“Crime Scene” in a quick check
Janneke and Brix leave with a bang
By Julian Vetten
September 28, 2024, 3:05 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
After 19 cases and almost ten years, the Frankfurt “crime scene” is over for Margarita Broich and Wolfram Koch. The investigators’ last case is another real highlight – but another former Sunday evening snooper almost steals the show.
What happens?
Tristan Grünfels (Matthias Brandt) is a psychologist and victim support officer for the Frankfurt police, but could really use a little help himself: The 53-year-old can’t find access to his broken family, talks to himself and keeps losing control. One morning, when Grünfels stopped his car in a no-parking zone to save a few paintings from being thrown into the trash, he got into an argument with a security officer. A tear in the film later, the woman is lying dead on the ground, blood dripping from Grünfels’ saved picture.
Brix (Wolfram Koch, right) and Janneke (Margarita Broich) find a dead junkie who also worked as a police informant: Was his overdose an accident?
(Photo: HR/Degeto)
While his inner voice urges him to turn himself in to the police, the psychologist is called in by inspectors Janneke (Margarita Broich) and Brix (Wolfram Koch) – of all things as a carer for the victims of his own victim. The rest of Grünfels’ life also comes to a dramatic head: his wife is having an affair, his daughter is pregnant by a young digital artist, and his son skips school and smokes weed. At the same time, Brix takes on the red light boss Leonardo Muller, whom he holds responsible for the death of an informant, while Muller blackmails Grünfels’ brother Hagen because of his gambling debts. Everything boils down to a deadly showdown.
What is it really about?
About the farewell to Janneke and Brix: After 19 cases and almost ten years of “crime scene” it’s over for the two inspectors. A good reason for Hessischer Rundfunk to step through all genre doors in the last case and say goodbye to Margarita Broich and Wolfram Koch in retirement with an unusual mixture of thriller, tragicomedy and gentle love story.
Zapping away moment?
Doesn’t exist. With one exception: Anyone who gets a pulse at the thought of an “experimental crime scene” should avoid the last Frankfurt case – even if the plot is never as exaggerated as it sometimes is with Murot in Wiesbaden, a few kilometers away.
Wow factor?
Where is the best place to start? When faced with a family confrontation with a death wish? Or at the imaginary dinner for three? Is it the literal bang at the end? Or the joy of Matthias Brandt, who plays the crazy psychologist to his knees? Most likely everything together, at some point you just can’t get out of the wow while watching.
How is it?
10 out of 10 points. There’s no better way to send a commissioner duo into their “retirement” than “It’s so green when Frankfurt’s mountains are in bloom.” The last case of Janneke and Brix, so soon after the start of the season, is the best argument in a long time to remain loyal to the “crime scene” despite all the hang-ups in between.