In the worth seeing final episode of the ZDF series with Walter Sittler, the title character is accused of murdering his wife.
Frankfurt am Main – Far too often rows and with them popular main characters disappear from the program without a singing or sounding. Fortunately, ZDF has found a good solution for Robert Anders in several respects. Walter Sittler will be seventy next year, so it is high time for the German Gotland Commissioner to retire. But not quite: he returns to his home on Lake Constance, where of course he cannot stop investigating; “The Commissioner and the Sea” becomes “The Commissioner and the Sea”, the first film has already been shot. First, however, Anders has to solve his most difficult case: In “Where we come from, where we are going”, the 29th episode, he himself is suspected of murder.
“Der Kommissar und das Meer” was directed by Thomas Roth, who this time also wrote the script. The Austrian has shaped the series with eleven films as strongly as next to him only Miguel Alexandre (eight). His story is a worthy conclusion, especially since the plot offers some opportunities for wistful retrospectives: On an August night, the inspector waits for an appointment that does not come. Two months later, an already severely decayed female corpse is discovered in the undergrowth. The woman had a shell case with her, the contents of which are intact. Although it does not contain any ID, it does contain a calendar with handwritten notes.
“The Commissioner and the Sea” (ZDF): A delightful crime thriller
The last entry is “Robert”: The dead woman is Anders’ ex-wife Line, who left him a good ten years ago to work as a midwife in Africa. He inaugurates his long-time colleague Wittberg (Andy Gätjen) and forensic doctor Ewa (Inger Nilsson) and asks them to remain silent, because as a person personally affected he should not actually investigate. In fact, his designated successor, Commissioner-in-Chief Haglund (Maria Alm Norell), seems to be waiting to finally take his place. Of course, it does not remain hidden from her for long who the dead woman is, and because the radio cell evaluation shows that Anders was near the crime scene that evening, she declares him the main suspect. In her opinion, the colleague also had a motive: Line Anders needed money and wanted to sell the house they shared, there was a dispute, so he killed her.
| “The Commissioner and the Sea” (ZDF) | The roles and their actors: inside |
| Robert Anders t | Walter Sittler |
| Thomas Wittberg t | Andy Gätjen |
| Ewa Svensson t | Inger Nilsson |
| Niklas Anders t | Sven Gielnik |
| Anna-Maja Haglund t | Maria Alm Norell |
ZDF crime novels in which the popular figure is accused of murder are naturally always appealing, even if the prologue suggests that Anders is innocent. However, the role of the ambitious new commissioner is a bit one-sided: Haglund is not only unsympathetic, she does not even look for alternative explanations for Line’s death and also uses illicit methods to convict Anders.
“The Commissioner and the Sea” (ZDF): The local contributors are well selected
The loyalty dilemma that Robert plunges his colleague into is correspondingly large: In contrast to his superior, Wittberg will continue to have to work with his successor. The rest is the usual crime thriller routine: During his investigation, Anders comes across two men who played a key role in Line’s life. She worked with one of them, obstetrician Henning (Fredrik Wagner), in Tanzania, which apparently resulted in considerable differences of opinion. From the inspector’s point of view, the other is the more interesting suspect: Before her time in Africa, sailing instructor Karlström (Magnus Krepper) had a relationship with Line, which the two have apparently renewed in between, but the man is married; and his young wife has no idea about the affair.
“The Commissioner and the Sea: where we come from, where we are going”
Saturday, December 18, 2021, ZDF, 8.15 p.m., media library
Of course, there are some moderately exciting situations, because Anders is wanted by the police and several times he can only escape arrest by a hair’s breadth. Once he even dived from the ferry into the sea, and he couldn’t stand the water. This deep dislike, to which the series owes its title, has been somewhat forgotten over the years, but is now becoming a topic again: Robert’s son Niklas (Sven Gielnik) remembers how they once jumped into the water together with it he overcomes his fear; Little did he know the father felt the same way.
Corresponding excerpts from earlier films make the father / son moments even more touching. The scenes with Niklas’ girlfriend (Fanny Klefelt), who often helps her future father-in-law with great enthusiasm to escape the police, are an amusing counterpoint. The local contributors are well selected and synchronized anyway. Nicolay Gutscher implemented Roth’s script with pleasantly flowing camera movements; The music (Johannes Brandt) is also of a high standard. (Tilmann P. Gangloff)
