Greta recants her earlier testimony implicating the Nazis, instead blaming the communists. She faces retaliation from the communists in prison.
Gennat cracks the whip over the Betty Winter investigation now that it has produced three murders.
Gereon discovers an occult connection shared between Betty Winter, Tristan Rot, Felix Krempin. Meanwhile, Henning and Czerwinski discover from the set's beverage deliveryman that Tristan had the key to the back gate through which the Phantom escaped after murdering Tilly Brooks.
Gereon asks Graef to look into the sealed files on the Benda assassination.
Charlotte's sister's glaucoma continues to worsen. The Ritters are completely unable to pay for treatment.
Helga and Moritz get settled into their new accommodations, provided by Alfred Nyssen. Gereon sets Henning and Czerwinski to finding out where they are.
At the end of the day, Gereon and Graef, as well as Charlotte and Vera, go out on the town.
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: A very dark version. It seems at first that the archivist is going to report Graef for photographing sensitive files, then it seems he wants to hurt him, but in the end it turns out that he recognizes Graef from his days as a cross-dressing prostitute and apparently forces him to perform oral sex.
- Chekhov's Gun: The list of names discovered by Graef
- Chekhov's Gunman: The beverage deliveryman and his associate, the latter of which a particularly attentive viewer might recognize
- Enemies List: Graef discovers a list of people under surveillance by the political police, now headed by Councilor Wendt. Katelbach is one of the names.
- Foreshadowing: Gereon sees Dr Ullrich injecting himself with insulin from his hidden stash under the stairs.
- Jerkass: Weintraub in particular, as his only concern after the murder of Tilly Brooks is how soon they can get back to filming, and casually dismisses Charlotte when she attempts to question him out of misogyny.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: It is heavily implied that Charlotte is the product of the affair that gave her mother syphilis.
- Parental Substitute: Gennat to Graef
- Rape as Drama: Graef's past as a cross-dressing prostitute comes back hard as the archivist recognizes him and forces him to perform oral sex.
- Right Hand Versus Left Hand: Gennat places Gereon and Boehm jointly on the Betty Winter case, and starts pitting them against each other.
- Running Gag: Apparently fed up with people barging into his darkroom while developing photographs, Graef has installed a lock on the door.
- The Unintelligible: The beverage deliveryman because his tongue has been cut out.
