“Homicide Hills:” Season 2 – TV Review

“Homicide Hills” comes to the U.S. as a novel treat – a light-hearted TV police series from Germany! A country not exactly renowned for humor (Google Robin Williams on that point) gives us its equivalent of charming shows like England’s “New Tricks,” France’s “Sharif” (previously reviewed here) or Canada’s “Nurdoch Mysteries.” In this case, Sophie Haas (Caroline Peters) is a tough, brash cop in Cologne who thinks she’s up for promotion. She’s right… in a way. The brass doesn’t approve of her bold tactics, seemingly irked by her gender and unmatched success rate. So they ship her off to become the chief of a sleepy German village’s force far from their turf.

Upon arrival in quaint, quiet Hengasch, she finds a staff of exactly two, with a caseload that’s almost nonexistent. Everyone knows everyone, and no one commits any serious crimes. Or so it seems. Haas keenly notices details and patterns that others haven’t. In the opener she connects several old fires to other presumably benign, unrelated events that turn out to be part of an undetected murder. After proving herself in that case, the outsider starts earning respect and acceptance from those who resented her intrusion. That adjustment is eased by the friendly presence of her charming father (Hans Peter Hallwachs) – a retired surgeon who moved there with her. In Season One, We got to know the key players and the village in thirteen 50-minute episodes, each with its own crime to solve.

If this set-up seems familiar, you may also be a fan of one of my favorite darkly comedic movies, 2007’s HOT FUZZ. But the delightfully sinister underbelly of that English hamlet is not to be found in this one. That shift better suits this medium, since the weird challenges Simon Pegg had to face wouldn’t be sustainable throughout a series. Hengasch is more like a Mayberry, with an array of variably amusing and/or annoying locals. Petra Kleinert, as the omnipresent wife of Officer Schaffer (Bjarne Madel), elevates the nosy, meddlesome neighbor to an art form not seen here since Gladys Kravitz in “Bewitched.” The show ran for 45 episodes in four seasons from 2008-22, earning a handful of awards and nominations for Peters and the program.

For its second season, “Homicide Hills” has upped its game on the comedy side, based on the six of 13 episodes made available for review. Sophie is about to leave the too-peaceful hamlet for a more challenging job with the Cologne police when her dad’s heart attack keeps her stuck in the boonies. That also introduces a new character – the charming live-in nurse, Danuta (Karina Krawczyk) to care for what might become ALL of his needs. This plot line is still evolving in the first half of the season. Sophie had a fling with rival cop Andreas (Max Gertsch) that ran its course rather quickly …perhaps.

Within the three-member Hengasch police department, conflicts continue amusingly between mousy Dietmar (Bjarne Madel) and his overbearing (and scene-stealing) wife Helga, especially when his old unrequited crush turns up in Episode 3 and has him rather mesmerized with memories and unfulfilled dreams. As before, Helga provides a mix of help, hindrance and just plain nuisance as the town’s leading busybody. Barbel’s (Meike Droste) eagerness to learn from Sophie – her sensei, shifu or mentor, depending on your genre preference – continues charmingly. She’s not quite up to emulating Sophie’s seductive tactics in working a witness or suspect. But she is catching up on the sleuthing skills.

Between oddball characters and situations, the requisite murders and mayhem continue with varying degrees of whimsy on the side. In Episode 2, the town is in upheaval from someone blowing up ceramic garden gnomes and critters. The pot-growing mystery of Episode 4 is probably the funniest of this half-dozen offerings, with the clash between locals and a gang of middle-aged, middle-class bikers over the noise they make in Episode 5 running a close second.

Bottom line: Season Two seems even more enjoyable than the first from a combination of settling in with now-familiar regulars, and scripts containing more mirth while maintaining the mysteries to be solved in each outing. Nice to know there are more seasons yet to come.

“Homicide Hills: Season 2”, mostly in German with English subtitles, is available streaming on May 16 on MHzChoice .

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars