Marie Brand and the game of luck
| Episode of the Marie Brand series | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Marie Brand and the game of luck |
 | |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Production company |
Warner Bros. International Television Production |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| classification | Episode 25 ( List ) |
| German-language first broadcast |
April 20, 2019 on ZDF |
| Rod | |
| Director | Mike Zens |
| script | Timo Berndt |
| production |
Iris Wolfinger Micha Terjung |
| music | Florian Tessloff |
| camera | Enzo Brandner |
| cut | Dora Vajda |
| occupation | |
| |
Marie Brand and Playing with Luck is the 25th episode of the Marie Brand crime series . The television film with Mariele Millowitsch in the title role and Hinnerk Schönemann as chief detective Jürgen Simmel was first broadcast on ZDF on April 20, 2019 .
action
A retailer wonders when two guys buy the same play equipment from him in quick succession, pay with change and then always disappear immediately. He goes after them because he suspects something is wrong. So he comes to a car with the tailgate open behind the neighboring casino. Here he not only finds the change lying open in boxes, but also the driver who was apparently shot. Commissioner Marie Brand and her colleague Jürgen Simmel appear at the crime scene to take over the case. The dead person is Sigmar Calser, the owner of the casino, who has twelve gaming venues in Cologne alone and other venues in the surrounding cities. The two boys say they saw a man with a hood at the car who took a bag from the back seat. Marie Brand looks at the surveillance recordings, but cannot identify the alleged perpetrator.
Along with his son, Calser was the managing director of Calser casinos . Oliver Calser can tell the investigators the missing amount of banknotes by computer. It is over 230,000 euros. In all other casinos the money is picked up by a security company, only here in Cologne did Calser reserve the right to continue doing it personally. Someone who should know this is Lothar Emmerich, a former co-founder of the Calser Casinos , who illegally enriched himself by manipulating slot machines and had to go to jail for it. Another suspect is Calser's second son Michi. He broke up with his father because his girlfriend had perished from her gambling addiction and he could no longer stand his father's business. Today he works for the addiction service to help other sufferers. He has an alibi for the time of the crime through his befriended couple Muchen, but since they are also opponents of the Calser casinos , who even sued Michi's father, the alibi does not seem very credible.
Another suspect comes into play when Marie Brand receives information about a gambling addiction from Calser's employee Jutta Lehmann. Although she is theoretically not allowed to play as an employee, she still does it secretly. Brand had already seen this on the surveillance videos, but only recognized it through another clue. A request from her results in massive financial debts, of which her husband has no idea, because she was very clever at concealing it and always brought back some money as profit. Recently, however, she had observed a "milker" in the casino who always cleverly takes over the machines from other players when the machines are about to pay out a win. So far she has been able to use these moments for herself, but since the milkers arrived, she has remained stuck in her debt. Brand and Simmel can very quickly identify the Janev brothers as these "milkers", from whom they learn that Lothar Emmerich is supposedly still active as a machine fraudster after his release from prison. The commissioners follow up on the hint and come to it when Emmerich is attacked by a stranger. Simmel immediately takes up the chase, but cannot catch the man. In return, Brand finds the stolen bag with the money from the casino in Emmerich's caravan. The suspect admits to having worked to outsmart the slot machines again, but because of the electronics in use today, he wouldn't "get it". The stranger had just put his wallet in the trailer. He didn't murder Calser.
Since Calser's cell phone was in the wallet and Brand is analyzing the news, Jutta Lehmann remains in the focus of the investigation. She had an affair with the victim and Calser is the father of her child, which no one else knew. When Brand and Simmel want to drive to her, they find the woman dead on a bench. Everything should point to suicide, which Brand immediately doubts. She tries to link the two deaths and comes to the conclusion that the solution can be found with Oliver Calser. His father was opposed to the sale of the casinos he planned, which is why he put him out of the way. Jutta Lehmann wanted hush money, otherwise the inheritance would have to be divided by three because of the existence of her child. After Oliver Calser found the pistol with which he shot his father, Calser was arrested.
background
The episode was filmed under the working title Marie Brand und das Glücksspiel from February 20 to March 26, 2018 in Cologne and the surrounding area.
reception
Audience ratings
Marie Brand and the game of luck reached 5.53 million viewers and a market share of 21.7 percent for ZDF at its premiere on April 20, 2019 .
criticism
Volker Bergmeister from Tittelbach.tv wrote: “The unequal, wonderfully squabbling duo Brand and Simmel would have liked a stronger story for their anniversary - 'Marie Brand and the game of luck' is their 25th case." different motifs and "types of games" of the gambling scene seem badly lined up here and give the story no real flow. More could have been made of that. Even in the figure drawing, the thriller is not convincing. "Overall," the anniversary episode is rather slow and indecisive. "
The critics of the television magazine TV Spielfilm gave this episode a "thumbs up". They judged: “Be humorous or take the subject of gambling addiction with dramatic seriousness? The thriller seems indecisive and superficial. We still like to see the well-rehearsed team, which is why we turn a blind eye on the anniversary. "Conclusion:" Not the best episode, but a good topic. "
Wilfried Geldner from prisma.de criticized: “This time the gap between Inspectors Brand and Simmel is all too steep. Marie is always the smart one, he is the fool. You almost want to call the inclusion officer. In any case, the simple constellation doesn't really fit into the other, quite demanding noir scenario. "
Web links
- Marie fire and the game with the happiness in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Marie Brand and Playing with Luck ZDF press portal
- Marie Brand and the game of luck at Fernsehserien.de
- Marie Brand and playing with luck at crew united
Individual evidence
- ^ Death in the forest at crew united . Retrieved January 14, 2020.
- ^ A b Volker Bergmeister: Millowitsch, Schönemann, Beyer, Berndt, Zens. A little gambled away for the anniversary at Tittelbach.tv , accessed on January 14, 2020.
- ↑ Tvspielfilm.de: TV crime and anniversary episode 25 to gambling. Retrieved January 14, 2020 .
- ↑ Wilfried Geldner: Weser-kurier.de: Murder in the game hell. Retrieved January 14, 2020 .