This article contains spoilers for Detective Forst episode 3. Detective Forst is a Polish Netflix crime thriller that sees brilliant detective Wiktor Forst trying to track down a brutal serial killer dubbed the "Beast of Giewont". Despite swiftly being removed from the case, he continues to work the case after teaming up with journalist, Olga Szrebska.
Episode 3 focuses on Forst's exploits in Slovakia which, as you might expect, go anything but well. Having connected with one of his contacts, Frana, the pair decide to follow up on that mysterious area from the map at Marek's place... leading to a close encounter with the killer!
Here's our full recap of everything that happened in Detective Forst episode 3.
Rozwadowksi's return
The third episode opens with Forst meeting up with Frana late at night; she promptly slaps Forst for "the trouble he's about to get her into". In the morning, he tells Frana why he's traveled to Slovakia: he needs to investigate that mystery zone in the Tatras. Thankfully, Frana tells him she knows the place well.
Back in Zakopane, Staszek is haunted by the encounter he had with a young man in a nightclub. He has footage of the pair together and decides to hide his laptop in his room.
Elsewhere, a man (revealed to be Minister Rozwadowski) finds an envelope on his doorstep which contains a severed finger, wearing a signet ring; this presumably came from the victim we saw being tortured at the beginning of the series.
Adamiak brings a DNA report to Edmund confirming that the killer's third victim is Maks Rozwadowski (the missing politician's son Forst was supposed to be tracking down), and the man Staszek had slept with.
Back in Slovakia, Forst and Frana are staking out a building perched on Łomnika Peak which Frana refers to as "The Black Dolphin". She explains that the place is a debaucherous club owned by Leon Łowotarski. It's a "playground" for the rich and famous, wherein people live out twisted and violent fantasies.
Forst asks if anyone's tried to get to Łowotarski before; she says she's worked on a case against him for years, but he's untouchable. Forst asks if there's a way to break in; Frana tells him to forget it, but he refuses and says he'll try to get in alone if he has to. Reluctantly, Frana reveals one of the Black Dolphin's security guards owes her a favor.
We're then taken inside Łowotarski's office. Minister Rozwadowski barges in, demanding to know where his son is, and why whichever criminal has kidnapped him is set to post a ransom figure. When Łowotarski refuses to let slip any useful information, Rozwadowski threatens to call the agents to investigate the Black Dolphin. But he's quieted when Łowotarski shows him footage of the Minister attending the club and ominously says he is sure his son will turn up soon.
Infiltration
Back in Zakopane, Prosecutor Wadrys-Hansen questions Edmund over why he didn't search the Rozwadowski villa until a body turned up, if he knew that Maks' antics were the talk of the town. At home, Olga learns from a news report on TV that police have identified the body. She heads down to the station and demands to speak to Edmund Osica.
She's refused access to the station, but spots Staszek leaving the building and chases after him. She asks whether he knew the victim, but Staszek says he knows nothing and gets in his car. But as he's leaving, Staszek catches up to Olga and tells her to meet him at his place tomorrow at 11.
Minister Rozwadowski arrives at the morgue to confirm the victim's identity as his son. Elsewhere, we see Halina, the older woman from episode 2 having a secret meeting with Edmund. She says she's got another job for him to do, but Edmund thinks otherwise.
He says getting Forst sacked was the last favor he owed her, and that they're all squared up now. She's been paying him to do her dirty work, and he wants out, but he's got both his wife's hospital bills and Agata's stays in rehab to pay for... will Edmund be forced to keep working for her?
Back in Slovakia, Frana and Forst are getting ready to infiltrate the Black Dolphin. The building has a dress code, and they'll be searched at the door, so Frana locks Forst's phone and gun in a safe at their hideout before they head to Lomnica Peak. During their tour of the building, Łowotarski is alerted to their arrival... and has them subdued and orders Forst to be brought to his office.
A failed escape
Łowotarski taunts the detective about the failed case that had him sent to Zakopane as punishment. Forst asks Łowotarski if he is the Beast of Giewont and to name his next victim. Shockingly, Łowotarski says that he is the killer's next target, for he's also in that photo alongside the other victims' ancestors, and he shows the segmented version of the same image he'd been receiving in chunks throughout episode 2.
Łowotarski ends their talk by suggesting Forst has seen too much. Forst tries to escape the two bodyguards flanking him but is quickly overpowered and savagely beaten. Our detective then wakes up in a cage, next to a bloodied Frana. Together, the pair hatch an escape plan; Forst pretends to have taken his own life, and Frana desperately calls for help.
Frana and Forst kill the two guards who come to check on them and make their way into the air vents to try and escape. At the same time, a gun-toting figure called Iwo Elijah saunters into Łowotarski's office, and pushes another envelope across his desk. Łowotarski tells Iwo that they've been brainwashed and ordered to kill by Halina in order to bring her vengeance down on Nazi collaborators, and their descendants.
Before he's executed, Łowotarski says Halina has not told Iwo the whole truth. He asks if Halina ever told him Łowotarski didn't have any children; his final words are simply that his daughter hadn't been telling Iwo the whole truth (so Halina must be Łowotarski's descendant). Unmoved, Iwo shoots him in the head and leaves the office.
Frana and Forst find their way forward blocked by more guards. Frana kisses him and goes to distract them by asking for a cigarette, giving Forst the time to circle around and take them out. Forst takes aim, but his gun jams, forcing him back behind cover. Whilst he clears the blockage, Iwo sneaks up behind Forst and strikes him with his pistol.
The episode ends with Forst reeling on the floor. He watches as the guards kill Frana, but then Iwo takes the guards out himself, whispering: "it's not your time yet, Wiktor. You haven't lost enough".
Detective Forst is now available to stream on Netflix. For more series to enjoy, check out our picks for the best Netflix shows we think you should be watching right now.
