History Recap / BabylonBerlinS2E7

* DiesWideOpen: Charlotte drowns and is shown with her eyes open and vacant, implying that she has died. In the next episode, her eyes are closed, and it's revealed that she's still alive.

* DiesWideOpen: Charlotte drowns and is shown with her eyes open and vacant, implying that she has died. In the next episode, Gereon drags her to the surface, where her eyes have mysteriously closed, and it's revealed that she's still alive.

* UnderwaterKiss: The "Breath of Air" variant occurs when Gereon administers oxygen mouth-to-mouth to Charlotte who is stuck underwater in the car.

* TheTale: In order to keep Greta roped in, Otto presents her a "Wanted" memo for Fritz signed by Benda.

* DiesWideOpen: Charlotte drowns and is shown with her eyes open and vacant. In the next episode, Gereon drags her to the surface, where her eyes have mysteriously closed.

* KissOfLife: The mouth-to-mouth air exchange between Gereon and Charlotte.

* RuleOfSymbolism: When Charlotte dies in the car, the scene cuts to two white swans taking off.

* ThrowingOutTheScript: Helga during her speech before a veteran’s organization sponsored by Nyssen AG. Partway through her speech, she stops, and begins to improvise. She instead begins to criticize the Nyssen family and Nyssen AG as arms manufacturers, and their complicity in the arms industry that led to the very war that killed their husbands.

* UnderwaterKiss: The mouth-to-mouth air exchange between Gereon and Charlotte.

Greta fumes silently in the Benda kitchen, part nervous and part furious, glancing at the ticking clock.

Gereon and Helga are having sex in the morning. Afterward, they discuss moving out of the hotel into a flat. There is a knock at the door, Gereon draws his gun – to Gereon’s shock, it’s Charlotte. He tells her [[MacGuffin the train]] is en route to the Soviet Union, while she tells him that she has translated [[ChekhovsGun Jaenicke’s journal]].

Greta serves the Bendas breakfast. Frau Benda questions her on if [[ForeShadowing the children are packed for a trip]]. She can barely contain her emotions over Fritz’s murder. [[PetTheDog Frau Benda attempts to comfort her in the kitchen]].

Charlotte ignores Gereon’s inquiries as to her whereabouts the past few days in favor of filling him on the details regarding [[MacGuffin the gold]], the planned heist, and [[BigBadFriend Bruno’s]] activities. Unbeknownst to them, they are followed in a truck by Bruno. Gereon confesses he already knew about the gold due to [[CallBack his earlier interrogation of Sorokina]], but didn’t take her seriously.

Gereon and Charlotte show up at Benda’s door, requesting an urgent meeting. [[ForeShadowing Greta requests guidance from Charlotte, but is rebuffed by the extremely stressed and preoccupied investigator]]. Gereon requests Benda’s help taking down Bruno and foiling the heist, claiming Bruno was Jaenicke’s murderer. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Benda]] refuses, under too much political pressure and placing faith in the existing security arrangements. Gereon attempts to guilt-trip him regarding Jaenicke’s death, but Benda is intransigent. [[CouldSayItBut Nevertheless, he “subtly” informs Gereon of the exact time that State Secretary Wendt will release the train for travel to the Soviet Union]], clearly implying Gereon should take unofficial action. Gereon and Charlotte hurriedly leave to intercept the train.

Greta places a call to Otto, telling him to come over as Frau Benda and the children leave.

Wendt releases the train to the Soviet ambassador, checking his watch in the process.

Gereon calls for [[ThoseTwoGuys Henning and Czerwinski]] to head for mile marker 127, [[ForeShadowing bringing gas masks with them]]. They set out with Graf.

Greta ponders her actions in the kitchen as seen in the Cold Open. Otto arrives. He plants an improvised bomb in the locked drawer of the desk in Benda’s office, warning her that it will detonate as soon as the drawer is opened. Greta has second thoughts, but Otto strongarms her into continuing, [[GasLighting referring her to a “Wanted” memo for Fritz signed by Benda in his jacket pocket]]. They part ways afterward, him giving her money for a train ticket to skip town. Greta attempts to call Charlotte at police headquarters in one last crisis of conscience, but is unsuccessful – [[DramaticIrony Charlotte has advertised herself as an official homicide detective, but the department has no record of a detective by that name]].

Gereon and Charlotte drive along a road beside a lake. They are suddenly faced with a truck driving at them head-on. They swerve off-road into the lake, quickly sinking beneath the water. Bruno exits his truck and sits down to wait, to ensure neither Gereon nor Charlotte return to the surface. Charlotte quickly comes to as the car settles on the lakebed. Finding her arm is stuck, she rouses Gereon for help. He is unable to free her as the glass begins to buckle under the water pressure. Both taking deep breaths as the water fills the car, he goes for the surface, promising to return for Charlotte.

Spotting Bruno lurking above, Gereon goes for a hidden point in order to surface for air, and then dives back to for Charlotte. He exchanges air with her mouth-to-mouth before going back to the surface once again. On the surface, satisfied with having waited long enough without seeing Charlotte or Gereon, Bruno gets back in his truck and leaves. Gereon attempts to find a lever with which to free Charlotte, but fails, frantically diving back into the water and going back for another exchange of air. Charlotte gives up despite Gereon’s attempts to stop her, and takes several gulps of water as Gereon watches. Gereon screams in despair.

Back in Berlin, Helga makes her planned speech before a veteran’s organization sponsored by Nyssen AG, introduced by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Nyssen]] himself. Moritz expresses disinterest in going to school, implying he hopes to join the army, and requests his mother leave him out of her speech this time. She doesn’t. [[ThrowingOutTheScript Partway through her speech, she stops, and begins to improvise]]. She instead begins to criticize the Nyssen family and Nyssen AG as arms manufacturers, and their complicity in the arms industry that led to the very war that killed their husbands. She expresses gratitude for the help of the Nyssen family in their hour of need, but also her hatred for their business. Nyssen frantically offers to lunch with Helga in order to smooth out their disagreements.

Greta cradles the doll [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging lent to her by Benda’s daughter]] as she prepares to finish up and leave. She eventually hardens herself and packs her things as the final hour draws near. She connects the wires to arm the bomb in Benda’s desk as the clock strikes eight. [[SpannerInTheWorks But Benda returns home slightly early]]. He asks for her company over dinner, as usual when the wife is out of the house. Greta barely contains a nervous breakdown, watching nervously as Benda works at the desk in his office.

Benda attempts to entertain Greta over dinner with small talk regarding someone he dislikes – the wife of the Lord Mayor of Berlin, Anna Boess. When he is no longer able to ignore her obvious stress, he misinterprets it as angst over a bad breakup. Afterward, finally, he dismisses her, [[DudeNotFunny after making a very poorly-timed joke about having him arrested]]. She eagerly flees, heading for the train station. As she leaves, unbeknownst to her, a cab pulls up, and [[SpannerInTheWorks Frau Benda and the children unexpectedly return early]].

At the train station, Greta buys a ticket to Usedom Island. On her way onto the train, she is bumped by a [[ChekhovMIA Nazi brownshirt]] who begs her pardon. As she boards the train, she finds herself drawn by a crowd of Nazi brownshirts [[DramaticIrony heckling Herr Boess regarding his Jewish wife]].

Benda’s daughter can’t sleep and joins him in his office. The camera begins to pan under his desk.

Boess exits his train car to directly confront his Nazi hecklers. Greta spots Otto in the crowd of Nazi brownshirts, [[MeaningfulLook who glances toward another brownshirt with his back to Greta]]. When Greta looks at him, he glances back – [[TheReveal it’s Fritz]]. In denial, Greta approaches him. Boess can’t handle the heckling and suffers a heart attack on the platform. Greta reaches the man and turns him around – he claims not to recognize her or the name, but it is clearly Fritz. He throws her to the ground as she becomes more hysterical. The police flood into the station and break up the brownshirts. On the ground, Boess is not moving.

Suddenly suffering a change of heart due to this revelation, Greta rushes for the Benda house. Just as she approaches the stoop, Benda’s daughter asks about the wires under his desk, leading into the drawer. Benda unlocks it, and there is a huge explosion. Greta collapses on the stoop, incapacitated by the explosion. Frau Benda checks the childrens’ room, finding only her son, and screams in horror.