It’s STILL Not Over
Semmelweis is not okay. It’s been a year since the shooting that left him bleeding on the morgue floor, near death. He has recovered physically, but is otherwise messed up, making mistakes on the job and obsessing over Lauener, the evil mastermind of the organ trafficking case who had him shot for reasons he still cannot fathom. He is driven further around the bend when Lauener is let out of prison after only serving 12 months. It seems Pedro (yes, he’s back, eyeroll) has orchestrated his release in order to hone in on whatever they didn’t learn before about the organ trafficking operation.
To protect the integrity of her squad, Anna-Maria is taking a tough love approach with the bumbling Semmelweis, but not as tough as the approach he’s taking with himself! His PTSD is, understandably, extreme, and his Austrian methods of mental health self-help are making it worse. Only someone who hails from the same country as Mozart would try to control their mind by staring at a metronome. All of this causes Semmelweis’s previously tight seams to begin unraveling. Flashbacks lead him to recall that the corpses they found in the underground tunnels during the organ trafficking case were not immigrants, but Swiss nationals! Mysterious numbers are coming to him in his dreams! Thinking he’s hot on the trail and looking for personal justice, he actually gets further off course with the help of Pedro whose strings are secretly being pulled by the execrable Lauener. In the end, it’s revealed that an undertaker has been working with Lauener the whole time, moving dead bodies through customs to hide precious cargo. All signs point to Luc and thus begins the madcap convergence of every player in this drama – each thinking he has solved it – until the shocking truth comes out. In the end, Pedro’s case is solved, but at a heavy price.
“The devil is a squirrel.”
How I loved learning the German-language phrase “the devil is a squirrel,” apparently meaning that the devil often comes disguised as something harmless. In fact, it’s the perfect literal description of this whole season, with everyone running around, behaving like actual squirrels, though it’s no wonder – this crazy plotline was zooming in every direction. And it was brilliant. Never have I enjoyed binge-watching a series so much. The cases of the week are clever, the cast is charming down to the last, and the overarching story is a twisting, turning work of art. I don’t know how they had time, but in the midst of all this chaos, Luc and the gang manage to catch some run-of-the-mill town murderers: you know, transgender models wielding an automobile, various angry husbands throwing rocks from bridges, octogenarian vigilantes… your basic stuff.
Family Ties
Fabio continues to grow in his role as assistant undertaker, with the support of Luc and Erika. They even support his terrible band, the Morbid Roses, who have obtained the funniest band van ever seen the highway. Though the relationship between Anna-Maria and Luc can’t seem to stay on its feet, the family unit of the Institut and law enforcement teams is lovely, indeed (especially when Semmelweis, finally understanding that Luc has been on his side all along, calls him “buddy!”). In fact, as we close out the season and can finally bid farewell to Lauener’s international body-hustling scheme, things seem to be moving in a more personal direction. Like, really personal. Avoiding facing her mother’s death until the bitter end, Anna-Maria has a moment of clarity when she finds out the name of her father – the man who raped her mother — and, presumably, goes off in search of him. That’s dark, but the truth appears to be far more sinister. For reasons unknown, Anna-Maria’s brother has taken her and is holding her prisoner in some dank basement. What?! On to Season 4!
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About the author:
Allison Lowe Huff is a freelance writer and editor with an overly concentrated interest in mystery stories from anywhere and everywhere. Follow her on Twitter @lowehuff.
