Dawn of a New Century
While everyone is passed out on the floor, episode 5 of Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood begins with a horse-drawn cart arriving at Xanthner’s pub. They drop several bags full of rats inside and scurry away. On the back of this, Urban offers this brewery lot to Maria as a wry smile crosses her face. It appears she’s the one responsible for this. Elsewhere, Clara and Roman happen to be together out in the fields. After receiving their first paycheck, they learn about the bar and the rat situation back home. At the same time, Prank visits Glogauer and tells him to call off the hit on Maria and the Holfinger family. Meanwhile, Colina’s good mood is shattered when a face from the past arrive. Her estranged husband Rupp appears with their son and forces her to hand over some marks. Stifter visits Mr Urban at church and persuades him to join an uneasy alliance. After mentioning the Holfinger brewery situation, he turns his attention to Prank’s tent and the future of the brewery. He tries to strike a deal with Urban, offering him a lucrative position in the future by replacing the Mayor with a “suitable candidate.” Eventually Urban agrees, and this sees Prank forced out of next year’s Oktoberfest. With Prank bemoaning his luck with the cartel, Glogauer heads over to Stifter’s house and works behind Prank’s back to undermine the man. Later that day, Ludwig hits a serious snag in his innkeeping career as his exploits with Franz are broadcast out at the cinemograph before outraged watchers. Ludwig immediately visits Franz and their conversation turns heated. After smacking his lover in the mouth, Ludwig sits on the window sill and falls to his death. On the back of this, Maria starts to lose her mind, blaming Prank and seeing him standing before her. Roman also finds out about his brother and heads back with Clara to pay their respects. Prank eventually gets his comeuppance as Roman confronts him in the street. He smacks the man across the face and beats him down to the ground. Only, midway through Curt admits that it was actually Maria responsible for the cartoon and the rats. Eventually Maria and Curt find themselves face to face, with their issues spilling over in quite the dramatic fashion. Items are thrown across the room and their feelings are finally out in the open. Given the ties between both families (namely Clara and Roman’s romance) the duo eventually agree to form an uneasy alliance. As the episode closes out, Curt heads in to his Oktoberfest tent and breaks out the murder weapon he buried in the ground. While he does, Maria stumbles through the streets delirious and not of sane mind after the tragedies befalling her family.
The Episode Review
With tensions bubbling over, the unlikely alliance between Curt Prank and Hoflinger family is certainly unexpected. With the cartel muscling in on the action, both families find themselves faced with a much more cunning and difficult threat. There’s still some serious bad blood between the families of course but Roman and Clara’s relationship appears to be the glue holding everything together for now. Having said that, Ludwig’s death is shocking and certainly unexpected. The misery continues to pile on the Hoflinger family and it’ll be interesting to see where they go next with this. One thing’s for sure – you’re not going to want to miss the finale.
