Ghost Ride: A Socially Critical Look at the Delivery Service Industry in the New ‘Tatort’ Crime Thriller

The last “crime scene” with Florence Kasumba is not a classic crime thriller. Rather, it is a socially critical look at the delivery service industry.

Ghost ride: Charlotte Lindholm (Maria Furtwängler) and Anaïs Schmitz (Florence Kasumba) investigate the delivery service industry Photo: Christine Schröder/NDR

Last weekend at a birthday party in Berlin-Neukölln. Suddenly it’s a question of whether it’s okay to order any shit on the Internet. But above all, in keeping with the wet and happy party, the “poor delivery people” had to heave heavy wine packages up to the 4th floor. You can see it everywhere: The parcel deliverers have far too many packages with them, are always in a hurry, a poorly paid job – and that’s exactly what the new “Tatort” crime thriller from Göttingen is about.

Here, too, there is a birthday party at the beginning. Criminal director Gerd Liebig (Luc Feit) celebrates his 60th birthday with colleagues at police headquarters. Charlotte Lindholm (Maria Furtwängler) – once transferred to Göttingen for punishment – and Anaïs Schmitz (Florence Kasumba) are there, as is Liebig’s wife, Tereza (Bibiana Beglau). But shit, the gift from colleagues for their boss is missing; it had been ordered online and had not yet been delivered. It was an express order, says Nick Schmitz (Daniel Donskoy), the forensic doctor and husband of Anaïs, unkindly to the harried young driver.

He drives off in a rage, looks completely overworked, as if he’s off track. He races uncontrollably into a group of people. People die. Lindholm and co quickly arrived at the scene of the accident, including Tereza Liebig, who works as a doctor in the hospital. The driver is seriously injured and in a coma. The investigation goes in different directions: Was it a tragic accident due to fatigue? A killing spree? The two investigators disagree about this (and disagree anyway) and remain so until the end.

The driver of the car is called Ilie Balan (Adrian Djokić), he works for a parcel service and is Romanian, like the other colleagues. He works as a subcontractor for another subcontractor named Mischa Reichelt (Christoph Letkowski) – who of course denies any guilt. Like the boss of the parcel service: “These are not employees of our company.” From a purely legal point of view, that’s true. But in terms of morals?

Göttingen “Tatort”: “Ghost Ride”, Sunday, February 11th, 8:15 p.m., ARD and in the ARD media library

Not a classic crime thriller

The transporter is examined: the brakes are badly worn. And the driver appears to have lived in the car. And there is a plastic bottle with urine – the “toilet”, because there is no time for a real one. “I didn’t even give him a tip,” says Lindholm, concerned.

Let’s put it this way: This “crime scene” is not a classic crime thriller, because for us viewers the matter becomes clear relatively quickly. “Ghost Ride” provides a realistic description of the conditions in an industry in which exploitation is the order of the day.

It becomes clear that we all – as ordering customers – are part of the problem. This is a well-produced, precisely observed, ruthless and complex social drama (we are leaving out one storyline here for reasons of suspense). A lesson about addictions of all stripes, about hurt feelings, about psychological abysses, about grievances in society and family, and yes, this is a film to be ashamed of.

And a strong exit from a pair of investigators. Because Lindholm, the loner, wants to go back to Hanover. And Anaïs Schmitz stays in Göttingen and climbs the career ladder – but crime fans are having none of that. Kasumba, who has been there since 2019, is unfortunately leaving the “crime scene”.