"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 at the same time like the funeral of your own self from 20 years ago. The farewell of Ivo Batic and Franz Leitmayr is one such moment. 35 years, 100 cases – who would have thought that a couple of grumpy Bavarians-by-choice from Munich would grow so close to our hearts? This Easter Sunday and Monday, the time finally came: The two-part film "Unvergänglich" aired on the telly, and I watched both parts. With tears in my eyes, yes, but also with a grin, because these two old warhorses just haven't grown up one bit. Here's my detailed review – a kind of guide through this emotional rollercoaster.

From a body in a bunker to Captagon madness

The first big question was of course: How on earth do you let a team like this bow out? 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 bunker owned by the municipal utilities, 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 the certificate.

The case leads into the world of shady 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 are constantly getting in their own way. But that's exactly what we want to see, isn't it?

• The plot (Part 1): Investigations against a caretaker, a cat-and-mouse game, arrest – actually, that could be the end. The gentlemen even get an official farewell into retirement.
• The twist (Part 2): Not so fast! The main witness suddenly reappears, it turns out there are much bigger players at work – and suddenly Batic and Leitmayr are private citizens without their badges, investigating on their own.

A guide to the emotional world of two grumpy old men

How do you actually use Unvergänglich in everyday life? Ask the ad folks, they'd apply it to a diamond. But here, with Batic and Leitmayr, it's the friendship that neither can bring himself to say out loud. In a key scene from the first part, Batic has no place to stay for the night. Leitmayr is panicked that the old man wants to crash on his couch. So he keeps talking about when he can finally move his suitcase out of the flat. It's tragicomic, it's pathetic – and it's so infinitely human.

That's the real 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 that 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 go swimming with her grandkids. The outside world isn't for them. Only together, in the fight against the young (embodied by Ferdinand Hofer as the irritated successor Kalli), do they find their place.

Why the makers kept the ending under wraps (Spoiler alert for your feelings)

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

The many guest appearances of old acquaintances (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 the rest, "Unvergänglich" is a worthy, quirky, and surprisingly wise swan song to an era. That's how you do farewell. 7 out of 10 points – but for the heart, a solid 10.