Urban and with lots of music: ZDF's new Erzgebirgskrimi is a lot different than usual. Instead of the forests and tranquil towns of the Ore Mountains, the setting is now Chemnitz. Inspector Robert Winkler (Kai Scheve) has to do without his co-investigator Karina Szabo.
Forester Saskia Bergelt (Teresa Weißbach), on the other hand, is also involved in the big city far from her territory - as a musician. But she is traumatized by the experiences of the previous episode. So she promptly moves in with Inspector Winkler. What will become of the idyllic forester's lodge and Wolke the dog? The episode can be seen this Saturday, April 26, from 8.15 pm on ZDF and can be streamed in advance on ZDF.
A dead musician, the valuable violin and lots of questions
The change of location has a reason: Chemnitz is this year's European Capital of Culture. The makers of the crime series have therefore set the episode "The Last Note" in the cultural scene there. Long-time music teacher Marianne Bach (Corinna Kirchhoff) wants to unite former and current pupils in an orchestra for a Capital of Culture project. But then she is found dead in her apartment. Was the murderer after her valuable violin, which has since disappeared? Or are there unfinished business from the past?
She had also made herself unpopular with some of the musicians. For example with forensic scientist Elena Kulikova (Masha Tokareva), who plays in the orchestra like forester Bergelt, but is then kicked out. Because of her Russian nationality or because Bach is jealous of her? Kulikova, who usually discusses music and Russian culture with Inspector Winkler, ends up in conflict with him and feels betrayed.
Shadows of the GDR past
Chemnitz is rarely portrayed as beautifully as in the new ZDF Erzgebirgskrimi. The city is considered by many to be rather dull and gray. The episode also takes us back to the GDR era, when Chemnitz was called Karl-Marx-Stadt. Back then, creative artists fought for artistic freedom under the SED dictatorship - for example at the theater, where critical contemporary drama was performed, or with the Clara Mosch artists' group, which defied state cultural policy and at times ran its own producers' gallery.
In the thriller, it is the violin teacher who, as a young woman, secretly organizes concerts, readings and parties with her students and thus becomes the target of the GDR state security. A love affair with a pupil becomes her undoing. He now reappears, but rejects her renewed advances. Instead, he sets his sights on forensic scientist Kulikova and also flirts with the forester. Why does he want to know more about the investigation? And who betrayed the forbidden liaison to the Stasi decades ago?
Return to the Ore Mountains: more episodes planned
The investigators will return to the Ore Mountains in the next episodes. According to the production company, three more will be filmed this year, including in Annaberg-Buchholz. Lara Mandoki will then be back as Winkler's police colleague. Will the Forsthaus romance also return? In the current episode, Bergelt's father, who has moved to the south, wants to sell the house. Much to the annoyance of his daughter.
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