Quick check
“Tatort” repetition from Mainz
Makatsch does it again: your second appearance as Commissioner Ellen Berlinger
Chief Inspector Ellen Berlinger (Heike Makatsch) and her colleague Martin Rascher (Sebastian Blomberg) investigate in Mainz
© SWR / Julia Terjung
Heike Makatsch as “Tatort” commissioner: What was intended as a one-off event went into the second round in 2018. In the episode “Time of the Frogs”, Commissioner Ellen Berlinger gets a partner – and is still the center of attention without exception.
- 3 out of 5 points
- Two years after her “Tatort” debut, Heike Makatsch investigated again as Commissioner Ellen Berlinger. The ARD repeats the case of 2018.
What’s the matter?
After the death of her mother, Chief Inspector Ellen Berlinger (Heike Makatsch) was transferred from Freiburg to Mainz. Her cousin Maja lives there and she helps Berlinger raise her two-year-old daughter Greta. Maja, on the other hand, has a 13-year-old son, Jonas. He is mathematically gifted and is called a “freak” by his classmates. However, Berlinger has an intimate relationship with the withdrawn boy. When Jonas disappears after a school party, the inspector is very worried.
A little later a blood-soaked hoodie is found in a collection of old clothes. Jonas wore such a piece of clothing on the evening of the celebration – as did the 16-year-old student Marie Blixen. Berlinger’s colleague Martin Rascher (Sebastian Blomberg) fears the worst, because the commissioner has been investigating an unsolved series of murders against young people for several years.
Why is this “crime scene” worthwhile?
Anyone who not only remembers Heike Makatsch as a Viva presenter, but also takes him seriously as an actress at prime time, will get their money’s worth here. The whole film is tailored exclusively to the 50-year-old. In addition, the episode “Time of the Frogs” is dedicated to a hot topic: violence among young people.
What bothers?
Originally the “Tatort” with Heike Makatsch was planned as a one-off “crime thriller”. The episode “Five Minutes of Heaven” aired on Easter Monday 2016. Two years later, the second Makatsch “crime scene” came out of the box like Kai. The inspector suddenly investigates in Mainz instead of Freiburg and has a partner at her side in Martin Rascher (Sebastian Blomberg), about whom the viewer does not learn anything. Despite the emotional theme, the film doesn’t really manage to build up tension. The events are told as staccato-like as Berlinger always answers the phone (“What’s up? I’m coming.”). The fact that the action is once again very much focused on Ellen Berlinger and her family makes the “crime scene” too one-dimensional.
The commissioners?
In her first case, Ellen Berlinger investigated as a pregnant inspector in Freiburg. Two years have now passed and Berlinger lives and works with a child in Mainz. With her role as a single, working mother, the inspector is just as overwhelmed as she is with Bassi, her daughter’s kindergarten teacher, trying to flirt. “I like you, but I’m too screwed up for you,” says Berlinger in one scene. Berlinger does not get very warm with her colleague Martin Rascher either. Although the two are on terms with each other, there is still a strange distance. Since the viewer does not learn anything about how the cooperation between the two investigators came about, there is no real sympathy for the duo.
Turn on or off?
If you are not an outspoken Heike Makatsch fan, you can safely save yourself this “Tatort” repetition.
The crime scene: Time of the Frogs “was broadcast for the first time on April 2, 2018. ARD repeated the case on October 15, 2021 at 10:15 pm