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Streaming series review - Homicide Hills
Light-hearted German police show is even more entertaining in its second season
Homicide Hills: Season Two ***1/2 (out of 5) Below is the link to my previous review on this site for Season One of this light-hearted German TV crime series:
https://patch.com/missouri/clayton-richmondheights/streaming-series-review-homicide-hills-season-one
For its second season, Homicide Hills has upped its game on the comedy side, based on the six of 13 episodes made available for review. Sophie (Caroline Peters) is about to leave the too-peaceful hamlet for a more challenging job with the Cologne police when her dad’s heart attack keeps her stuck in the boonies. That also introduces a new character – the charming live-in nurse, Danuta ((Karina Krawczyk) to care for what might become ALL of his needs. This plot line is still evolving in the first half of the season. Sophie had a fling with rival cop Andreas (Max Gertsch) that ran its course rather quickly …perhaps.
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Within the three-member Hengasch police department, conflicts continue amusingly between mousy Dietmar (Bjarne Madel) and his overbearing wife Helga (scene-stealing Petra Kleinert), especially when his old unrequited crush turns up in episode 3 and has him rather mesmerized with memories. As before, Helga provides a mix of help, hindrance and just plain nuisance as the town’s leading busybody. Barbel’s Meike Droste) eagerness to learn from Sophie – her sensei, shifu or mentor, depending on your genre preference – continues charmingly. She’s not quite up to emulating Sophie’s seductive tactics in working a witness or suspect, but is catching up on the sleuthing skills.
Between oddball characters and situations, the requisite murders and mayhem continue with varying degrees of whimsy on the side. In episode 2, the town is in upheaval from someone blowing up ceramic garden gnomes and critters. The pot-growing mystery of Episode 4 is probably the funniest of this half-dozen offerings, with the clash between locals and a gang of middle-aged, middle-class bikers over the noise they make as a close second.
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Bottom line: Season Two seems even more enjoyable than the first from a combination of settling in with now-familiar regulars, and scripts containing more mirth while maintaining the mysteries to be solved in each outing. Nice to know there are more seasons yet to come.
(Homicide Hills: Season Two, mostly in German with subtitles, streams on MHzChoice as of 5/16/23)