Episode 1 | The Melancholy Countess Part 1

♪ [Watch ticking] ♪ [Camera shutter clicks] ♪ [Bells toll] [Fluttering] ♪ ♪ Max: There are no mysteries, not anymore, no fairy tales, no fables.

The giants have been banished.

The dragons have been bled.

Science has found a way to eradicate them.

Reason has vanquished the human imagination.

[Laughter] There is only one frontier that is unexplored by man, only one place where the dragons roam free.

The human brain is the only uncharted land.

[Waltz playing] ♪ [Indistinct chatter] ♪ [Dishes and glasses rattling] ♪ Woman: Ohh!

[People gasping] [Indistinct chatter] Help her.

Woman: Ohh!

Man: What happened?

What's the matter?

Let me!

Man: Calm down!

Woman: Don't touch me!

♪ [Breathing heavily] ♪ ♪ [Gagging] [Wheezing] ♪ [Shrieking] ♪ Good morning.

[Birds chirping] ♪ Countess Sophia Nadazdy, 63, widowed, married to a Hungarian count.

That's how she got her title and her diamonds.

Housekeeper Frau Reiss.

Who found her?

Her maid.

♪ Still in shock.

♪ How long had the countess been staying?

A month.

And why did she come to Vienna?

Man: Gentlemen.

Dr. Jaeger.

♪ Oskar: Maybe an accident.

She fell, hit her head.

No sign of blood.

Did someone maybe hold her down?

No bruises, no sign of a struggle.

Suicide most likely.

[Water draining] ♪ ♪ A gift never sent.

There's a prescription here.

Opium.

Standard treatment for melancholia.

♪ Oskar: So she was in Vienna because she was sick?

♪ Tell me who was treating her?

♪ ♪ Woman: You want me to describe it?

♪ I don't know if I can, doctor.

Sexuality is a natural part of every person's identity, Frau Huber.

But these thoughts, they were unclean.

Fantasies are simply a part of the sexual appetite.

Entertaining them doesn't make you corrupt, doesn't make you evil.

It doesn't even mean that you actually want these things to happen to you.

It's just a, uh--a part of the...process of arousal.

Frau Liebermann.

Inspector Reinhardt.

Ah.

I'm looking for your brother.

Well, he's... with a patient.

I'm not sure it's convenient.

[Door opens] Oh.

Excuse me.

Uh, in a week then.

We'd better be going.

Frau Liebermann.

I have no idea why I'm saying this, but...it's good to see you, Oskar.

♪ Max.

♪ Please come in.

♪ [Whistles] Apparently you've been busy.

Private practice.

I'm just getting started.

Still at the hospital two days a week.

Gruner hasn't quite managed to get rid of me yet.

I assume it's a case.

Is that why you've come?

Yes, it's a case, but this is official.

Countess Sophia Nadazdy, a patient of yours.

An appointment with you 3 days ago.

Hmm.

Well...I'm afraid I can't talk about it.

She's dead, Max.

Discovered this morning.

Drowned in her bathtub, her suite at he Imperial.

Looks like suicide.

♪ I understand.

It must be difficult.

♪ Anything you can tell me about her?

♪ It's confidential.

♪ Well...then there's nothing more to be said.

♪ May I visit the scene, the place where she died?

It's a police inquiry.

It's confidential, too, Max.

Well, I need to understand what happened.

You want me to open up my case to you, but you're not willing to give me anything in return?

♪ [Hoofbeats] ♪ Driver: Whoa, whoa, whoa.

♪ [Reporters clamoring] ♪ Hypothesis.

A woman is troubled by melancholy.

She travels to Vienna for the latest cure.

She visits a doctor, but he's unable to help her.

She decides to end her life.

She runs a bath and kills herself.

That's what's going in the police report?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

♪ Oskar: Looks to me like she walked out on her life at a moment's notice.

♪ Is it usual to buy a gift for someone that you're never going to send?

♪ Eh.

I had a good teacher.

♪ I don't believe she killed herself.

Too many pieces don't fit.

You can help me get to know her.

Please, Max.

I told you, Oskar, what goes on in my office is confidential.

♪ Max.

You know Vienna.

Reputation is everything.

Visiting a psychoanalyst is still a cause for gossip.

For God's sake, Max, she's dead.

You don't have loyalty to a dead woman.

Your reputation hangs in the balance here.

I can't betray her trust... ♪ even beyond the grave.

For your office.

You desperately need curtains.

[Sighs] Mama, you shouldn't have.

You can't have all those wealthy patients being gawked at from the street.

Yes.

Not too many patients, not yet.

You just wait.

They'll all come flocking, mark my words.

What's wrong.

I lost a patient.

What do you mean lost?

[Sighs] She's dead.

Died this morning.

Drowned in her hotel suite.

Oh, Max, how awful.

Possible suicide, but they're not sure yet.

♪ I sit in a room with them for just a few hours, think that I have all the answers.

Feel like I'm just stumbling around blind.

♪ Honestly, Mama, I don't know what I've been playing at.

You can't blame yourself surely.

♪ Max, what is it?

She was seeing Gruner at the hospital before she came to me.

I advised her not to take his pills.

A few days later, she ends up dead.

You must realize how that seems.

Ah.

Everyone's in here I see.

What's the matter?

What's going on?

Just trying to brighten up his office.

The rent on that place is extortionate.

I am hoping for some return on my investment, Max.

Your new business is costing me an arm and a leg.

Perhaps you'd better ask for it back.

I was only teasing.

What's the matter with him?

♪ Max, voice-over: September 7, Countess Sophia Nadazdy, introductory session.

Already had some consultations with Gruner.

Agreed to become my patient.

Gruner prescribed opium for melancholy and depression.

I advised against taking it.

The disreputable science?

Isn't that what they're calling it?

You don't trust psychoanalysis?

I have doubts.

Yet you traveled halfway across town to meet with me, Countess.

Touché.

If you think my methods are...disreputable, then why did you agree to come?

Tell me something.

Do people find you easy to dislike, Dr... Liebermann.

Liebermann.

Max, voice-over: September 12.

No ring on your finger.

You're not married.

I'm not the patient, Countess.

Heh heh.

Well, we're just two people talking.

Conversation ought to flow both ways.

Not married.

Successful, professional, good prospects.

What is it that women find hard to bear, your inquisitorial manner or... ♪ or the smell of your cologne?

I'm not your enemy, Countess.

You pay a considerable amount of money to be here, and yet we simply sidestep around each other.

There's a girl, a little girl.

I--I need to tell you her story.

A girl?

Blanka.

That was her name.

Blanka Mar.

♪ Pale... ♪ blue eyes.

Tell me about Blanka.

♪ Not today.

♪ Maybe...never.

♪ Gruner: Liebermann.

Max: Thank you.

A word if you please.

It says you'd been seeing her as a patient at your practice in town.

I'm afraid I can't comment, professor.

The woman is dead.

Don't play games with me, Liebermann.

You coerced her to leave my care.

I didn't coerce her.

You treated her with your own appalling methods.

Professor.

And she ends up taking her own life.

You can't worm your way out of it, not like last time.

This time, you'll end up in front of a disciplinary committee.

When I'm done with you, you won't be able to practice in Vienna.

You'll be forced to go back to England.

[Merchants shouting] You came to salvage your reputation.

Who gave my name to the newspapers?

It's a countess, Max.

The hotel is swarming with press.

They'll pay for any scrap of information.

The question now is what are you going to do about it?

Oskar.

[Sighs] We both need to know how she died, me because I have to solve a crime, you because you have to salvage your career, so...if you want to share some information, then maybe we could help each other.

♪ What exactly are these interviews for?

The newspapers said it was suicide.

Just gathering all the evidence, Herr Direktor.

[Woman speaking Russian] [Speaks Russian] ♪ What did she say?

I think she said, "Evil.

Evil walks here with a woman's face."

♪ You're the one they're talking about, the one whose name is in the papers, the Freudian.

Thank you, Herr Direktor.

Maid: She suffered badly, melancholia.

Did she ever threaten violence against herself?

Prescribed medicine, but then she stopped taking them at her doctor's advice, your advice, Dr. Liebermann.

♪ Frau Reiss: Heard her crying in her room last night, sir, wailing like she was tormented.

Had these desperate fits of anger, broke the crockery, and stormed out of the ballroom.

♪ Oskar: Well, you are the bellboy.

Um... Walter, sir.

Walter.

Anything you can tell us?

♪ Well?

Actually, yes, sir.

I reckon I was the last one who saw the countess.

I was on duty, sir, upstairs.

And?

Her face, it was all twisted.

You mean like she'd been crying?

No.

Like it was... made of wax, like it had been melted.

♪ Melted?

So the witness claimed.

As if her skin were sliding off her face.

We need you to do a full postmortem.

Uh, who's we, Dr. Liebermann?

Your reputation is tarnished to say the least.

Please do as he asked.

Thank you.

You wanted to see me, sir?

You were interviewed with all the other staff?

And?

And I told them what I knew, sir.

I told them I saw her.

Damn it, Walter.

I didn't tell them anything more, sir.

You know why people come here?

You know why they choose to stay with us?

Because we are secret keepers.

Everyone has secrets.

It's our job to preserve them.

Anything our clients desire.

That's the Imperial's reputation.

Yes, sir.

♪ [Indistinct chatter] ♪ Ha ha ha!

[Countess Nadazdy shrieking] Woman: Aah!

[Crunching] Strychnine?

Produces convulsions in the muscles, particularly the face.

She was poisoned?

Dead before she hit the water.

Thank you, Dr. Jaeger.

You're welcome.

There was no obvious sign of it in her room.

Unlikely it was self-administered.

Maybe this is a murder case after all.

♪ Stop smiling.

I'm not smiling.

It's relief.

With a smile.

You're not in the clear, not yet.

I know.

She's still dead, Max.

♪ Ah.

Well, this is a nice surprise.

I'm going shopping in town, and I thought you could come for coffee.

Well, I have a session with Frau Huber.

I thought you were bringing her.

She's not coming.

I see.

Of course.

I suppose she's read the newspapers then.

And this?

More patients canceling appointments.

Well...you're free to come.

[Indistinct chatter] Seems my reputation is a rather fragile thing.

Gruner's given an interview calling me incompetent, calling for an end to all Freudian treatments.

Apparently, I started a war.

I'm the man who dragged psychoanalysis into the gutter.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Everything's turned upside down.

My career, my engagement.

Well, that was your doing, Max.

I haven't spoken to Amelia for so long, I'm not sure she'll even want to see me.

You--you're a fighter, Max.

Always have been, even when we were little.

You insisted on going to that Catholic school even though you knew it would be harder for you.

A woman is dead, Leah.

You and I both know you're not responsible.

You're a gifted doctor.

You saved my son.

I'll just be a moment.

[Door opens, bells jingle] Max.

Clara.

♪ How are you?

How--how is everything?

Clara: I didn't expect to see you.

You know Herr Korngold, Jonas.

Yes.

Yes, of course.

Max.

I just read your name in the newspaper.

Ah.

Yes, it's, uh, not very fashionable to be seen with me today.

Clara: Still fighting battles on every front?

You don't change.

♪ It's no more than he deserves after the way he treated you.

Don't, Jonas.

Man: Dr. Liebermann.

I didn't catch your name.

Are you going to tell me?

Jannik, sir, Neubauer.

Jannik, please.

Sit.

How can I help you?

I have something precious... something belonging to her, sir.

Her?

The lady.

The one who died at the hotel.

♪ She said I deserved it, sir.

♪ After everything I did for her.

♪ Fetching, carrying, running errands.

I see.

It's a gift.

She liked you.

You helped her... and you didn't want to be accused of stealing it.

No, sir, I don't.

And you thought I could help.

I thought you could say she left it here, sir, dropped it maybe.

I remembered she came here once before.

I remembered the address she gave the driver.

Yes.

Well, yes, I'll give it to the police.

I'll put it with the other evidence.

♪ What's wrong, Jannik?

There's something else, isn't there?

What else did you want to tell me?

♪ You could have put this back in her room.

You didn't have to come to see me.

You spent time in her company.

There was another gift for someone, a silver cigarette case.

Do you know who that was for?

♪ Did she have a lover?

♪ ♪ Oskar Reinhardt, Leopoldstadt Police.

We're looking for Oktav Hauke.

You found him, gentlemen.

♪ How long have you been here in the hotel?

A month.

I plan to stay here for the season.

You knew the dead woman.

Yes.

We dined together on occasion.

Tragic.

Hmm.

A gift for you.

From the countess.

It doesn't have my name on it, inspector.

We have a witness on the staff who says you were often seen together.

We spent a lot of time together, yes.

We became close friends.

A woman old enough to be your mother.

There is no law against two people becoming acquainted.

Max: You were with her on the evening she died.

I was at her table, yes.

She left the dining room alone.

Did she seem particularly unhappy?

Not particularly, no.

She was prone to bouts of melancholy.

You must be devastated by her death.

Excuse me?

People have different ways of expressing their grief.

Now would you please excuse me, gentlemen.

I'm getting ready for lunch.

Oskar: You're an Uhlan.

Just resigned my commission.

♪ So you decided to have a little holiday in a hotel filled with widows.

Thank you so much for dropping by, gentlemen.

♪ [Indistinct chatter] Morning.

Morning.

Morning, Reinhardt.

Fritz.

Uh, sorry.

Didn't realize you were cleaning.

Fraulein Lindner.

What?

I'm the new archivist.

Uh... what happened to Pitschner?

Retired.

Now...can I help you?

Yes.

Um, I need some research.

♪ ♪ Second lieutenant Oktav Hauke, Uhlans, discharged.

Seems the army wanted to be rid of him pretty fast.

Leave service with no prospect, start slobbering over a woman twice his age.

Forgive me, please, Fraulein.

Didn't mean to be indelicate.

I'm an employee here, inspector.

Say what you want to say.

Max: This is a record of what we spoke about during our sessions.

There's something I want to read to you.

I never understood its significance before, but...I think she foresaw what was going to happen to her.

Listen to this.

"September 15, The patient recounted a dream"... Max, voice-over: one she said she'd been having again and again and again and again.

[Watch ticking] ♪ I'm in the park alone.

The place is shrouded in mist.

♪ A nanny pushes a pram along the path just out of reach.

♪ There's a large...

There's a large, white building in the park... in the park... like a fairy tale palace.

I go in.

Animals live wild inside.

They're watching me from the shadows.

♪ [Grunts] There are sweets and candy... like in the fairy tale, the witch's house in "Hansel and Gretel."

I find the woman sitting inside.

I hold out my arms to take care of the little child... [Humming] but it turns into a bundle of--of rags and dust.

[Gasps] ♪ Liebchen!

♪ [Woman and child laughing] ♪ [Laughter] ♪ [Man laughing] ♪ Max: Countess.

[Gasps] [Groans] Do you have any children?

Oh.

None.

Dr. Liebermann, what do you think it signifies?

The unconscious mind, it's like a pool of dark water, and then when we dream, images shoot up and out like a fountain.

Perhaps--perhaps you're thinking about that little girl.

♪ [Whimpers] Well, I sense that something or maybe someone has frightened you.

You're trying to find a way to tell me.

[Breathing heavily] Do you think... you can ever truly know someone?

I don't quite follow.

People...people close to you, people who claim to love you.

How can you ever really know them...hmm?

What if--what if somebody you loved had done something truly terrible in the past, a secret so dark, so frightening?

♪ Heh.

What if they appeared so charming... ♪ but underneath the mask... [Inhales] Oh.

Sorry... Dr. Liebermann.

♪ So she was scared of someone, someone very close to her?

Any clue to their identity?

Whoever they are, they're in this dream.

This is where our darkest fears rise to the surface.

I think she was afraid someone was going to kill her.

So this is what you're bringing me?

This is your great discovery?

A fairy tale palace?

Lindner: Inspector.

Yes?

What is this?

Leonie Hutter.

Who?

Landlady.

Leopoldstadt.

Another widow.

I found her in the archives.

Died in an accident, drowned.

Why are you bringing me this?

Where's the connection to Hauke?

He was lodging with her at the time of her death.

She didn't have much money, just some modest savings, jewelry, but Hauke was mentioned in her will.

Lord, no, are you telling me-- Seems she grew attached to him, showered him with gifts.

Ah, oh.

So seducing widows seems to be a pattern of his.

All right.

We'll get a warrant tomorrow, search his room.

We also need to see Sophia Nadazdy's will.

And the landlady?

Maybe it's the same poison.

We go to a judge, request an exhumation.

[Sighs] You're welcome.

♪ ♪ He's not worthy of the Uhlans uniform.

We all knew what he was up to, sniffing around the old widow.

You recognize the insignia.

My son was an Uhlan.

Thank you, Frau Reiss.

You can leave us.

Thank you.

You have to ask yourself if he's guilty, then why remain here in the hotel?

Something must be keeping him here.

[Knock on door] Inspector.

Amelia...

Uh, Miss Lydgate I came as soon as I could get away.

Profiling isn't the only thing that I've learned from you.

Miss Lydgate has been consulting for us on several cases.

Right.

Good.

Strychnine poisoning.

If it was prepared in here, I need to know it.

Any evidence that it was handled in this room.

Excuse me, Dr. Liebermann.

Oh, I'll stay.

♪ ♪ Two months.

I'm aware.

2 months, 4 days.

I'm working.

Do you mind?

♪ You know how many letters I sent you?

I feel sure you're about to remind me.

3.

Not a single reply.

Funnily enough, I've been busy.

Don't you think that an appropriate amount of time has gone by?

I think that a young doctor with a burgeoning reputation can't afford the stain of scandal, particularly now he's in the papers.

Do you mind?

♪ [Knock on door] ♪ What are you grinning at?

Never mind.

Any signs of poison traces?

Nothing I can find.

Sorry.

If he prepared it in here, he sterilized everything.

We need to cast our net wider.

Oskar: The countess, I need to know everything she ate on her final night here.

What?!

She was poisoned.

No question.

This is absurd.

We are not responsible.

Miss Lydgate... what else do you require?

I need to see menu cards, the contents of your store, and I need the names of every person who came into contact with her food.

You have women detectives now, do you?

Just do as you're asked.

Now.

I'm sorry.

♪ ♪ Direktor: Thank you.

You can go.

Um... Walnuts, hardboiled eggs, and champagne?

That's all she ate?

Demanded the same things every evening.

She brought a few items of her own, an herbal infusion.

Used her own supply from England.

The Emperor Augustus.

What?

Augustus.

He, uh-- he thought his wife was trying to poison him, picked his own figs from the trees, milked his own goat.

What's this about exactly?

Amelia: Eggs and walnuts Difficult to tamper with.

Impossible to pierce the shell of an egg without leaving a trace.

So if it wasn't in the food, then... how else did he manage it?

♪ How long before dinner are the tables laid?

6:00.

Two hours.

♪ The countess, did she occupy the same table every night?

♪ Tell us about the evening she died.

I saw her maybe a few minutes before she left.

Her shawl had fallen.

I hung it back on the chair, glanced at the table.

I didn't notice anything untoward.

She and that young soldier were on the dance floor.

♪ I saw the staff leave her tea tray.

It was waiting for her.

♪ Then she cleared the table.

[People gasping] She was poisoned right here.

The tea was the only unchecked thing she consumed.

M-maybe it was in the water, maybe the pot.

Maybe he soaked the leaves in a solution.

Maybe is not good enough for us, Miss Lydgate.

[Bells tolling] [Knock on door] Time you and I had a little chat, don't you think?

Please.

I've been expecting it.

You asked for my investment, Max, and I gladly put money into your new business.

Well, not gladly, let's be honest.

Now I find that your name is plastered all over the newspapers.

And are you worried about the stain on our good name or the return on your investment?

I'm worried about you, my son.

Reputation in this city is a precious thing.

Well, I'm afraid it's too late to salvage mine.

Here.

Disciplinary hearing.

But...you've only just shaken off the scandal, lad.

Gruner's not giving up so easily.

If he can't annihilate Freud, I'm the next best thing.

What do you intend to do?

Fight.

What other option do I have?

Max.

Rachel: Come on.

I'm taking you out.

I finished the new drapes for your office.

Impress the patients.

It's very generous all this, Mama, but you really needn't have bothered.

Stop fussing and come and have a look.

I came in to hang them yesterday.

They make all the difference.

♪ Did you lock the door?

Of course.

♪ Rachel: Oh!

Oh, Max.

♪ Who could do such a thing?

Oh!

♪ Oskar: You and I need to have a serious talk.

Mama, please leave those.

But, Max.

Take the carriage home.

There's no sense you being here, please, please.

Oskar: Mrs. Liebermann.

Thank you.

What?

When I came to see you after I read your name in her diary, I knew you had access to her private thoughts.

Well?

The killer has the same notion apparently.

Oskar.

You think she was frightened by someone, you think she anticipated her own death?

Who else would she tell about her fears if not you, her psychoanalyst?

He thinks you know his name.

He thinks you can identify him.

You are in grave danger, whether you realize it or not, Max.

♪ [Indistinct chatter] ♪ [Indistinct chatter] ♪ [Dishes and glasses rattling] ♪ [Grunting] ♪ Unh!

Unh!

[People gasp] Ugh!

♪ [Whimpering] ♪ Oskar: Apparently, you've been busy.

Max: I assume it's a case.

Yes, it's a case.

Are you going to tell me?

To order Vienna Blood on DVD Visit SHOP.PBS.ORG Or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS This program is also available on Amazon Prime Video Max: How can I help you?

Oskar: Hypothesis.

Amelia: Hopefully, we can extrapolate some information.

Oskar: She's dead Max Max: May I visit the scene?

Oskar: What exactly do you mean?