Woman of the Dead (Totenfrau) is a German-language show directed by Nicolai Rohde with six episodes, each lasting around 45 minutes. The show stars Anna Maria Mühe, Felix Klare, Yousef Sweid, Shenja Lacher, Robert Palfrader, Simon Schwarz, Gregor Bloéb, Michou Friesz, Gerhard Liebmann, Hans Uwe Bauer, Sebastian Hülk, Andrea Wenzl, Wolfram Koch, Britta Hammelstein, Romina Küper and Peter Kurth. The episodes are written by Barbara Stepansky, Wolfgang Mueller, Benito Mueller, Mike Majzen, and Nicolai Rohde. Barbara Stepansky, Wolfgang Mueller and Benito Mueller have created the series.
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Woman of the Dead Review
It’s time to stand for women’s rights and women’s wrongs. And Woman of the Dead advocates that aphorism passionately. The protagonist Brunhilde Blum runs a funeral centre which is when we’re introduced to the fact that she speaks to dead people. This concerning beginning is only compounded by the fact that Blum’s husband dies in the first ten minutes of the show, throwing us right into the action.
However, the quick pace that the show picked up in the beginning hardly holds up later. Even after a lot of establishing shots and exposition, the show’s creators felt it necessary to continue letting the audience know about the scenic setting known as Annenoff, where these events take place in the show. Soon, audiences are watching the show through a lens that only rarely reveals any information within the story. After Blum’s husband dies and the police don’t seem to be making any effort to find his killer, she takes it upon herself to do the honours.
Soon, she starts digging into the truth, coming across important things that lead to a new character named Dunja. While Blum is wary of her in the beginning, she comes to terms with her strange presence and her connection with the protagonist’s husband. It is here when the plot essentially bursts open completely. Generally, in shows like this, death is the first step in finding out that there is something bigger. Albeit, this change could have been handled better. Viewers are left for the rest of the show aimless and spent after being fed the plot.
Blum only understands the nature of the crimes committed by her husband’s murderers, but there is still the aspect of finding out their identities. This turns out to be interesting because soon, she starts taking out players within the crime ring without any corroboration or strategic planning. It is underwhelming in that the precedent set for Blum has no payoff. She is consistently in over her head and doesn’t seem to have a handle on the situation at all.
There are major character inconsistencies for Blum, who is seen to be extremely dedicated to her family in the beginning and the end, only for there to be major oversights in other parts of the series. Additionally, there are storylines that have no legs to stand on and are instead added only to provoke some kind of indignation from the audience. What Woman of the Dead does extremely well, though, is maintaining her abilities as a professional in the funerary services field. It makes a rounded human being and gives her the opportunity to use femininity as a weapon.
The major obstacle that stands in the way of making this a good show is the lack of resistance. At no given moment is the audience pressed for information or is left in dire suspense. It does highlight an extremely astute point about the utility of the police, though. Blum is seen committing crimes left, right and centre with no consequence and very little pushback from her family members, friends and especially the police system.
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Final Thoughts
While the show lacks in overall plot, consistency and structure, what it does well is showcasing a messy woman going through grief. Perhaps, her lapses can be attributed to that, but the writer stands on their point about some aspects of the character’s life that don’t align with her presented characteristics.
Woman of the Dead is now streaming on Netflix.
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