Woman of the Dead returns with a second season when the ghost of Brunhilde Blum’s past knocks on her door. It had been two years since her husband’s death and the violent aftermath that followed, and once again Blum found herself at the crossroads of making a morally right decision or abiding by the law. The discovery of severed body parts in a coffin resulted in police suspicion, and to make matters worse, a blackmailer threatened to ruin Blum and her family if she failed to hand him a video he was looking for. Since Blum had learned about the secret society run by Edwin Schonborn in season one, and she was responsible for killing the five members, the blackmailer assumed she had access to the video. But Blum had no idea what he was after, and the fear of the police digging up her past and the blackmailer ruining the future of her family compelled Blum to take certain actions she was not proud of.
Spoiler Alert
Why was the blackmailer after the video?
While Blum was dealing with the possibility that the police would nab her at any moment, she also had a blackmailer to deal with. A dispute over inheritance resulted in the exhumation of a body, and that was when the police discovered pieces of a dismembered corpse that they eventually determined belonged to Edwin Schonborn. Officer Wallner was convinced that Blum was a prime suspect, because when Edwin went missing, the police had discovered explicit photographs of Blum taken by Edwin, and since she had access to the coffin, chances of her disposing of his body seemed probable. The police did not have concrete evidence to prove their claims. While Blum thought dealing with the police would be a challenge, she was soon introduced to Badal Sarkissian, a cold-blooded businessman and the owner of YAR, an import-export company that was recently suspected to be involved in human trafficking. He was also an equal partner in Schonborn AG and a major supporter of the contesting governor, Richard Lange. He intended on taking over Schonborn AG, and finding the video was somehow crucial to his plan.
Things took a turn when a man showed up at Blum’s house, ransacked her place, and attacked Blum when she tried to stop him. Blum didn’t know what she was dealing with; she’d assumed it had something to do with the exhumation, but she was soon proved wrong. After Sarkissian’s man failed to find the video at Blum’s place, they kidnapped her daughter, Nela. Sarkissian had sent a lawyer as a messenger to convey to Blum that she had to hand over Edwin Schonborn’s video if she wanted her daughter to return home alive. The lawyer, Wagenschaub, turned out to be a consumer of torture videos and was involved in circulating them anonymously. While Blum was hopeful about finding some clue from the lawyer’s house about the video the blackmailer was after, she didn’t come across anything concrete.
Meanwhile, Johanna Schonborn, the matriarch, was desperate to protect her share of the company, and she didn’t mind exposing Sarkissian. She had sent an address to Blum, and she advised her to search the place for Nela even though she couldn’t guarantee anything. Blum discovered the young victims that Sarkissian’s gang had gathered to traffic being held in containers. She freed them, but unfortunately she didn’t find her daughter there. The police were informed, and YAR’s involvement in human trafficking was exposed when two of the victims confessed the truth to the police, and they also added how Blum had rescued them. The police couldn’t figure out Blum’s connection with the human trafficking ring, but Wallner was confident that something bigger was at play. It is later revealed in Woman of the Dead season two that the video Sarkissian was after exposed the gubernatorial candidate’s involvement in rape and torture. He was associated with Edwin and participated in his parties, and in one such video, his mask was removed and his face was revealed.
How Did Blum rescue Nela?
In the hopes of bringing her daughter home, Blum had abducted Sarkissian’s sister, Tamar. She had convinced Sarkissian to hand her daughter over in exchange for Tamar, but unfortunately things didn’t go as planned. Tamar was killed before the exchange, and Sarkissian figured out that Blum had brought a random stranger along to fool him into handing Nela over. Blum realized that the only way she could save her daughter was by seeking help from the police. She was certain that talking to the police would result in her arrest, because she didn’t have any choice left but to confess all her crimes to explain why she was in such a difficult position. But Blum didn’t care about herself anymore; she was ready to spend the rest of her life in prison if it could save Nela.
Meanwhile, Wallner was determined to confront Sarkissian, because she had enough reason to believe that he was a dangerous man and that he had information on the sudden disappearance of Blum’s daughter. Wallner wanted to nab Blum, even if it meant striking a deal with Sarkissian. Her colleague, Daniel Lambert, tried to stop her from meeting Sarkissian, and when she refused to listen to him, he got violent with her. When he attempted to suffocate her with a pillow over her face, Wallner managed to grab a corkscrew and stab his neck with it. At that moment, Wallner realized how dangerous Sarkissian really was. She was briefly suspended, and Wilhelm Danzberger took over the investigation. He took pride in the fact that their little village was almost crime-free, but with dead bodies piling up, he was proved wrong over and over again. He felt the need to perform his job with complete honesty, but he was too close to the Schonborns to be entirely objective.
Blum had contacted Wallner, and she agreed to share the entire truth if the officer promised to help her find Nela. Wallner agreed to her terms, and they finally confronted Sarkissian. He intended to flee the country; he had figured out the police were close to finding out more about his human trafficking business, and he couldn’t risk staying back. Wallner handcuffed Sarkissian even though she was not technically in the position to do so. Sarkissian distracted Blum by stating that her son and her assistant, Reza, were in a vulnerable position, and she better watch out for them. Blum was left with no other choice but to make sure that Reza and Tim were alright, while Wallner tried to find more information by going through Sarkissian’s files. Sarkissian tried to make Wallner second-guess what she was doing. He believed that she wanted to prove the point that she’d been right all along, and that Blum was indeed the murderer they were after. And she could do so without getting involved in Sarkissian’s operations. But justice and truth mattered to Wallner, and she got back to going through the documents, which proved Sarkissian’s close association with Richard Lange. If Lange won the election, he would do everything in his power to help Sarkissian grow his business, and all he needed in exchange was for Sarkissian to ensure that the snuff video where his face was visible never saw the light of day.
Did Blum survive?
From the documents, Wallner discovered the address where she believed Nela was held captive. Wallner and Blum entered the building to find Nela, while Sarkissian was left in a car all by himself. As expected, one of his men came to his rescue, and Sarkissian instructed him to bring Blum alive. While Wallner handled the gunman, Blum continued her search for her daughter. She walked into a basement and found Nela tied to a chair, and a video camera was fixed in front of her. Sarkissian intended to record a snuff video of Nela, but thankfully Blum intervened at the right time. Sarkissian and Damian, his right-hand man, attempted to torture Nela, but Blum was quick to react. She shot Damien, but unfortunately Sarkissian stabbed her in the stomach. She shot him too, but the bullet only grazed his ears.
In the final episode of Woman of the Dead season 2, a fight ensued between Sarkissian and Blum. While Blum was injured and struggled to overpower Sarkissian, her daughter came to her rescue and struck him in the head. Blum poured all her anger and frustration out on Sarkissian as she repeatedly hit him with a metal object. She had been waiting for this moment for days—to punish the man who dared to cross paths with her and attempted to harm her family. Even though it seemed towards the end of season 2 that Blum might not survive after the massive blood loss, we were proven wrong, and we witnessed Blum attend Joanna Schonborn’s former associate and the man who tried to help her find her daughter, Sebastian Hackspiel’s funeral.
How Did Officer Wallner Die?
Wallner had texted her address to Wilhelm Danzberger, and he was well aware that Wallner had Sarkissian in handcuffs the last time they spoke. But as luck would have it, Wallner had to sacrifice her life in order to take down Sarkissian’s gunman. She was already injured, and she took the risk of directly facing him while she pulled the trigger, and expectedly, the gunman pulled the trigger at the same time. Wallner sacrificed her life to get to the bottom of the truth, yet the woman who was responsible for unleashing the madness continued to thrive.
Why did Governor Lange kill himself?
The ending of Woman of the Dead season 2, revealed that Joanna Schonborn had the snuff video where the newly elected governor, Lange’s face was visible, and she was the one who had been blackmailing him. She intended on using it to her advantage to get faster approvals and win favoritism. But her plan didn’t quite work out, or who knows, maybe she was responsible for eliminating all the obstacles in her path (including Lange)!
The bodies of three young women were discovered in the yard of an old estate in Telfs, and according to the evidence gathered by the police, they believed they were victims of homicide. They were also trying to uncover a connection between these deaths and a human trafficking ring. The estate was registered to Richard Lange, and since Lange already knew that there was video evidence to prove his involvement in gang rape and torture, he figured that the only option he had left was to kill himself. The death of the governor meant that a re-election was underway, and it seemed Joanna was more than willing to consider the position. It had become clear to her that she was the best in the game, and it only made sense to start her political career.
Will Nela and Alex Leave The Village?
Alex and Nela were still in love, and considering Alex now knew the whole truth about his family, their relationship would be more transparent than before. Also, after everything she’d been through, Nela decided to stay back in her small town instead of running away to New Zealand with her boyfriend. She cares about her family, though she still might have questions about her mother’s past. It also seems that Blum was spared an arrest, though it’s a little surprising considering the mounting evidence and confession the police had against her. Blum’s internal monologue at the very end of Woman of the Dead season 2, suggests that she might consider distancing herself from her family because she had started to feel that she was responsible for always putting them in danger. She believed they were better off without her, but can she ever stay away from her children? Well, we’ll probably find out in the next season if Netflix greenlights the show.
