Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned)   CLICK HERE to buy from Box-set: episodes 74-97 German language only   CLICK HERE to buy from V.O.D. episodes 88-97 German language only Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!

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.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned)

The links below will take you just there!!!

Find Der Kommissar - Die Kusine at the amazons ...   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.de Looking for imports? Find Der Kommissar - Die Kusine here ...   eThaiCD.com Your shop for all things Thai

Thanks for watching !!!