Spuren

This must be the most unexciting crime thriller I have ever had the misfortune to watch. Totally bland cinematography, numb acting, implausible dialogue, actions and reactions from every single character throughout. No suspense whatsoever, no leads for viewers to follow, hardly even any red herrings. Why anyone greenlighted this project is the only real mystery here.

These problems are shared with many "based on a true story" dramas, but rarely has less effort been made to create something worth watching.

Series like Heimat and many others have shown that even Germans can create great drama, but this is just a huge dissapointment.

This miniseries was inspired by - but not a retelling or adaptation of - a series of murders in the south of Germany and Austria several years ago. The setting is a prosperous set of villages where virtually everyone knows everyone else which led to tensions and missteps in the investigations.

Things were pretty true-to-life inasmuch as even in the most beautiful of environments ugly racism reared its head on more than one occasion.

There was only going to be one way to solve these crimes and that was by painstaking police work, not inspired guessing. The special team assembled ticked all the boxes and came through in the end.

I really enjoyed this as much for the settings as the twists and turns and ups and downs of the investigations. I hadn't been sure I'd like it but I did and would recommend it.