Woman of the Dead or Totenfrau is a series based on the novel of the same name by Bernhard Aichner. It is created by Nicolai Rohde and the story revolves around Brünhilde Blum whose husband, mark died in front of her. The series stars Anna Maria Mühe, Romina Küper and Yousef ‘Joe’ Sweid.
Woman of the Dead - Episode 1 Summary & Recap
"Accident"
Brünhilde Blum (Anna Maria Mühe) is an undertaker who is quite used to the dead. She owns and runs a funeral home around a ski resort area. One morning, Blum woke up with her husband, Mark next to her. The previous night, Mark came back home late from a “long and complicated” day, and Blum was already asleep. That morning, everything seem to be as usual. The couple prepped their kids for school and had breakfast with Mark’s father, Karl Thaler (Hans-Uwe Bauer).
As Mark left home on his bike, a range rover suddenly hit him from behind at high speed in front of Blum. The driver drove away after the hit-and-run case and Blum lost her husband that very day. As an undertaker, Blum took care of Mark’s dead body. However, despite her usual easiness around the dead, having to face her dead husband proved difficult for Blum as she wept in the funeral home.
Strange events
As Mark is a police officer, the police held a memorial session for him at the Hotel Schönborn. The owner of the hotel, Johanna Schönborn came to pay her respects, but was acting strange. After the session, Mark’s supervisor, Wilhelm Danzberger approached Blum for Mark’s service gun. Blum did not know anything about it and was surprised that mark did not have the gun with him when he was going to work that morning.
In the afternoon, a still grieving Blum went to the petrol station and found CCTV cameras along the main road. Then, when she found out that the police hasn’t been checking there, Blum rushed over to the police station and told Wilhelm off for not prioritizing the efforts on finding her husband’s killer.
Suspicions grew further when Blum found a milk slice wrapper in Mark’s jacket and what looks like a toll station ticket. Mark’s coworker, Massimo Ricci, also mentioned that Mark had supposedly took some days off. All this was odd to Blum because Mark is lactose intolerant and knew that Blum hates surprises. Blum confided in Massimo on the possibility that Mark was cheating on her, but Massimo convinced Blum of Mark’s loyalty to her.
Dunja
Mark’s motorcycle was not badly damaged and could be used after some repair. Blum therefore rode the motorcycle after the repair and was shocked to find Mark’s phone in one of the compartments. She found a lot of missed calls from a contact called “D”. When Blum tried calling back, “D” turned out to be a female and immediately hung up when Blum told her who she is.
Not giving up, Blum found a note called “Joe Blenk” in D’s contact. She also found a message “D” sent to Mark that gave away the location of a cabin.
When Blum arrived at the cabin, she saw a young girl (Romina Küper) outside who immediately ran away once she saw Blum. Blum then chased her down to the edge of a cliff where the girl was forced to stop. She introduced herself as Dunja. Then, when Blum explained that Mark had died from a bike accident, Dunja went frantic. She claimed that it was not an accident, but it was “them” who killed Mark.
Additional Observations From Episode 1
- Blum’s assistant at the funeral home, Reza Shadid was a Syrian asylum seeker whom which Mark found years ago on the job.
- Blum met Mark when Mark was on the job while Blum was frantic as she couldn’t find her parents in the middle of the ocean.