In the second half of the season, the Black Reichswehr and Sorokin Gold plots take center stage.
A mass grave is found in the woods. Charlotte's sister Toni makes a troubling discovery. A meeting with Homicide leads Gereon to a dreadful realization.
Tropes:
- Broken Smile: Nyssen's attempt to keep face at the shareholder meeting when his mother announces that he will be removed from his responsibilities with the company.
- Call-Back: Benda claims that they found Kardakov, and fourteen others, buried in a mass grave outside the city, a call back to the fox gnawing on severed arm back in Episode 7.
- Chekhov's Gun: Gereon replaces the bullet that killed Saint Josef with the bullet fired at him by Krajewski and given to him as a souvenir by Bruno back in Episode 1.
- Clueless Detective: The detectives on the crime scene at the forest claim they identified Kardakov based on a telegram found in his pocket (the one sent by an infiltrator back in Episode 1) – this is in truth only from his jacket, which he gave to another member of the cell back in Episode 2.
- Flashback Cut: When Gereon replaces the bullet, we get a short flashback to the scene in the pilot where Bruno handed him the bullet from Krajewski.
- Indulgent Fantasy Segue: At the shareholder meeting, the embarrassed Nyssen imagines himself walking over the table out of the room. Cut to him still sitting in his chair.
- Interrupted Bath: At the community bath, Charlotte gets interrupted by Gereon asking about the "print king" paper. Fanservice ensues.
- Legally Dead: Helga arrives with Moritz in Berlin, prompted by the announcement that Anno has officially been declared dead after ten years' missing. She and Gereon can now pursue their relationship openly.
- Lethal Diagnosis: The mother was diagnosed with syphilis a couple of days ago which seemed to have advanced the disease to its final stage.
- Passed in Their Sleep: Charlotte's mother died in her sleep and is found by Toni.
