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As unlikely as it sounds, two car thieves (Hugo Panczak, Thomas Astan) call Inspector Keller's (Erik Ode) office to report they've just stolen a car from in front of a hotel - but when they found a dead body in the trunk, they got cold feet and rather turned themselves in than getting dragged deeper into the shit. The car belongs to one Eckert (Peter Fricke), who acts understandably shocked but insists he had nothing to do with the dead body and claims it must have been dropped there in the hotel garage as his trunk is never locked. Eckert's room is searched but no clues for the murder are found - but also no fingerprints at all, not even Eckert's own, which gets Keller a little suspicious. Also that another guest of the hotel, Krefelder (Udo Vioff) leaves the hotel rather suddenly, so Keller has his assistant Grabert (Günther Schramm) follow him. Meanwhile Keller pieces the puzzle together, there's Eckert who runs a travel agency and a small shipping company, another guest at the hotel, who just happens to stay at the hotel every time Eckert does, Prunell (Paul Muller), runs a moving business for diplomats, and then there's Krefelder, who's a bit of a mystery man.

Following Krefelder, Grabert finds a clue that links Eckert's to Prunell's truck, but he's lured into an ambush, shot at and thrown into the river - and he only barely survives. Keller, with his assistants Heines (Reinhard Glemnitz) and Klein (Elmar Wepper) track one of Eckert's trucks to a warehouse where its load is replaced with the one from Purnell's truck - which is sealed because it's considered diplomatic possessions (but still accessible from the bottom of the container) - and ultimately everything proves to be a front for weapon smuggling. The police storm the place, but Krefelder takes Keller hostage to force his way out - but Heines spoils the plan with a well-placed gunshot.

The very last scene has Keller say to his assistant "Thanks for everything" - which is only fitting for the very last episode of the series.

... and as the very last episode of the series that has been one of the most influential cop shows of German television (with a concept that producer Helmut Ringelmann would recycle in only slightly altered form as Der Alte the following year), this one is a bit of a letdown: Sure there's plenty of suspense here, and Grabert's almost death is afforded the proper emotional gravity, and that Theodor Grädler, one of the most proficient directors of the series (27 of the series 97 episode run), has directed this one is only fitting, but there's no finality here, no good send-off to the character - especially since the murder that started everything soon takes backseat to a plot about gunrunners, with the corpse being just a plot device to get homicide inspector Keller into the story - a story that's not at all free of its gaping plotholes and leaps of reason.

That aside though, overall this is by no means a bad watch. Sure the plot's contrived and not all dialogues sound real, but it's tense, has some emotional grounding, and the acting's solid. No masterpiece perhaps, but fans of the series are sure to enjoy this one.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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