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Derrick - Das Abschiedsgeschenk
episode 281
West Germany 1998
produced by Claus Legal, Helmut Ringelmann for Telenova/ZDF
directed by Dietrich Haugk
starring Horst Tappert, Fritz Wepper, Willy Schäfer, Maria Becker, Michaela Merten, Dirk Galuba, Uwe Friedrichsen, Florian Martens, Tobias Nath, Eleonore Weisgerber, Karl Lieffen, Randolf Kronberg, Günther Kaufmann, Franjo Marincic, August Everding, Rolf Schimpf, Michael Ande, Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss, Markus Böttcher, Helmut Ringelmann, Pierre Franckh
written by Herbert Reinecker, music by Eberhard Schoener, title theme by Les Humphries
TV-series Derrick, Harry Klein, Der Alte (Rolf Schimpf) (cameo)
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Final episode of theseries: After decades on the force as one of the
most successful homicide detectives, Derrick (Horst Tappert) is to be
promoted to chief of Europol, and he's to be let go with a big ceremony
with speeches and everything - but then he receives a death threat from
Albert Kaschonnick (Uwe Friedrichsen), a criminal he has booked 5 years
ago but who apparently still has the best contacts to the outside to
arrange a murder. And since he's already in prison, he doesn't even mind
having his name connected to the murder, and rather enjoys Derrick's race
to save his own life. So Derrick and his assistant Harry (Fritz Wepper)
try to make any of his family members and associates talk to find out who
actually arranged the murder on the outside: There's Kaschonnick's
brother, who still runs Kaschonnick's nightclub where he puts on erotic to
sleazy dance performances, Kaschonnick's daughter (Michaela Merten), who's
a model these days, his mother (Maria Becker), who's full of hatred
towards Derrick for booking her son, his wheelchair bound business
associate (Florian Martens) and that man's son (Tobias Nath), who both see
Kaschonnick as their benefactor. None of them confess to anything though,
but he gets them all curious enough to go to Derrick's farewell ceremony,
where he holds a speech about guilt of the "innocent by-stander"
who could have done something to prevent a crime. And it's after that
speech that Kaschonnick's daughter breaks down and warns him that he'll be
shot upon leaving the building - a warning that really comes much too
late, as conveniently, Derrick has already been warned by a snitch (who
really came out of nowhere, narratively speaking) as to the when and where
and even who the actual assassin will be, and in a firefight outside the
building the ceremony took place, the assassin and his accomplices have
all been killed or apprehended ... Fittingly, the (then) main
cast of the series Der
Alte (Rolf Schimpf, Michael Ande, Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss,
Markus Böttcher), another Munich-based cop show, and Helmut Ringelmann,
producer of both series, are among the audience at the ceremony, but
little is made of that. Also Derrick's final words - thanking his
assistant - are almost the exact same as inspector Keller's final words in
writer Herbert Reinecker's other long-running cop series Der
Kommissar some 22 years earlier. The director Dietrich Haugk
by the way was fittingly also the director of Derrick's very first episode
Waldweg. Despite its
international success, Derrick was a rather flawed show from
day one, what with its often forced plots, its failed attempts at realism
and relevance, its trademark stilted dialogue, and also the portrayal of
Derrick as infallible hero with little other character traits - but all
that said, the show would deliver the occasional gem as well as the
occasional very entertaining clunker. This very last episode however is
neither, just a tired send-off with an even tireder lead actor (Horst
Tappert was 75 when this was shot) going through the motions, asking the
more or less same characters with different faces the same things - and
not even getting anywhere with it, as the whole thing's resolved by a
snitch popping up out of nowhere. And frankly, Derrick's speech to make
one of the suspects flip is really rather ridiculous, both in content and
as a ploy. So really, at the end of this episode one can't help but wonder
if the series (running for 24 years total) hasn't stayed on air quite a
bit too long ...
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