In a new crime series by ZDF, a forensic doctor goes on a hunt for criminals.
Frankfurt – In the first few minutes, five euros go into the cliché box twice. The camera flies over an area of water, an investigator in the endurance run alone in the forest. It is astonishing why writers and directors so seldom use ambition on an original opening sequence.
The trotting runner is Theresa Wolff (Nina Gummich), a forensic doctor. At the edge of the path she discovers a trail of sweat and follows it into the forest. The victim is a bunny, the perpetrator a wolf, who looks steadfastly at Frau Wolff. Wolf and Wolff like to join them. The joke that was played. Which is later recorded again in the ZDF film, but does not contribute anything worth mentioning to the overall somewhat unsorted story.
„Theresa Wolff – Home Sweet Home“ (ZDF): Die Tote im See
Wolff moved into the idyllic house of her deceased father after she was appointed the new director of the forensic medicine institute in Jena. To the undisguised displeasure of the previous and future deputy Zeidler (Peter Schneider), who looks sour because he would have liked to have moved into the executive chair himself.
In Berlin, Wolff has left her partner behind, a colleague with whom she talks about exotic worms on video on the way to work.
There is not much time for this, because the first case overtakes her even before she has even reached the new job. Two divers discovered a car in a reservoir and inside it a woman’s corpse. Before Theresa Wolff starts examining the body, she provides an analysis of the tin coffin: “Modest motorization. No status symbol. Item of use. Pragmatist.”
Chief Detective Robert Brückner (Thorsten Merten) already knows what to expect. Because the doctor’s maxim is: “If you want to understand death, you first have to understand life.”
“Theresa Wolff – Home Sweet Home” (ZDF): A bloody business
Consequently, Dr. Wolff rarely seen in the dissection room or laboratory. But when it does, it’s plastic. Sensitive minds are warned. Wolff gets bloody fingers, lungs and liver are clearly shown in the picture after they have been removed.
Compared with the inflation of imaginatively decorated autopsies in the crime genre and the widespread non-specialist gibberish – “pathologist” instead of forensic doctors – it is comparatively realistic here. There is a second obducent, that is the rule, and an assistant, the bright intern Paula Weisshaupt (Lea Drinda), who comes up with the skateboard under her arm, who serves as a character to provide the viewer with all kinds of information, but definitely justifies one in the ensemble Takes up space.
| role | Actress |
| Dr. Theresa Wolff | Nina Gummich |
| Robert Brückner t | Thorsten Merten |
| Melanie Uhlmann t | Kristin Suckow |
| Steffen Koehler t | Florian Bartholomäi |
| Nils Rust t | Roland Wolf |
“Theresa Wolff – Home Sweet Home” (ZDF): Going it alone
The authors Peter Dommaschk and Ralf Leuther did not want to forego the fact that Theresa Wolff had a quirk. She often mumbles to herself and speaks to the dead. Not a completely new idea and with this otherwise highly skilled and competent protagonist, not that convincing either.
For example, she is able to use an intestinal inflammation to prove that the dead woman had gone swimming in a certain pond. A fact that takes the investigation a good step forward. At this moment, then, Wolff’s profession plays a relevant role, even if she succeeds in proving that the body of the murdered, a doctor by profession, shows traces of years of abuse.
Otherwise, however, she urges investigator Brückner to act as a companion and, on top of that, goes it alone, exhausting and even ignoring the service regulations.
“Theresa Wolff – Home Sweet Home”
Saturday, October 9th, 2021, 8:15 p.m., ZDF
“Theresa Wolff – Home Sweet Home” (ZDF): To be continued
The problem is that such offenses – burglary, manipulation of evidence – are portrayed as venal, since they are supposed to serve to convict the perpetrator. Not only does Wolff endanger legally impeccable indictment proceedings, it is also approaching the borderline to vigilante justice.
Domestic violence in partnerships and in care is an important topic that unfortunately loses its effect in this film, as the plot ends in a retaliatory campaign of the brand “A woman sees red”. An overdone finale. It gives the impression that the main character’s character has not yet been fully developed. But she will have an opportunity to find herself. Filming for the next episode has already started. (Harald Keller)
