It's New Year's Eve of 1930/31 in Berlin. Charlotte Ritter is on duty at Police HQ. Alfred Nyssen is throwing a lavish party at his mansion...and is revealing his relationship with Helga and his most audacious latest project. Meanwhile Gereon Rath is in the SA, the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party, and tonight the SA is marching and looking for a fight.
In my review of the first three seasons of Babylon Berlin I said it would interesting to see how the writers get around the fact that the efforts of the police are always stymied when it comes to dealing with the Nazis, as their political power gets them out of jams. I applauded the historical accuracy of the show and the fact that everything in the series is taking place against the backdrop of the political changes occurring in Germany in the 1920s and 30s. However, I also found this a bit frustrating, for the reason mentioned above.
Well, we might have our answer already. With Rath joining the SA the writers might have adopted the policy of "if you can't beat them, join them" in Rath's case. His joining the SA does make for a very interesting plot development, one which will be intriguing to see develop further as the season progresses. I personally think that Rath is undercover, sent to infiltrate the SA, but we'll have to see where this goes.
As far as solving crime goes, there is a crime, but no mystery to who did it. No great conspiracies or mysteries, yet, making this episode a pre-crime scene-setter and a bit flatter than expected as a result. Still there's enough intrigue and machinations to make it quite interesting.