In “Cassandre: Season 5” All the regulars return for another quartet of 90-minute light crime dramas to be solved by our intrepid quintet of coppers in this ongoing French TV series. Review of Season 4 HERE.
The will- they/won’t-they love tease between Cassandre (Gwendoline Hamon) and Pascal (Alexandre Varga) continues on its rocky course. The other three principals in the homicide squad also have several romantic and personal developments claiming some screen time. One particular new arrival complicates life for the stars, in a plot thread that might wear thin on some viewers.
The individual murder cases are generally up to snuff with their predecessors, though the second relies a bit heavily on coincidence, and the third might turn out less surprisingly than series fans would expect. Series creator and main writer Bruno Lecigne splits the script creation duties with Mathieu Masmondet and a slew of others keeping a steady balance between the humor and crime-solving sides of the episodes.
No need to binge, but watch them in order for relationship progressions. I’d also recommend spreading them out a bit. Screening them back-to-back for review purposes left me a bit irritated with the ratio of soapy subplots to more substantive elements, and impatient with the stars’ avoidance of many things that should have been said or done sooner. Or maybe that’s just symptomatic of my progressive curmudgeination (My word, but feel free to use it on any old crabs in your lives.).
Despite these freshly-picked nits the season was enjoyable enough to keep me ready for the rest of the series to cross the Atlantic. They’ve already aired three more seasons, with a few more episodes scheduled for later this year. I would have liked for Dominique Pinon’s Jean-Paul to be featured more, but there are plenty of episodes left for him to enhance with his unique charm.
“Cassandre: Season Five”, in French with subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting on February 3.
Today, Apple TV announced that the highly anticipated fourth season of global hit series “Ted Lasso” will officially make its global debut in summer 2026. Apple TV also shared a glimpse of the new season, which will star and be executive produced by Jason Sudeikis. The fourth season is currently in production, and fan favorites including Emmy Award winner Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Emmy Award winner Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt and Jeremy Swift are all set to return as their celebrated characters, alongside new season four additions Tanya Reynolds, Jude Mack, Faye Marsay, Rex Hayes, Aisling Sharkey, Abbie Hern and Grant Feely.
In season four, Ted returns to Richmond, taking on his biggest challenge yet: coaching a second division women’s football team. Throughout the course of the season, Ted and the team learn to leap before they look, taking chances they never thought they would.
“Ted Lasso” season four adds Emmy Award winner Jack Burditt (“Nobody Wants This,” “Modern Family,” “30 Rock”) as executive producer under a new overall deal with Apple TV. Sudeikis stars and executive produces alongside Hunt, Joe Kelly, Jane Becker, Jamie Lee and Bill Wrubel. Goldstein serves as writer and executive producer alongside Leann Bowen. Sarah Walker and Phoebe Walsh will serve as writers and producers for season four, and Sasha Garron co-produces. Julia Lindon will write for season four, and Dylan Marron will serve as story editor. Bill Lawrence executive produces via his Doozer Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television Studios and Universal Television, a division of NBCUniversal content. Doozer’s Jeff Ingold and Liza Katzer also serve as executive producers. The series was developed by Sudeikis, Lawrence, Kelly and Hunt, and is based on the preexisting format and characters from NBC Sports.
Following its global debut on Apple TV, “Ted Lasso” broke records and quickly earned praise from fans and critics all over the world. The first season became the most Emmy Award-nominated comedy series, and the series went on to land rare back-to-back Outstanding Comedy Series Emmys for its first two seasons on air.
The French TV mystery series “Broceliande” comes from a different perspective than most of what I’ve reviewed. The protagonist, Fanny (Nolwenn Leroy in the present; Rebecca Benhamour in the 2003 backstory scenes) has lived with anguish from being the only suspect in the 20-year-old disappearance of her lifelong bestie. Even worse, she has absolutely no memory of what happened on that fateful night. That woman is Laura Perrier, played in a merde-load of flashbacks by Eva Hatik. That name may evoke an association with ”Twin Peaks” baseline plot of “Who killed Laura Palmer?”, but this six-episode miniseries is nowhere near as weird as that was.
Fanny was the last among their group of fellow students to see Laura alive on that fateful night, and was widely assumed by everyone in their eponymous hometown to have killed her due to jealousy over a fellow student, Max (Arnaud Binard). He’d been dating Laura, but started having a thing for Fanny. The weight of that pervasive suspicion and animosity drove her to Paris, where she became an acclaimed plant geneticist. While receiving an award for her body of work, she gets a package from an unknown sender that takes her back to that night in the woods. The group had taken some drugs, leaving her no memory of what happened to her or Laura. No one knew if she was dead, or disappeared by choice, and Fanny couldn’t even be sure that she hadn’t killed her.
That menacing package brings Fanny back home for a rare visit, and in-your-face encounters with the lingering animosity from Laura’s still-unexplained departure. The rest of what happens would be impossible to summarize. Suffice it to say that the series serves up a ton of suspects and motives in an ever-shifting landscape of possibilities. Speaking of landscapes, the exterior locations and old buildings in France’s northwestern Brittany region, particularly the Broceliande Forest, provide the counterpoint of an idyllic setting. There’s some romance and sex (without showing any naughty bits); rather mild on the violence and gore, though there are a quite a few intense, suspenseful moments. We never see anyone killed; just brief views of the bodies afterwards.
Leroy is a singer/composer with relatively few acting credits. Based on this outing, she should be in demand for a lot more screen time. The cast is excellent all around. A trio of writers crafted and developed an impressive array of personality types and subplots to make the half-dozen 50-minute episodes go swiftly. Director Bruno Garcia moves things along at a good pace, although they might have done better with fewer redundant flashbacks. Due to the plot having more twists and turns than a figure skating competition, watching in a binge is recommended for keeping them in order.
A Swedish author named Camilla Lackberg wrote five (thus far) novels about a mystery writer who solves crimes in the real world, similar to a Jessica Fletcher. All were made into telefilms in Sweden. This miniseries, “Camilla Lackberg’s Erica”, is a set of three of them, adapted for French TV. They play out like a slightly more adult version of our Hallmark Mystery Movies, as I will explain.
As the first opens, Erica (Julie De Bona), a successful crime novelist living in Paris, returns to her picturesque seaside hometown to settle up estate matters from her recently-departed parents. Her married sister Anna (Maud Baecker) still lives there with her hubby and two cute kids. Erica hasn’t been back much, or remained as close with sis as they had been. Upon arrival, Erica runs into a former bestie. They make plans for dinner at the friend’s house that evening. Erica arrives only to find the woman lying in a tub of bloody water, wrists slit in what looks like a suicide. That’s what the cops, especially lead detective Patrick (Gregory Fitoussi) insist, resenting her proffered facts that point towards a staged murder. Guess who’s gonna be right, and who’s gonna come around to appreciating whom?
That episode introduces an assortment of family and romance issues dangled, for the next. As both of those fronts ramp up, the second case revolves around the killing of a young tourist, which leads to a family with three generations of zealots claiming, to varying degrees, the ability to heal, though the results haven’t been there. In the third, a young girl is almost drowned and the Good Samaritan who tried to save her is beaten to death for his efforts. That leads to another set of dark complicated familial backstories. In these latter two, Erica has been accepted by the cops as a useful ally/resource. All the plots by Lackberg and three other credited writers, are reasonably suspenseful.
Now for the Hallmark reference. The fictional seaside town is idyllic, shot in Hossegor and the Landes region of southwestern France. The views we get show why it thrives on tourism. Erica has the earnest intelligence and charm of Hallmark heroines like Candace Cameron Bure’s Aurora Teagarden. She’s longer on curiosity than common sense, plunging foolishly into situations of danger. The series spends more running time on romantic and family sidebars, and miscellaneous warm fuzzies than on the principal crimes, including the inevitable rocky romance with Patrick. There’s one early scene with nudity, and a bit more action and depravity among the baddies than the typical Hallmark fare, but still pretty bloodless.
Each of the trio of mysteries is presented in two 45-minute episodes. See them in order, since those secondary story arcs are progressive. I was entertained enough to hope they adapt Lackberg’s other novels, as well.
2 1/2 Out Of 4 Stars
“Camilla Läckberg’s Erica” premieres in the U.S. and Canada on MHz Choice on January 20, 2026.
Today, Apple TV released a new teaser for the highly anticipated second season of “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters,” its global hit Monsterverse series starring Kurt Russell, Wyatt Russell, Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, Mari Yamamoto, Joe Tippett and Anders Holm.The 10-episode second season of “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” will premiere globally on Friday, February 27, 2026, with the first episode, followed by one episode every Friday until May 1, 2026.
In addition to Kong, season two will feature Godzilla and introduce a new Titan: the enigmatic Titan X, now officially on the loose. Titan X isn’t just another monster; it’s a living cataclysm. When its massive bioluminescent form breaks the surface of the ocean, the world seems to hold its breath. In “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” season two, Titan X stands at the centre of the mystery – an ancient force emerging from the deep, its purpose uncertain, its power unmatched, its awe and terror in equal measure. Additional season two guest stars include Takehiro Hira, Amber Midthunder, Curtiss Cook, Cliff Curtis, Dominique Tipper and Camilo Jiménez Varón.
Season one of “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” tracks two siblings looking to uncover their family’s connection to the secretive organization known as Monarch. Clues lead them into the world of monsters and ultimately down the rabbit hole to Army officer Lee Shaw (played by Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell), taking place in the 1950s and half a century later where Monarch is threatened by what Shaw knows.
Season two will pick up with the fate of Monarch – and the world – hanging in the balance. The dramatic saga reveals buried secrets that reunite our heroes (and villains) on Kong’s Skull Island, and a new, mysterious village where a mythical Titan rises from the sea. The ripple effects of the past make waves in the present day, blurring the bonds between family, friend and foe – all with the threat of a titan event on the horizon.
Hailing from Legendary Television, “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” is executive produced by Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell from Safehouse Pictures, alongside Chris Black, Jen Roskind, Matt Shakman, Andrew Colville and Lawrence Trilling, who also directs four episodes, as well as Andrew Colville, who writes two episodes and serves as executive producer. Black serves as showrunner on season two. Hiro Matsuoka and Takemasa Arita executive produce on behalf of Toho Co., Ltd., the owner of the Godzilla character. Toho licensed the rights to Legendary for “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” as a natural byproduct of their long-term relationship with the film franchise. Apple TV has a multi-series deal with Legendary Entertainment, which includes the second season of “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters,” and multiple spinoff series based on the franchise.
Catch up on the first season of “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters,” now streaming globally on Apple TV.
In addition to “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters,” Apple TV recently announced plans for multiple series set within the Monsterverse featuring both new and fan-favourite Titans. The first spin-off is a thrilling, new untitled Young Lee Shaw prequel with Wyatt Russell reprising his role as Colonel Lee Shaw, as well as executive producing, and showrun and executive produced by Emmy Award-nominee Joby Harold. The expansion of Legendary’s entire Monsterverse franchise on Apple TV will be overseen by Harold under a newly announced overall deal with Legendary.
Legendary’s Monsterverse is an expansive cross-platform story universe focussing around humanity’s battle to survive in a world facing a catastrophic new reality – the monsters of our myths and legends are real. Beginning with the Godzilla film in 2014 and continuing through 2017’s Kong: Skull Island, 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, and most recently the record-breaking Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, the franchise’s highest-grossing instalment and the highest-grossing Godzilla film of all time, along with the eagerly anticipated sequel Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, which is set to release in 2027. The Monsterverse has accumulated over $2.5B at the global box office and expanded into the highly successful event series “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” for Apple TV. Including an interconnected world of video games, graphic novels, toys and live experiences, the Monsterverse represents epic entertainment on the largest possible scale.
The French trio of procedural dramas, “Sophie Cross” (a/k/a “Crossroads”) starts with a tragedy. The 6-year-old son of a lovely couple, Sophie (Alexia Barlier) and Thomas (Thomas Jouannet) vanishes from their beachfront backyard. She’s a lawyer; he’s a police commissioner. Their frantic search is fruitless, and she can’t emotionally continue to handle her career.
Cut to three years later. Still no sign of the child, and Sophie has just finished training to become a police detective. Obviously, much of her motivation was to continue the search, despite the shrinking likelihood of ever finding him… or his body. Relationships with her new squad start off rocky. She’s not used to being a team player, and oversteps her rookie status – including ignoring direct orders to back off. But she’s really smart and intuitive, so over the course of the episodes, she earns her stripes.
The first case starts with a murdered doctor, followed by the identical slaying of a drug dealer. Are they connected? The second begins with a teacher killed in the school parking lot. He’s got an ex-wife and daughter who are bitter from his leaving them to shack up with one of his teenaged students. The student’s dad is far from thrilled about it, too, landing him in the suspect pool, with plenty of company. The third starts with a private eye fatally shot with the same gun that was used in a diamond robbery five years before. That casts doubt on whether the guy convicted of the earlier crime was really the perp. He was a known bad guy, but was he nailed on the right charge?
All three principal stories are satisfyingly complex and twisty for any murder mystery buff, with solid casting across the board. As usual, not a lot of shoot-em-up action, though there are a handful of intense moments. Each is presented in two 45-minute segments. The search for their son runs as a continuing secondary plot thread. It’s not necessary to binge, but the three stories should be viewed for the progressions to make sense. The episodes are helmed by directors Frank van Mechelen (Salamander) and Adeline Darraux (Tom & Lola).
I’ve mentioned that most of the European TV series I’ve covered feature more realistic levels of attractiveness than our domestic prime-time producers typically serve up. This one’s a bit of an exception. Barlier resembles Claire Danes, and Jouannet can hold his own against most of our series’ leading men. The mysteries are all solved, but some personal subplots are left open, leading to a fervent hope for a Season 2.
“Sophie Cross”, in French with subtitles, streams on MHz Choice on January 13, 2026.
A scene from the Austrian TV series “Backwoods Crime.” on MHz Choice. Courtesy of MHz Choice
Some time ago, I reviewed ten mostly-unrelated tele-films from Austria, streaming on MHz Choice under the umbrella of “Backwoods Crime.” The casts, plots and locales are all different, just sharing the common thread of murders in the boondocks being handled in an intelligent, modest-action manner by whichever cops are called upon. All were worthwhile, to varying degrees. Not a lemon in the lot.
“Der Schutzengel” is the first of nine now being released for streaming under that heading. This one opens 12 years before its main action, with young Martin (Michael Steinocher) having his marriage proposal deflected by his girlfriend. She says they’re too young, but doesn’t fully close that door. We learn she disappeared shortly thereafter, with her whereabouts still unknown.
A dozen years later, Martin returns to that town as a police officer, planning to move into his old house with his new squeeze. But he starts having flashbacks to the unfinished business of that dangling proposal. Those mainly consist of the eye candy we get from Martin having recorded his then-topless intended, expecting a yes to be preserved for posterity.
Martin’s first case involves the long-term housemaid of the local gentry found dead in the pond where she regularly swam. It looks like an accident, but that wouldn’t give us 90 minutes of story line, would it? Once they determine it was murder, despite any apparent motives,questions arise as to whether it relates to that earlier disappearance, which has been gnawing at Martin ever since.
The case is overseen by Detective Paul Werner (Franz Karl), who methodically and calmly unravels the mystery(ies). There’s nothing glamorous about the process, but Karl’s low-key performance, balancing the sleuthing with sensitivity, is a pleasure to watch. He’s apparently played cops before, but this character deserves more chances to shine. Give the dude a real series, folks. Then be sure to send it along for streaming on our side of the pond.
The consistency of the quality throughout these ten gives good reason to expect more of the same from the other forthcoming nine.
That’s my last review for 2025. Happy New Year, everyone!
“Backwoods Crime: Der Schutzengel,” in German with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025.
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
A scene from the Austrian TV series “Backwoods Crimes.” Courtesy of MHz Choice. Copyright: ORF/Mona Film/Tivoli Film/Helga Rader
A scene from the French/Belgian TV miniseries “Good People.” Courtesy of MHz Choice
“Good People” (“Des Gens Bien”) is a French/Belgian miniseries that plays out as a droll dramedy arising from a scam. The title denotes the fact that good people can do uncharacteristically bad things with what seem like good intentions. They can also rope in other good people who mean well.
We start with watching Tom (Lucas Meister) stage an auto accident in which he barely survives, though his wife, Linda (Berangere McNeese), is burned to death. We soon learn why he did it – extreme financial hardship. Then about halfway through the six episodes, we learn how. The motive is to cash in on a big life insurance policy but events, as they must, soon spin out of control.
One cop, Philippe (Michael Abiteboul), smells a rat, suspecting the accident wasn’t what it seemed. But his boss, Roger (veteran character actor Dominique Pinon), who knows Tom very well, refuses to let him investigate. Roger had lost his wife in a similar crash around that same stretch of roadway, and is completely closed to any other explanation. There’s also an obstacle of cross-border jurisdiction limiting Philippe’s efforts.
Linda and Tom owned a tanning parlor that was failing. They were on the verge of losing that, plus their home and cars, having exhausted the limits of their credit. The members of a local church kicked in a lot of money its members could little afford to help them stay afloat by updating the equipment but it wasn’t going to be enough. Thus was the plot hatched… with the best of intentions.
Among the things that go wrong, Philippe won’t give up his probing. Linda’s cousin Serge (Peter Van den Begin), a hulking thug recently paroled from prison, tumbles onto the plan and forces his way in for the payoff. Tom’s highly devout sister (Gwen Berrou), who’d convinced the churchgoers to help him and Linda, sees something she shouldn’t, and a high-profile person accidentally involved in the intrigue brings far more attention to the case than anyone could have expected.
The tenor set by the series’ trio of writers can best be described as a darkly comic, slowly unfolding farce. The cast is excellent all around, especially shining as the plan unravels and actions become more desperate. The plot includes a few surprises in what happens to whom. Van den Begin really dominates in his scenes presenting Serge’s stupidity and conscience-free brutality. Pinon, who has been such an asset as a regular in the recently-reviewed cop series “Cassandre, gets too little screen time in this one. There’s also a brief role for Corinne Masiero, who headlined one of my favorite light crime series from ANY country, “Captain Marleau.”
My frequent complaint about series that run longer than needed is mercifully NOT applicable to this one. The half-dozen 50-minute episodes befit the material. The series ends without major cliffhangers but does leave a few open questions. One source indicates they meant it to run three seasons, which may not occur, since this one aired in 2022. I’d welcome more if that happens, but am quite satisfied with where they ended this production.
“Good People” (originally “Des Gens Bien”), in French with English subtitles, begins streaming MHz Choice on Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025.
A scene from the French/Belgian TV miniseries “Good People.” Courtesy of MHz Choice
Astrid Veillon and Stéphane Blanca as Soler and Marchal (center), in the French TV series “Tandem: Return to the Past.” Courtesy of MHz Choice
“Tandem: Return to the Past” (“Retour vers le passe”) is a long-running light French police procedural that draws to an end after 85 episodes that aired from 2016-2024. I reviewed the first dozen or so long ago, and don’t feel I’ve missed a lot of character progression in the interim. The squad and families have remained largely intact. Ex-spouses and colleagues Lea (Astrid Veillon) and Paul (Stephane Blancafort), the lead cops in the series, are getting along well and are possibly on the verge of re-tying the old knot. Their son Thomas (Titouan Laporte) has also become an officer. Things are going smoothly all around.
Well, that changes dramatically when a floating body turns up in the nearby river, minus one arm. Lea and Paul are vacationing with the whole family in the boonies when they find what turns out to be the missing appendage – miles from the other remains – perched atop a cairn, imbuing it with even greater significance.
They soon learn that both parts of the stiff came from a woman who was Lea and Paul’s bestie at the academy 20 years earlier. She was believed to have committed suicide. But the way her remains were unearthed and arranged, followed by the corpse of one of their old instructors found lying in her open and recently-vacated grave, point to our protagonists being targeted to revisit the old case, since someone apparently has an ax to grind, and thinks they’re the ones to handle it. Or, they might even be getting targeted, in a more menacing sense of the word.
Events in this two-part episode move along at a good pace, with humor and a few subplots fleshing out the complete picture and moving all towards closure. The scenery is lovely, as are the old buildings featured in much of the action set in Montpellier and its surroundings in southeastern France. The cast is almost overrun with likable characters. Lea and Paul’s faces – especially when smiling – radiate warmth and sincerity that works well with colleagues, witnesses and suspects.
I’m sure all who saw the previous 84 will feel as if they’re saying goodbye to old friends. I’ll probably go back and catch the ones I’ve missed. (Since writing this, I already have watched most of them; good stuff continued in the interim.)
No more coming without spoilers. Suffice it to report that all wraps up in a satisfactory manner, with no cliffhangers or unanswered questions.
“Tandem: Return to the Past” (originally “Retour vers le passe”), in French with English subtitles, begins streaming MHz Choice on Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025.
Stephane BLANCAFORT (Paul Marchal), and Astrid VEILLON (Lea Soler), in the French TV series “In Tandem: Return to the Past.” Courtesy of MHz Choice
“Marion” is a police procedural drama series from French TV, and a perfect example of why I try to see a whole season before reviewing it, rather than assuming the rest from a partial release for screening. This one’s set in Paris, with Edwidge Marion (Louise Monot) taking over the small squad of railway detectives operating out of La Gare du Nord. The six-episode season consists of three two-part cases. As usual, the series combines its crimes du jour with romances, personal stories and evolving relationships among the principals and their families. This one is somewhat heavier on baggage (not the kind passengers carry) and backstories than most, with a disorienting number of flashbacks. Each pair of episodes had a different author… unfortunately.
In the first offering, an attack on a deaf lad in a train station mens’ room leads down a rabbit hole (rather literally and figuratively) to an extensive series of gruesome crimes, with a laudable amount of suspense anchoring a few romantic subplots. The latter brings a couple of dimly-lit boinks, but no exposed naughty bits in Laetitia Kugler’s well-crafted script.
My appreciation of the writing started fading with the next duo, written by Caroline Ophelie. A prisoner is killed while being transferred through the train station for medical reasons under Marion’s watch. She is unfairly blamed for the screw-up in protection. The victim had allegedly cached away $11 million from a heist, and the cops really wanted to learn where it was hidden before he croaked. The investigation turns up several suspects, and includes a couple of twists, but the path to the goal line seemed relatively stilted, compared to the first mystery.
Then it bottomed out with Round Three, penned by David Bourgie. In this one, Marion is shot in the head at the beginning. While in a coma, her body disappears from the hospital. The search leads to a bizarre set of circumstances, ranging from mummies of recent origin to a far-fetched set of psychological and logistic elements. Even worse, numerous actions of the protagonists are ridiculously inept and foolhardy, failing to even consider a blatantly obvious possible solution to the grisly crimes. This descended all the way to annoying as it unfolded.
(Side note – I just realized this series offers a double boost for feminism. Most of the best sleuthing comes from the female detectives. And the two women wrote better scripts than the guy.)
All things considered, I still recommend watching the first two or four episodes. Skip the third set (unless you want to confirm the basis for my displeasure. Or, you might even make it a drinking game, downing a shot each time one of the good guys does something stupid.) And it’s OK to hope for a second season. Marion and her crew have enough appeal to warrant further attention… if they line up the quality of writing the cast deserves.
Marion, in French with subtitles, streams on MHz Choice as of December 9, 2025.
