Everything to Remember for 'Vienna Blood's Final Season: Welcome (Back) to the Case

In anticipation of Vienna Blood’s fourth (and likely final, though I have thoughts about that) season arriving on PBS on January 5, it’s a good moment to revisit highlights of the previous three seasons of this often-delightful odd couple solving murders in the waning days of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. This primer will bring you up to speed if you’ve never watched Matthew Beard (Funny Woman, Magpie Murders) and Juergen Maurer work their particular brand of magic, and will be a refresher for longtime fans who don’t fancy re-reading all of the previous seasons’ recaps.

What’s made Vienna Blood notable? Who’s who, and what do we need to remember about them? What cases have been the most interesting? What moments have been the most illuminating for our characters?

Vienna Blood’s first season opens in 1906 and quickly establishes many of the series’ hallmarks: the rhythms of Dr. Max Liebermann and Inspector Oskar Reinhardt’s contrasting yet complementary investigative styles; the Liebermann family’s dynamics and their just-this-side of precarious status in Vienna as British Jews; and the political intrigue and corruption at the heart of so many of their cases. Max and Oskar are part of a long, appealing lineage of the fictional duo who are unexpectedly and charmingly more than the sum of their parts – Holmes & Watson is the obvious comparison; however, it’s a character pairing that transcends time and genre. Think Cagney & Lacey, Batman & Robin, Jeeves & Wooster, Laverne & Shirley, Frog & Toad – it’s the same classic dynamic across the board because it’s fun to write, to play, and to watch.