No vacation for Commissioner Anders: A murder occurs during the crossing to mainland Sweden.
- TV review of " The Commissioner and the Sea: On the Dark Sea "
- The tension effect of the ZDF film is limited
- Anyone who demands a lot from a TV thriller is served only inadequately
Since ZDF first commissioned German-Swedish commissioner Robert Anders (Walter Sittler) to work on Gotland Island in 2007, the criminalist and his team have been handling an average of two cases a year. A realistic crime rate among 60,000 residents? In 2017, more recent figures were not available, there were four murders or attempted murders on Gotland. The year before there were seven. The ZDF series "The Commissioner and the Sea" is therefore at least statistically within a reasonably realistic framework. Robert Anders and his colleagues do not run out of work. One is tempted to say: She even follows him.
TV criticism of "The Commissioner and the Sea" on ZDF: It happened in broad daylight
At the last minute, Robert Anders and his stepson Kasper Winarve (Grim Lohman) reached the ferry towards the mainland to Nynäshamn. From there it should continue to Stockholm to Kasper's mother. Not in the dark sea, as the title suggests, but on a bright day. During the crossing, the investigator is listening to the words "corpse" and "police" ringing his ears.
The troubled expressions on the face of the three crew members speak for themselves. Anders reveals himself as a criminal police officer and learns that a dead person was found in the cabin area of the ship. He does what a policeman has to do. And he does it under time pressure, because the ferry will dock in three hours. The passengers will leave the ship, and with them the murderer, too.
"The Commissioner and the Sea: On a Dark Sea" on TV (ZDF): A boy disappears
Fortunately, the ferry has a helipad. Robert Anders lets his proven team fly in, the investigator Thomas Wittberg (Andy Gätjen) and the legal doctor Ewa Svensson (Inger Nilsson). A welcome relief, because Robert Anders also worries about Kasper. After a little quarrel, he had become self-employed and disappeared, and does not respond to calls and loudspeaker announcements. The audience knows more: Kasper observed the murder and was locked in a storage room. And it gets worse for him ...
"The Commissioner and the Sea - In the Dark Sea" on ZDF https://t.co/s8uLdT10gP via @na_presseportal #ots #medien #news
- ots | Media (@ots_medien) May 26, 2020"The Commissioner and the Sea - In the Dark Sea" on ZDF https://t.co/s8uLdT10gP via @na_presseportal #ots #medien #news
- ots | Media (@ots_medien) May 26, 2020The public has also already been able to get to know a passenger who is carrying a pistol and is generally quite strange.
Furthermore, Miguel Alexandre, who was responsible for the writing and directing, drew attention to a wedding party early on. A family from the higher classes, apparently eager to make the wedding day unforgettable. But not in the usual sense ...
TV criticism of "The Commissioner and the Sea: On the Dark Sea" (ZDF): Limited tension
Whether it's an island, a snow-covered train or a cruise ship - closed places that don't allow outside access or escape offer attractive opportunities in the crime thriller. It gets gruesome when the murderer constantly carries out further acts and the question always arises who it will hit next. Miguel Alexandre hints at this pattern when Anders' stepson Kasper finds himself in a dangerous position. Only the tension effect is limited, because in German serial thrillers, the regular staff rarely experience bad things. Anyhow, nothing you can't recover from until the next episode.
"The Commissioner and the Sea: On a Dark Sea", Saturday, May 30th, 2020, 8:15 pm, ZDF
"On a dark sea" is a typical after-work crime thriller that doesn't worry too much and is not supposed to. Commissioner Robert Anders could be benevolently classified as a deliberate person. He does his job in a leisurely, downright matte manner, in duty-after-rule mode. At one point he loses his temper and threatens to torture a suspect because he hopes the man will provide information about Kasper's whereabouts. It does not fit this figure, and even at this moment the emotions seem to be slowed down, night-walking like after two days without sleep.
One might like to take the brooder away from Walter Sittler, but he cannot convince as a hot spur. Not the only stumbling block that prevents you from fully immersing yourself in history at any time. As mentioned several times, there are said to be over six hundred passengers on the ferry. However, one only sees the same small circles, apart from a few extras. Then there is this man with the gun, who was smart enough to point the surveillance camera up on the car deck.
"On a dark sea" on TV (ZDF): A typical after-work crime thriller - those who ask for more are only served insufficiently
Even smarter because it would have been more inconspicuous to simply move them a little bit horizontally. But well, the matter was perhaps not really well thought out on the part of the gravity otter. Then, however, he laboriously hauls a heavy load without any hardship along the open deck - there are over six hundred people, ergo possible witnesses on board! - in order to then hoist them over the railing exactly in the focus of another surveillance camera. The scene is clearly arranged so that Commissioner Anders can later recognize the man's face.
The examples show: You have to look generously at a lot of things to hide the fact that you are attending a production. If you want more from a TV crime thriller, you won't get enough service here.
By Harald Keller
In the ZDF thriller "Stralsund: Blutlinien" *, Commissioner Petersen receives information about the mysterious disappearance of a friend and has to face new crimes.
The film "Refuse" from the ZDF series "Mr. and Mrs. Bulle" with Alice Dwyer and Johann von Bülow is a completely successful crime thriller with remarkably good image design and a complex history.
* fr.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.