The synopsis for this mini serial sounded quite promising good actors, suspense mystery story, beautiful locations and a budget to produce something to attract even an international market. After "Se7en" serial killers with a religious or esoteric system are still en vogue. And at first it looked well done. Fancy camera work and fast editing is used to hide plot holes. Alas, when you see the whole show you see a lot of flaws.
The two main characters, Esther, the illegitimate daughter and Keller, the special investigator, are less well developed and believable then most of the others. We see a lot of them but neither is very convincing. Keller is too much of a super hero, always there to rescue Esther; and Esther is much too naive for being a lawyer.
The family members are the usual lot: greedy, secretive, stupid, overlooked, addicted, innocent, cold hearted, clever, stubborn and good looking. Inside such a combination you can push everyone forward for a time to be considered to be the killer or the next victim.
The whole police investigation is a foggy affair. Although this seems to be a big case with prominent people involved, the only investigators visible are Keller and his underling Spannemann. They apparently have no boss, they report only to a state prosecutor. Every now and then there is a raid of someones apartment and lots of heavily armed policemen are seen, but they are faceless. Kellers sidekick is not much help to the case but is always willing to suspect something of his boss. Together they get a big guy in the red light district to give away information of a hoist. They threaten him with 48 hours in prison! Gee, how terrible! Who comes up with such unbelievable nonsense?
What also annoyed me was the unclear geography. Beside Vienna, you never know where you are. When in Vienna you even hear of specific streets, that do exist, but every other location is a mystery. There is this beautiful family mansion in Carinthia, but where? It is at a lake but which? When Esther takes a rest at the sea, where is she? Austria has no sea. Is she in Italy, Slovenia or Croatia? No town in Austria is mentioned in the whole serial. Then there is this strange thing about distances. Between Vienna and Carinthia you drive at least three hours by car, mostly on a highway. Although there is a lot of traffic to and fro, you never see a highway but beautiful side roads. And the way it is edited, it looks as if Carinthia is a few minutes ride from Vienna. And this space-less and timeless feeling characterizes the whole show.
