05. The Fifth Woman

2 parts of 120 minutes each - First broadcast: 29.12.2002 

Part 1: It In southern Sweden, far away from the crowds, crimes are taking place that can make even a hardened crime specialist lose sleep. A serial killer is on the loose. Kurt Wallander sets off for the idyllic province of Scania. Detective Inspector Wallander, striking, not least because of his appearance, is actually a pleasantly normal man: he sleeps little, eats too much fast food, is divorced, has problems with his ageing father and his daughter, a teenager. Underpaid and obsessed with work, you can feel the existentiality of this exceptional figure in his everyday life just as much as in the unusual way he fights crime. Often intuitive in his approach, his ingeniously developed powers of observation are a major asset in tracking down the horrors that are hidden in the immediate vicinity, often just behind the façade of the everyday. Having just returned from a trip to Italy with his father, Wallander has to solve one of the most difficult cases of his career. Three bestial murders occur within a short space of time. The first victim is Holger Eriksson, an elderly gentleman who wrote bird poems: the investigators find his mangled body impaled in a stake pit near his house. The second victim, Gösta Runfeldt, an orchid lover, is found naked, tied to a tree and strangled with his bare hands in a quiet wooded area. The third body, Eugen Blomberg: the unassuming researcher was drowned in the lake in a sack weighed down with stones. Wallander himself is stunned by these horrors, but the first clues begin to emerge as it becomes increasingly clear that there must be a connection between these crimes and a series of murders in Algeria in 1994, where five women were murdered by fundamentalists. During the difficult investigations, Wallander is repeatedly amazed by the unconventional and direct manner of his new colleague Maja Thysell. The two become increasingly close as the investigation progresses. As the case continues to be investigated, it becomes clear that all three male victims also had a past as perpetrators. They were accused of abusing their wives. Wallander's main focus is on the witness Katharina Taxell, the mistress of the murdered Eugen Blomberg. Why does this woman conceal the fact that she is expecting Blomberg's child and why does she refuse to testify? And who is her ominous friend who, disguised as a nurse, gains unauthorized access to the clinic? Is she the murderer? Even if Wallander himself doesn't want to admit it, all the evidence points to the fact that the perpetrator must be a woman.

Part 2: The fear that the serial killer could strike again is fraying the investigators' nerves. Wallander is also worried about his father's state of health. When he finds his ageing father in a field in a completely disoriented state, he decides to admit him to hospital. The only consolation and ray of hope for Wallander at the moment is his maturing love affair with his colleague Maja. The investigation is progressing slowly. Katharina Taxell, the lover of the last victim Eugen Blomberg and mother-to-be, is still unwilling to make a statement, and the search for the mysterious nurse is fruitless. Wallander receives unexpected news from the hospital of his father's sudden death. Desperate, he throws himself into his work with all his might. The investigation leads to a decisive breakthrough when they come into possession of Katharina Taxell's notebook. Now they know the whereabouts of their friend. The investigators storm Yvonne Ander's abandoned apartment and find her diary there. Her entries make it clear that she is the serial killer and that she intends to carry out her next attack at the station in an hour's time. Wallander rushes to the location with Maja. And indeed, they discover Yvonne Ander on the platform, about to execute her next victim, Tore Grunden. The crime is thwarted, but Maja is shot by Yvonne Ander, and Wallander is also "checkmated" by a deceptive maneuver. Yvonne Ander manages to escape. Wallander is very worried about Maja. Maja is badly injured but out of danger. To Wallander's great sorrow, she decides to return to her separated husband. Yvonne Ander makes a mistake. She regrets hurting a woman and brings Maja flowers to the hospital. There she is confronted by Wallander. At the same time, the police receive a missing person's report. It is Thomas Andersson, who is supposed to be Yvonne Ander's next victim. During the psychological exchange between Inspector Wallander and Yvonne Ander, he learns a lot about the background and motives behind the crimes, but time is working against him: Yvonne Ander is still unwilling to reveal the location where she is holding Thomas Andersson prisoner.

© Photo: Nille Leander