This Munich Police call 110 once again follows the commandments formulated by the editor Cornelia Ackers, who was responsible for this format for a long time: A crime thriller that is good for something is more than a film. He is a total work of art. “And with a total work of art you are faced with something as a whole and not with the restricting question: Is it all understandable?”
So: dynamics, editing, selection of personnel, use of music – all parts of a total work of art. And everything is used and played out in the episode “Paranoia” by Tobias Ineichen (book by Martin Maurer and Claus Cornelius Fischer). The film is a combination of many things, conspiracy thriller, social drama, mystery, thriller and also crime persiflage. He parodies the thriller, above all the common expectation of a thriller: that after ninety minutes everything is clear and the viewer can start the new week clean.
In “Paranoia,” an obscure man says, “How do you know it was me?” Then Commissioner Elisabeth “Bessie” Eyckhoff (Verena Altenberger): “We know that because we are from the police. We combine.” And fellow investigator Dennis Eden (Stephan Zinner): “It’s like the detectives on TV. We combine a little bit, add one and one, and in the end you know it.” That’s what a large part of the audience would like, at least that’s what you can read from posts on social networks. But once again they don’t make it that easy for the people in the Munich police call.
It is the sixth and also the last case with the special character Eyckhoff, who is so approachable, full of empathy and warmth, and who has since found a congenial partner in the rough-eared Eden. How Altenberger and Zinner do not implement a text specification, but talk to each other, is an experience in itself. The communication between the two seems very casual and yet never blabbered. It is also casually told what society is currently concerned with and what is being discussed elsewhere. Here the man who brings the fries up to temperature in the snack bar asks: “Are you still allowed to say deep fryer?”
Eyckhoff and Eden are investigating two murder cases, but there could also be other victims, not even that is clear. A mentally unstable paramedic (worth seeing, like the entire staff: Marta Kizyma) tells things that may or may not have happened. Not everything is resolved, some things remain in limbo in this piece, which at one point even brings the viewer into contact with a near-toast experience. It’s like this: You need humor to enjoy life, and this thriller too.
Such a pity that Verena Altenberger is retiring. Especially since she makes a great team with Zinner. In other detective stories, they tinker around with staff mats to find investigators who complement each other. Here are two who could actually go on like this forever. But that would also be an audience expectation, which they in Munich police call easily subvert.
Police call 110Sunday, 8:15 p.m., The First.
You can find more series recommendations here.