‘Babylon Berlin’ is finally back for a fourth season — but not on Netflix
American viewers had never seen anything quite like “Babylon Berlin.” Set during the late ’20s, the first season of the German-produced limited series premiered on Netflix in 2018. Season 2 debuted a year later, and season 3 in 2020. The series had lavish production values, impressive artistic ambitions, and sweeping story lines: cops both noble and corrupt; Nazis; Soviet agents; gangsters; a mad scientist (of sorts); frantic night life; drugs; lots of sex and even more violence. it was also quite shameless: Who knew so many coincidental encounters could occur in a city of 4 million?
Season 4, set in 1930 and ’31, appeared in Europe in 2022. it didn’t make it over here until last month — and not on Netflix, but Mhz choice, a boutique streamer specializing in international programming. Mhz also has seasons 1-3, which left Netflix in February (ah, the intricacies of licensing). in addition to subscribers, the service is also available via Amazon Prime, comcast’s Xfinity X1, and Roku.
More precisely, it was the first four episodes that made it over here last month. Episodes 5 and 6 start streaming on Tuesday, with the other six arriving in pairs over the remaining Tuesdays in July.
“BB” fans will not be disappointed. Episode 1 features a Nazi riot, a stolen diamond necklace, and a proto-v1 rocket fired at a New Year’s Eve party. Episode 3 opens with a zeppelin flying across the Atlantic (no, really). Episode 4 has a dance marathon and a boxing match where the fix is in and . . . well, if you’re a fan, you know how it is. if you’re not, you can imagine.
if you’re not a fan, though, what you can’t appreciate is how Volker Bruch, as a police inspector Gereon Rath, and Liv Lisa Fries, as police clerk charlotte Ritter (yes, Gereon and charlotte are sweet on each other), elevate the proceedings and hold them together.
Gereon, a World War i veteran who suffers from what we’d now call PTSD, self-medicates with morphine and turns for help to that mad scientist. Rath has the most haunted eyes this side of cillian Murphy and wears a fedora with a matterof-fact authority that must make him the envy of every Brooklyn hipster.
Fries, who looks even better in a cloche hat than Rath does in a fedora, is the best thing in the series. Thanks to her, you believe charlotte really is that spunky, smart, dedicated, generous, ambitious, capable, enterprising, quick witted, forthright, honorable, undaunted yet vulnerable. She’s also, ahem, very pretty. No matter how over the top “BB” can get,” and that’s very over the top, everything’s right where it should be so long as she’s on screen.
A fifth and final season is supposed to start filming at the end of this year.