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Der Kommissar - Die Kusine
episode 88
West Germany 1975
produced by Helmut Ringelmann for Neue Münchner Fernsehproduktion/ZDF
directed by Helmuth Ashley
starring Erik Ode, Reinhard Glemnitz, Günther Schramm, Elmar Wepper, Helma Seitz, Udo Vioff, Agnes Dünneisen, Rainer Basedow, Thomas Astan, Joachim Regelien, Veronika Fitz, Uwe Dallmeier, Siegurd Fitzek, Andrea Wildner, Laurence Bien, Charlotte Witthauer, Liane Hielscher, Klaus Havenstein, Willy Harlander, Harry Kalenberg, Louise Martini, Hilde Brand, Michael Mendl
written by Herbert Reinecker, series created by Helmut Ringelmann, Herbert Reinecker, title theme by Herbert Jarczyk
TV-series Der Kommissar
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Over the span of a month, two men (Rainer Basedow, Klaus Havenstein)
are found dead in their respective cars, shot through the head, and the
only thing that ties those two murders together is that they've last been
seen with a girl of about 18 years who might or might not have been a
prostitute. Inspector Keller (Erik Ode) and his team (Günther
Schramm, Reinhard Glemnitz, Elmar Wepper) search for the girl among the
prostitutes of town but fail to find any trace of her, also because in her
normal life, she - Renate (Agnes Dünneisen) - is the nanny of Dr. Huber's
(Liane Hielscher) children, so pretty much as far removed from
prostitution as possible. However, rather by accident, Keller's assistant
Erwin (Elmar Wepper) crosses paths with her, follows her into a bar and
uses his best pick-up lines on her - and she seems to be more than
interested, but insists that before they go to her apartment for
you-know-what they drive home her older cousin, an older and rather
unattractive girl. Erwin agrees to it but then bolts and presents his
findings to Keller. Doing a background check on Renate, Keller and team
find she had a dependant relationship with her mother's (Louise Martini)
boyfriend Hagen (Udo Vioff), was pretty much his willing slave - and Hagen
actually has quite a criminal record. Thing is, he's nowhere to be found,
but seeing a photo of him, Erwin identifies him as Renate's cousin - which
explains why that girl looked so much like a man in drag. Hagen has since
learned that the police are onto Renate and thus pays her a visit to hand
her some poison to kill herself - which she almost would if it wasn't for
Keller's timely intervention. To be honest, there's plenty
wrong with this episode - all of which makes it so entertaining though: It
starts with Udo Vioff in drag who wouldn't pass as a woman in a million
years and who must have stuck out of any crowd like a sore thumb. Then
there's of course Keller and his men's rather embarrassing methods to find
a prostitute, Renate's double life as nanny and willing accomplice to
murder that's never really explored or is even important for the story at
hand, Renate's weird psychosexual relationship to Hagen that's portrayed
in crude and misunderstood psychological terms, as well as the rather
convoluted backstory to things. And that screenwriter Herbert Reinecker
just isn't good at writing characters and character motivations of course
doesn't help in making this good crime TV either - but then again, all of
this helps to make this episode a fun watch, especially when seen from a
nostalgic point of view.
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