The latest Hamburg Tatort episode comes as a 180-minute double feature, centering on an undercover informant and the aggressive Mocro-Mafia from the Netherlands. The reviewer deems the length excessive and criticizes the lack of depth in adapting a Spiegel investigation. It is a co-production with Dutch public broadcasting.
Hamburg's Tatort presents 'A Good Day/Black Snow' as a double episode shot back-to-back to cut costs. Produced by NDR under Christian Granderath and Patrick Poch, it runs 180 minutes total and is a co-production with the Dutch NPO. It loosely draws from a 2021 Spiegel cover story on the Mocro-Mafia—a drug gang that aggressively deals, recruits youth, and intimidates journalism, politics, and justice.
Christian Granderath, recently retired NDR head of film, family, and series, states in his preface: "Only rarely does a Spiegel cover story become a Tatort and thus major Sunday evening entertainment." Yet the reviewer argues the film fails to adequately adapt the investigation by Jürgen Dahlkamp, Jörg Diehl, and Roman Lehberger. Instead, it relies on familiar crime drama clichés: an unassuming mafia boss in prison, his flamboyant son, violent gangs, an innocent boy ensnared in evil, and a shady BKA figure.
Notably featured is a corrupt provincial mayor, played by Sebastian Hülk, caught snorting cocaine during a police visit. The staging employs stylish lighting and set design to render official offices as shadowy as gangster dens. Such double episodes often mark anniversaries or political themes, but here they primarily serve economic aims, similar to Frankfurt's 'Light' and the upcoming 'Torch', filmed between March and May 2025.
The author critiques the humorlessness and lack of originality, despite the significant topic of organized crime.
