Brokenwood - Murder in New Zealand - Season 2 - DVD

Content: In the not so tranquil provincial town of Brokenwood flows again a lot of blood. There Detective Sergeant Mike Shepherd (Neill Rea) and his partner DC Kristin Sims (Fern Sutherland) have again really busy. Fortunately, after initial difficulties, the two are now a well-oiled team. Whether it's the murder of a rugby coach smothered in lace underwear, a death at a performance of Hamlet, the discovery of a human hand in a crab trap, or the death of Shepherd's favorite singer, when the country music fan and his quick-witted partner investigate in their own unique way, the bad guys (and gals) have to dress warmly.

Brokenwood - Murder in New Zealand is almost even better in its second season than it was in its first episodes. This is not only due to the wonderfully bizarre murder cases, in which the creators have once again shown a wonderfully macabre ingenuity. The investigator duo also plays a significant role in making the series work so well. In the new episodes, Sheperd and Sims are a well-rehearsed team, who play the balls to each other perfectly, but also clash in a humorous way again and again. The verbal sparring between the two is simply delicious and always makes you smile in amusement. But also sometimes very weird side characters - such as the local theater group in the episode Dying or not dying - keep the entertainment value of the series throughout very high.

With wonderful little allusions to the image of New Zealand as the home of Hobbits (I do not like hairy feet) and wonderful landscape shots Brokenwood - Murder in New Zealand also gets a very special touch. Certainly, the mixture of crime thriller, humor and deceptive idyll reminds of Inspector Barnaby in the best sense. Fans of the British investigator will then feel right at home with his New Zealand colleagues. But despite a certain similarity, the stories from Brokenwood also have their very own character and special charm that is hard to resist.

Brokenwood - Murder in New Zealand proves that intrinsically conventional crime fiction can be served up with a few simple tricks and well-drawn characters in a thoroughly surprising, fresh and entertaining way. Whimsical, macabre, funny and exciting - light crime entertainment can't really flicker off the screen any better. Therefore, there is also for these four episodes in feature length quite clearly one: Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The series inspires with wonderfully atmospheric images, which come on the DVD thanks to a good overall sharpness and a coherent color scheme to good effect. All in all, the picture quality is on a good TV level. The Dolby Digital 2.0 mix is rather subdued overall, but the dialogue sounds powerful and the music and sound effects are well matched. Good!

Extras: As a bonus, Disc 2 features a brief behind-the-scenes look at the film with interviews from the main cast. After just under 3 minutes, however, the fun is already over. This is unfortunately a bit meager.

Conclusion: Brokenwood - Murder in New Zealand goes into the second, again very entertaining round! The delightfully bizarre murder cases and the amusing word battles of the investigator duo make this New Zealand crime series an absolute must for all fans of series like Inspector Barnaby. The double DVD presents the four episodes of the second season in good picture and sound quality. The bonus material, however, is a bit meager. Nevertheless: Here you get almost six hours of the best TV entertainment offered - and for that there is a clear: Absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp