Monkeys and humans in the award-winning “Tatort” from Zurich
Published: Wednesday, Apr 10th 2024, 13:00
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"Scheissmond" - this is the exclamation that begins the Swiss "Tatort", in which there is a lot of murder and a lot of yawning. But that has nothing to do with boredom, on the contrary.
A chimpanzee, a zookeeper, a fuddy-duddy and his wife: things get really bloody in Zurich this Sunday (SRF 20.05) in the "Tatort" crime thriller "Von Affen und Menschen".
It has already been confirmed that the murders are linked in a particularly exciting way. The episode won the special screenplay prize at the German TV crime awards in March, even before it was broadcast. "Scurrilous and grotesque but never outlandish," was the verdict.
Lack of sleep
How can this series of murders and violence possibly be connected? Detectives Isabelle Grandjean (Anna Pieri Zuercher) and Tessa Ott (Carol Schuler) have their hands full. But they are not really on the ball. It all starts on the night of a full moon and both of them have hardly slept a wink. They are so sleepy that Ott falls asleep in front of a pool of swimming elephants while investigating at the zoo and they both take a nap together on a spare bed in the hospital.
There is a lot of humanity in this crime thriller: the eternal verbal class struggle between Ott from a rich family and Grandjean from a humble background is enriched by another facet. And the cool inspector Grandjean suddenly shows criminal energy herself.
Creepy
But let's start from the beginning: it starts off creepily, with a stabbed chimpanzee. The next victim is hunted down in a particularly devious manner and with a nail gun. At some point, the cowardly murderer hangs shot over a toilet bowl, and his wife doesn't live much longer either.
Every time Grandjean and Ott finally want to sleep, another body is discovered. It takes a long time for them to find the common thread, but that doesn't matter because the entanglements are so exciting. Actress Sarah Viktoria Frick is particularly good, playing both a dead and a living person at the same time.
In 2020, there were doubts as to whether the then new "Tatort" from Zurich with its many strong women could hold its own. Grandjean/Ott replaced a classic male-female investigative team that solved a total of 16 cases in Lucerne from 2012 to 2019.
The strong female duo from Zurich is joined by public prosecutor Anita Wegenast (Rachel Braunschweig), who makes a special appearance in this episode: she gets caught between the fronts in Zurich's political mafia. She needs the elegant chairwoman of a zoo sponsorship association for her hoped-for promotion, but it is precisely this woman who comes under suspicion during the investigation.
Lob
At the award ceremony in Wiesbaden in March, the jury of the TV crime award praised the suspense in a "perfectly thought-out criminal case" in the screenplay by Stefan Brunner and Lorenz Langenegger. The ending is also surprising.
After teething troubles, "Tatort" from Zurich has become more popular. The last episode in September 2023 reached as many viewers as watched "Tatort" on Sunday evenings on average over the year.
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