Watching TV - Ekki, lies and videos - a "Wilsberg" crime drama about fake news
Pictures can lie. This painful experience is something that Wilsberg's best friend Ekki (Oliver Korittke) has to face at the beginning of this episode of the ZDF crime series "Wilsberg" (Saturday, 8:15 PM). This time, the story revolves around cyberbullying, internet hate, and fake news. The title of the 2020 episode is "Alles Lüge".
Just moments after Ekki was joking with the book antiquarian and private investigator (Leonard Lansink) at Münster's weekly market about a feast of caviar and champagne, he is suddenly attacked by a man who feels driven to ruin by the tax office. A scuffle ensues - with the smartphones of passers-by poised to capture the moment. A video that gives the impression that Ekki, who is only defending himself, is a violent troublemaker against the weak in society, spreads rapidly on the internet.
A doctor with a helper syndrome
The incident catapults private detective Wilsberg into a case filled with slander and campaigns. Those who mean well become the victims. The evil lurks on the internet, where a portal sells conspiracy theories and crude inventions as supposed truths. After the lie, jealousy plays an important role in this rather simply plotted crime story.
The portal's lies also target Dr. Britta Lüders (Brigitte Zeh) - a doctor with a helper syndrome who lets homeless people live with her and helps junkies overcome their addiction. One of her former patients seems to have turned against her. He has started a campaign against the doctor on the net with fabricated and malicious stories, which seems to have taken on a life of its own. Wilsberg doesn't take long to decide to help the attractive and sympathetic doctor. But when he wants to confront the man, he finds him lying dead on his desk.
Who pulls the strings?
Wilsberg, in search of the murderer and the truth, then encounters a series of suspects: There's the irascible homeless man Paul Schlachter, who can't stand it when people speak ill of the doctor he admires. There's also the sleazy initiator of the pseudo-revelation portal, Beiderbeke (Andreas Pietschmann). And do his two employees - one simple, the other cunning - have something to hide? And who is pulling the strings behind the scenes?
The topic of internet hate has potential. However, the "Wilsberg" team stays on the surface and sketches the mechanisms in a schematic way. For example, it's rather unbelievable that the characters are always confronted with a horde of passers-by with smartphones ready to capture their every move, who then pass the images on to "Beiderbeke News".
The viewer can rely on the entertaining value of the beloved crime figures: As usual, police officer Overbeck (Roland Jankowsky) makes a fool of himself - this time in front of the entire World Wide Web. In a mix of disappointed cop and angry citizen, he becomes the influencer "Ovinator" and gets carried away by likes and clicks.
Guest appearance by Oliver Welke
In the end, he even becomes a reformed television celebrity: The native Bielefelder Oliver Welke invites the Münster investigator to his "heute-show" - with a surprisingly genuine appearance. But before that happens, Wilsberg and his friends have to unmask a murderer.
I'm not going to sugarcoat it, the rapid spread of the misleading video about Ekki has caused significant damage to his reputation. Despite the doctor's noble work, she has become a target of online hate due to fabricated stories, and it seems like she's not the only one dealing with this issue.
