Sabine Schmidt (Sibylle Canonica) seems to be an ordinary retired senior citizen: she grows vegetables in her allotment garden, writes postcards while on vacation and also works at a gas station to supplement her pension. When she collapses in front of her arbor, everyone initially assumes it’s due to old age. Inspector Frank Thiel (Axel Prahl) and Professor Boerne (Jan Josef Liefers) only become suspicious when they find two dead squirrels next to the corpse. Didn’t the pensioner die a natural death? It turns out that Sabine Schmidt actually had a completely different name and had a lot of other secrets. When another dead person is found in her allotment garden, the investigation gains momentum.
The investigator duo Thiel and Boerne have had a large fan base for decades. In the most recent case, she gets her money’s worth. The film manages the usual balancing act between crime and slapstick. Individual dialogues that amusingly allude to current events are also memorable. For example, when Thiel is knocked down and then says to Boerne: “To paraphrase the Chancellor: I can’t remember.” Or: “My soul would love to move, but the rent is so damn expensive.” The script comes from Regine Bielefeldt. She was already responsible for the Münster case “Magic Mom”, which was broadcast last year and reached 13.46 million people – the best “Tatort” rating of 2023.
The crime thriller denounces ageism, i.e. that people are discriminated against because of their age. At the same time, all the protagonists never tire of emphasizing how old Sabine Schmidt was, at 70. “She was old, she’s dead,” it says matter-of-factly at one point. And Professor Boerne notices how in good shape the “old lady” was. Given the fact that more and more people are expected to work and be productive until they are 67, this seems strange. Some people might find it difficult to follow the story in detail: it begins with all sorts of bizarre things in the allotment garden association and then turns the big wheel of espionage, secret services and historical events. Concentrating solely on the microcosm of the allotment garden and its inhabitants would certainly have been quite amusing and would have given the film more structure.
Thiel is stressed. Not only does he have to solve two cases, but he also has to repair his father’s bathroom. When he appears at the police station in overalls, he is viewed critically by public prosecutor Wilhelmine Klemm (Mechthild Großmann). Boerne shows unusual commitment to solving the mysterious murders – including nightly excavations and egg experiments in the microwave. Of course, the professor doesn’t act completely selflessly.
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