Crime scene: asparagus time

Episode of the series Tatort
Original title	Asparagus season
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Production ; company	WDR
length	90 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
classification	Episode 775 ( List )
First broadcast	October 10, 2010 on Das Erste and ORF 2
Rod
Director	Manfred Stelzer
script	Jürgen Werner , ; Peter Zingler
production	Sonja Goslicki
music	Lutz Kerschowski , ; Danny Dziuk
camera	Michael Wiesweg
cut	Bernd Schriever
occupation
	Axel Prahl : KHK Frank Thiel ; Jan Josef Liefers : Prof. Karl-Friedrich Boerne ; Jörg Hartmann : Martin Pütz; Matilda Merkel : Julia Pütz; Friederike Kempter : Nadeshda Krusenstern ; Christine Urspruch : Silke "Alberich" Haller ; Mechthild Großmann : Public Prosecutor Wilhelmine Klemm ; Claus Dieter Clausnitzer : Herbert Thiel ; Ronald Kukulies : Olaf Künast, Chief Police Officer; Dimitri Bilov : Jakub Czarzyk; Agnieszka Piwowarska : Gabriela Tosicz, seasonal worker; Alexandru Mihăescu : Gabor Adonay; Holger Kunkel : shoe and key shop owner; Martin Horn :; Katinka Heise :; Jochen Langner :; Nadja Soukup : Ms. Pütz;

Asparagus Time is a television film from the crime series Tatort . The film is the 775th in the crime scene series and the 18th case with Axel Prahl and Jan Josef Liefers as Münster investigators Thiel and Boerne . The broadcast produced by WDR was first broadcast on October 10, 2010 on Das Erste and ORF 2 . Asparagus time achieved the highest Tatort audience ratings in Germany for 13 years.

action

Sonja, the wife of the asparagus farmer Martin Pütz, is stabbed to death. Since Herbert Thiel, the father of the detective chief inspector Frank Thiel, was arrested on the grounds of the asparagus farm at the time of the crime, as he was about to steal asparagus, he comes under suspicion. So as not being accused of nepotism suspend (or Vatter economy), Thiel sends his father into custody .

Initial investigations show that the relationship between the villagers and the seasonal workers at the asparagus farm is not particularly good. Two years earlier, the daughter of the house, Julia Pütz, had been raped without it being possible to identify the perpetrator. Since then, the Polish and Romanian seasonal workers have been under general suspicion among the locals in the suburb of Münster .

When the DNA analysis of the traces found on the murdered Ms. Pütz revealed that this DNA was identical to the DNA that was found after the rape from Julia Pütz, the suspicion arises that there is a connection between the rape and the murder consists. While Boerne is evaluating a series of DNA tests, Thiel sends his assistant Nadeshda Krusenstern, who accepts the job of an asparagus cutter at Pütz in order to be able to covertly investigate .

Further investigations reveal that the relationship between Julia and her mother was heavily strained. Instead of helping her daughter after the rape, Sonja Pütz kept arguing with her husband about who was to blame for it to happen. The daughter's feelings didn't seem to matter. Julia also raved about the Polish guest worker Jakub Czarzyk and recorded her thoughts in her diary. Her mother read these diary entries and made fun of her daughter's first love. She went even further and got into a relationship with Czarzyk. She was also responsible for Julia's horse Tango having a collision with a car because she left the gate open.

Julia tells Thiel that she caught her mother that night having sex with Czarzyk. When she wanted to go back into the house, she tripped and then suddenly the asparagus knife lay there and she stabbed her mother with it. When Martin Pütz sees the police taking his daughter away, he tries to kill Czarzyk, whom he blames for everything that has happened, what happened to his daughter and she did, and to kill himself by sitting with him in his trailer and start a fire. At the last second, the harvest workers can intervene and prevent worse. Pütz is arrested.

Thiel and Boerne track down the local police officer through a so-called scent stone, which police chief Olaf Künast always hangs up in his company car and whose chlorine smell Julia described from memory. He was responsible for the rape, and his DNA was found on Ms. Puetz's body because he wanted to check whether she was still alive, which explains the DNA match between the cases. It was also he who was in charge of the DNA screening at the time, manipulating his own saliva sample to avoid being convicted of a rapist. After the unsuccessful attempt to resist, Thiel also arrests the police officer.

reception

Audience ratings

The first broadcast of asparagus time on October 10, 2010 was seen in Germany by a total of 10.49 million viewers and achieved a market share of 29.3% for Das Erste ; In the group of 14- to 49-year-old viewers , 3.72 million viewers and a market share of 25% were achieved. Asparagus time achieved the highest Tatort audience rating since 1997.

criticism

Most of the critics agreed that the main cast and some of the supporting cast had performed well, but that the episode was inferior to the other episodes of the Münster crime scene due to flaws in the plot.

Edo Reent from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung praises the actors, because "The ensemble of the Münster" Tatort "[...] is in a playful mood." The script, however, could not convince him. “The plot of“ Asparagus Time ”has literally fallen out of time. After all, it smells like Westphalian ham. "

Rainer Tittelbach shares this opinion . “The crime plot from“ Asparagus Time ”is a rather tired Whodunit with pale characters, which is pimped up by the rural ambience and the connotation fields of the royal herbaceous vegetables. The little word asparagus lover gets a whole new meaning. "

The editorial staff of kino.de also attested that the actors performed well. “The traditionally high entertainment value of Münster's» Tatorte «is also retained in the current episode, the wickedness between Thiel and Boerne sprout like asparagus, the ongoing dispute between the two is fueled by a newly forged alliance between Thiel senior and the coroner. The criminal case cannot quite keep pace, especially since the daughter's rapist is being served too obviously on a silver platter and the finale therefore tastes like bland canned vegetables. "

Matilda Merkel's acting performance is highlighted by Carola Siedentop from RP Online . “14-year-old Matilda Merkel plays the torn young girl very believably and leaves the audience with goose bumps. Jörg Hartmann in the role of Martin Pütz also impresses as a helpless and overwhelmed father who cannot support his daughter. If the portrayal of father and daughter hadn't been so convincing, the entire crime thriller would have been completely lost. The tightrope walk between comedy and tragedy has just earned a grade of four, sufficient, for "Asparagus Time". Because the creators just wanted to pack too much content into 90 minutes of light entertainment. Boerne and Thiel should remain what sets them apart: the most humorous and dazzling team in the »Tatort« series. "