quick check
“Tatort” from Hamburg
The dictator and his son: Falke investigates in the elite boarding school
Scene from the new “Tatort”: Thorsten Falke (Wotan Wilke Möhring) and Felix Wacker (Arash Marandi) feel teacher Andreas Bergson (Christian Erdmann) on the tooth
© NDR/Marc Meyerbroeker
The son of a South American dictator disappears from his boarding school – and Thorsten Falke has to find out between stubborn teachers and snotty students whether the case has a political background.
- 2 out of 5 points
- The topic is quite topical, but unfortunately almost everything in this case seems artificial and invented.
“Tatort” today with Wotan Wilke Möhring: What’s it about?
Hamburg is in turmoil: the President of Orinaca, a fictitious Andean dictatorship, has announced his arrival. Thorsten Falke (Wotan Wilke Möhring) and Julia Grosz (Franziska Weisz) are actually supposed to protect the despot from angry demonstrators. Then the falcon is assigned: the son of the ambassador from Orinaca has disappeared from a nearby elite boarding school. The commissioner should investigate discreetly, no discordant sounds are wanted before the state visit.
In addition, headmistress Marie Bergson (Katarina Gaub) and her husband, the buddy teacher Andreas (Christian Erdmann), worry about the reputation of the posh educational institution. Falke soon suspects political motives behind the disappearance – especially since it turns out that the missing Juan Mendez is in fact the son of the controversial president.
Why is the “tyrannicide” case worth it?
Is it a problem if the sons of dictators are educated at German boarding schools? And to what extent can they be held responsible for the misdeeds of their fathers? “Tatort: Tyrannicide” poses interesting questions that are becoming more topical again in times of war and a repoliticization of German foreign policy.
What bothers?
The whole crime story is as constructed and artificial as the state of Orinaca. Nothing about the story seems credible – especially not the actual motive for the murder, which is only revealed at the end.
The commissioners?
Thorsten Falke and his colleague Julia Grosz communicate with each other exclusively via radio throughout the episode. Only in the last scene do they briefly meet in the hallway. Falke gets the ambitious Felix Wacker (Arash Marandi) to help him, but his enthusiasm flags during the course of the investigation.
Turn on or off?
“Tomb Raider” is running on RTL and Sat.1 lures with “James Bond: Spectre”: If you skip the “crime scene” this time in view of the strong competition, you’re certainly not doing anything wrong.
Falke and Grosz recently determined in these cases: