To my view there are too many German TV thrillers that suffer from bad scripts. And I really didn't like the script of this one. They cram too much into the 90 minutes of running time. Apart from the case the police are working on, the writer includes a dancing contest that detective Sänger is training for, plus some problems that she has with her parents, plus the precinct moves to another building, plus one of her colleagues seems to fall in love with her, plus an affair that detective Dellwo has with the coroner (played by Iris Böhm), and some other unnecessary stuff. The result is that it is quite hard to follow the story. It all becomes very confusing. The case is a bit complicated, so they should have devoted more time to it. (A man gets pushed before an underground train, is run over and dies. The identity card he has on him is not his own but that of another man. Then there's a second murder; a woman is pushed from a bridge and drowns. All this seems to be linked to an older case, the murder of a prostitute. Tukur plays the suspect (named Petzold), but the police can't prove that he did anything.) There also are some flash-forwards in which Dellwo questions Petzold, which makes it even harder to follow the case.
I think the writer should have explained what made Petzold the man he is, that is he should have included more information on why he acts so strangely and suspiciously. Especially, he should have explained why Petzold does what he does at the end of the movie. If you ask me, it is not consistent with the (rather short) explanation that is given for his other actions. And why do police officers in German TV thrillers so often act like total morons? There's a letter they find which is a clue to the case. One of the officers says that what's in the letter sounds as if it was a quotation from a book. And it really does sound like a quotation. But then they forget about it and instead of trying to find out from which book the words are they concentrate on dancing contests and moving their precinct instead. Only days later the coroner (not the officers) gets back to the clue - and, what a surprise (!), finds out that the words in the letter really are a quotation from a book!
All in all, much too confusing to my taste. It had a bit of suspense, though, and some of the actors were good, for example Tukur, so I have given it three points.
I think the writer should have explained what made Petzold the man he is, that is he should have included more information on why he acts so strangely and suspiciously. Especially, he should have explained why Petzold does what he does at the end of the movie. If you ask me, it is not consistent with the (rather short) explanation that is given for his other actions. And why do police officers in German TV thrillers so often act like total morons? There's a letter they find which is a clue to the case. One of the officers says that what's in the letter sounds as if it was a quotation from a book. And it really does sound like a quotation. But then they forget about it and instead of trying to find out from which book the words are they concentrate on dancing contests and moving their precinct instead. Only days later the coroner (not the officers) gets back to the clue - and, what a surprise (!), finds out that the words in the letter really are a quotation from a book!
All in all, much too confusing to my taste. It had a bit of suspense, though, and some of the actors were good, for example Tukur, so I have given it three points.
