Brokenwood - Murder in New Zealand - Season 4 - DVD

Content: As a city slicker, Detective Sergeant Mike Shepherd (Neill Rea) has so slowly settled into the small town of Brokenwood. But there is one thing he will probably never get used to: To the sometimes very obscure murder cases that he and his partner DC Kristin Sims (Fern Sutherland) want to solve. For example, his team only wants to celebrate Shepherd's birthday in a park, when the victim of an unsuccessful parachute jump lands on his gift table. Then the curator of a museum village is shot by an arrow shortly before the festive season opening, a farmer becomes a scarecrow after his murder, and then there is a whole retirement home full of suspects after the death of a financial entrepreneur. No, it is really never boring in Brokenwood...

The fourth season of "Brokenwood - Murder in New Zealand" continues the successful concept of the first three seasons consistently. Criminal cases with partly wonderfully absurd murders are cleverly constructed solved, always spiced with a good pinch of humor and pleasant self-irony. In addition, the main characters and their relationships with each other develop steadily - not really groundbreaking, but still noticeable. Thus, Mike Shepherd becomes more and more clearly a part of the Brokenwood community, even if he can't (yet) completely shed some of his big-city manners. One feels however, how in the course of the season the relationship strengthens straight between Sheperd and Sims and like from colleagues slowly but surely correctly good friends become.

The individual cases are characterised also this time again by the fact that they begin particularly bizarrely, whereas the solutions and the way there offer rather conventional Krimikost. Nevertheless: The special atmosphere, which is also generated by the landscape of New Zealand, the sometimes very amusing dialogues and the mixing of the investigative work with private moments of the investigative team ensure that despite a certain predictability the whole thing always remains entertaining and never even a hint of boredom arises.

"Brokenwood - Murder in New Zealand" may not necessarily be the most exciting series that the genre currently has to offer. But it is definitely way ahead in terms of charm and entertainment value. It's just fun to visit Brokenwood and meet the sometimes very quirky characters who live in this small town. Who is not necessarily on gripping thrills and simply wants to be well entertained and humor, which can also be a bit nasty, appreciates, this fourth season of this series can also be warmly recommended. Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: As with seasons 1 - 3, the audiovisual implementation is again at a good TV level. The picture has a decent overall sharpness with small deductions in the B grade. Really good again in these four episodes is the coloring, which the outdoor scenes in particular benefit from. The Dolby 2.0 mix is primarily dominated by the dialogue, with music and ambient sounds playing a rather subordinate role. All in all, however, absolutely sufficient for a series like this. For this there is then a satisfied: Good!

Extras: Bonusmaterial is unfortunately missing in this season. Too bad!

Conclusion: The fourth season of the New Zealand crime series "Brokenwood - Murder in New Zealand" entertains again first-class by delightfully absurd murder cases, the sometimes very quirky characters, engaging landscape shots and the charming investigator team. The four feature-length episodes are spread over two DVDs and are presented in good picture and sound quality. Unfortunately, there are no extras. Nevertheless, this murderous trip to New Zealand is once again: absolutely recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp