Rex Resolution 45: Mosers Tod

Watch and sob!

Mosers Tod. As titles go, you can't give away the plot any clearer than that.


Moser and team are working on a series of murders. There seems to be nothing to link the victims except a domino left with the body. And I thought dominos was such a harmless game too! Under fire from the media, the pressure is on.


When the next body turns up, again with a domino, it's clear to Moser that a serial killer is on the loose and it's time to call in a forensic psychologist. She's able to give a fairly detailed profile of the killer while also giving Moser the eye. Now that's multi-tasking! In a psychological nutshell (no pun intended), it seems the killer is out to act on an unresolved conflict.


Two individuals meeting the profile seem to be out of the question, so, with nowhere to go, Moser heads off for a swim. Under the guise of checking on progress, the psychologist turns up at the pool (aren't we a sneaky proferssion!) and, before you know it, the two are in bed and Rex is playing Peeping Tom at the bedroom window.


The next morning, when Moser returns to the crime scenes, he notices a church tower visible from both spots which directs him to the likely locale of the murderer. When forensic evidence suggests the murder weapon may be antique, attention is drawn to an antiques shop near the church seen by Moser.


Unfortunately, not in time to prevent murder number 4. This time we see the killer make the victim act out the role of his mother before shooting her dead. He has an excellent alibi, escaping from and then returning to a mental health facility to commit his crimes. This time he's unable to leave his usual clues as the woman is still alive, startling him.


Moser returns to the antique shop looking to trace the weapon, a shop run, surprise, surprise, by the killer's mother. Her manner alerts Moser but he leaves and runs checks on her, which reveal she has a son in a psychiatric hospital after murdering a woman. Coincidence? Moser thinks not!


Meanwhile the mother visits her storage facility to see if the weapon described by Moser is still there. Of course, it isn't and she goes to confront her son. When he fobs her off by suggesting she put the weapon elsewhere and has forgotten and she tells him she will look again today, the scene is set for Moser's demise.


While the psychologist interviews the son in the facility, Moser and Rex explore and Rex leads Moser to a secret exit the killer has been using. While Moser confronts the physicians, the murderer escapes and heads to the storage facility to face his mother, eventually locking her up, before then snatching the psychologist and taking her back to the storage depot.


Moser, looking for the mother, finds out about the facility and is soon headed there, only to find the psychologist tied up. Sadly, the killer spots Moser first and while Moser survives the first shot, you can't keep a good man down and the rest, as they say, is history. RIP Moser.









Other players include Ulrich Tukur as killer Kurt Hauff, Thomas Anzenhofer, not credited with IMDB for this episode, Birgit Stauber as Inge Schoen, Holger Handtke, not credited with IMDB for this episode, and Eduard Wildner, also not credited with IMDB, all shown above in listed order.

Recycled Rexers Marion Mitterhammer, as psychologist Neuhold here and later as Marion in Sisi (1999) - never spotted that, and Erni Mangold as the mother here, but also uncredited in 'Gefaehrliche Jagd',