For the 1.000th episode of Germany's most popular crime drama series, several treats were prepared. 1. The title "Taxi nach Leipzig" is identical to the Premiere Episode broadcast 1970, even if the plot is completely different. 2. To fans of the series familiar with the many different inspector teams, it was an added bonus to see not one but two very popular inspectors from different parts of Germany solve a case together. 3. The episode concludes with yet another familiar face in the role of keynote speaker of the convention, offering a very encouraging moral message legitimizing and praising the efforts of law enforcement in Germany.
The timely theme of combat fatigue afflicting many young men and women returning home from war tormented by lasting images of horror is central to the plot. On a break from a multi-day conference, our two inspectors find themselves sharing a taxi with a third colleague. The cab is driven by the emotionally absent and already very upset killer, who eventually snaps and murders the relentlessly nagging passenger next to him. The driver proceeds on a long trip, with the two detectives as accidental hostages. We soon learn the cause of his troubled mind: Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. The biggest part of the story covers how both experienced detectives apply their respective negotiating skills to defuse a human time bomb. Many scenes give the audience a private real time line into the characters' thoughts, a very clever special effect.
Without going into more details, I can highly recommend this as one of the best episodes in the series. Fans of the two detectives and their previous work on the show will enjoy this one a lot. It is also a nice tribute to the series, as the final scene will prove.