Tram driver Hamza Arkadas (Mehmet Daloglu) wants to end his night shift and notices that there is still a passenger in the compartment. When Arkadas speaks to him, he suddenly stabs and kills the driver with several knife wounds. Before his crime, the man looked into the surveillance camera with full intent – as if he wanted to be recognized. For the Dortmund investigators Peter Faber (Jörg Hartmann), Rosa Herzog (Stefanie Reinsperger) and Jan Pawlak (Rick Okon) it is clear what the murderer looks like, but his identity and motive puzzle them. The man cannot be found in any database. A little later there is a second death: a bar owner is stabbed by the unknown. The detectives realize that both cases are related and that the victim and perpetrator must have known each other.
The screenplay for the film was written by Hanno Hackfort and Bob Konrad, both of whom have already worked on successful series such as “4 Blocks” or “Para – Wir sind King”. Your “Tatort” debut now also promises plenty of action and thrills. The story offers some surprising twists. To solve the case, investigators must unravel events from the past. The fact that the perspectives on perpetrators and victims also shift makes it exciting for the viewer. In addition, the film has stylistically interesting aspects. Several scenes are told via recordings from surveillance cameras – a cinematic device that is not seen that often.
The private problems of the investigators take up almost as much space as the clarification of the murder cases. Inspector Faber is still mourning the death of his colleague Martina Bönisch (Anna Schudt) and is taking care of his father who is suffering from dementia. His colleague Jan Pawlak (Rick Okon) wears himself out in a custody battle over his daughter and Rosa Herzog (Stefanie Reinsperger) isn’t really focused either: She is contacted again and again by her mother, an RAF terrorist who has gone into hiding. The many subplots let the viewer digress again and again and distract from the actual story.
During Faber’s absence, his colleague Rosa Herzog has taken over the acting management of the homicide squad. Appropriately enough, she already uses a mug that says “The Boss” in the office. The veteran inspector first has to digest the fact that Faber is being contested for his post. Especially since Herzog is bringing a new colleague into the team: Beate Gräske (Sar Adina Scheer) specializes in facial recognition and is supposed to help with the investigation. Faber greets them with the words: “Welcome to hell”.
The case is close, the personal sensitivities of the inspectors are rather annoying. Anyone who can hide the latter is welcome to switch it on.
The team from Dortmund also investigated in these cases:
