# Murder Mindfully

Murder Mindfully is a black comedy thriller television series. It premiered on Netflix at Halloween 2024 and received generally favourable reviews. The series is based on the novel by Karsten Dusse. In December 2024, Netflix renewed it for a second season.

## Premise

Björn Diemel is a hardworking Law firm employee, but has no prospect of becoming a partner, because he has to serve the law firms scumbag client mafia boss Dragan Sergowicz. His time consuming job leaves little time for his wife Katharina and his little daughter Emily. To save their marriage and for the sake of their child, Katharina urges him to see the therapist Joschka Breitner. Through the Mindfulness coaching Björn learns to achieve a better work-life balance.
Unfortunately, his client Dragan Sergowicz gets himself into serious trouble and is dragging Björn down with him. Now, Björn is using his newly minted coping mechanisms to solve his problems in ways that don't get taught at law school.

## Cast and characters

* Tom Schilling as Björn Diemel, a defense attorney with an occupational burnout
* Emily Cox as Katharina Diemel, Björn’s wife
* Peter Jordan as Joschka Breitner, the mindfulness coach
* Sascha Alexander Geršak as Dragan Sergowicz, a mob boss and Björn’s client
* Pamuk Pilavci as Emily Diemel, Björn and Katharina’s daughter
* Amer El-Erwadi as Murat, a mobster and one of Björn’s clients
* Murathan Muslu as Sascha, a mobster and kindergarten teacher
* Marc Hosemann as Toni, a mobster
* Britta Hammelstein as Nicole Eckmann, a police officer and single mother
* Michael Ihnow as judge

## Streaming success

Season 1 hit the number 1 spot in the Netflix Global Top 10 Non-English Shows in the week after release. It stayed for three weeks in the Global Top 10.
On December 18, 2024 Netflix confirmed season 2.

## Reception

Joel Keller wrote for Decider: "Murder Mindfully takes a high-concept premise and makes it relatable, thanks to sharp writing and Tom Schilling’s performance."
David Hollingsworth (whatotowatch) describes the series as "violently funny".
Charles Hartford wrote for ButWhyTho: "Murder Mindfully delivers a thoroughly enjoyable ride. With great characters and a surprising plot, the series keeps the viewer invested in its world, even if it lacks the highs of truly great television."
Craig Mathieson of The Age described the series as a "a black comedy that blurs familiar genre lines."
Experimental filmmaker Josef Markus wrote for Goethe-Institut USA: "Murder Mindfully is a crash course in dark, deadpan German humor ... And the cast guarantees the viewer will keep watching. Tom Schilling has built a fine career as the thinking man’s thinking man of German film .. Murder Mindfully goes down smoothly. The half-hour episodes never overstay their welcome, and there are no extraneous subplots to pad the season, a rarity for a streaming series. Monika Plura’s sleek cinematography, particularly in the nighttime views of Berlin, could make a viewer want to pet their television. For plenty of audiences that may be enough ... Yet for all that the series feels meticulously cross-stitched from half a dozen earlier binge-watching hits. The streamers may not be interested in creative risks anymore. Instead, they’re all about giving viewers more of what they already liked — and they have the data to prove it."