- 3 out of 5 points
- 20th anniversary for the Münster "Tatort": The episode "Des Teufels langer Atem" fluctuates between humor and madness as usual
What's it all about?
"Tatort" rerun from Münster - Film rupture and a gentleman's deck: Inspector Thiel becomes a murder suspect
The day begins with bad news for Frank Thiel (Axel Prahl): his father has a brain tumor the size of a tennis ball - inoperable, according to the doctor treating him, Dr. Kühn (Kim Riedle). The detective drowns his sorrows in a pub and drinks one man's drink after another. The next morning, he wakes up in a hotel room with tattered clothes and injuries and can no longer remember what happened. A short time later, a body is found in a forest - shot with Thiel's service weapon. The dead man is Arne Hartnack, Thiel's ex-boss from his time with the Hamburg homicide squad. The detective put Hartnack behind bars 20 years ago for allegedly murdering his wife.
Why is the case "The Devil's Long Breath" worthwhile?
The "Tatort" from Münster celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2022. The first episode, "Der dunkle Fleck", was broadcast in October 2002. To this day, the duo of Chief Inspector Frank Thiel and forensic scientist Prof. Karl-Friedrich Boerne regularly achieve top ratings and lead the ranking of the most popular "Tatort" investigators. The mixture of crime thriller and comedy has proven to be a recipe for success. This episode also oscillates between humor and madness as usual, but is more exciting than many of its predecessors. Not only the viewers but also Thiel want to know: What the hell happened that night? Thiel's eerie flashbacks, in which he vaguely remembers what happened, are visually strongly staged. "The better you know your characters, the easier it is to plunge them into exciting cases and emotional depths," says screenwriter Thorsten Weddcke, for whom this is already the fifth Münster "Tatort".
What is disturbing?
Prof. Karl-Friedrich Boerne (Jan Josef Liefers) is a brilliant doctor - but also a merciless chauvinist. He tells his assistant Silke Haller (ChrisTine Urspruch), whom he disparagingly calls "Alberich", to "let off steam with something more woman-oriented: Office stuff, cleaning, tidying up". He calls another colleague a "forensics matron" and a "pregnant walrus". Although the two women tell Boerne off, it would be better if such misogynistic remarks were no longer made. After 20 years, this should also be a thing of the past in the Münster"Tatort".
The investigators?
Frank Thiel goes from detective to suspect and even ends up in prison for a while. Professor Boerne and the policewoman assigned to the case, Annika Kröger (Banafshe Hourmazdi), take on the actual investigative work. Thiel's hippie father (Claus Clausnitzer) and a plush koala also play a crucial role.
Switch on or switch off?
In the end, the solution is pretty harebrained. Nevertheless, fans of Thiel and Boerne should not miss their 40th case.
The "Tatort" episode "Des Teufels langer Atem" was first broadcast on January 16, 2022. ARD will repeat the case on Sunday, December 17, 2023, at 9.45 pm.
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Source: www.stern.de
