With the second season of “The Passport” one of the best darkest crime series of recent years is back. And this time, too, an unequal investigative duo from Germany and Austria is chasing a sadistic serial killer against a wintry Alpine backdrop. The perfect activity for a snowy February weekend.
A cruelly draped corpse lies on a snowy pass in the Alps on the German-Austrian border. And two unlikely investigators must take on the case despite their differences. What at first sounds like any perfectly normal Sunday thriller is in fact the first season of one of the best series of recent years. Because something like “Der Pass” didn’t exist before in German-speaking countries.
Inspired by the Danish-Swedish series “Die Brücke” from the Nordic Noir genre, the Sky original, with its gloomy look, cynical mood and eerie atmosphere, was reminiscent of crime series from Scandinavia or the first season of “True Detective”. . And like its role models, the series met with enthusiasm from viewers and critics alike. “Der Pass” has been showered with awards (including the Golden Camera, German TV Prize, Romy, Grimme Prize) and its license rights have been sold to over 60 countries. This is anything but a matter of course for a German crime series.
And now “Der Pass” is back with a second season – and with it the investigative duo consisting of the Austrian inspector Gedeon Winter (Nicholas Ofczarek) and the German commissioner Ellie Stockert (Julia Jentsch). And in the new episodes, too, the two have to catch a sadistic serial killer in front of a fantastically beautiful, wintry Alpine backdrop. And just like the first season, the premise reeks of cliché. The Sky original has managed to do something very rare. The second season has actually managed to keep the very high level – if not even to trump it in places.
Watch “The Pass” on Sky now
“The Passport” Season 2 on Sky: The plot of the crime series
The hunt for the Krampus killer has left deep scars on Ellie Stocker and Gedeon Winter – both mentally and physically. Winter barely survived the attempt on his life and is recovering from his severe injuries in the hospital. Stocker regularly has nervous breakdowns and panic attacks, which not only affects her work. But the skills of the two police officers are in demand again.
The body of a German tourist was found in the Zill valley near Salzburg. She was brutally mistreated and sexually abused before having her throat cut. The dead woman lay on a river bank, laid out like dead game after a hunt. In the murder case, the ambitious investigator Yela Antic (Franziska von Harsdorf) acts as a liaison officer between the German and Austrian judiciary.
Together with Winter and Stocker, the young woman hunts down the killer. But the perpetrator always seems one step ahead of the unequal team – even though he makes many mistakes. Or is someone covering for him?
Exciting, scary and well acted
It’s hard to believe that “Der Pass” is actually a German-Austrian production. That’s how valuable and outstanding the level of the series is in all respects – compared to other formats from the German-language crime thriller uniformity. Everything in “Der Pass” is coherent, as if from a single source.
The eerie music (arranged by Hans Zimmer), the gloomy optics, the oppressive mood and the grotesque contrast between the barbaric people and the beautiful nature sometimes let the 2nd season of the series drift into the horror or thriller genre. Especially in the scenes with the murderer, whom we accompany on his forays from episode 1, an atmosphere unfolds that you never get to feel in other German-language crime series. “Der Pass” again uses the Bavarian-Austrian myths and legends to profile the perpetrators: This time, however, it is the poacher from the Watzmann who the authorities are chasing and not the Krampus.
In terms of acting, “Der Pass” is at the highest level. Nicholas Ofczarek shines again as a cynical, fucked up and chain-smoking investigator who combines more demons than many a serial killer, and adds many new facets to the character that you didn’t expect. Just like Julia Jentsch. If she was still the moral ray of hope in season 1, she is now broken and only a shadow of herself. And the newcomers from season 2 are also convincing and are perfectly cast down to the last character. The career of Franziska von Harsdorf, who plays the ambitious young detective Yela Antic, should definitely be kept in mind over the next few years. Next to her, Andreas Lust shines as a corrupt colleague from Austria. Dominic Marcus Singer as the perpetrator and Christoph Luser as his rich brother are spectacularly abysmal. Singer, in particular, walks an incredible tightrope: he brings to life a character whose actions you despise, but ultimately also pity.
“The Passport” is a real critics’ favourite
Even the first season of “Der Pass” not only inspired series fans, but also the critics: it was awarded “Best Series” at the Golden Camera 2019. Tittelbach.tv even described the season as “outstanding”, with “shots of horrific beauty”. Season 2 is no less praised: Claudia Tieschky from the Süddeutsche even thinks that the new season could be even more “coherent” than the previous one. The crew calls them “terrific”. In the Berliner Zeitung there were also 5 points for season 2 – the highest mark.
The series also received praise from a rather unusual quarter: Julian Nagelsmann, the football coach at FC Bayern Munich, recently called “Der Pass” at a press conference as a series that has “addictive potential” for him and because of which he “didn’t sleep for three nights”. have. However – that much is clear – you don’t have to be from Bavaria to love “Der Pass”. Perhaps the series is all the more fascinating for “outsiders”: It promises a profound insight into the hypothermic living environment of the Alpine landscape, it shows a microcosm in which rugged masculinity and dead empathy are the only key to not living in a fragile, ailing world to lose your mind “Der Pass” is very German and yet universal, establishing its own genre: Bavaria-Noir.
Conclusion: “Der Pass” is the best German series of recent years
So if you fancy a German thriller that is in no way inferior to the international competition, you should definitely watch “Der Pass” on Sky Ticket or Sky Go. There is currently no better German crime series – and there never has been. If you have watched “Der Pass”, the “crime scene” on Sunday seems like a kindergarten.
And it looks like the story of Gedeon Winter and Ellie Stockert is far from over. Because the end of season 2 delivers a few cliffhangers that definitely have to be triggered. But with the genius and the success, the sequel is only a matter of time.
The eight episodes of the second season of “Der Pass” have been available on Sky Ticket and Sky Go since January 21, 2022.
This article first appeared on TVSPIELFILM.de.