Crime scene: Ripped off
| Episode of the series Tatort | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Ripped off |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Production company |
SWF |
| length | 87 minutes |
| classification | Episode 568 ( List ) |
| First broadcast | May 16, 2004 on Das Erste |
| Rod | |
| Director | Christoph Stark |
| script | Klaus-Peter Wolf |
| production | Michel Becker |
| music | Thomas Osterhoff |
| camera | Jürgen Carle |
| cut | Olga Barthel |
| occupation | |
| |
Ripped off is the 568th crime scene episode and the 31st case for the Ludwigshafen investigator Lena Odenthal , played by Ulrike Folkerts and the 22nd case for Mario Kopper , played by Andreas Hoppe . The episode was first broadcast on May 16, 2004 and is a crime scene production by SWR .
action
On an empty road, Lutz Bergmann drives against the guardrail and then against a bridge pillar without braking. The investigative chief detective Lena Odenthal had only recently met the victim during karate training and is pretty sure that the man was absolutely not in a suicidal mood. Forensic medicine finds narcotics in extremely high doses in Bergmann's blood. Presumably the red wine he last drunk was injected with a cannula through the cork.
Odenthal has to bring Bergmann's mother, who is in a nursing home, the news of her son's death and has the opportunity to ask the nurse Ursula Schäfer about Lutz Bergmann. You feel that Bergmann has changed a lot lately. Then the inspector goes to the dead man's sister, who immediately suspects Richard Horst. He is said to have been a slave to Richard, called "Ritchy", but still wanted to get out of the joint distribution of energy drinks and "blow the whole place up". Ritchy, faced with the news of death and the suspicion of murder, is not overly shaken, but says he would never kill his best salesman. At an ominous advertising event with Ritchy and the Germany boss of "Rocket Marketing" Max Hüllen, Odenthal and her colleague Mario Kopper get the impression that this whole sales deal is a bluff. Anyone who wants to take part pays 5000 euros and receives goods that are actually only worth 500 euros. There is a commission for every new seller you recruit - a pyramid scheme in which there are inevitably a lot of losers. In order to keep the business going, Bergmann and Richard Horst did not shy away from sexual contact with customers.
There are 145 emails in the dead man's laptop, including many declarations of love from female "fans", which suggests that Bergmann was not only more successful than Ritchy in business, but also with women, which could have led him to the murder. But the small business owner Paul Wattenscheid is also suspected. Lured into the energy drinks business by Bergmann, he is not only threatened with bankruptcy, his wife has also left him because of Bergmann. Another suspect is the windy head of marketing Max Hüllen, as Bergmann threatened to blackmail him. Bergmann had collected a lot of material on the business practices of the sales company "Rocket Marketing" on a CD.
Among the e-mails there are some from Ursula Schäfer, the nurse from the sanatorium, in which she goes to court with Bergmann. In the search for new members for the sales system, she brought in her entire family, friends and work group. In addition, she had started a relationship with Ritchy, about which her husband was not allowed to know, as he is considered to be highly suicidal.
On the way home, two thugs lie in wait for Ritchy and brutally beat him up. When Ursula Schäfer suddenly appears and sees how he has been messed up, she wants to take him with her and bring him to safety. She bought a house for both of them and he should come with them. Before Ritchy agrees and drives, he takes a CD out of his laptop. Arrived in the old half-timbered house, he goes to sleep. Odenthal, looking for Ritchy, finds him neither in the office nor in his apartment, but instead has a kind of hit list in his closet. Ritchy and Lutz Bergmann seduced women according to a point system and organized an internal competition. Ursula Schäfer was also listed there, possibly she knew what could mean that she wanted revenge on both of them.
Odenthal is looking for Schäfer and has to find out from her neighbor that Ursula Schäfer's husband recently hanged himself and that she now wants to move away. You bought a house on the outskirts. So Odenthal and Kopper look for such an offer in all property advertisements and are successful. You can find the house and smell gasoline when you arrive, because Ursula has meanwhile poured gasoline over Ritchy. She has lost all hold: husband, family, friends, everything gone because of the marketing strategy. She wants to kill herself and Ritchy and since she lit a candle, the investigators can't shoot. However, Odenthal manages to talk to her and blow out the candle. Ritchy, freed from fear of death, gives Kopper the CD, with which he brings down the organization and Max Hüllen.
production
This 568th crime scene episode initially had the working title Powerspiel .
reception
Audience ratings
When it was first broadcast on May 16, 2004, 8.19 million viewers followed the program; this corresponded to a market share of 26%.
Reviews
“The 'Tatort: Ripped off' takes Lena Odenthal and Mario Kopper into a strange and suspicious world. The dream of a quick buck defeats all morals. And Lena Odenthal is correspondingly disgusted. A thrilling thriller about the power of seduction and play as a principle of life. Tightly told & presented in a modern way. "
"Poetic crime thriller about the psychology of greed."
In reality, the investigators could have checked which property Schäfer had acquired with a simple electronic land register query.
Web links
- Ripped off in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Summary of the plot of Ripped off on the ARD website
- Ripped off at the crime scene fund
- Ripped off at Tatort-Fans.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Working title at tatort-fundus.de
- ↑ a b row Tatort: Rainer Tittelbach ripped off at tittelbach.tv . Retrieved April 4, 2013.
- ^ Tatort: Ripped off at tvspielfilm.de. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
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previous episode May 9, 2004: The fourth man |
Crime scene follow |
next episode July 11, 2004: Odin's Revenge |