arch can be very similar to the one of Walter White in Breaking Bad. His life has become a downward spiral, but he is always supported by Lenny. His friend is affected by what looks like an incurable degenerative disease and is the protagonist’s voice of conscience, often cynical and disenchanted. Through his choices, he often puts himself in dangerous situations from where it’s difficult to escape.

Fast as teens are

The series, extremely fresh but sometimes also delicate and introspective, takes advantage of fast editing and an almost experimental direction – including a Moritz of the future peering out from one scene to another to tell how he decided to sell his story to Netflix. All the directing choices are a fresh way to tell the (dis)adventures of its protagonists. A strong point is precisely this incredible closeness between the speed of the story and the one of a modern teenager’s life. 

As an unusual series about Gen Z and their relationship with drugs, How to sell drugs online (Fast) does so without accusing and demolishing their use. It represents how difficult growing up and finding yourself is but in a funny and original way. Both for those who are experiencing those problems firsthand and for those who have already overcome the problem, but still relive the past with nostalgia.