Set in a chilling snow-clad atmosphere, ‘Woman of the Dead (Season 1)’ (Original title: Totenfrau) unravels its crime thriller narrative with just the right amount of mystery. Starring in the central role, this new Austrian series on Netflix benefits from its compelling narration. Based on a book by Bernhard Aichner, this Austrian series tells the story of a woman whose proximity to the dead becomes a topic of introspection for her after the death of her close relative. With a moving performance by Anna Maria Mühe at the center, it presents the struggle of a woman trying to make peace with the unfavorable odds in front of her.
Woman of the Dead (Season 1) Recap:
Episode 1: Among the Dead
Blum Blum (Anna Maria Mühe) lives in a small Austrian town and works as an undertaker. She lives a fairly ordinary life with her husband – Mark, who is a police officer, and her two children. On a mundane morning, he leaves the house like any other day. He heads to work on his bike, only to be run over by a car. Blum goes in shock due to this unfortunate accident, and meanwhile, the driver drives away from his car. Suddenly, she loses her husband but sees that the police are not taking the initiative in following up with this hit-and-run case and rather consider it a priority to make her return his belongings.
Enraged by their lack of interest in the pursuit of finding the culprit, she decides to look for them herself. For her, the details of the crash do not add up, and she considers it more than an accident. Through flashbacks, we get a glimpse into how she lost her parents. In the present, she gets Mark’s bike repaired and decides to use it herself. Inside its storage, she finds a phone and sees several missed calls from a contact named ‘D.’ Through the texts, she sees him telling D to escape the hospital and go to a cabin. She goes there to find a woman named Dunja (Romina Küper) and learns she is an immigrant who Mark was trying to help out. She believes that someone killed Mark on purpose.
Episode 2: A Great Artist
Blum learns about the horrifying abuse Dunja went through. After getting a drink from a man driving the car, she and some other young women were abused by a few masked men. She somehow managed to run away and ended up in their town. Blum wonders why Mark did not go to the police with her (since he was also one of the officers), and Dunja gets terrified by even the mention of the police. Seeing her mental state, she decides to take her home. However, it does not go well with her family since they are skeptical about her identity. Her father-in-law, who decides to chip in to help her out with the domestic chores, is also displeased by it.
Her daughter – Nela (Emilia Pieske), who has trouble making peace with her father’s sudden death, gets into a fight with another student at her school and then argues with Father Herbert (Simon Schwarz) about the existence of God. Blum shares her daughter’s atheist proclivities. Meanwhile, she goes to a local photo store in relation to Dunja’s case to ask for a polaroid camera. She learns that they are mostly used by elite artists and then goes to a nearby exhibition to investigate further. From there, she gets to know about Edwin Schönborn (Shenja Lacher), who is the only person using such a camera to create art in their vicinity.
She is doubtful about the information provided by Dunja and, after following it up, learns that Mark kept her in a hospital just for a few hours and that she did appear from the woods while she tried to escape. After making sure that she is telling the truth, she shows her a photograph of Edwin, who she IDs as the person who drove her. He is the son of one of the most influential people from their region named Johanna (Michou Friesz). Dunja later also IDs Herbert, through his voice, as one of the masked men.
She then makes an appointment with him to get photographed naked and, during their interaction, shares the gruesome details of abuse told by Dunja. He realizes that she knows about his involvement in the abuse & murder and gets furious at the feeling that his secret is out. So, he goes on to attack her, but she rescues herself and tasers him.
Episode 3: Fear the Living
Blum returns with Edwin’s dead body but does not let anyone know about his presence in the house. After getting rid of it, she goes back to his studio but hides after noticing Johanna’s arrival, who is worried due to her son’s sudden disappearance. Later, Blum starts following the trail of those who abused Dunja and others. Along with Nela, she goes to meet Father Herbert and argues against the Christian belief that your sin will be dissolved if you ask for forgiveness. Later, she sends a text from Edwin’s phone for a meeting in the church and notices Berti Puch (Gregor Bloéb) arrive there and threatens the father of harm.
Once he leaves, she enters the church herself for a confession and then confronts Herbert about his misdeeds against Dunja and other young girls. Because of his denial to confess, she tasers him and then burns him to death. Unlike him, she does not believe that a confession can absolve an individual of their sins. That night, she goes to a bar and meets Massimo Ricci (Felix Klare), one of the police officers working with Mark, with whom she has a romantic fling. She returns home drunk and finds that Dunja has left their house, which makes her distressed. After Herbert’s funeral, she asks Massimo about to know about a grey car that was following her.
She returns home to find the disheveled home but decides not to file a police complaint since she does not trust them, especially after they betrayed Mark and Dunja. She later learns that the grey car belongs to Schönberns.
Episode 4: A Mother’s Love
We get a glimpse into Blum’s traumatizing childhood, where she was forced to help out with her parent’s work. At the present, her assistant – Reza (Yousef Sweid), is worried about her because of her recent unpredictable behaviour. Meanwhile, Mark’s father starts looking for the car (a Black Range Rover) that attacked his son to find a possible culprit. Blum realizes that her son has been kidnapped from school and then goes to Johanna’s office to enquire about it. She blackmails her to release her son in exchange. She also threatens to publicize her naked photos (clicked by Edwin).
Then, Blum threatens to reveal all the assault and murder cases that Edwin is a part of and manages to get hold of her young son. Later, she learns about Dunja’s death and feels guilty for not being able to protect her. Meanwhile, Marisso goes through marital issues with his wife, which seems to be because of his interest in Blum. Meanwhile, Nela tries to socialize with her cool classmates and agrees to bring formaldehyde from her mother’s workplace so that they can get wasted. On the other hand, Blum meets with Mr Puch in his bar and initiates a conversation that soon leads to her trying to learn about his involvement in Mark’s murder. Before he gets unconscious, he ruthlessly attacks her.
Episode 5: Natural Balance
Blum calls Reza, and he soon shows up to rescue her. Back at home, they find Nela sitting alone, traumatized by her experience at the party. Instead of scolding her for stealing, Blum empathizes and forgives her. Before leaving, Reza shoots Mr Puch dead, and then he & Blum bring his dead body back home. She notices a mark of a boy scout symbol on his body, similar to what she found on two other bodies before who were involved in the young girls’ assault. She is unsure about who the fourth culprit is. Reza gets worried for her since she is mercilessly killing these people.
She follows a clue shared by Dunja and meets an old man to learn that Schönborns have been trying to acquire his piece of land so that they can expand their skiing project. He lost his daughter years ago, who was reportedly last seen with Edwin and a friend of his. On her way back, she comes across the grey car that was parked outside her house, which Dunja suspected was keeping a watch on her. She follows it and stops the driver to enquire, but after receiving a text about someone in the abusers’ group, telling about leaving the town, she faints on the ground.
She is taken to a hospital, where one of the doctors turns out to be working for the Schönborns. He tries to make her unconscious and confesses to being related to this plan but not being responsible for Mark’s murder. She somehow manages to retaliate against him and then calls Reza to get her out of the hospital. Like every other culprit, she brings the doctor’s body home and gets rid of it. The next day, the man from the grey car comes to meet her and confesses that he kept a watch on her as per Schönborns’ orders.
He mentions doing many bad things for them since they had helped him settle comfortably in their town. Before leaving, he shares proof of this influential family’s horrifying misdeeds. It has a video of masked men abusing young girls, like what Dunja narrated. Soon afterwards, officer Wilhelm comes to her house to take her to the police station.
Episode 6: To the End
We get a glimpse of the old man’s daughter being taken by young Schönborn and his friends on a cable car and being abused to make her father not oppose the expansion of his family’s business. Then the narrative shifts to the present, where Wilhelm’s claims against Blum in Edwin’s and other murders are proved false by Massimo’s alibi. After helping her out, he invites her for dinner at his place. Since his wife has recently left him due to his lack of attention toward her, he makes this plan. Meanwhile, Mark’s father learns from the garage that the black range rover was not reported to the police because it was taken away by one of the police officers.
While he learns that a police officer is involved in Mark’s murder, Reza goes through the assault video to notice one more masked individual. He calls Blum to inform her about it, but she is engaged in her dinner with Massimo. During their meal, he keeps asking her about her relation to the recent murders since he does not want her to get caught. If she is honest with her, he would probably be able to help her. While their interaction soon turns into a passionate kiss, she holds back, probably thinking of his marriage.
Woman of the Dead (Season 1) Netflix Review:
A brutally chilling and highly stimulating investigative thriller
‘Woman of the Dead’ is primarily a revenge tale. We follow a woman seeking vengeance for her husband’s murder. Her proximity to the dead, due to her profession as an undertaker, comes into play to question her stoic approach to dealing with his death without processing it outwardly as we expect a normal person would. It is her traumatic past that makes her habitual to keep her feelings bottled up. Despite that, she follows up this hit-and-run case without letting any force of opposition let her resolve fade.
She often seems unhinged in her way of seeking revenge, where finding the culprit is not the only thing in which she finds solace. Her past secrets get unraveled over the period where she makes several questionable choices. With every other crime by her hands, we witness her sense of life gradually dying down. There is also an ecstatic sense of freedom that one can feel if one’s crimes go unpunished. With that thought, Woman of the Dead intelligently works upon a character drama while unraveling the suspense narrative. We see Blum’s character arc develop while descending on the path of the ones she stands against.
So, at the end of the narrative, do we consider her just as guilty as the culprits? Or do we absolve her for it has a saner purpose? The narrative begs us to introspect on these aspects through its moral conflicts and this grey character while shedding light on several pertinent themes. Through the Schönberns, we see the universal themes related to the greed of wealthy capitalists and the power they possess to carry out horrible acts without any repercussions. The script examines how religious fanaticism allows people a moral high ground to carry forward sexually explicit behavior without a moral compass.
Through Brünhilde’s profession as an undertaker and her lack of faith, we are presented with a confounding chasm between the black-and-white of morality and between life and death. Even her strong drive for vengeance is put to question for its intent. Was it for her personal salvation or for her children not to live in a world where their father’s murderer roams free? It opens these threads to introspect upon and, thus, turns into a stimulating series backed by a powerful lead performance by Anna Maria Mühe.
Woman of the Dead (Season 1) Netflix Ending Explained:
Who ran over and killed Mark? Does Brünhilde Blum get her revenge?
While Blum backs off from getting sexually involved with Massimo, she notices the mark of the boys’ scout badge on his body. She quickly realizes him being involved in this abusive cult and asks him straight away whether he killed Mark. Back at home, Reza also realizes Mark’s involvement in the murder (since he got hold of the car) and heads to his home. It becomes clear that Massimo is the person who ran over and killed Mark with a black Range Rover. While she decides to shoot him, she holds back out of fear.
In the flashback scenes, we see the group of five teenagers (including Massimo and Edwin) being formed while engraving the boy scout logo on their bodies as a sign to keep mum about the girl’s death. In the present, Massimo assaults Blum into a blackout. After regaining consciousness, she starts running away to escape. By that time, Reza arrives at the place to rescue her but gets gunned down by Massimo. Chasing this opportunity, she attacks him from the back and stabs him repeatedly to death.
While she leaves the place safely with Reza, the next morning, Wilhelm reaches the place of the murder to find an overwhelming amount of evidence pointing at Massimo. While Blum returns to her family with contentment, she recalls her parents’ death (for which she was most likely responsible, where she took revenge for abusing her), leading her to meet Mark. This future husband of hers consoled her back then and made her feel secure after their death. Much of her journey, just like it started with Mark, was because of her being a Totenfrau, aka Woman of the Dead.
