Plot Synopsis

Based on the best-selling Liebermann novels by Frank Tallis, VIENNA BLOOD is set in 1900s Vienna: a hot bed of philosophy, science and art, where a clash of cultures and ideas play out in the city's grand cafes and opera houses. Max Liebermann is a brilliant young English doctor, studying under the famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Max is keen to understand the criminal mind and begins to observe Oskar Rheinhardt, a Detective Inspector in the Vienna Police Department, who is struggling with a perplexing case. Max's extraordinary skills of perception and forensics -- and his deep understanding of human behavior and deviance -- help Oskar solve Vienna's most mysterious cases. VIENNA BLOOD had its U.S. series premiere on Sunday, January 19, 2020 at 10pm ET/PT on PBS (check local listings).

On Sunday, January 9, 2022 at 10pm (check local listings), PBS aired the Season 2 debut of VIENNA BLOOD. The new season features three, two-part stories. In the season opener, "The Melancholy Countess (Part 1)" when a depressed Hungarian countess drowns in the bath of her lavish hotel suite, it looks like suicide. Intense scrutiny falls on her psychoanalyst, Max. Oskar teams up with Max to solve the riddle of the countess's death and clear Max's professional reputation. The story concludes on January 16 with "The Melancholy Countess (Part 2)," as circumstantial evidence points to the countess's young friend having poisoned her, but without a motive, Oskar and Max must widen the search. A breakthrough in Max's analysis of the countess's dreams opens a new line of investigation.

Season 3 of VIENNA BLOOD made its U.S. debut on Sunday, January 8, 2023 at 10pm on PBS (check local listings). In the season opener, "Deadly Communion (Part 1)," with the discovery of a young seamstress murdered in a luxury fashion house, Max and Oskar learn that the world of couture conceals sinister secrets. When two more similar victims are discovered, Max and Oskar doggedly pursue the few clues.
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The fourth season of VIENNA BLOOD made its U.S. debut on Sunday, January 5, 2025 at 10pm on PBS (check local listings). Season 4 finds the unlikely detective duo in Vienna in 1909, where the double murder of a senior public official and an arms dealer in police custody has shaken the city to its core. Freudian psychoanalyst Max Liebermann has only just returned from a lecture tour in America when Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt asks for help in what could be the most dangerous case of their careers. Working together on an increasingly perilous investigation, Oskar and Max uncover a conspiracy that leads to the heart of the government. Can they stop the seditious mole known as "Mephisto" from destroying the Austro-Hungarian Empire? And will their lives ever be the same?