“Crime Scene: What Remains”
This is how the new Falke crime thriller will be
Julia Grosz (Franziska Weisz) and Thorsten Falke (Wotan Wilke Möhring) in a common “crime scene” for the last time.
© NDR/Georges Pauly
Franziska Weisz is stepping away from the crime scene alongside Wotan Wilke Möhring for the time being with “Tatort: What Remains”. Is it worth turning on?
The upcoming “Tatort: What Remains” will be the 13th and final mission of federal police officer Julia Grosz alongside her long-time colleague Thorsten Falke (Wotan Wilke Möhring, 56). After more than eight years, actress Franziska Weisz, 43, announced in advance that she would be leaving Germany’s most popular crime series.
On New Year’s Day 2024, from 8:15 p.m., she will be seen for the last time on Das Erste in her previous star role as an investigator in the far north. As a farewell, there is a dark and frightening crime thriller that delves deep into Falke’s past. Of course, Weisz also has her special moments in “What Remains”. For example, as the frontwoman of a rock band that puts on a celebrated performance in honor of Falke’s anniversary.
That’s what “Tatort: What Remains” is about
Inspector Thorsten Falke (Möhring) is asked for a meeting by a mysterious stranger (Malik Blumenthal). The man claims Falke made him a promise over two decades ago. He now expects the commissioner to keep this promise to help him out of a difficult situation. The stranger demands a firm commitment from Falke, but does not reveal the details of his plight.
Falke, skeptical and cautious, does not accept a deal without further details and without knowing the man’s identity. The meeting ends inconclusively. A short time later, the unknown man’s body was recovered from the Elbe. During the investigation it turns out that the dead man had lived under several false identities.
In order to reveal the man’s true identity and the background, Falke must delve into his own past, a journey that leads him and his partner Julia Grosz (Weisz) into unexpected depths. During their investigation they come across a main suspect. But the more they learn about him, the more the truths they thought they knew seem to collapse. What initially seemed like a simple case turns into a complex puzzle in which nothing is as it first seems.
Is it worth turning on?
Yes, just to watch Franziska Weisz at work for the last time alongside Wotan Wilke Möhring. Although her role gets a lot of space in the last appearance, Julia Grosz could have been given a little more focus. So her last appearance fades away a little next to the much space-demanding role of the main investigator Falke and thus next to the NDR’s “crime scene” driving force.
Nevertheless, in the end you are left with a rock-solid “crime scene” that is exciting and well told and also convinces from a cinematic perspective. The only criticism is that towards the end the story becomes more and more confusing and opaque. The Falke fan learns a little more about the often impenetrable character. All in all, however, the sadness of having to do without Weisz’s presence at future Falke appearances prevails. After initially being strange in the first appearances, the last few episodes saw the development of a model pair of investigators in the “Tatort” universe. This is over sooner than most “Tatort” fans would like.