During Babylon Berlin's first two seasons, the Weimar-era drama played like a musical whenever characters gathered at the Moka Efti to dance. Set just prior to the stock market crash of 1929, the third season ditches the cabaret to fully embrace sociopolitical intrigue. Chilly gangster Kasabian (Mišel Matičević), husband of once-famous actress Esther (Meret Becker), abandons the club to focus on film production, but his plans run aground when the star of his latest film turns up dead. Though the film-within-a-film sequences involve Busby Berkeley-like choreography, movement takes precedence over music. Police inspector Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch, a slight man with wary eyes) joins forces with police clerk Lotte (Liv Lisa Freis) to catch the murderer, a mysterious figure in a black cloak.
The production continues with another actress, but when she also turns up dead, the mystery deepens, especially when they find another cloaked figure haunting the Babelsberg set. Suspects include proto-Goth actor Tristan Rot (Sabin Tambrea), Kasabian's partner Weintraub (Ronald Zehrfeld), who has eyes for his wife, and Esther, who believes she's the best actress for the part. Fortunately, Rath's head is clear. While a different show might have detailed his efforts to kick the morphine habit that held him in its grip, that process takes place off-camera. It may have something to do with his rekindled romance with Helga (Hannah Herzsprung), who relocated from Cologne to be with him, except their plans quickly crumble. Alone and secretly pregnant, she enters into an arrangement with erratic industrialist Alfred (Lars Eidinger), while her son, Moritz (Ivo Pietzcker), stays with his uncle. If the two enjoy a genial rapport, Rath worries about his nephew's involvement with the Hitler Youth. It becomes an even greater concern when Rath and his former landlady and part-time lover, Elisabeth (Fritzi Haberlandt), shield Jewish reporter Katelbach (Karl Markovics) from enemies, like ruthless police counsellor Wendt (Benno Fürmann), who will do anything to become chief of police. Lotte, meanwhile, moves into a flat with her younger sister, Toni (Irene Böhm). When their hard-luck older sister needs an operation, she considers a return to the sex work of her past. Little does she know that Toni has been following in her illicit footsteps.
Babylon Berlin is nothing if not eventful, and other compelling characters make their mark, including crime scene photographer Gräf (Christian Friedel), whose homosexuality is an open secret among his associates, police analyst Ullrich (Luc Felt), whose delusions of grandeur put the two inspectors at risk, and Greta (Leonie Benesch) a death row inmate seeking a last-chance appeal. Building the central mystery around a series of film-set murders allows the writers to explore the links between surrealism, hypnotism, the occult and other shadowy subcultures and tendencies thriving in Berlin at a transitional time. The third season also witnesses Rath and Lotte becoming closer. Even as other characters come and go, they continue to anchor this compulsively watchable show, which can reach crazy heights, with the grounded strength of their performances. Highly recommended.