"Is your girlfriend pregnant? Or was she poisoned?”

Ten years after her break from TV, she is finally back and ensuring justice in German living rooms again: Judge Barbara Salesch. Has everything stayed the same? What has changed? Artur Weigandt (*1994) and Marie-Luise Goldmann (*1992) get to the bottom of these questions. During the reality TV show, which stages explosive cases with actors and a real judge, they chat on WhatsApp.

[09/09/22, 08:48:27] Artur: Hello Marie, are you already looking forward to the new season of Salesch?

[09/09/22, 08:49:14] Marie: Totally! I'm just trying to figure out which program is running this. I haven't watched linear TV in ages.

[09/09/22, 08:50:21] Marie: Ah, RTL. According to TV feature film.

[09.09.22, 08:50:58] Artur: Here is a link to the stream!

[09/09/22, 09:03:38] Marie: Did you watch it earlier?

[09.09.22, 09:04:04] Artur: As a child, always after school. With my lunch in front of the TV.

[09/09/22, 09:05:52] Marie: Was it later at the time?

[09/09/22, 09:06:10] Artur: I mean, around 2 p.m. Alexander Hold and Salesch, just nostalgia.

[09.09.22, 09:06:27] Artur: Don't you know that at all?

[09/09/22, 09:06:33] Marie: That's right, Alexander!

[09.09.22, 09:07:13] Marie: Yes, that was also happening with us, every now and then in the background.

[09/09/22, 09:08:46] Marie: The new transmission time at 11 a.m. is more for the housewives target group who watch it while ironing, or for home officials like us as a relaxation from the morning conferences .

[09.09.22, 09:09:16] Artur: Some creative distraction is sometimes necessary...

[09/09/22, 09:20:25] Marie: Almost feels like waiting for the first "Sex and the City" episode in decades. You don't know what it does to you. Or what it throws you back on.

[9/9/22, 10:45:08 AM] Artur: I can't wait!

[09.09.22, 10:53:13] Marie: After all, the corpse is a man, according to the broadcast announcement. Sounds promising.

[09/09/22, 10:58:42] Artur: Haha, just death to the patriarchy. But kidding aside. 3 minutes left.

[9/9/22, 11:02:00 a.m.] Marie: Now I'm getting deodorant adverts.

[09.09.22, 11:02:59] Marie: With you too?

[09/09/22, 11:03:02] Marie: Uh, here we go.

[9/9/22, 11:04:57 AM] Artur: Has it already started for you? I'm a little late with the stream. What did i miss?

[09/09/22, 11:05:32] Marie: A lawyer is being charged because he apparently killed his client.

[09.09.22, 11:07:57] Artur: Hey, the hairdo of the public defender, embarrassing.

[9/9/22, 11:08:04 AM] Marie: That's what I was about to say!

[09.09.22, 11:08:21] Marie: Next to that, Salesch's redhead fades.

[9/9/22, 11:08:45 AM] Artur: That has Netflix aesthetics, doesn't it?

[09.09.22, 11:09:01] Marie: The hairstyle is still an indication. Or the murder weapon. Perhaps also a Barthian reality effect.

[09.09.22, 11:09:24] Artur: Oh my God, the public prosecutor Römer - he has also gotten old.

[9/9/22, 11:09:45 AM] Marie: But Salesh hasn't changed.

[09/09/22, 11:10:02] Artur: Isn't that symbolic that the victim is killed with Justitia?

[09.09.22, 11:10:05] Marie: The accused is also called Justus, like the righteous one.

[09/09/22, 11:10:11] Artur: Haha, Justus kills with Justitia – striking.

[09/09/22, 11:10:17] Artur: Thought these were real cases.

[9/9/22, 11:11:33 AM] Marie: I thought so too!

[09/09/22, 11:11:34] Artur: The victim looks like me after work.

[09.09.22, 11:12:13] Marie: It all happens so quickly, no breaks in tension at all.

[09.09.22, 11:13:17] Artur: You have to satisfy everyone with a spectacle in 40 minutes.

[09.09.22, 11:13:35] Artur: Of course, the tattooed person is also a suspect. What a cliché!

[09/09/22, 11:13:38] Artur: It wasn't the lawyer.

[09/09/22, 11:13:43] Marie: Who was it? The girlfriend?

[09/09/22, 11:13:51] Artur: The tattooed one...

[09.09.22, 11:14:00] Artur: That is definitely a love affair between the two of them.

[09/09/22, 11:14:22] Marie: Between the lawyer and the tattooed man?

[09/09/22, 11:14:59] Artur: I think a homosexual relationship is too much for the format.

[09/09/22, 11:15:52] Marie: But the new season has been updated for the 21st century, I read.

[09/09/22, 11:16:12] Artur: You can only see that in the courtroom.

[09/09/22, 11:16:13] Marie: Oh no, again advertising.

[09.09.22, 11:17:15] Artur: Ok, what do you think so far?

[09.09.22, 11:17:30] Artur: Doesn't have the charm of the 00s, does it?

[09/09/22, 11:17:41] Marie: To what extent?

[9/9/22, 11:18:05 AM] Artur: I have the feeling that the creators wanted to rid the show of its trash. Just look at the layout of the courtroom. Sort of an attempt to bring the show into the 21st century. But that's where the real German courtroom, with its wood paneling, got stuck at least in the 18th century.

[09/09/22, 11:20:37] Marie: Should the ceiling lights be reminiscent of modern UFOs?

[09.09.22, 11:21:21] Marie: They should all take yoga or quiet-quitting courses to get their aggressiveness under control.

[09/09/22, 11:22:10] Artur: I think Salesh's assistants have already internally resigned.

[09/09/22, 11:22:36] Artur: How diverse is our judiciary actually?

[09/09/22, 11:25:25] Marie: Female judge, two assistants of color...

[09/09/22, 11:25:54] Artur: But for me the question arises as to who has what power relationship.

[09/09/22, 11:26:12] Artur: Lawyers - male and white. The black assistants are silent.

[09/09/22, 11:26:16] Marie: At least they are not the perpetrators.

[09/09/22, 11:26:26] Artur: A perpetrator at least knows how to defend himself.

[09/09/22, 11:26:31] Artur: But it's just one episode. Maybe others have more variety.

[09.09.22, 11:27:45] Marie: Was there actually a case where the judge or the lawyer was guilty himself? As in Kleist's broken jug?

[09.09.22, 11:28:09] Artur: It has never happened to me in my long Salesh time.

[09/09/22, 11:28:33] Marie: "You are as likeable as a slice of bread"

[09/09/22, 11:29:36] Artur: The fact that the lawyer yells at the other witness, who is also a lawyer, is really absurd.

[09.09.22, 11:31:20] Artur: Tell me, is Salesh a mother figure? What kind of image is supposed to be conveyed to the viewer? The judiciary as a caring mother?

[09/09/22, 11:31:47] Marie: I also think that Salesch has something motherly about him. But the blazing hair is also reminiscent of depictions of the devil.

[09/09/22, 11:31:48] Artur: The devil mother of trash TV.

[09.09.22, 11:32:48] Artur: "Have a handful of biscuits"

[09.09.22, 11:33:07] Marie: Now it's also explicitly about hair. So it seems to be a key theme, we recognized that correctly.

[09.09.22, 11:33:33] Artur: But they elegantly hinted at that at the beginning – with the lawyer's bad hairdo.

[09/09/22, 11:34:59] Marie: Haha, this request for tolerance - "I heard one or the other comment about my hair" - but from Salesch, not from the lawyer. Funny! The wrong elephant in the room was addressed.

[09/09/22, 11:35:34] Artur: Yes, absolutely. Salesh's hair is actually really cool.

[09.09.22, 11:40:59] Artur: A blonde comes in! Bet that the blonde is having an affair with the lawyer?

[09/09/22, 11:42:13] Marie: None of the characters are contemporary - they are all so upset and aggressive. Isn't the Schluffi à la Scholz/Habeck more of a symptom of the present? Or am I just taking a look out of my bubble for the first time?

[09/09/22, 11:42:49] Artur: They all still have the mentality of Schröder and Gabriel.

[09.09.22, 11:43:11] Artur: Of course, the blonde is the affair of a strong, rich man.

[09/09/22, 11:43:21] Artur: And of course she's a bit stupid.

[09.09.22, 11:46:02] Marie: Is the girlfriend pregnant? Or was she poisoned?

[09/09/22, 11:46:28] Artur: Why should she be pregnant?

[09/09/22, 11:46:36] Marie: Because she got sick. Isn't that a sure sign of pregnancy in films?

[09/09/22, 11:47:39] Artur: Let's hope she's not pregnant.

[09.09.22, 11:48:05] Artur: Did you actually think about the outfits?

[09.09.22, 11:48:09] Artur: Is that how you go to court?

[09/09/22, 11:48:20] Marie: The outfits serve to characterize the characters. Otherwise they all play the same way.

[09.09.22, 11:49:02] Artur: About the pregnancy: did you notice how the tattooed one got up?

[09.09.22, 11:52:07] ‪Marie: Ok, wow, that escalated quickly.

[09/09/22, 11:53:13] Artur: They are father and daughter.

[09/09/22, 11:53:20] Marie: One is trained to interpret a woman and a man as lovers, even if the man is much older. Actually progressive that the series says: No, of course he's her father, you can see!

[09.09.22, 11:53:27] Artur: Is it feminist that the woman is the absolute bad guy here?

[09/09/22, 11:53:34] Marie: Well, but also the victim. She says that Justus put her father in jail and her mother in a wheelchair. And he cheated on her.

[09/09/22, 11:55:34] Artur: With Barbara Salesch, it's not about who is bad or who is good. It's all about the perpetrator. The evidence counts in the end in a real judiciary.

[09/09/22, 11:55:43] Marie: Unlike Ferdinand von Schirach. In his cases, it is often precisely about incorporating the human or the paradox into the law. Although someone is clearly guilty, they can be acquitted.

[09.09.22, 11:56:57] Marie: Does the lawyer give his innocent client serious dating tips, especially in the closing argument?

[09/09/22, 11:57:08] Marie: Well, if that's not educational television.

[09.09.22, 11:57:23] Artur: Hey, I would like to get dating tips from bystanders.

[09.09.22, 11:58:30] Artur: The defense attorney is simply jealous of Kramer, i.e. of the accused.

[09/09/22, 11:58:34] Artur: The moral at the end – vibes!

[09/09/22, 11:59:37] Marie: I'm really affected right now. Have to let that sink in first.

[09/09/22, 12:00:19] Artur: Do you think the angry citizens and lateral thinkers only have an urge to take justice into their own hands because they never saw Barbara Salesch?

[09/09/22, 12:04:18] Artur: What do we say bottom line?

[09/09/22, 12:23:22] Marie: True Crime on TikTok captivates me more. I think it's a shame that the cases here aren't real. Otherwise, the show had everything: extravagant hairstyles, sci-fi scenery, abysmal characters, quick turns, far-reaching symbolism.

[09/09/22, 12:36:29] Marie: What is your conclusion? Who do you recommend the show to?

[09/09/22, 12:36:58] Artur: I'm very divided. I'm actually a big fan. But these new episodes have lost the charm of the old ones. Maybe I just got older. They have no development and stereotypes are still played with. That's lame. Stereotypes make it easy for yourself.