Das Verschwinden

This is a short German crime series set in a small German town that is on the border with the Czech Republic. The border is an active part of the series as young Germans often go across the border to the Czech Republic to party and buy drugs.

The story revolves around a concerned mother named Michelle Grabowski (Julia Jentsch) who is desperate to find her missing daughter. Michelle sees her daughter Janine and her two childhood friends, Manu and Laura the day before at Janine's flat and again that night at a local club where she went to make up with Janine after having words with her earlier about quitting her job.

Michelle goes to the police quickly, but they don't seem to take Janine's disappearance seriously...setting Michelle off on a one woman mission to find her daughter. What Michelle doesn't originally know is that the three girls along with a Turkish immigrant named Tarik have purchased a kilo of crystal meth, with the intent to sell. She has a little help from a police officer named Jens Kohler (Martin Feifel), but she is severely hampered by all of the lies being told thanks to the drugs.

It's a decent little mystery that has some pretty sad consequences, but I was a little disturbed by the lack of basic police follow up... like obtaining surveillance footage,etc. I really felt for the mom, who becomes more and more desperate and frustrated with people lying and subverting the truth. There was some excellent acting put in by Julia Jentsch that coupled with the focus on multiple serious topics make this an interesting watch for fans of crime drama.

This series deals with the usual theme of drugs and their societal impact on young people and their families. The Germanic twist is to take a story that could be told in four episodes, but drag it out to fit eight! The plot becomes illogical and silly by about episode 3, with a series of subplots that make no sense, and decisions taken by characters to suit the ongoing narrative rather than making sense. Eventually, one is used to use the fast forward on the remote to speed the pace along and move past the many irrelevant and irritating scenes that add nothing to the story. The series then starts to morph from a thriller to just another silly soap opera that is filled with the usual angst and constant crying. The lead character makes decisions that make absolutely no sense. Ultimately, at that point, the best thing to do is just to skip to the final episode so that one doesn't waste time that they will never get back!

The German series does not invent anything new, but it is coherent and stands out from classic German TV series. Mainly due to the acting performance of Julia Jentsch. Incredible for the series in which the leading actress takes the helm herself because the police formally refuse to investigate. Here the series could have been much better, but above all more realistic. Definitely not a cinema format, but definitely worth seeing. Especially because the subject of drugs is the focus here, and the way the rich people deal with them. In Germany one would say: a better Tatort (famous German crime series)