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WaPo Bodensee Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
8 Episodes 2017 - 2017
Episode 1
Das Geisterschiff
48 mins
For Nele Fehrenbach, a newly transferred water police officer from Hamburg to Lake Constance, the start of her new job couldn't be more mysterious. The yacht, drifting aimlessly on the shore, shows traces of blood. Then the yacht owner's body is discovered near the water. Several people had a vested interest in Mr. Kleber's death. For example, his wife Gina, who would thus avoid an expensive divorce from the notorious womanizer who lived a life of luxury at her expense. But Kleber's business partners, Anja and Manfred Görlinger, also harbor resentment towards him. He owes them a considerable sum of money, which Kleber apparently preferred to spend on his expensive mistress, Franka Schultz. She, too, is on the run and therefore highly suspicious. Upon her arrest, she seems to be talking nonsense: she claims she was ordered to kill Kleber, but then her courage failed her. Nele soon becomes convinced that Franka is simply being set up as a scapegoat. She sets a trap for the perpetrator, initially viewed with suspicion by her colleague Andreas Rambach. He had fully expected to become head of the water police himself before the returning Nele was placed in his position. The two young water police investigators, Julia Demmler and Pirmin Spitznagel, are also surprised by their new boss. While Julia immediately embraces her strength and sees Nele as an opportunity, Pirmin is initially wary. But not for long; Nele is simply too good. If only he knew how his boss struggles with herself, believing she's a bad mother to her children, Niklas and Johanna. Niklas is already having trouble with the principal of his new school... and all because of a few graffiti tags, as the seventh-grader sees it. In Hamburg, no one would have made a big deal out of it. It proves to be a blessing that Nele's mother, Mechthild, in whose house by the lake they live, has a pretty cool outlook on life-sometimes to Nele's chagrin.
Episode 2
Die letzte Fahrt
50 mins
Lake Constance: A haven for smuggled money. When old Politz's boat explodes on the lake in the middle of the night, it quickly becomes clear that this can't be an accident. Even though Nele's colleague Andreas Rambach claims the boat was only held together by "oil and spit," its smuggling intentions are soon proven. The boat, which was apparently carrying a Konstanz businessman's undeclared cash from Switzerland back to Germany, was blown up with an explosive device. Nele Fehrenbach receives corresponding information from her Swiss colleague, Captain Adrian Aubry. The only question is, who would blow up a ship with at least EUR300,000 on board? Hannes, Politz's best friend, swears up and down that he wasn't on board and knows nothing about it. Nele is walking a tightrope in her investigation. Both Politz and Hannes are very popular. Nele's findings are met with outright rejection. But she's undeterred and presents Volker Schneider, a petty criminal, as the man who presumably planted the bomb on the boat. This still doesn't explain whether all the money really went up in smoke or if someone is using a bag full of 500-euro notes to carry on their own shady scheme. It's a good thing that her mother, Mechthild Fehrenbach, is protecting her daughter and believes she has Nele's children, Niklas and Johanna, under control. How wrong she was.
Episode 3
Das schwächste Glied
48 mins
It's a good thing Nele listens to her mother, Mechthild, from time to time. "Every family is only as strong as its weakest link," she tells her daughter. And that turns out to be the key to solving their latest case. After Nele and Spitznagel discover a destroyed rail nest in the reeds in front of the Rau guesthouse, a very strange story unfolds. First, Bettina Rau, the daughter of the elderly guesthouse owner, Evi Rau, reports a burglar who escaped undetected. Then, Evi herself is attacked. A deliberately left-open tap eventually floods the entire guesthouse. Nele initially suspects the shady dealings of real estate agent Bert Starck, the only guest staying there. He would like to own the guesthouse and thus has a motive, but unfortunately, he also has an alibi. Then, Evi Rau is found dead in the reeds. Nele is wracked with guilt and extends her investigation to Bettina's sister Angela, the black sheep of the family with a considerable criminal record. But does that make her a murderer? Or was Evi's fall into the reeds just an accident? Her mother's advice is certainly helpful to Nele, even if her son Niklas is once again leading everyone on.
Episode 4
Der Fremde
48 mins
Niklas is head over heels in love and doesn't get home until five in the morning. His mother, Nele, confronts him about it, which is met with utter incomprehension from Noah and Grandma Mechthild. But Nele is also dealing with a strange case this time. A dead man, a groom, was found on the shore of Lake Constance, murdered on the happiest night of his life. This Konrad Ferch had been harassed at his wedding by the drunken boatbuilder André Pohl because he hadn't paid for the wedding gift, an expensive motorboat. Is that a motive for murder, even if Pohl is desperate to burn down his shipyard? During the investigation, Nele and Pirmin Spitznagel, who is trying to impress a waitress, come across pictures showing the bride, Anne Ferch, looking strangely tense and sad. She certainly doesn't look happy. Nele and Andreas Rambach are baffled for a long time. The statement from old Mrs. Stickel makes it clear to them that Ferch was still alive after Pohl's attack. But a phantom from Anne's past reappears. Her ex, Martin Höfer, was declared dead two years ago after an accident on his sailboat. Now he has very earthly motives for his return. Nele and her colleagues realize almost too late what's really going on. With the help of their Swiss colleague, Captain Aubry, they manage to stop the fugitive Höfer with the unconscious Anne and a bag full of money on board. The case seems solved. But Höfer denies the murder. The investigators must have overlooked something... Meanwhile, Aubry makes a move on Nele. Will she open herself up to a new love?
Episode 5
Die Aussteigerin
48 mins
A burning dugout canoe on Lake Constance brings Nele and her colleague Andreas Rambach to the scene. A young woman perished in the fire. Corinna Weingold had been living as a recluse on Professor Herbert Zittlau's property and suffered from an incurable brain tumor. Nevertheless, the Water Police are investigating because the deceased did not die from the tumor. Suspicion quickly falls on Zittlau's son Ferdinand, who helps out at his father's pile-dwelling museum and had tenderly cared for the deceased - even arranging her ritual burial at sea. Ferdinand also comes under suspicion because the Swiss police seized contraband from the museum, and he had unimpeded access to its treasures. Nele's investigation with Swiss Captain Aubry ends rather unexpectedly in the museum's cellar at night, much to the despair of Nele's mother, Mechthild. Little does she know that her grandson Niklas has grown closer to his classmate Melanie during a visit to the pile-dwelling museum with his classmates... But then his investigating mother bursts into the idyllic scene: Something's not right with the professor. His wife Marlene also knows more than she's letting on. Nele, Andreas, Pirmin, and Julia are absolutely certain of it. Julia finally finds the key to solving the mystery in an article about an indigenous people.
Episode 6
Genug ist genug
48 mins
With captain Aubrey occupied, Pirmin and Nele must handle what seems yet another speedboat sabotage in the marina, when silver spoon teen Lukas Kerner steering his pa's boat saw his mate Karl Aberle horribly injured. They recently rowed over Karl's sister Mina. A sighted atypical 'poor' car strangely spotted in the marina belongs to a penniless cripple, whose in-living granddaughter is violently jealous of the rich schoolmates. Contrary to previous 'pranks', car fuel was used as accelerator.
Episode 7
Wer wagt, verliert
48 mins
Nele had just enjoyed a night out with Captain Aubry, but the day begins with a call from her ex-husband in Hamburg, informing her that their son Niklas would prefer to live with him there. Then she finds herself in mortal danger. The hitchhiking couple she picks up at the edge of the woods on her way to work are quite a handful. Patrick Heuser has robbed an armored truck on the Swiss side of the border, disposed of his accomplice Roman Wüstel by boat across Lake Constance, and now wants to start a carefree life abroad with his heavily pregnant girlfriend Jenny. But Patrick has been shot, and the getaway car, with the plane tickets in the glove compartment, has been towed from a no-parking zone. The couple doesn't yet know that Nele is a police officer. Patrick even lets her remove the bullet from his leg. Desperately, she tries to give her unsuspecting colleagues a clue. But Andreas Rambach, Pirmin, Julia, and the Lake Constance Water Police team aren't idle either. They're slowly realizing that there must be a connection between the armored truck robbery and Nele's disappearance. But then the pair of crooks expose Nele as a police officer. Her life is now in danger. A secluded cabin by the lake may become her final prison. A man presumed dead suddenly reappears and points his rifle at Nele. He has nothing to lose. The situation escalates. Andreas Rambach comes up with a crazy idea. It becomes a race against time, in which speed cameras play a crucial role... Captain Aubry is so worried that he visits Nele's mother, Mechthild, for the first time.
Episode 8
Ausgerudert
48 mins
At the prestigious alternative boarding school, one of the five members of the rowing team is reported missing after a yacht came too close. The headmaster insist on discretion, the PTA president and MP even has the captain barred from the formal investigation. The team works out the rowers aren't real friends, but two bully the rest, and they didn't even register for a single race, it's all a cover. Thei was a suicide at the school and several possibly related cases in the area, ultimately linking to drug trade.
