‘Woman of the Dead’ Netflix Series Review - Anna Maria Mühe Shines in this Crime Drama

Revenge is a dish best-served cold. In Woman of the Dead, the whole weather is cold. Does that mean it's the perfect time for someone to take revenge? After all, someone does refer to Blum (Anna Maria Mühe) as a lucky person. It's not every day that you escape the grasp of the police after committing multiple murders. And Blum shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. She will not rest until the people behind the "accident" of her husband are eliminated. The same people are also responsible for heinous crimes against women. Blum's husband got too close to the truth and so found himself lying on the road. Dead.

Observe the moment when the accident occurs. The car suddenly enters the frame and hits the husband. It all happens so abruptly that you, along with Blum, freeze for a few seconds. If this scene could talk, it would say, "Death comes unannounced." Blum's husband might have been expecting this moment, which is why he looks at his wife with gentle eyes during the morning of the accident. But Blum is shocked and in the dark. She will find the truth, no matter the cost.

Blum runs a funeral parlor where she not only grooms the corpses but also talks to them. And the corpses even talk back to her. The first time that happens, you wonder whether it's all happening in her head or if there is some supernatural element here. This kind of ambiguity makes its way into her actions when she kills people one by one. The characters Blum is after are shown to us wearing black-colored animal masks in flashbacks. So when she starts killing people, you ponder whether her targets are guilty or whether she merely thinks they are guilty (without any concrete proof). These thoughts that you get initially really make the show interesting.

Blum's confrontation scenes with her enemies are intense and filmed with style (the camera moves neatly when she chokes a man in a hospital). Her encounter with a photographer is shot with a shaky camera, and the tension is built by not cutting to the next available camera angle constantly. Blum's profession aids her in committing crimes easily. She murders men and takes their bodies to her office. Without a body, there is no crime. And no crime means that the men are presumed to be missing.

Since Blum has a daughter, she is invited to one of those parties, which we all know will not go nicely. But director Nicolai Rohde and writers Barbara Stepansky, Benito Mueller, and Wolfgang Mueller have no idea what to do with this scene. They send the daughter to the party and then clumsily wrap the sequence up by making her vomit. This character is established as smart (when she hears a new ringtone coming from her "mother's mobile," she dials her number). Hence, it feels a bit weird when she accepts the invitation to the party. If you look closely, you will find an explanation that her decision resulted from grief and familial rift. Who doesn't want to hang out with the cool kids? But the problem is that the subplots like these are not developed very convincingly. The final reveal, too, is severely underwhelming and pushes the material into cheap, trashy territory.

Maria Mühe, for her part, though, looks extremely convincing. She charges the series with vigor through simple gestures like riding a bike. Maria Mühe carries herself with determination, making the taser appear like the most deadly weapon on earth. She can effectively switch between being hostile and compassionate. She even exudes sexiness, which she uses to her advantage while carrying out murders. In Maria Mühe's hands, Blum seems like a natural-born killer. That's why you are not so shocked when you learn the truth about a flashback.

Woman of the Dead proves to be clever in pulling the rug from beneath our feet, which we find out when Blum is questioned by the police. Given the madness and speed with which Blum murders her targets, you think she is just following her impulses. But during the interrogation, it's revealed that she had a plan after all. That visit to the priest with her daughter and meeting with an influential woman all comes back to cover up her tracks. The series also adds an emotional touch to the shot of a ropeway. Moments like these make Woman of the Dead worthwhile.

Final Score- [7/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times