Detective Forst – Season 1 Episode 4 Recap & Review

Episode 4

Episode 4 of Detective Forst begins with Forst gathering his remaining strength to escape from the villa. After taking the ropeway down, Forst heads straight to Frana’s house. Forst opens her safe only to find hundreds of pictures of young women and a small ledger. All of this suggests that Frana was involved in human trafficking and had been supplying girls to Lowotarski so he could tend to his rich friends and their hobbies. 

As the scene progresses, we see Staszek’s secret coming to light. In reality, Staszek was having an affair with the Minister’s son and was probably the last person to see him alive. Olga visits Staszek’s home to ask him about the headless corpse and ends up watching the clip that shows Staszek having sex with the Minister’s son.

After a cat-and-mouse chase, Staszek opens up that the headless body found near the river belongs to Maks. But he’s not the killer, says Staszek, and requests Olga not to reveal his secret to anyone in the police force, at least for a few days. Between this, Staszek plans to find and bring the killer to justice. Unfortunately, Staszek’s plan doesn’t go as planned, and he ends up getting kidnapped by the killer.

When Forst sees Olga, the duo gives in to their obvious sexual tension and sleeps together. In addition, Forst also tells Olga about the prostitution racket run by Lowotarski, who knew that the beast of Giewont was after him. For more information about the people in the photograph, the duo visits the Tatra Museum.

Therein, one of the oldest tour guides gives them a history lecture on Lowotarski and his friends. In reality, everyone in the photo was a Nazi collaborator who tortured and murdered the local people to keep them on a tight leash. Not only that, they often kidnapped their daughters and used them as slaves to satisfy their lust.

Many died, but one of them, named Miroslawa, got lucky and escaped. Later, she gave birth to Halina, the same old woman we see at the beginning of episode 2. Forst remembers Halina as the director of the orphanage he grew up in, and when he pays Halina a visit, he’s reminded of another tragic memory.

Some thirty years ago, Forst tried to break into Halina’s office to steal her necklace alongside Iwo. When caught, Iwo took the blame upon himself to save Forst. Iwo was called a thief, and that’s why he was never adopted by anyone. While on the other hand, Forst was adopted by a couple, who originally wanted to adopt Iwo. 

If you’re yet to pick it up, Iwo is also Dominicka’s husband, who serves as a police prosecutor. To simplify, Halina was using Iwo to exact her revenge while the latter was leaving coins on the murder scene to remind Forst about the event that took place decades ago. As the episode nears its end, Iwo kills Halina, proving that she was never in control. Iwo then knocks out Forst and Olga and sets the place on fire. Fortunately, Forst wakes up in the nick of time and escapes a scorching death with Olga. 

The Episode Review

Episode 4 of Detective Forst peels back layers, and we learn about a dark past tied to Nazi collaborators and human trafficking. Forst also finds that his friend, Frana is also involved in all this.

Stazek’s secret affair also comes to light, prompting him to take a trip to the villa, where he first met Maks, only to be caught and caged. Olga’s and Forst’s visit to the Tatra museum leads him to Halina, which also brings back painful memories, connecting his past with Iwo’s.