“Tatort” repeat from Münster
Film teardown and gentleman’s place setting: Inspector Thiel becomes a murder suspect
It’s been a wild night for Frank Thiel, but he can’t remember anything. Things get tricky when a body is found in the forest – shot with the Münster inspector’s service weapon.
- 3 out of 5 points
- 20th anniversary for the Münster “crime scene”: The episode “The Devil’s Long Breath” fluctuates between humor and madness as usual
What’s the matter?
Why is the case of “The Devil’s Long Breath” worth it?
The “Tatort” from Münster celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2022. The first episode, “The Dark Spot,” was broadcast in October 2002. To this day, the duo around Chief Inspector Frank Thiel and forensic doctor Prof. Karl-Friedrich Boerne regularly achieve top ratings and lead the ranking of the most popular “crime scene” investigators. The mix of crime and comedy has proven to be a recipe for success. This episode, as usual, fluctuates between humor and madness, 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 the fifth Münster “crime scene”.
What bothers?
Prof. Karl-Friedrich Boerne (Jan Josef Liefers) is a brilliant doctor – but also a merciless chauvinist. He tells his assistant Silke Haller (ChrisTine Urwurf), whom he disparagingly calls “Alberich”, that she should let off steam by doing “something female-oriented: office work, cleaning, tidying up”. He calls another colleague a “forensics matron” and a “pregnant walrus.” The two women read Boerne the wrong way – it would be better if such misogynistic comments didn’t happen anymore. After 20 years, this can also be an end to the Münster “crime scene”.
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Investigators?
Frank Thiel goes from inspector to suspect and even ends up in prison for a time. The actual investigative work is carried out by Professor Boerne and the police officer assigned to the case, Annika Kröger (Banafshe Hourmazdi). Thiel’s hippie father (Claus Clausnitzer) and a plush koala also play a crucial role.
Turn on or off?
The explanation in the end is pretty outrageous. Fans of Thiel and Boerne shouldn’t miss their 40th case.
The “Tatort” episode “The Devil’s Long Breath” was first broadcast on January 16, 2022. ARD will repeat the case on Sunday, December 17, 2023, at 9:45 p.m.