First, the murder squad investigates without there being a body: Moritz Eisner (Harald Krassnitzer) and Bibi Fellner (Adele Neuhauser) are ordered to Carinthia, where the timber entrepreneur Hubert Tribusser is missing. Shortly afterwards, a titanium implant that came from his shoulder joint was found in the ashes in the sawmill. Eisner and Fellner have to prepare for a longer stay in the wasteland. They are not welcome. Many local residents have a motive, because the dead man took everything he wanted: other people’s money – and other men’s wives.
In their work, the Viennese investigators receive support from the village police officer Alois Feining (Karl Fischer), an old friend of Eisner. The two once had a deep friendship, which they are now rekindling. At night they sing Rolling Stones songs together and reminisce about old times. There’s something touching about that. Meanwhile, Bibi Fellner is much more productive and contributes to solving the case with her empathy.
Family disputes, marital affairs, hearty fights and a shepherd’s hour under the tree – this “crime scene” (book: Agnes Pluch; director: Nikolaus Leytner) hardly leaves out a cliché that city dwellers have about country life.
The relationship between the two inspectors suffers because Eisner spends so much time with his old friend. But when the two of them finally start their journey home to Vienna, it is clear to both of them that they don’t have many people in their lives that they can rely on. They have each other. That’s not a little.
If you’re feeling wanderlust, you should tune in. The criminal case itself forms nothing more than the framework for the idyllic images of Carinthia.
The “Tatort” episode “Tree Falls” was first broadcast on November 24, 2019. ARD repeats the case on Friday, December 8th at 10:20 p.m.
