quick check
“Tatort” repeat from Cologne
Broken families, suffering children: This thriller is strong stuff
The body of Monika Fellner (Melanie Straub) was found under a railway arch. forensic doctor dr. Joseph Roth (Joe Bausch, right) discovers a severe craniocerebral trauma at the scene of the crime. He can tell Freddy Schenk (Dietmar Bär, middle) and Max Ballauf (Klaus J. Behrendt, left) that much.
© Martin Valentin Menke/WDR/ARD
The Cologne “crime scene” is always at its strongest when it is socially critical. The case “Never without me” shows the hard work of the youth welfare offices – and the struggles of single mothers and fathers.
- 4 out of 5 points
- Ballauf and Schenk have to solve the murder of an employee of the youth welfare office – and in the process gain insights into the fates of broken families
What’s the matter?
Monika Fellner does not have an easy job as an employee of the maintenance advance payment fund. The 38-year-old has to deal with mothers and fathers who don’t want to – or can’t – pay maintenance for their children. Fellner takes her job very seriously, colleagues describe her as “bull terrier” and “dogged”. One evening the young woman is found dead under a bridge, having been beaten to death with a wheel wrench. Who has the officer on her conscience? Detectives Max Ballauf (Klaus J. Behrendt) and Freddy Schenk (Dietmar Bär) have many suspects. Colleagues and superiors who were sometimes annoyed by Fellner’s meticulous way of working, neighbors who described them as “exhausting” and parents with whom Fellner dealt professionally.
Why is this “crime scene” worthwhile?
“I have to deal with broken families every day. The parents always just get ready and wage war against each other instead of taking care of their children,” says Markus Breitenbach (Christian Erdmann), department head of the maintenance advance fund. In fact, the film shows, in a painful and oppressive way, what happens when parents fight over children or custody. There is Rainer Hildebrandt (Peter Schneider), who lives on Hartz IV while his wife leads a life of luxury with her new partner. The unemployed architect is fighting desperately for custody of his two children. Or Julia Beck (Karen Dahmen), who toils away as a single parent in the mail order business to enable her daughter to lead a reasonably normal life. The child’s father would rather buy expensive cars than pay maintenance. It’s about how hard it is to get out of the Hartz IV spiral as a single parent once you’re caught in it. Because every extra cent earned is offset against social benefits. But it is also about fraud and mismanagement, about people who collect maintenance even though they are not entitled to it.
What bothers?
Private dramas, haunting dialogues, difficult issues such as custody, Hartz IV and child support – this film takes all of this and turns it into a solid crime thriller. There is little to complain about in this Cologne “crime scene” episode entitled “Never Without Me” – except that the strip provides even more suffering than there is at the moment anyway. But the creators (screenplay: Jürgen Werner, director: Nina Wolfrum) couldn’t have known that when shooting started in spring 2019.
The commissioners?
In uncertain times, it’s nice if some things stay the way we know them. So Ballauf and Schenk continue to have currywurst for breakfast, bicker over their controversial views on various topics and assistant Norbert Jütte (Roland Riebeling) is calm. Multitasking, he says to Ballauf, he can only do that on the toilet while reading the newspaper.
Turn on or off?
This “crime scene” is heavy stuff up to the last second. Anyone who can still put up with it in the current world situation should tune in.
Inspectors Ballauf and Schenk also investigated these cases
The crime scene: Never without me” was first broadcast on March 22, 2020. ARD will repeat the case on February 18, 2022 at 10:25 p.m