Forever Episode 1.14 Hitler on the Half-Shelf

Art dealer Karl Haas is bludgeoned to death with what Henry (Ioan Gruffudd) recognizes as a rare statuette stolen by the Nazis during World War II. Several paintings, presumably also Nazi loot, are also missing.

Research reveals Haas's father was Otto Heidrich, a prominent Nazi who was responsible for stealing priceless works of arts. After the war, Heidrich changed his name and fled to the U.S. with the stolen treasures.

Haas's son, Erik, is shocked to learn his grandfather wasn't fleeing the Nazis, he was a Nazi. The revelation prompts Henry to remember his disbelief when he learned, back in 1813, that his father was involved in the slave trade. His father explained it was a drastic move to save the family business, but Henry still condemned his decision.

Henry tracks a highly valuable watch found among the victim's things to a shop in Brighton Beach. The owner tells Jo (Alana De La Garza) and Henry that he gave the watch to Karl after he returned a priceless family treasure: A Claude Monet painting worth millions. He says Karl was determined to return all the artworks his father had stolen to their rightful owners.

Blood left at the crime scene appears to belong to a long-dead artist, Max Brenner. It's actually the blood of his son, Sam, who did steal back his father's painting, but didn't kill Karl. Sam swears Karl was alive when he left, and on the phone, arguing in German about a Rembrandt.

When a man drops by Abe (Judd Hirsch)'s to get an antique silver tray assessed, Abe has no idea he's speaking to Adam (Burn Gorman). Adam recognizes Abe's tattoo as being from Auschwitz and says he's "something of an expert" on the subject.

Phone records indicate Karl was talking to his banker, Julian, on the night of his death. Julian shows Jo and Henry a vault full of valuable artworks whose rightful owners couldn't be found.

Henry does an "autopsy" on a frame from the murder site and determines it had to have held a Rembrandt. He warns Jo not to touch because Rembrandt treated his frame with ingredients that would give you a "nasty rash." Henry realizes that the Julian had such a rash when they talked to him. Jo issues an arrest warrant for the banker, but he -- and the entire contents of the bank's vault -- are already gone.

Henry examines the tray left at Abe's shop and realizes, with a shock, that it belonged to his family and that the mysterious visitor was Adam. He meets Adam at a nearby cemetery and warns him to leave Abe alone. Adam apologizes for his "overzealous" actions and tells Henry that he knew Karl's father "quite well" during the war.

Henry assumes that means Adam was a Nazi, but Adam assures him it was quite the opposite. As a prisoner who couldn't die, Adam quickly came to the attention of the infamous Dr. Mengele, who subjected him to horrifying experiments to learn the secret of his immortality. Adam asks Henry to keep an eye out for a Roman dagger that might be among the stolen items and promises he can give Henry something in return, although Henry is skeptical.

Jo suspects that Julian is moving the paintings the way the Nazis did: By boat. At the docks, she and Det. Hanson (Donnie Keshawarz) find the bloodied body of Julian inside a shipping container. Due to the sadistic nature of the murder, Henry concludes the person who killed Julian is not the same as the one who killed Karl.

In flashback, we see that Henry, horrified by his father's actions, decided to leave for the Colonies. His father summoned him before he left and gave him the watch his father gave him. Just before he died, he told Henry that he'd raised a good man, at least.

Henry recalls how he closed his father's eyes on his deathbed and realizes that Karl would also have died with his eyes open. That means that someone close to Karl closed them: They arrest his son, Erik, who confesses to killing his father during a heated argument. Julian had told Erik -- who was then struggling to pay his rent -- the truth about his father's art collection. Erik followed him when he returned the Monet and confronted him. Jo tries to get him to confess to Julian's murder as well but Erik, as Henry guessed, had nothing to do with it.

Lucas (Joel David Moore) runs a test on skin found on Julian's ring: He tells Henry the killer once had the bubonic plague, which of course means Adam is the killer. Henry can't tell Jo and Hanson that, however, and - for once - professes to have no theory about a murder.

Adam returns to Abe's and leaves behind a record book from Auschwitz that reveals who Abe's parents were: Hermann and Rita Weinraub.

Henry finally tells Abe the truth: The mysterious man was none other than Adam. Abe realizes now why Adam said he was an "expert" on Auschwitz. He and Henry go to the Museum of Jewish Heritage, where he finds a priceless artifact: His parents' wedding photo.