Her baby’s missing and her job’s on the line, but detective Alex remains ‘Unbroken’

When a pregnant police officer wakes up to find she’s missing a week of her life – and her unborn child – one thing’s for certain: she’ll never stop searching.

Aylin Tezel stars as Detective Alex Enders in ‘Unbroken’. Source: ZDF/Frank Dicks

Unbroken begins with a woman wearing a bloody shirt staggering out of the woods and into a children’s birthday party. It’s a shockingly powerful image; when one of the children says to her mother that a monster has arrived, it’s hard to disagree.

But this isn’t a straightforward case of assault. In fact, at first it’s difficult to figure out exactly what crime has been committed. A week earlier, German police officer Alex Enders (Aylin Tezel) was pregnant and six weeks away from giving birth. Now her baby’s gone. She has no idea what happened.

As beginnings go, it’s a near-perfect combination of mystery and a mother’s worst nightmare. But a brilliant start is one thing: following up on that promise across six episodes is the real challenge. Unbroken has a few tricks and twists up its sleeve, but its real strength – a powerhouse performance from Tezel as Alex – is plain right from the start.

Alex (Aylin Tezel) looks for answers at the hospital. Source: ZDF/Frank Dicks

Alex is a no-nonsense cop, someone who can come into an interrogation and tell a teen car thief that he’s facing murder charges then casually start eating her lunch. Her surprise farewell party (a far more shabby affair than the fancy children’s party she’ll later ruin) mostly involves her telling everyone she won’t miss them and she’ll be back soon anyway so don’t get used to life without her.

In private, she still has doubts about keeping her baby. She tells her supervisor Paul Nowak (Özgür Karadeniz) that “If you knew how many times I wished I’d lose the child. I even made an appointment to get rid of it.” To be fair, she has just been throwing up – but they’re words she’s definitely going to regret.

Even after only a few scenes, it’s clear that Tezel’s performance is going to make Unbroken something special. In the first ten minutes alone she goes from a survivor in shock to a brashly confident cop to someone wearily struggling with family issues to a woman torn apart by the loss of her child. She’s utterly convincing every step of the way, and there’s a lot more to come.

Tezel smashes her performance as Alex. Source: ZDF/Frank Dicks

We know she was attacked by a masked man after a trip to the supermarket. The medical examiner says she had a “natural birth”, with only traces of a labour-inducing drug and a narcotic. Paul is determined to find her child, throwing everything he can into the search. But after following her steps back into the woods, the trail goes cold. Whoever took her baby seems to have gotten away with it.

Her home life was already under strain, from the expectations of her (perhaps too understanding) husband Leif (Sebastian Zimmler) and the dementia of her live-in father Richard (André Jung). With no evidence to back up her story, those around her begin to have their doubts. Her attitude before her disappearance has some wondering if the “kidnapping” might not have all been in her head, or even a straight-out lie. She said she didn’t want the baby, now the baby’s gone; case closed.

Alex’s husband Leif (Sebastian Zimmler). Source: ZDF/Frank Dicks

When she finally decides to return to work, Paul has one condition: that she sees police psychologist Dr Brenner (Leslie Malton). Brenner says she knows what it’s like to lose a child. Alex replies “but I know my child is still alive”. Before she was a woman in pain: now we see a woman with a mission.

It doesn’t take long for that mission to take shape. An investigation into the death of a Romanian prostitute reveals a world of wealthy families and the babies they pay for. Alex starts to wonder if she might not have been a victim of the same crime ring.

Police psychologist Dr Brenner (Leslie Malton) with Alex’s supervisor Paul (Özgür Karadeniz). Source: ZDF/Frank Dicks

On one level, Unbroken is a gripping police drama, with Alex as the dogged investigator putting together evidence and interrogating suspects as she works to solve a murder that just keeps on getting more complicated. But it gradually becomes clear that the series is also a conspiracy thriller, built around a sinister world of surrogacy and kidnapping that only Alex seems to see. 

The further she takes her investigation, the less she can trust those around her. Her anger and determination was already pushing people away (and Tezel sells every moment perfectly); now she’s on her own, up against forces that seems bigger and more powerful with every piece of evidence she uncovers.

She’ll do anything to get her child back; with no-one she can trust and nowhere to turn, is anything going to be enough?

Unbroken is streaming at SBS On Demand. The series is also airing Wednesday nights 11pm on SBS, from 11 June.