Capitani – Season 1 Episode 5 Recap & Review

Strangers Will Be Obliged To Accept

Episode 5 of Capitani returns to the military base as Luc prepares to meet with the army sergeant, Steve. Capitani questions what exercises they’re conducting as he remains distant, telling the officer to come back with a search warrant. When Steve heads back into camp though, one of the soldiers, Jerry, is suspiciously rattled.

Personal issues pad the run-time here, as Capitani talks to his old flame Carla about the past while Ley heads back home and discusses her new house proposal Steve has drawn up.

Elsewhere, Mores finds a whole stash of drugs in Rob’s car outside school. When Capitani finds out, he demands to know more about the drug network, threatening to go to the authorities if  Weyrich doesn’t speak up. This pressure eventually does the trick, as Weyrich finally speaks up.

Weyrich admits that the school had a drug problem, which is one of the reasons he had the CCTV cameras installed all over the premises. The trouble with Jenny started when she showed up at school with a tattoo done by “a guy in Belgium.” Nadine was struggling to control her, and as we cut across to Nadine herself, she comforts Tanja in her room after she hurriedly stubs out a cigarette on the window sill.

Captaini eventually heads back to see Lea, questioning her story which conflicts with what Tanja has said. The investigator loses his patience, shouting at Lea and demanding she tell the truth. When her Father arrives to take Lea away, Capitani demands she get a lawyer ready.

Thankfully Ley shows up to talk some sense into Luc, prompting our protagonist to race after Lea’s Father and apologize for his manners. This small act of kindness allows Lea to finally open up and tell the truth.

It turns out Tanja and Jenny had drifted apart in recent times. Jenny was missing school, hanging around with a new group of friends, which happens to be the soldiers from the military base nearby. This gives Capitani new incentive to get a warrant to the base, heading back to see Ley.

Mick arrives to see Usch, asking for help at the church. All he can say though is “Forgot. Gone now. The mirror is broken.” These cryptic statements don’t reveal much, with Usch eventually embracing Mick and apologizing for what’s happened.

Back at the station, Ley continues to try and work through the case, drawing up numerous clues on the board, including question marks over whether this really was sexual assault or not. While she combs through different suspects, Jerry Kowalska’s name pops up.

The Episode Review

Episode 5 of Capitani starts to deepen the ties, hinting that the military base has something to do with Jenny’s disappearance. Given she was friends with some of the soldiers, it seems like they may have all done drugs together and then things took a turn for the worst.

Jerry seems like a likely suspect, especially given his shifty behaviour when he learned the police were sniffing around.

This chapter does slow things down slightly though, with Capitani’s past starting to materialize more and eventually seeing him hook up with Carla at the end. Admittedly, this sub-plot doesn’t have a lot of substance to it and some of that can be attributed to the length of the chapters. With 25-30 minute episodes, this show leaves little room for characterization as we continue to charge full steam ahead with this investigation.

The ending certainly leaves the door open though, as we’re left to wonder quite what happened to Jenny and Tanja that fateful night.