Take a seat, Berlin Alexanderplatz and Heimat: A Chronicle of Germany, the most expensive series in German history justifies its budget with intricate plotting, dazzling sets, and expertly choreographed crowd sequences.
Director and co-creator Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) and collaborators pull out all the stops to recreate novelist Volker Kutscher's eight-volume take on Weimar-era Berlin. Hitler merits mention as a minor figure, but the politics in play are already fascistic in nature, much like Prohibition-era America in which law-breaking ran as rampant among the cops as the criminals.
Two central figures anchor the sprawling cast and labyrinthian storyline, starting with Cologne-born Gereon Rath (Generation War's Volker Bruch), a morphine-addicted member of the vice squad, driven largely by the desire to destroy the negatives of an incriminating film involving a powerful relative.
His female counterpart, Charlotte Ritter (The Wave's Liv Lisa Fries), who shares a crowded flat with her extended family, comes from humbler origins. By day, she reports to the same police headquarters as Rath, serving as a steno-typist in the homicide unit. By night, she lives the life of a jazz-age flapper, wearing borrowed finery, dancing at the Moka Efti cabaret, and supplying sexual favors on the side to supplement her overstretched income.
Shared interests bring her in contact with Rath, who becomes a friend, though his shady partner, Bruno (A Heavy Heart's Peter Kurth), becomes an enemy when he blackmails her in a bid to limit Rath's investigative powers. Other characters include Russian violinist Kardakov (Ivan Shvedoff), an anti-Stalinist, and his partner, Svetlana (Severija Janusauskaite), a gold-obsessed drag performer whose greed will mark her associates for death.
As these two seasons play out, most everyone crosses paths. When Rath rents Kardakov's old room, he starts to put the pieces together, roping Lotte in to solve the mystery of the musician's disappearance. It's valuable experience for Lotte, who would also like to work as a detective.
Another case will come her way when she runs into Greta (The Teachers' Lounge's Leonie Benesch), who has fallen on hard times.
Through Lotte, Greta will find employment with a powerful Jewish figure only to fall prey to unscrupulous opportunists. All the while, the city's left-wing faction increasingly finds themselves at odds with a police force that will stop at nothing to quell uprisings and eliminate key figures.
If the show proves hard to follow at first, the elements snap into place quickly enough. For all the beauty of the period outfits--those stunning hats!--and snazzy, Art Deco interiors, the brutality can be equally baroque, making for a challenging watch at times. Hence, the occasional dance sequence provides a breather whenever things get too intense.
There are no weak links among the cast, Bruch and Fries above all, who meet every challenge writers Tykwer, Achim von Borries, and Henk Handloegten throw at them. Through Netflix, Babylon Berlin has captivated international audiences, inspiring Sky Atlantic to renew it for two more seasons. This set comes complete with a detailed look at the production, including the disclosure that face powder is verboten, contributing to the look of a populace on edge at every level. Highly recommended.
During Babylon Berlin's first two seasons, the Weimar-era drama played like a musical whenever characters gathered at the Moka Efti to dance. Set prior to the stock market crash of 1929, the third season ditches cabaret to embrace socio-political intrigue.
Chilly Armenian gangster Kasabian (Exile's Mišel Matičević), husband of once-famous actress Esther (Munich's Meret Becker), abandons the club to focus on film production, but his plans run aground when the star of his latest film turns up dead. Though the film-within-a-film sequences involve Busby Berkeley-like choreography, movement takes precedence over music.
Police inspector Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch, a slight man with wary eyes) joins forces with police clerk Lotte (Liv Lisa Freis) to catch the murderer, a mysterious figure in a black cloak. The production continues with another actress, but when she also turns up dead, the mystery deepens, especially when they find another cloaked figure haunting the Babelsberg set.
Suspects include proto-Goth actor Tristan Rot (The Whistlers' Sabin Tambrea), Kasabian's partner Weintraub (Ronald Zehrfeld), who has eyes for his wife, and Esther, who believes she's the best actress for the part.
Fortunately, Rath's head is clear. While a different show might have detailed his efforts to kick the morphine habit that held him in its grip in previous seasons, that process takes place off-camera here. It may have something to do with his rekindled romance with Helga (Hannah Herzsprung), who relocated from Cologne to be with him, except their plans quickly crumble.
Alone and secretly pregnant, she enters into an arrangement with erratic industrialist Alfred (Irma Vep's Lars Eidinger), while her son, Moritz (Ivo Pietzcker), stays with his uncle. If the two enjoy a genial rapport, Rath worries about his nephew's involvement with the Hitler Youth.
It becomes an even greater concern when Rath and his former landlady and part-time lover, Elisabeth (Fritzi Haberlandt), shield Jewish reporter Katelbach (Karl Markovics) from enemies, like ruthless police counselor Wendt (Benno Fürmann), who will do anything to become chief of police.
Lotte, meanwhile, moves into a flat with her younger sister, Toni (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes's Irene Böhm). When their hard-luck older sister needs an operation, she considers a return to the sex work of her past. Little does she know that Toni has been following in her footsteps.
Babylon Berlin is nothing if not eventful, and other characters make their mark, including crime scene photographer Gräf (Christian Friedel), whose homosexuality is an open secret among his associates, police analyst Ullrich (Luc Felt), whose delusions of grandeur put the two inspectors at risk, and Greta (Leonie Benesch) a death row inmate seeking a last-chance appeal.
Building the central mystery around a series of film-set murders allows the writers to explore the links between surrealism, hypnotism, the occult and other shadowy subcultures thriving in Berlin at a transitional time.
The third season also witnesses Rath and Lotte becoming closer. Even as other characters come and go, they continue to anchor this compulsively watchable show, which can reach crazy heights, with the grounded strength of their performances. As highly recommended as the first two seasons.
Babylon Berlin - Seasons 1 & 2 and 3 are available on DVD and Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. Click here for more information. Season 4 is currently streaming on MHz Choice; Kino will release home video editions on Sept 24. Images from Prime Video (Volker Bruch), Glamour Daze (Liv Lisa Fries), TV Tropes (Bruch and Peter Kurth), The Guardian (Photograph: Frédéric Batier/X Filme), and Babylon Berlin GIFs (Bruch and Fritzi Haberlandt).
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