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queer_scribbling) wrote2025-01-12 02:30 am
queer_scribbling) wrote2025-01-12 02:30 am
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Vienna Blood (S4)
With the history of splitting up episodes for tv viewing, I'll need to double check my numbering. Like, last week and this week were both S4E1, and it could just be a sign that we didn't get the longer version of numbering this time around. I dunno.
We're in early 1909, I believe. Part of investigating this case involved going to a casino, and thank [insert deity of your choice], we did not have to sit through poker. I cannot tell you how many times a show will try to do something with poker, and I'm just clueless. I'm not sure Max's father was entirely correct that the Talmud doesn't mention gambling, but you know, he was just excited to help Max dress up to look like an English Lord for the attempted undercover trip. (Max returned from a New York book tour, so he's now internationally recognised and seemed to forget that might make undercover attempts less likely to succeed now.)
E2 specifically involves the help of The Palace's staff to get Max down into the exclusive game while Oskar tracks down whatever was left in the cloak-slash-storage room associated with the number they have from the singer. It turns out to be a gun with a silencer, which won't be revealed until the next episode. Personally I wouldn't so far as the recapper as to say that Max is merely naive when he's appalled by the exclusive game offering the chance to gamble with people (and much higher stakes than simply money). This may be a time of more secular assimilation for Jews in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but I don't think it's really that surprising that a Jew is uneasy about gambling with people and getting into quasi-slavery territory. (Belief isn't required to be aware of the stories in the Torah and a major theme of a holiday [Pesach].) However, the major thing about E2 is that the episode ends with Oskar trying to follow the shadowy person who took the suitcase with the rifle with the silencer into the foggy tunnels of the former mine and thinking he unintentionally shot Max because he only heard his own gunshot.
There's this 'Oskar talking to Max in a weird almost dream mind-space' thing that maintains some amount of Max's character while he's dealing with surgery and recovery, but I'm not a huge fan of it. I suppose it works alright enough for this season, but I'm glad it hasn't been a tactic for the whole show. Oskar is framed for Therese's husband being murdered, he's getting too close to figuring out who Mephisto is, what feels like the usual sort of narrative when doing a 'hunting for a traitor' type of story. I dunno how complicated this is all going to wind up being in the end, but the mysterious figure shooting the constable [who has been a part of stopping Oskar's investigation into Mephisto] in front of Oskar instead of him was definitely a move. It could just be the shadowy figure who shot Max with the rifle with the silencer, but it also felt very deliberate that the person in the window didn't shoot Oskar.
(Max's parents mention that they're going to shul because the rabbi is going to say a certain service for Max. I might have to rewatch to catch the specific phrase there, but I suspect it has something to do with including him in the Mi Shebeirach - a prayer for those who need healing.)
I'm not sure what else to say but everything finally slots into place. Oskar gets help from those who believe he didn't actually kill Therese's husband, and he really gets to have the case-solving spotlight. Max does come out of his coma in the end, but we mostly get to see more of that weird almost-dream space (and Oskar delivers a touching eulogy for dream-Max there, in case Max dies). Due to saving the Emperor's life, Oskar gets a letter from him for being reinstated in the police force, so he gets to return to work in the end.
Matthew Beard & Juergen Maurer Talk 'Vienna Blood's Accidental Timeliness:
You, hypothetical reader, probably aren't aware of how many people I've heard talk about this preparation, this sense of checking to see if it's time to flee yet. This may not be making aliyah, but it very well may be looking to see what other countries are (relatively) safer. No, not everyone, but it's a very real resonance for some.
E1 Mephisto Waltz
Recap.We're in early 1909, I believe. Part of investigating this case involved going to a casino, and thank [insert deity of your choice], we did not have to sit through poker. I cannot tell you how many times a show will try to do something with poker, and I'm just clueless. I'm not sure Max's father was entirely correct that the Talmud doesn't mention gambling, but you know, he was just excited to help Max dress up to look like an English Lord for the attempted undercover trip. (Max returned from a New York book tour, so he's now internationally recognised and seemed to forget that might make undercover attempts less likely to succeed now.)
E2: A Winning Hand
Recap.E2 specifically involves the help of The Palace's staff to get Max down into the exclusive game while Oskar tracks down whatever was left in the cloak-slash-storage room associated with the number they have from the singer. It turns out to be a gun with a silencer, which won't be revealed until the next episode. Personally I wouldn't so far as the recapper as to say that Max is merely naive when he's appalled by the exclusive game offering the chance to gamble with people (and much higher stakes than simply money). This may be a time of more secular assimilation for Jews in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but I don't think it's really that surprising that a Jew is uneasy about gambling with people and getting into quasi-slavery territory. (Belief isn't required to be aware of the stories in the Torah and a major theme of a holiday [Pesach].) However, the major thing about E2 is that the episode ends with Oskar trying to follow the shadowy person who took the suitcase with the rifle with the silencer into the foggy tunnels of the former mine and thinking he unintentionally shot Max because he only heard his own gunshot.
E3: The Enemy Within
Recap.There's this 'Oskar talking to Max in a weird almost dream mind-space' thing that maintains some amount of Max's character while he's dealing with surgery and recovery, but I'm not a huge fan of it. I suppose it works alright enough for this season, but I'm glad it hasn't been a tactic for the whole show. Oskar is framed for Therese's husband being murdered, he's getting too close to figuring out who Mephisto is, what feels like the usual sort of narrative when doing a 'hunting for a traitor' type of story. I dunno how complicated this is all going to wind up being in the end, but the mysterious figure shooting the constable [who has been a part of stopping Oskar's investigation into Mephisto] in front of Oskar instead of him was definitely a move. It could just be the shadowy figure who shot Max with the rifle with the silencer, but it also felt very deliberate that the person in the window didn't shoot Oskar.
(Max's parents mention that they're going to shul because the rabbi is going to say a certain service for Max. I might have to rewatch to catch the specific phrase there, but I suspect it has something to do with including him in the Mi Shebeirach - a prayer for those who need healing.)
E4: The Face of Mephisto
Recap.I'm not sure what else to say but everything finally slots into place. Oskar gets help from those who believe he didn't actually kill Therese's husband, and he really gets to have the case-solving spotlight. Max does come out of his coma in the end, but we mostly get to see more of that weird almost-dream space (and Oskar delivers a touching eulogy for dream-Max there, in case Max dies). Due to saving the Emperor's life, Oskar gets a letter from him for being reinstated in the police force, so he gets to return to work in the end.
Post-Season
This is currently believed to be the last season of the show, though things have been left in such a way that it wouldn't be impossible to come back for a season 5. It does feel like... Like something has ended when a show that doesn't flinch away from historical antisemitism or apologise for humanising this Jewish family is no longer airing. Mr and Mrs Liebermann have a moment where they propose the idea of returning to London instead of trying to remain in Vienna, and this feels like a time where I can understand.Matthew Beard & Juergen Maurer Talk 'Vienna Blood's Accidental Timeliness:
Alluding to the Liebermann family's unusual position in Vienna as successful, wealthy business owners who are also foreign Jews, Beard believes "it'd be irresponsible not to at least touch on" how the unsettled times "would affect their lives in Vienna." The Liebermanns have had to endure both subtle and overt antisemitism each season, culminating in a sad, quiet moment in the fourth season's finale, where Max's mother Rachel suggests to Mendel that it might be time for them to close up shop and return to England. Beard concludes that paradoxically, the disturbing subject matter from 1909 is so resonant now that the material was "more accessible to play, and to tap into, because unfortunately, that fear is with us now, as well."
You, hypothetical reader, probably aren't aware of how many people I've heard talk about this preparation, this sense of checking to see if it's time to flee yet. This may not be making aliyah, but it very well may be looking to see what other countries are (relatively) safer. No, not everyone, but it's a very real resonance for some.