Woman of the Dead – Season 1 Episode 6 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

The Fifth Man

A young boy and a girl drive to meet a group of other boys at the start of Woman of the Dead episode 6. They include the younger versions of the doctor, Father Jaunig, and Bertl Puch.

The girl, Gerda Theile, asks for Sebastian Hackspiel but he isn’t there. They all get into a cable car. When the girl says it’s beautiful, the young Schönborn asks why she doesn’t tell her father that. He angrily accuses her of helping him disrupt the Schönborn’s business. Schönborn then entices the other boys into raping her together.

At the police station, the inspector introduces federal officer Wallner to Blum. Using Blum’s car’s tire marks as proof, they ask her if she visited Father Jaunig before he died. Blum says she went there with Nela, to apologise. They then accuse her of being the last person to see Edwin before he disappeared too and bring up the compromising photographs. Since Mrs. Schönborn must have given them the photographs, Blum surmises, they must also know that Edwin sent her a text a few days later. And he’s not even officially missing yet. When they ask her for her whereabouts during Jaunig’s murder, Massimo enters and says she was with him.

Mrs. Schönborn makes a presentation of her company to a new set of investors, the ones she had been hesitant about before.

Blum tells Massimo he didn’t have to do that. He tells her to come over for dinner when they can talk about it further, now that Ute has left him.

Inspector Danzberger berates Massimo for not telling him earlier. Massimo stands his ground.

Blum and Reza talk about the risk of being found out. Reza says that if something happens to Blum, he can take care of the kids. They decide to get rid of all the evidence.

Hackspiel meets Mrs. Schönborn and tells her that he is leaving the town, and her, for good. When she protests, he uses the video in the flash drive to threaten her. He tells her he now knows that Edwin was part of the reason Gerda disappeared.

While cleaning the funeral parlour, Blum tells Reza that Massimo gave her an alibi. Reza hopes he won’t back down from it.

Karl gets a notice about a black SUV from his source and leaves the house.

Meanwhile, Blum gets dressed and notices her earring is missing. She heads to Massimo’s place where they share a drink.

Karl reaches the garage where he confronts the mechanic about a black range rover that was in his garage but that he didn’t report. He reveals that he didn’t do so because the car was from the police and was returned to them.

Over dinner, Massimo tells Blum not to worry about the inspector. They start talking about the possible connection between the cases of Jaunig, Edwin and Puch. Blum tries to remain casual about it. Massimo says he has something for her and gives her the one earring he found at Puch’s restaurant. He says he wants both of them to be honest and promises to help her. They start kissing.

Back in the funeral parlour, Reza watches the video Hackspiel gave them and finds that there aren’t four but five of the men. He tries to call Blum but she doesn’t answer.

Blum stops kissing Massimo, saying she can’t go ahead with this. She sees the boy scout mark on his skin as he tucks his shirt inside.

Reza heads out and meets Karl entering the house. Karl tells him about the black range rover and how it was part of a list of cars Massimo was in charge of. Karl laments not finding the driver while Reza realises that it was Massimo all along.

Blum states that Massimo is one of ‘them’ and he doesn’t deny it. He talks about how Mark called him from the toll station, talking about dead girls and torture devices. Massimo let slip about the animal masks during the conversation which is how Mark found out about him. Massimo was the one who killed Mark. He says the others aren’t able to kill, he is the executioner of the group. He even intercepted Dunja as she was running away and killed her.

Massimo asks Blum how she murdered all those men. When she says she did it for her children, he retorts that she did it for herself. He claims they are similar and he understands her. She manages to pull out her gun and shoot but they are only blanks. He had taken out the bullets earlier. In one swipe, Massimo knocks Blum out.

Back in the past, a flashback shows a young Massimo who arrives at the cable car station to see the other four boys wondering what to do with Gerda, who is curled up on the floor. Massimo kicks her in the head and kills her. Later, they all brand the boy scout symbol on their bodies to show their loyalty to the secret.

Schönborn makes a deal with the new investors despite them ending up with 42% of the company. Behringer insists she will have control as the head of the company.

By the time Reza reaches Massimo’s house, nobody is there. He remembers what Blum said about Zoeblenk top station and heads in that direction.

Blum wakes up at the station, inside a hatch, laid in between two dead girls. They talk to her, saying Massimo is going to burn her. He hasn’t had time for them because Blum kept him on his toes. Massimo arrives and pours gasoline on them.

Reza reaches around the same time but a noise alerts Massimo to his presence. While Massimo goes to check, Blum grabs a shard of bone, escapes the hatch and hides behind a pillar. Massimo comes back and tries to get her but shoots at Reza instead. Before he can shoot Reza in the head, Blum attacks Massimo and stabs him with the bone.

Schönborn celebrates the finalisation of her deal. Firecrackers burst in the sky as Reza and Blum leave the station together.

Later, Inspector Danzberger and some officers search through Massimo’s house and find evidence of his crimes.

Blum meets with Mrs. Schönborn and tells her about the girls in the engine room. Referring to the video she has, Blum tells Schönborn that she and her family must be left alone. Schönborn tells Blum that she misses her son just as much as Blum misses her husband.

The inspector checks Massimo’s call records and finds Blum’s name there. The federal agent comes in and tells him to send all the findings from Massimo’s house.

At home, Karl confronts Blum about her injured leg and Reza’s injured arm. He asks if he should be worried and Blum replies that he doesn’t, not yet.

Schönborn meets her new investor. He subtly threatens her into not making any decisions against his own interests, effectively limiting her control over her own company.

Blum and her family enjoy a nice dinner with Reza and Nela’s friend, Jakob.

A flashback shows Mark asking Blum if her parents deserved it. Turns out, he knew she had done it on purpose from the very beginning. She says it’s better that they’re dead and he believes her, reinforcing their trust in each other. The episode comes to a close with a shot of Blum on the boat where her parents died.

The Episode Review

Woman of the Dead bows out with a standard finale. The bad guys are all dead and the somewhat bad Mrs. Schönborn finds herself in a distasteful business situation. Blum and her family are now free to find some peace. A sense of justice is served for the young victims as well as Mark.

Unfortunately, a lot of plotholes remain. Blum herself isn’t seen doing anything to establish her innocence. She believes she’s gotten away with it. Everything seems a little too peaceful for someone who murdered four people. We also never find out why the man at the toll station deletes his security footage.

Considering the slapdash way she committed the crimes, it makes sense that the federal agent wants to continue the investigation. But they don’t follow it up, making this either a loophole or an open ending for a season 2.

Unlike most of the show, the last leg of this episode offers some poignant emotional beats. A significant one is the flashback showing that Mark always knew about Blum’s murder of her parents. His unwavering faith in her sense of justice is touching and makes the entire journey that much more worth it.

Blum talking to corpses was one of the most fascinating aspects of the show. It straddled the line between reality and fantasy, while also being backed by very real trauma. It could have made the show a lot more interesting and enjoyable but they didn’t tap into that potential.

The series did bring up some interesting themes about abuse, immigration, and revenge but they are only handled at the surface level and has to be one of the biggest disappointments of the show. Overall, a decent end to a decent show that, honestly, could have been much more gripping.