Vienna Blood Season 4 discussion

[statsgirl]

Vienna Blood has been renewed for season 4 and now that each show can have multiple threads, it's time to have a dedicated thread for the new season.

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As the synopsis for Season 4 reveals, the new installment will "feature a single story told over multiple episodes.

When the double murder of an arms dealer in police custody and a senior public official shakes Vienna to its core, Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt and Doctor Max Liebermann discover a conspiracy and must rush to stop a seditious mole from destroying the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Filming for Vienna Blood Season 4 is slated to start before the end of summer 2023. However, chances are with the six-month delay in getting production off the ground, PBS may have to wait until later in 2024, if not 2025, to see the new season.

 

[LGraves65]

I'm in the US but have already seen S4 (I have...ways).  It's really quite good, with a 😮 twist at the end.

 

 

[HoodlumSheep]

4x01:

good to have this show back!!!

pretty solid season opener imo

max seems extra chipper! A lot more relaxed. his trip to america did him some good.

no max love interest shenanigans this episode which is always a bonus.

oskar and his lady friend :(. theresa? therese? things seem to be over between them at least for now...

the archivist whose name i can never remember (sorry queen!) continues to be a favorite. love her so much. the code cracking was neat.

they've got a nice little rag tag team going right now!

anyone know how long the timeskip was this time? this series is so spread apart i can't keep track of the timeline. i feel like last season was 1907 maybe? i'm probably wrong lol. my internet search has been less than fruitful for some reason.

 

[Irlandesa]

I've already seen all four episodes of Season 4 on Passport and it was a pretty interesting season.  I'm sad it appears that it'll be the last because the production company shut down. 

Clara and Max give me all the angsty feels and I love it.  I'm so glad that his original love interests didn't work out--probably because of scheduling/ 

[Zella]

Just now, Irlandesa said:

probably because of scheduling/ 

My understanding, which could be wrong, is that the showrunners acknowledged she and Max had no chemistry, so they just wrote her out. I didn't think he had any with the original Amelia either. 

6 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I'm sad it appears that it'll be the last because the production company shut down. 

I also have watched the full season--waiting to give my thoughts--and am also disappointed it seems to be the end. I didn't realize the production company shut down. 

11 hours ago, HoodlumSheep said:

the archivist whose name i can never remember (sorry queen!) continues to be a favorite. love her so much. the code cracking was neat.

I love her too and really loved the code scene! Her name is Frau Linder. 

11 hours ago, HoodlumSheep said:

i feel like last season was 1907 maybe? i'm probably wrong lol. my internet search has been less than fruitful for some reason.

Per this PBS station, season 3 was 1908. 

https://www.kpbs.org/news/2024/11/03/vienna-blood-season-3 

[zoey1996]

I am so glad this is back!

The case is very interesting. I don't recall why Rheinhardt's boss seems to oppose him. The dynamic amongst Max, Oskar, and Frau Linder works so well. Loved the "code" scene.

[alias1]

I have to second all the love for the archivist.  She's terrific.

I don't think things are over for Theresa and Oskar (at least I hope not).  They clearly still have feelings for each other and her lout of a husband is standing in the way.  He looks like a violent sort. 

I've only seen this first episode so have no knowledge of anything happening later. If there are to be no more seasons, I hope Oskar and Theresa are not left as a cliffhanger.

 

 

[statsgirl]

This is set in 1909. The world will change in 5 years.

I do like Strasser's replacement. He seems to have the Commissar's number. I wonder if Oskar will work with him without blowback from the Commissar but I doubt it.

I like Oskar and Therese last season but I don't understand why she would stick by her husband.  There was divorce in Austria in 1909, my great grandmother left her husband a few years before then.

All thumbs up for the archivist. I also like the new addition to Oskar's team.

I don't think that I was paying enough attention because I'm missing how Strasser and Mephisto and Kiss all tie together other than very superficially.

I really like this show, the stories, the period, the costumes and decor. I will be sorry if it never comes back.

[Zella]

18 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

but I don't understand why she would stick by her husband. 

My biggest issue with the relationship is her never once mentioning to him that she was, you know, married. It was nice to see Oscar happy again, but I really disliked the dynamic that was created with her never mentioning that versus her just telling him whatever happened. Reading between the lines, I never could tell if her husband had abandoned them and returned unexpectedly or if he'd returned after her kicking him out, though I'd always assumed it was the former. 

[Rickster]

On 1/6/2025 at 10:40 AM, Irlandesa said:

I've already seen all four episodes of Season 4 on Passport and it was a pretty interesting season.  I'm sad it appears that it'll be the last because the production company shut down. 

Clara and Max give me all the angsty feels and I love it.  I'm so glad that his original love interests didn't work out--probably because of scheduling/ 

A little research seems to show the series was adapted from a series of books and they have reached the end of them (unless they skipped a book in the middle). I guess they would have to start writing original scripts to keep it going and maybe it was not successful enough to do that.

I’m sorry to see it end. It was a nice change to all the British based mystery dramas on PBS.

[Zella]

49 minutes ago, Rickster said:

A little research seems to show the series was adapted from a series of books and they have reached the end of them (unless they skipped a book in the middle). I guess they would have to start writing original scripts to keep it going and maybe it was not successful enough to do that.

I’m sorry to see it end. It was a nice change to all the British based mystery dramas on PBS.

The books are excellent, by the way! The TV adaptations often are very different, so I enjoyed reading them after watching the show. The author has not released a new one in years, so I think he must not be interested in picking them back up himself. 

I did see where he was okay with them going off book, but I agree with you that the network itself/production company didn't want to mess with it.

https://www.whattowatch.com/news/vienna-blood-author-on-future-of-hit-tv-version

Here's what he said specifically:

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"Right from the beginning I made the decision I was going to take a backseat in the BBC's adaptation. For me, the test of whether an idea is good or not is if you can hand it over and other people can run with it, but the core remains the same. TV is a very different medium to a novel and a production like this is a group accomplishment. Having a novelist too heavily involved could constrain the talent and be an obstacle to the group's creativity. 

"When you exhaust the books, if you've let the idea develop and gain its own momentum, in a way it doesn't need the novels or the author anymore… but doesn't in any way stop me from writing proposals or plot ideas!"

 

 

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, Rickster said:

A little research seems to show the series was adapted from a series of books and they have reached the end of them (unless they skipped a book in the middle). I guess they would have to start writing original scripts to keep it going and maybe it was not successful enough to do that.

They've already started writing original scripts.  I believe Season 4 isn't connected to a book in the series. 

[Rickster]

4 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

They've already started writing original scripts.  I believe Season 4 isn't connected to a book in the series. 

I think you’re right. I looked at the list of books and “Mephisto Waltz” was the final one in the series, however the plot seems different than what we’re watching.

[Zella]

42 minutes ago, Rickster said:

I think you’re right. I looked at the list of books and “Mephisto Waltz” was the final one in the series, however the plot seems different than what we’re watching.

A lot of the books are pretty unrecognizable from the episodes, even when the summaries seem the same. But after some further thought, I do think Irlandsea is right that they wrote an original one for season 4, despite borrowing a title from the series. 

[Irlandesa]

For the record, I haven't read the books but I did read an article that made the claim that Season 4 was all original and I think it might explain why it's a 4-episode season-long mystery vs. the seasons with 3 mysteries (in Part I and Part II formats in the US).

I can't speak to its veracity. 

Edited January 13 by Irlandesa

[HoodlumSheep]

4x01 PT 2

so tired of the max and clara romance. sucks the energy out of the episode. It's a shame that it looks like they'll end up together (if it had to be anyone it should be him and oskar!!).

he had better chemistry with the gambling proprietor lady (Fix from ATWI80D!!!! HI FIX!)

NOOOOOOO OSKAR SHOT MAX?!?!?!? loved the atmosphere of the entire misty tunnel cavern sequence leading up to it though ngl

[Zella]

37 minutes ago, HoodlumSheep said:

4x01 PT 2

so tired of the max and clara romance. sucks the energy out of the episode. It's a shame that it looks like they'll end up together (if it had to be anyone it should be him and oskar!!).

he had better chemistry with the gambling proprietor lady (Fix from ATWI80D!!!! HI FIX!)

NOOOOOOO OSKAR SHOT MAX?!?!?!? loved the atmosphere of the entire misty tunnel cavern sequence leading up to it though ngl

I'm also not a fan of the Max-Clara romance. I like Max on his own, and I like Clara too. But I feel like the way he treated her earlier in the series was really horrible, and I just really cannot root for that relationship. 

[alias1]

I'm guessing Therese's husband will end up dead and Oskar will be blamed, since the neighbor saw him going in.

That underground cavern must induce hallucinations.  If Oskar had really shot Max the way it looked, Max would be dead.  It was a very mesmerizing sequence.  Really well done. 

I agree Max seemed to have chemistry with the casino lady but I'm sure he'll end up with Clara.  I'm glad Clara is not making it easy though.

  

 

[alias1]

In thinking over the Therese/Oskar sequence, something seemed off about it.  I have not seen any future episodes.  Maybe I'm being too cynical, or I've seen too much television, but I hope Therese is not playing Oskar.

[Dowel Jones]

Just for reference, 'chemin-de-fer' is a variation of baccarat (from Wikipedia), but unlike the way it's played in this episode, the game does require a bit of skill from the players.  However, I think the way it's played here ties in much better with the general ambiance of the episode.

[statsgirl]

I like the show but this season has been very weird. It feels more like I'm watching an art film than Vienna Blood.

i did love all the pretty clothes at Rieger's.  I appreciate how well the show shows the class differences in early 1900s Vienna. Fraulein Reiger calls out that Maxi's demeanor is not that of an English lord; also while Oskar and Max are near equals while working on a case, at Reiger's the class difference shows. 

Oskar's story with Theresa seems shady. Poor Oskar.

I wonder if Clara's new editor is a shady character and involved with Mephisto.

[HoodlumSheep]

4x02 pt 1

really good episode. some very pretty cinematography.

with max incapacitated i'm missing our crime solving duo though. at least we get him in weird dream sequences lol.

that assassin is a really good shot to hit traitor policeman no. 1 out of ?? at that angle with oskar blocking a majority of the view

this show really knows how to build the suspense up

 

 

[alias1]

I felt like this was a filler episode with Oskar running all over the place.  They still have Therese looking shady, but it might be a deliberate misdirection.  Is next week the final?  They will have a lot of cleaning up to do.  I'm not sure exactly why, but I was disappointed in this episode.