"Tatort: Unvergänglich" with Batic and Leitmayr: A Farewell for the Ages – Review and Verdict

There are moments on TV that feel like a party you've been looking forward to for years, but also like the funeral of your old self from 20 years ago. Saying goodbye to Ivo Batic and Franz Leitmayr is one of those moments. 35 years, 100 cases – who would have thought these grumpy adopted Bavarians would ever grow so close to our hearts? Easter Sunday and Monday finally arrived: the two-part film "Unvergänglich" aired, and I watched both parts. Tears in my eyes, yes, but also a grin, because these two old warhorses haven't matured one bit. Here's my full review – a kind of guide through this emotional rollercoaster.

From a body in a bunker to Captagon madness

The big question, of course, was: How on earth do you let a team like this retire? Director Sven Bohse and writers Johanna Thalmann & Moritz Binder had a bloody tough job. The plot kicks off with a pretty grim discovery: deep beneath Munich, in a municipal utility bunker, the charred body of a woman is found. Classic "Tatort" opening – dark, cold, hopeless. But you quickly realise: the crime is just the backdrop. The real story is what happens between Batic and Leitmayr on that fine line between colleagues, friends, and an old married couple without a marriage certificate.

The case leads into a world of dodgy bed-and-breakfast flats, a phantom who gains access to other people's keys, and finally into organised crime involving the stimulant drug Captagon. It's solidly written, but keeps stalling because the two investigators keep getting in their own way. But that's exactly what we want to see, right?

• The plot (Part 1): Investigations into a janitor, a cat-and-mouse game, arrest – actually, that could be the end. The gents are even officially farewelled into retirement.
• The twist (Part 2): No such luck! The key witness suddenly reappears, it turns out there are much bigger players involved – and suddenly Batic and Leitmayr are private citizens without their badges, investigating on their own.

A guide through the emotional world of two grumpy old men

How do you actually use unvergänglich in everyday life? Ask the ad guys, they'd apply it to a diamond. But here, with Batic and Leitmayr, it's the friendship that neither can bring themselves to name. In a key scene in the first part, Batic has nowhere to stay the night. Leitmayr is panicked that the old bloke might want to crash on his couch. So he just keeps talking about when he can finally move his suitcase out of the flat. It's tragicomic, it's pathetic – and it's so incredibly human.

That's the true value of this two-parter. Not the resolution of the Captagon ring, not the action. But the silence in which these two men of their generation finally realise they love each other – without ever saying it. Leitmayr buys an old Porsche he can't fix. Batic flees to Croatia, flirts with a mature woman, only to find out the grandma would rather swim with her grandkids. Life out there isn't for them. Only together, in the fight against the younger generation (embodied by Ferdinand Hofer as their irritated successor Kalli), do they find their place.

Why the makers kept the ending under wraps (spoiler alert for the feels)

You know that the people behind the film kept the last five minutes of part two locked away. I tell you: that was clever. Because in that final quarter of an hour, it's decided whether we'll be crying or laughing in front of the telly. Without giving too much away: it's not the expected action-packed exit with a heroic death (which would have been a tired cliché, as Leitmayr himself dryly notes). Instead, it's a quiet, almost humble "Servus". The two sit together one last time, there's a final, wonderfully awkward moment of affection – and then it's over. Full stop. The end. Done.

The many guest appearances by old friends (Lisa Wagner as Christine Lerch or Michael Fitz as Carlo Menzinger) are the icing on the cake for die-hard fans. If you don't know these characters, you might miss a little of the subtext – but for everyone else, "Unvergänglich" is a worthy, quirky, and surprisingly wise swan song to an era. That's how you say goodbye. 7 out of 10 points – but for the heart, a solid 10.