History Recap / BabylonBerlinS2E5

* UnfamiliarCeiling: When Charlotte awakes in the freezer, the first thing she sees are fish hanging from racks.

Charlotte awakens in a strange room, chained to the wall. She sees a [[CallBack picture of a red horse in a gas mask on the wall]], immediate shorthand that she is in the room where [[MacGuffin the blackmail films]] were made and thus in the clutches of [[TheDon the Armenian]].

One of the Armenian’s men unchains Charlotte, who attempts to immediately escape, unsuccessfully. The railway worker from earlier enters as well, and escorts her to see the Armenian, who questions her about the location of [[MacGuffin the Sorokin gold]]. Charlotte legitimately doesn’t know – in response, the Armenian threatens the railway worker with a gun, who insists she knows due to being present at the train yard. When she still pleads ignorance, the Armenian backs down. Led out, Charlotte again attempts to escape, unsuccessfully, assaulting the railway worker and the other man with a fire extinguisher.

Cleaning Gereon’s old room, Frau Behnke stumbles upon [[ChekhovsGun a vital set of customs paperwork left under the bed by Boris, the Trotskyist train driver, back in Episode 3]]. She sets it aside as unimportant.

[[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Benda]] and [[DaChief Zoergiebel]] review the photos taken by [[TheLabRat Graf]] over Lipetsk. They dispatch agents to arrest the leaders of the [[TheConspiracy Black ''Reichswehr'']], charged with treason and illegally breaching the Treaty of Versailles. [[FourEyesZeroSoul Seegers]] and Beck, but not [[DirtyCop Bruno]] or [[GoodScarsEvilScars Wendt]], are among those arrested.

Moritz returns to Bruno’s cellar. He retrieves the key found earlier and breaks into the locked cage, retrieving a military-grade submachine gun from the crates hidden behind the shelves. [[OhCrap He is discovered by Bruno]].

At police headquarters, Gereon questions [[ThoseTwoGuys Henning and Czerwinski]] regarding Charlotte’s whereabouts, who claim to have not seen her all day, to Gereon’s exasperation.

[[ForeShadowing Wendt and several trucks full of men enter Bruno’s cellar]].

Bruno questions Moritz about handling a weapon, telling him to follow and bring several cabbages. He passes Wendt on the way out, telling him he’ll “handle” Moritz.

Beck and Seegers are booked and interrogated.

Bruno takes Moritz to a remote nearby location, revealing to him a very illegal military-grade sniper rifle in his trunk, claiming [[ForeShadowing they will “Make history with this tomorrow”]]. Bruno has Moritz place the cabbages on a beam in the distance, [[RecklessGunUsage taking aim with the sniper rifle in the process]]. When Moritz places the cabbage, as ominous music plays, and Bruno still takes aim, [[BaitAndSwitchGunshot a gunshot rings out…Moritz destroys the cabbage with the rifle]]. Bruno admires his aim.

Colonel Wendt bursts into Zoergiebel’s office, slapping and berating him on the ramifications of his actions, handing him a paper in a folder.

Benda verbally spars with Seegers regarding his visits to Lipetsk. Seegers expresses his contempt for the Weimar constitution, followed with [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain open anti-Semitism against Benda]], calling into question his "true" national allegiance.

Benda and Gereon discuss their respective problem, compounded when Zoergiebel arrives to discuss the paper given to him by Wendt. The arrest warrant against the Black ''Reichswehr'' leaders was altered…[[GovernmentConspiracy by the office of ''Reichspraesident'' Hindenburg]]. Interrogations of the suspects are to be halted until Hindenburg returns from abroad. Henning and Czerwinski reiterate that Charlotte has failed to turn up.

[[AnswerCut Charlotte awakens against in a freezer]]. The Armenian’s thug enters wordlessly, retrieving a fish from the freezer and gutting it on the table outside. The implications are obvious. After he leaves, [[OhCrap the refrigeration activates]].

In prison, the jailed leaders of the Black ''Reichswehr'' feast jovially. Bruno arrives with some wine and some papers, informing the guard they are not to be disturbed. Bruno informs Seegers that preparations are ready. The Black ''Reichswehr''’s plans are about to be revealed to the audience, as they clear the table for several maps and papers, cited as [[CallBack “Operation Prangertag”]].

The Black ''Reichswehr'' intends to assassinate Stresemann and Briand at the opera on June 2, with the help of several collaborators within the police. If the assassination is successful, the flag atop the opera house will be lowered, signaling for pre-positioned troops to seize key government ministries and arrest key government leaders. [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Kurt von Schleicher and Erich Ludendorff]] are also involved in the plot, and upon successful seizure of power Ludendorff will take to the airwaves and invite [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Kaiser Wilhelm II]] to return to Germany and take power. Their dreams are implied to be hopelessly optimistic. The officers toast to Ludendorff and the Kaiser.

[[ForeShadowing A street musician plays a tune we have heard before and will hear later]], as Greta exits the local Communist Party meeting hall in search of Fritz. Otto shows first, asking after Fritz and warning that their identities have been outed to the police by a spy. Greta spots Fritz down the street and calls to him, but he is ominously confronted by several men in coats and fedoras. When he attempts to run, he is shot in the back by the men. Communists flood out of the meeting call, descending on the Fritz’s killers, who claim to be police, as Otto drags Greta away. The [[FalseFlagOperation alleged policemen]] proceed to flee in a car with Fritz’s body.

Gereon confronts Bruno regarding Charlotte’s whereabouts, believing him to be responsible for her disappearance. They engage in a brutal fight, ended when Bruno’s senile wife stumbles upon them.

The thug and the railway worker slap Charlotte awake and drag her back before the Armenian. She continues to desperately plead ignorance regarding the Sorokin gold. They throw her back in the freezer, but this time the rail worker [[PetTheDog gives her her coat out of some sympathy]] [[KickTheDog after having punched her in the nose]]. Charlotte finds Jaenicke’s journal in her coat pocket, and begins to decipher it.

A bruised and battered Bruno and Gereon drive through the streets. Bruno gasps laughter, [[BloodKnight ostensibly about their recent fight]]. They pull up to the Moka Efti.

Charlotte stumbles across [[CallBack the report regarding Bruno’s meeting with Seegers on April 29 where the Sorokin gold and “Prangertag” codeword were mentioned]].

Bruno and Gereon march through the Moka Efti dance floor, while [[ForeShadowing Nikoros performs and Nyssen watches]]. They search the brothel for Charlotte, unsuccessfully. The Madam claims she never showed up for work, last showing two days ago. She inadvertently reveals that Bruno has been visiting Charlotte at the brothel in front of Gereon, and Gereon clenches his injured fist in response.

Charlotte translates [[CallBack the May 18 observation of the meeting between Bruno, Wendt, Nyssen, and Sorokina on the plot to steal the gold from the train]], revealing the true wagon number of the gold and [[ChekhovsGun the location of the heist]].

Gereon goes to rinse his injured fist in warm water, noticing in the mirror in the process that [[SdrawkcabAlias “Nikoros” spells “Sorokin” backwards]]. He confronts Sorokina outside the club when she emerges, and she invites him into her car. She tells him the story of the Sorokin noble family: her father, a factory owner, attempted to hide their wealth in a railway wagon; but they were betrayed by their chauffeur and killed by the Bolsheviks – but [[RebelLeader Kardakov]] and the Trotskyists tracked the chauffeur down, and sent the stolen gold to Berlin.

On the trolley the next morning, Gereon reads an alarmingly accurate story regarding the Black Reichswehr written by [[IntrepidReporter Katelbach]]. He visits Frau Behnke’s residence, but comically has the door shut in his face. She lets him in after he asks for Katelbach. He startles Katelbach, who is now [[PillowPistol sleeping with a gun in his hand]], paranoid about assassins, [[ProperlyParanoid who have been knocking off his sources and ransacking his office]]. Gereon demands the identity of Katelbach’s source, who he knows is highly-placed. Katelbach refuses until Gereon confides in him that the police are about to charge 15 highly-placed army officers as leader of the Black ''Reichswehr'', dropping names that Katelbach recognizes. Katelbach urges Gereon to make his knowledge public, insisting that the public is the only thing that will protect him, and that [[ForeShadowing many high-level politicians are implicated in the conspiracy]]. Katelbach arranges a meeting with his source on a street corner, which they leave to attend.

On his way out, moving past her petty grudges and second thoughts, Frau Behnke gives [[ChekhovsGun the customs papers she found under his bed]] to Gereon as he leaves.

Gereon goes to rinse his injured fist in warm water, noticing in the mirror in the process that [[DsrawkcabAlias “Nikoros” spells “Sorokin” backwards]]. He confronts Sorokina outside the club when she emerges, and she invites him into her car. She tells him the story of the Sorokin noble family: her father, a factory owner, attempted to hide their wealth in a railway wagon; but they were betrayed by their chauffeur and killed by the Bolsheviks – but [[RebelLeader Kardakov]] and the Trotskyists tracked the chauffeur down, and sent the stolen gold to Berlin.