"The Diplomat: Murder in St. Petersburg" (ARD): Kidnapping at Berlin Airport

In the sixth film in the series “Die Diplomatin”, Ambassador Karla Lorenz once again proves her criminalistic talent on ARD.

Berlin – Tunis and Manila were stations of the German diplomat Karla Lorenz (Natalia Wörner). She was then appointed as ambassador to Prague. Wherever she was active, she was faced with a crime, a kidnapping, an assassination attempt, subsidy fraud. In essence, then, “Die Diplomatin” (ARD) is a crime series that gets all the more interesting the more and the more cliché-free the political sphere is included.

In the episode “Hunt through Prague”, for example, the screenwriter Christoph Busche made the subject of extra-territorial torture prisons in the USA. In such an affair, political decisions, a sure instinct and appropriate diplomatic interventions are particularly necessary. A sequel series with a reduced crime section that is closer to everyday diplomacy would be a real asset, especially in view of the current world situation.

When it comes to politics, it doesn’t always have to be in the form of a farce, as in the series “The Institute – The Oasis of Failure”, which incidentally showed astonishing similarities with the older BBC production “Ambassadors”.

“The Diplomat: Murder in St. Petersburg” (ARD): Crisis team instead of holidays

In the current contribution to the series “Die Diplomatin”, Karla Lorenz bridges the waiting time before starting work in her new post in Rome with a home leave in Berlin at the side of her Prague friend Jan Horava (Alexander Beyer). The respite is over when the German-Russian journalist Kolja Petrow (Beat Marti), who has just flown in from St. Petersburg, is kidnapped at the airport and sent directly to the Russian embassy.

Before that he was able to hide his little daughter Manja (Rena Harder) from the kidnappers. Karla’s telephone number is written on Manja’s arm, which is also notified by the police and at the same time called to the crisis team in view of the importance of the foreign policy of the case.

The Russians claim to have arrested Petrov on suspicion of murdering his partner in St. Petersburg. A surveillance video burdens him, but Lorenz and her colleagues are skeptical. Videos can be faked. In addition, the kidnappers are recognized as members of the Russian foreign and domestic intelligence service, so they do not have to perform any police duties as such. Especially not on foreign territory.

Reference to current political issues in “The Diplomat: Murder in St. Petersburg” (ARD)

Karla Lorenz and Petrov, who is incarcerated in the Russian embassy, are old friends who had lost sight of each other for a while. Petrow suspected that he would be attacked and had therefore written down Lorenz’s phone number on Manja’s arm.

The screenwriter Rebecca Mahnkopf uses a well-known dramaturgical trick: the lives of the main character and the episode protagonist are linked. A generally overused, not very happy volte or rather a crutch – because it is often close to unbelievable.

In this story, too, which should actually have the subtitle “Abduction in Berlin”, reference is made to current political events, here – analogous to events in the USA – the planned influence on the German federal elections. But unfortunately only secondary as a trigger for a predominantly emotionally oriented action and therefore not particularly profound. Presumably, reversing the priorities at this point would have made a more impactful film. (Harald Keller)