Tonight two Tatort programs ushered in the new year. We watched only the first one, through a jet-lagged fog. The second one was advertised as being 'brutal' -- not interested.
Joachim Krol as the investigator in Hessen was an interesting screen presence. However, his character was a drunken wreck and it was difficult to believe he hadn't been thrown out of work months before. His young assistant was charming in a Lena Dunham 'Girls' sort of way -- a physically clumsy, big-boned gal: the actress played the awkwardness so convincingly I wondered whether it was her actual physicality.
This Tatort was marred by the unbelievable set of piled on coincidences. The investigator just happens to witness the murder, executed by the man who just happens to be the lover of his ex-wife (and her former student). No, I'm not riding this Tatort train of impossibility.
It was meant to be a surprise that the ex-wife's lover was her student, but the viewers knew it immediately. In fact, he looked so young, it took me quite a few moments of misunderstanding the dialogue to realize he wasn't her CURRENT student and that the ex-wife had no inkling she had ever taught him. The ex-wife was petite and attractive: there was one poignant moment when she looks with her lover at a photo of herself as a young woman: beautiful and fresh. She asks, "Would you prefer me this way?" and the look her lover gives her is so honest. Instead of getting into a snit, she laughs and throws herself into his arms. This was a surprising reaction and the highlight of the episode for me.
The rest was basically dreary and I understood less and less as it went on, especially the involvement of the US Army in the plot. Lost on me. But it could have been my jet lag.
Joachim Krol as the investigator in Hessen was an interesting screen presence. However, his character was a drunken wreck and it was difficult to believe he hadn't been thrown out of work months before. His young assistant was charming in a Lena Dunham 'Girls' sort of way -- a physically clumsy, big-boned gal: the actress played the awkwardness so convincingly I wondered whether it was her actual physicality.
This Tatort was marred by the unbelievable set of piled on coincidences. The investigator just happens to witness the murder, executed by the man who just happens to be the lover of his ex-wife (and her former student). No, I'm not riding this Tatort train of impossibility.
It was meant to be a surprise that the ex-wife's lover was her student, but the viewers knew it immediately. In fact, he looked so young, it took me quite a few moments of misunderstanding the dialogue to realize he wasn't her CURRENT student and that the ex-wife had no inkling she had ever taught him. The ex-wife was petite and attractive: there was one poignant moment when she looks with her lover at a photo of herself as a young woman: beautiful and fresh. She asks, "Would you prefer me this way?" and the look her lover gives her is so honest. Instead of getting into a snit, she laughs and throws herself into his arms. This was a surprising reaction and the highlight of the episode for me.
The rest was basically dreary and I understood less and less as it went on, especially the involvement of the US Army in the plot. Lost on me. But it could have been my jet lag.