Der Bulle von Tölz

The very first episode showed us just what kind of low-lives there are in Bad Tölz and that it’s Benno against the entire town. Apparently, Lower Bavaria is way more corrupted than the neighboring towns right behind the Czech border and so it’s apparent that there’s going to be far more murders than we’d expect in a town with a population of 12,000 people. What’s more, the creators introduce us to Benno’s colleague from Berlin and also his mom, whose inn isn’t exactly run by the book; so now we know that Benno isn’t a real stickler for the rules. The investigation drags on despite its rush of a start, but then the ending is so abrupt that I must admit that I haven’t seen a confession this fast in any crime investigation before. And I doubt that I ever will. (22.08.2017)

A standard episode that isn’t bad in any way. Benno investigates the case of a murdered boarding schoolgirl who gets hit by a car right at the beginning. The killer is obvious right away and so you enjoy the other characters, such as the principal who is absolutely absurd. However, the environments where this episode takes place are very beautiful and the tower of a castle right beneath the Alps is probably the prettiest of all. (15.09.2017)

In this episode, we find out just how well Benno can deal with the Revenue service. Right off the bat, his mom gets a notice about owing 40,000 marks in taxes over the last year. But the issue is that she only had a turnover of 15,000 at the inn. So, it’s probably the Revenue service’s fault and the following murder confirms how awfully unorganized they are. Benno doesn’t give a damn about the debt though and lets his mom – who gets a 1,000 mark notice every day – worry on her own. He’s a policeman through and through so the only thing on his mind is the fact that an influential businessman and his old friend invited him to the most expensive restaurant in town and also gave him an olive oil pressed from a prime selection of drupes. In this episode is plentiful in bribes and it’s a lot of fun. You can also expect an amusing plot twist and an equally interesting unravelling. This was one of the best episodes. (18.09.2017)

Benno and his colleague investigating a murder nearby Bad Tölz where they’re hand-in-hand with Italian mafia, which isn’t exactly all fun and games. Luckily enough, the mafia’s boss is in retirement under the Alps, enjoys growing his bio tomatoes and bell peppers and he doesn’t really care for killing people. There’s even a shootout in this episode. But overall, it was one of the weaker ones. The only good character was the farmer Lang who was a proper red-neck. (27.08.2017)

It would be unlike this show not to make fun of cults right off the bat; there’s a good cult in this very episode. It’s called the House of the Sun and every time that these two minions of the Lord of the Sun appear on the screen, a strange alien music plays in the background, which is probably there to assure us – the audience – that this episode is going to be more psychedelic than investigative. But Benno doesn’t get intimidated and neither does his mother. At first, like she always does, she walks in on the priest’s death which turns out to be a shocking murder. Unexpectedly. Then she rescues a single mother with a child and shelters them at her inn. Benno with Sabrina are investigating as if their lives depended on it and they mock the Church a little bit. Another good character is the Prelate, who is gradually starting to reveal the cards, but careful – he is the biggest player of the entire show. The ending is about bribes once again and the Church gets a little involved, too. Benno doesn’t spare anyone, but his investigations are relaxing to watch. (21.09.2017)

In this episode you will find out that Benno also has a sister. It may be a step-sister, but still. And she immediately gets involved in a fuck up – a murder of an actress. And not just any murder, but an extremely dramatic one – one that happens directly during a theatrical performance. However, the investigation is carried out in the usual spirit of the town and the only thing that really interested me was the fact that Benno takes no prisoners and blames everyone around him. It doesn’t matter if the person was really the murderer or not. Well, to each their own. (12.10.2017)

This episode features a nice location of the chateau, which was the setting for a mysterious murder of a man who creates and trades in counterfeit icons. This episode was a bit mysterious, but the result is still relatively average, both in terms of humor and the investigation itself. The only plus of the whole episode is the etude of Benno’s mother – Resi – who sold her clock to the murdered man for a bargain price, only to find out that they are several times more valuable. Wondering how she found out? The clock appears at a local auction. But that would not be Resi if she did not show up at the auction and cause a bit of a drama there… And it doesn’t matter at all that the buyer is already dead at the time. (12.10.2017)

An episode that completely captivated me. The opening scene is worth an A+. The bride wakes up with a dead pig in her bed, then finds her newlywed murdered on the town square and the investigation is set in motion. During the investigation, Benno gets wasted several times. Not to mention that his first arrival to the murder scene is accompanied with a destroyed wire fence of a local farmer, as he is going there directly from a parthy, so his driving is not exactly straight. Halfway into the episode, he even gambles away his car in cards. Throughout the whole episode Benno is spied on by constable Pfeiffer, who snitches on him to his boss, for example, that he found Benno’s alcohol level to be 4.5 per mil and Benno still drove away in his BMW. Well, until he gambled it away. (09.10.2017)

I sometimes watch Der Bulle von Tölz, why not. He’s fun and that might be the main reason why I like watching some of the episodes. But this is the first episode I decided to write a review on. Mainly because already in 1997 the Germans knew what the state of the brewing industry was. And the things that were happening there are actually the same as the things that are going on in our country when it comes to large industrial breweries. But small breweries keep fighting and I hope they will hold as long as possible. Der Bulle also fought, and in the end everything was well. I think I’ll have to visit Bad Tölz because of him and try the local beer. There’s no escaping that. A proper Bavarian town, a great premise – a must for any beer lover. And mainly the scenes that make the show what it is. Especially, those involving his mother, who keeps surprising me every episode. I don’t see a reason why such films should get criticized so harshly around here. I had to add an extra star for the story. (24.01.2014)

The hunters and the poachers got so crazy that I was rooting for Benno for an hour and a half to crack this difficult case. Don’t expect too much fun in this episode. This is probably the most serious episode I’ve ever seen. And the ending? It’s just awesome. For me personally, it was a very nice surprise in the form of a very decent crime story. (12.10.2017)

I’ve been watching Benno for a long time and I haven’t ever seen anyone talk about hockey in Bad Tölz, even though it’s such a popular sport in Germany. And suddenly in the first scene, Benno and his mom are watching the local team’s big match on the TV. It all goes south when the police call his hotline, saying there’s been a murder in town. The fact that the local hockey club had something to do with it must have been obvious to any idiot at that point.  And so begins a classic investigation over a 16-ounce glass of beer in the office with a risk of even Wachtmeister Pfeiffer getting a red nose from how drunk he is. But it all ends well. As it always does. (08.08.2016)

Der Bulle von Tölz is an absolute classic and this episode called You Scratch My Back, I’ll Scratch Yours is all the more enticing because along with the politicians who play the leading role in this one, it makes for one of the best episodes ever. What’s important is mainly the fact that one of the politicians, who by the way is portrayed by the Count of Thun, is such a perfect political character that he could immediately join the guys from Yes, Minister. And on top of that you have Benno, his colleague and his mother, who all make up a team that you simply must enjoy. I must add that the Czech dubbing helps things a lot. You see, you’ll get to enjoy moments that you don’t normally get to see in movies. For instance, that dialogue between Benno and his colleague, who started humming a tune all of the sudden on their way to the office and who then started explaining to Benno what song it was, and I believe that she still has no idea now what song she was humming. The scenes from the office, where the highest officer sleeps and drinks beer are also worth it. I would love to taste that beer. All in all, this was a great episode. (17.08.2015)

An unrivalled episode. There is a carnival in Bad Tölz and the mess at the police station is so big that a worse mess can be found only in a barn. Everyone is showing off their masks and the clown’s mask commits a murder. People could argue that the clown is again the one to blame for death, and that nothing good ever happens to clowns. Maybe that’s why it’s worth thinking about. However, everyone is drunk a bit in this episode, Pfeiffer is investigating terrible nonsense, for example, when a local farmer drags a bunch of drunken rednecks who were pissing all over her fence to the police station and wants Pfeiffer to solve it. I have not laughed like this in a long time. And I forgot to add that the center of attention is a nymphomaniac, and we also see a lot of the prelate, who shows what we have not seen of him before. The lovers of the German Church should rather skip this episode. (06.10.2017)

Four stars for sure. There’s no other option. I can see that most of the reviewers here judge the entire show, most of which they obviously haven’t even seen. Because it’s a lot of fun. At first, Benno gets dirty with a local Bad Tölz dominatrix who has some exclusive clients. Soon, he finds out that one of her clients is the state councilman whose character is played brilliantly; any gigolo with the best lingerie imaginable could envy those positions. However, the investigation is also very solid and – of course – Benny’s mom has the final say. What’s more, she’s gotten mixed up with some bribe takers and so things get pretty wild. This episode was simply amazing and whoever doesn’t have a laugh is simply lacking a sense of humor. (26.09.2017)

Benno’s mom Resi goes to a fashion show where some young dude models. Later, he ends up in a pool pierced through and through and – of course – nobody knows who did it. But Resi was there and so, like she says herself, she becomes a crown witness (as she calls herself) for Benno’s case, which make him twice as angry. But it turns out that the young dude was boning like five Bad Tölz’s magnates’ wives and so the investigation gets a little entangled. (01.10.2017)

They really have everything in Bad Tölz. After this episode, I know that they also have an insane asylum. A murder happens there, and Benno starts investigating it. Apart from trying to treat the lunatics by yodeling, nothing interesting is happening. Except that Resi – Benno's mother – is mistaken for a rocket engineer who is supposed to come to the insane asylum for treatment and they immediately seize her. Benno doesn’t notice her in the asylum at first, but at home he despairs. However, he despairs that he doesn’t have food cooked for him rather than that his mother hasn’t been home for two days. There is no Sabrina in this episode, so the creators place more attention on constable Pfeiffer. As usual, he does not investigate anything at all, but the more he drinks and eats at the police station. This episode was not so bad after all. (01.10.2017)

The landowners fight and one of them ends up with pitchforks in the back. The investigation team Benno and Sabrina rock it, and Pfeiffer is interfering with their investigation as usual. The spotlight is on the landowner and businessman Toni Rambold, whose visions make it seem like he is the one to blame. In the second half of the episode, however, there is a properly dramatic investigation with a pretty decent conclusion. This episode is less funny, more investigative, but there is no harm in that. (06.10.2017)

This episode starts with a kids’ party and ends up in a classic murder. The investigation isn’t really that world-shaking and so once again, Benno’s mom talks about how fat he is and that he should finally find a lady, perhaps even one of the junkies. A standard episode. (01.10.2017)

In this episode the side storyline of Resi and her newly acquired restaurant on the top of a mountain completely overshadowed the investigation, which immediately becomes totally uninteresting and pointless. Resi behaves like a proper slave master here and with that she immediately won me over. She is looking for her future employees in front of the employment office, and not in it, everyone is paid illegally, she employs children and is scarce with food… (15.10.2017)

In a sacred Celtic place near Bad Tölz, a dude takes two mollies, washes it down with some 30 ounces of wine and in the morning, he wakes up on a sacrifice altar together with a victim. He says he was kidnapped by aliens, driven around a bit and then placed on the altar again. Benno has his doubts and right when his mom’s getting desperate about having very few customers this year, esoterics from all over Germany check into her inn and Bad Tölz suddenly becomes a place of alien appearance. It’s a shame that the investigation is boring because the conclusion with an alleged alien is literally enough to put you in the madhouse. (01.10.2017)