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
A scene from French TV crime series “Riviere-Perdue.” Courtesy of MHz Choice
The six-episode police procedural miniseries from France, “Riviere-Perdue,” covers a related series of crimes in six 52-minute episodes. Its tone is more somber than most of the European TV fare I’ve reviewed – almost Nordic in tenor. But the setting is a village nestled in lush mountain greenery that makes it a visual treat, including all the standard driving transition scenes with overhead shots well above average on the beauty scale.
The star is Captain Alix Berg (Barbara Cabrita) who specializes in juvenile cases. She and an older homicide colleague, Commissaire Balthus (Jean-Michel Tinivelli), come to the eponymous town because two 11-year-old girls, Anna (Charlotte Lacoste) and Lucie (Camille Petit), went missing five years earlier, but staunch public pressure to find them endures. Their parents aren’t wealthy, and no ransoms were demanded, making some sort of perversion or trafficking most likely.
Ferrer (Nicolas Gob), the local lead cop, is still kicking himself for not realizing there had been a crime from the get-go, possibly making the recovery harder than it became. There’s a lot of anger and suspicion among the two families and others who may have been involved. The whole town is up in arms about the lack of resolution. The upside for viewers is that quite a few cast members get to display a wide range of their dramatic chops.
Some new evidence leads to the suspicion that an abduction from seven years before this one might have been done by the same perp or perps. Anna is rescued by a trucker in the early going but says little about her five years in captivity, including how much of the time she was with Lucie. Some of that may be due to emotional trauma and a head injury, but she also seems more secretive that she should be – especially since Lucie’s whereabouts remain unknown. Most of the running time centers around the search for Lucie, as the three detectives ricochet among a number of suspects, pursuing each clue that pops up regarding the old and new cases.
MHz Choice subscribers may recognize Gob from the light mystery series “The Art of Crime,” and Bruno Debrandt from the episodic procedural drama “The Traveller.” I’ve enjoyed both series, as my reviews of them reflect. This one is more serious and mystifying than those others. That’s partly due to the nature of the crimes running through the season, and all the dicey reactions and shifting relations among the principals that ebb and flow at a high and often extreme rate. As usual, there’s no nudity and relatively little on-screen violence. Beyond that, the less you know of the details, the more you’ll savor the suspense and its handful of plot twists.
“Riviere-Perdue” Season 1, mostly in French with English subtitles, is available via on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025.
RATING: 2 out of 4 stars
Barbara CABRITA (as Alix Berg) Nicolas GOB (as Victor Ferrer) Cyril GUEI (as Marc Vidal), in a scene from the French TV series “Riviere-Perdue.” Courtesy of MHz Choice
A scene from French TV series “The Traveller” (“Le Voyageur”) Season 2. Courtesy of MHz Choice
It’s been over two years since I praised Season One of this fine and unique French procedural “The Traveller” (“Le Voyageur”), The protagonists were sequential disenchanted cops who went rogue – and native – to solve their choice of cold cases, often finding previously undetected links among multiple murders or abductions. Here’s the link to my coverage of Season One to prep for Season 2: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2023/03/the-traveller-review
Season Two consists of eight more 90-minute episodes along the same lines, but even better written than before. I thought the improvement must have been due to added writers, but Herve Korian is the only credited author for the whole series! Kudos to Herve for upping his game from what was already very good.
Bruno Debrandt returns as iconoclastic Kandinsky, still going case-by-case, living in the same old van accompanied by Emy, the same helpful former police dog. His involvements in each new town are met with varying degrees of resistance or appreciation by the local authorities.
As before, his unofficial investigations are unhampered by usual police procedural constraints, and supported by Elise (Maelle Mietton), the judge who provides intel and legitimizes his efforts when needed. They and Emy are the only regulars, since each episode is a new crime or set of crimes in a new locale. Many of these unmask serial killers who’ve been flying under the radar by spreading their crimes over time and multiple jurisdictions.
Each “whodunnit” episode unfolds in a linear presentation, except for episode two, which begins at the end, and is brought up to date in progressive clips over the preceding year to reach that point. In many of them, new crimes relate to previous ones – some decades before and across borders – that Kandinsky’s broader, detached perspective reveals.
Though he’s still living off the land, there are no more scenes of his bare butt while bathing in whatever lake or river abuts the spot where he’s camped for the night. That’s a plus or a loss, depending on your preferences. The series makes excellent use of rural and small-town exteriors, with lush greenery, picturesque vistas and picture-postcard old streets and buildings.
The course of the season reminded me of “The Fugitive” TV series, since Kandinsky has an easygoing, empathetic nature that allows him to make friends easily with witnesses and other locals. His need for odd jobs to cover his meager expenses also lets him be as helpful as Dr. Kimball was in his travels. The main differences are that Kandinsky is doing this by choice, and there’s no Lt. Gerard on his tail.
The last of these programs aired abroad in May, 2025, which means there might well be more to come. I certainly hope that will be the case, even if Herve just writes at the same laudable level, without any need for further improvements.
“The Traveller” (“Le Voyageur”) Season 2, in French with English subtitles, debuts streaming on MHz Choice on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, with staggered releases of episodes through early August.
RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars
A scene from French TV series “The Traveller” (“Le Voyageur”) Season 2. Courtesy of MHz Choice
CAMILLE RUTHERFORD as Agathe, PABLO PAULY as Felix in ‘Jane Austen Wrecked My Life.’ Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
A French film about English author Jane Austen? No, a delightful contemporary French comedy, partly in English, about a young French would-be author who admires Jane Austen but who can’t seem to finish any of the novels she herself starts writing. However, an invitation to a writers’ retreat at the Austen family home in England raises hopes that her writer’s block situation could change, as well as the possibility of bigger changes in her quiet life.
With far more emphasis on the comedy side, writer/director Laura Piani has concocted a clever, contemporary, bi-lingual comedy romance centered on Agathe Robinson (a wonderful Camille Rutherford), a young half-French, half-English woman who works in Parisian bookstore that specializes in English literature, where her ease in both French and English a plus. Agathe loves her job at the bookstore but she is stuck in a rut, as an author and in life. The aspiring writer, who adores Jane Austen and wants to emulate her, long ago gave up on love, seeing herself as being like the lead character in “Persuasion,” a “faded flower” and “old maid.”
There is no need to love Jane Austen, or even know much about her, to enjoy this treat, although it is a bit more fun if you do. JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE is a comedy rather than a romantic comedy, because it is actually funny, and smartly, cleverly so, unlike the typical formulaic rom com, more in the vein of great classic comedies like “THE AWFUL TRUTH and PHILADELPHIA STORY, from an era when the best comedies were romantic comedies instead of the reverse.
Agathe lives with her beloved sister Cheryl (Annabelle Lengronne) and six-year-old nephew. Her sister is supportive and encouraging, if teasingly so, to Agathe, who is still traumatized after surviving the car accident that killed their parents. Generally, Agathe has a happy, if limited life, with her sister and nephew, although she is frustrated that she can’t seem to finish any of those novels she starts.
Her best friend, and co-worker the bookstore, is Felix (Pablo Pauly), a playful kidder who frequently hangs out at Agathe’s house with her sister and nephew. Felix has no girlfriend but has a string of romances where he strings women along – “bread-crumbing” them with texts – while seems unable to commit to just one. After sneaking a peek at her latest unfinished novel, Felix secretly signs up best friend Agathe for a writer’s retreat at the family home of Jane Austen in England.
When that surprise invitation arrives, Agathe is reluctant to go but is persuaded by her sister. She begins to hope the two-week retreat will help her break her writer’s block with her latest book. Felix drives her to the boat, even though Agathe is nervous to even be in a car again after the accident, having avoided them ever since. Felix playfully teases her on the way, then impulsively kisses her before sending her off to the ferry.
Arriving on the other side, Agathe is greeted by her driver, Oliver (Charlie Anson), who turns out to be the great-great-great-great-great grandnephew of Jane Austen, and the son of the couple who run the writers’ retreat. Oliver is an unfriendly, unpleasant, brooding Darcy type who, unfortunately for Agathe, drives a sports car. He is a teacher of contemporary literature and actually doesn’t care for the novels of his famous relative. Arriving, after some car trouble, at the Austen mansion, Agathe is charmed by her hostess Beth, who speaks French as well as English too, and her quirky host Todd () who might be in the early stages of dementia, and meets the other resident authors. She is told that the retreat will end with a ball in period costume, and a reading of each author’s writing during the retreat, a daunting prospect for Agathe.
Camille Rutherford is completely charming as Agathe. The cast is marvelous in fact, but Rutherford is particularly excellent, exuding both an appealing charm and an underlying depth and sadness linked to the traumatic deaths of her parents and her frustrations in life. Her Agathe is afraid of change yet on one level, she knows she must change, in order to become the writer she hopes to be. Pablo Pauly is silly, funny, sometimes goofy as Felix, who teases Agathe relentlessly while still projecting how much he cares about her. As Oliver, Charlie Anson is prickly and difficult at first, with an air of arrogance, but he softens as we learn more about his situation with his parents and his own romantic history. The rest of the cast are all very good, and director Laura Piani has no problem putting them into comically dignity-dinging situations.
The smart script, the wonderful performances, and Piani’s smooth direction are all supported by the beautiful sets and locations, dreamy photography, and a score that skillfully mixes modern tunes and classical selections for the perfect musical accompaniment.
Smart, clever, literary and sometimes a bit bawdy, JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE is just fun for readers of all stripes. The Jane Austen parallels are plentiful, like the author who lives with a beloved sister and has little interest in romance for herself, but subtle, as are the references to Austen novels. Those references keep us guessing as to which Austen novel this contemporary author might be in, while director Laura Piani keeps us laughing and charmed with the whole idea. While the romantic comedy genre has a dismal reputation for being dull and formulaic, JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE’s delightful burst of fresh air and literary fun is the entertaining exception.
With 2025 being the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, films and other productions referencing Austen seems to be increasingly everywhere in recent years. Some of them are swooningly romantic or tiresome in their humorless adoration of the author, in a kind of idol worship that appeals only to the most devoted fans, ironically the opposite of Austen’s own brilliantly funny, even biting social commentary. JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE is far different, one that discusses literary concepts and reflects on the life of writers generally, and built around a contemporary author, captures much more of the real feel of Austen’s writing. Any book lover is sure to enjoy this clever, playful comedy.
JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE opens in theaters on Friday, May 30, 2025.
Sara Mortensen as Elsa, in the French mini-series “Off Track.” Courtesy of MHz Choice
The 2023 six-hour miniseries from France, “Off Track” (originally, “L’abime”) delivers a truly suspenseful tale in an unfortunately bloated package. Elsa (Sara Mortensen) and Laurent (Gil Alma) have been happily married for 20 years, apart from enduring the bitchiness of their teen daughter, Lucie (Marie Mallia). At least that’s how it seems until Elsa vanishes without explanation, and dead bodies start littering the landscape. After a frantic search for the first couple of episodes, Elsa turns up, as she must since she’s the friggin’ star of this show.
Gradually we learn that Elsa wasn’t always Elsa, and that her bio before Laurent was considerably different from what she’d told him. The truth unfolds slowly throughout the rest of the series, aided by a slew of flashbacks. Elsa suffers nightmares about the death of a boy that have her plagued with guilt. She’s also constantly in conflict with Lucie over every sort of thing that occurs. When it starts to seem as if Elsa has dark secrets from the past, and may be killing a couple of guys in the present to keep concealing her true identity, the energy level picks up. Was she a criminal? Fleeing from an abuser? In France’s version of Witness Protection? Amnesiac? Psycho? Disclosing more about the plot and the players would spoil key parts of the mystery. Suffice it to say that the tale is intricate and keeps one guessing to the end.
Mortensen’s performance is compelling, creating a bouncing ball of empathy vs. suspicion throughout. Coline Bellin, who plays Elsa in the flashbacks to her teen years, also delivers the goods. The whole cast does well in filling their variety of roles, from overly judgmental cops to sympathetic friends, among others. The rural and small-town scenery is another plus.
The only negative – a big one for me, but perhaps less so for others – is that it feels 50% longer than need be. Tighten this to four episodes and it’s a winner, without losing any plot-moving or story arc essentials. But binge-ers who prefer leisurely tales to nestle in with during their viewing hours may find the slow pace a comfy fit.
“Off Track,” in French with English subtitles, begins streaming on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Apr. 15.
RATING: 2 out of 4 stars
Sara Mortensen (Elsa) and Gil Alma (Laurent), in the French mini-series “Off Track.” Courtesy of MHz Choice
A scene from the TV series “l3P.” ®Mika Cotellon-Storia Television. Courtesy of MHz Choice
The French crime drama miniseries “l3P” is rather unusual in its premise and structure. Before you get into a sci-fi frame of mind, this ISN’T about a relative of C-3PO or R2-D2. The title is the name of the police psychiatric clinic, run by eccentric shrink Matthias Bernhardt (Marc Lavoine). He usually seems distracted from the given moment by other thoughts, and is further bothered by recurring visions and blackouts that may be due to undiagnosed brain damage, for which he remains firmly in denial. Each case brings him crimes to be solved with police captain Nathalie Fontaine (Barbara Schulz), who vacillates among irritation and resentment of the doc, respect for his skills and a semi-maternal fondness for him personally.
The series is six 50-minute episodes, with each main case being a two-parter. The first involves a string of murders of the homeless by a gang of clowns (literally – that’s how the roving thugs are dressed). The second is unraveling the mystery of an amnesic woman – who she is, and how she wound up there. The former question is complicated by two men claiming to be her fiancé, and another calling himself her husband. All three know her by different names. The third story offers the highest body count, involving several strangulations with knotted silken material as the weapon of choice.
Lavoine’s Matthias looks rather like a tall Al Franken with a default bearing of having his mind occupied somewhere different from whatever is going on around him. He’s brilliant, insightful and gentle with patients, witnesses and the bevy of young docs working under him. Nathalie’s baseline attitude is one of annoyance, whether at work or home. There’s not much levity in her life or the scripts.
The appeal of this series lies in the intricacy of the stories more than any close bonding with the characters. There’s more to respect than like about them. This 2022 trio of cases is called a miniseries, but feels like more is yet to come. There are no cliffhangers but these tales may have only scratched the surface of defining the players and their potential story arcs. I was engaged enough to hope for further offerings.
“l3P,” in French with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2025.
A scene from the Belgian TV crime series “Public Enemy.” Courtesy of MHz Choice
I believe “Public Enemy: Season One” is the first Belgian crime series I’ve covered, and it’s a pretty good intro to the country’s production of police procedurals. Chloe (Stephanie Blanchoud) is a big-city detective who has run afoul of the brass. That’s why she’s assigned to escort a serial child killer, Guy Beranger (Angelo Bison), who has served 20 of his 30-year sentence, to his parole placement – novitiate to the monks at a small-town monastery. She also has to stick around for quite a while to oversee security. Chloe is probably the worst choice for the gig for reasons we gradually learn during the season.
The village locals are up in arms about having this notorious scumbag in their midst; many of the monks are equally displeased. The villagers fear for the safety of their children. A few, primarily publican Patrick (Philippe Jeusette), have another reason – big plans for a tourist-attracting development that Guy’s presence threatens. Ain’t nobody gonna be comin’ to hang out at a resort with him in the vicinity. It would seem as appealing as taking ice-carving lessons from O.J.
Shortly after Guy’s arrival, a young girl disappears. Everyone assumes he’s back to his old sadism, though the logistics cast doubt. During the season a couple of further events along those lines further stir the pot. Throughout, Bison’s Guy evokes comparisons to Hannibal Lecter. Not for his dietary preferences, but for the calm, controlled intellect that keeps his culpability ambiguous while manipulating others via mind games.
The first four episodes are slow sledding, and Chloe is a less engaging protagonist than average for the genre. But the pace of the plot and the level of physical action pick up nicely the rest of the way. The other principals with significant story arcs are local detective Michael (Jean-Claude Dubiez) and the young monk in charge of Guy’s acclimation to their cloistered life, Lucas (Paul Galliano). Both add noteworthy value to the product. Bison, and Vincent Londez as his psycho son, deliver superb and varied forms of villainy.
Despite the tedium of the early going, the nine credited writers have crafted a suspenseful season with a surprising denouement (Well, surprising to me, who hopes not to be the only one that didn’t see it coming.). More seasons have aired abroad, and will surely join this fine start in streaming on our side of the Atlantic.
“Public Enemy,” mostly in French with English subtitles, begins streaming on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Mar. 18.
A scene from the French TV series “The Doc and the Vet.” Courtesy of MHz Choice
The charming dramedy series from French TV, “The Doc and the Vet” (originally, “La doc et le veto”), is six 90-minute progressive telefilms about the title characters and the small town in which they practice their respective professions. Most of the cast appear in most of the episodes, with evolving roles and relationships. By the end of #6, viewers will feel like they know a lot of people therefrom, and empathize with most of them.
The majority of the characters are lifelong residents of the village, including the veterinarian, Pierre (Michel Cymes). We begin as the new doctor, Emma (Dounia Coesens), comes to town… reluctantly. She’s a big city gal with big city career aspirations who is obligated to spend three years in the boonies to repay the government grant for the education she’d just received. The accommodations and facilities promised to her weren’t ready, so she has to move into a former school building, sharing office space, living quarters and a receptionist/assistant, Francoise (Valerie Schwarcz), with the vet. The latter is a bit ditzy, but quite secure in her job, largely because she’s married to the town’s feckless mayor, Gilles (Pasquale D’Inca).
The stories, setting and pace are pleasantly pastoral. It’s a farming community with lots of sheep and some cattle. Pierre’s practice embraces all sorts of beasties, including any injured animal of any species, wild or domestic. As is probably typical of any country’s small towns these days, most of the locals are up in years, with the generation after them having moved on to bigger things and brighter lights. Emma is resented at first – too young; an outsider; and only there by time-limited contractual obligation, rather than career choice. The plots have stand-alone main themes which needn’t be binged, but should be seen in order due to carryover story arcs. Emma’s arrival and acclimation dominates the first; others center around a theft, lake pollution, eco-activists vs. ranchers over legally-protected vultures in the region; a few romantic developments; family rifts, old and new; finishing with a plague of anonymous poison-pen letters threatening to tear the village apart.
The series is nice and easy-going compared to most of the imported crime fare I’ve been covering. Most players are likable for a full range of reasons, with a smattering of eccentricities, though without the comic extremes of series like “Doc Martin”. The tone of “Father Brown” comes closer to this one. A couple of a-holes in the mix keep it from being too Mayberry. The scripts never get overly cute, and the protagonists are never too shrewd or tough to be relatable. There’s no condescension as viewers see the best and worst of small-town life, from the spirit of community to the tedium of having few social venues and entertainment options.
The episodes aired from 2021-24. #6 does not end with any cliffhangers, so one will be satisfied if that’s the last. But anyone watching all of them will hope for more to come.
“The Doc and the Vet,” in French with English subtitles, begins streaming on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Mar. 11, 2025.
Gwendoline Hamon as Cassandre, in the French TV crime drama “Cassandre” Season One. Courtesy of MHz Choice
The premise of the French TV crime drama, “Cassandre,” is nothing new to fans of the genre. A police detective from Paris moves to a much smaller city due to some sort of scandal/personal problem that made him/her want/need a change of scenery badly enough to take a big step down the career ladder. But based on the two episodes comprising first half of its debut season that were available for review, the scripts and casting still make this one a fine entry into your realm of viewing options. I must not be the only one thinking that way. After starting in 2015, it’s now up to 30 episodes (and still counting), with the same principal cast.
Gwendoline Hamon stars in the title role as an ambitious, successful detective who asks for transfer to the city where, as we soon learn, the juvenile detention school her surly teenage son Jules (Luca Malinowski) was sentenced to is located. She’s resented by her new colleagues not only for being an outsider, but for replacing the beloved old boss, who just happened to be the husband of the prosecutor (Beatrice Agenin) and the father of #2 detective Pascal (Alexandre Varga), who everyone assumed would take up his father’s position. For another source of friction within the unit, Nicky (Jessy Salomee Ugolin) is secretly boinking Pascal and worries that this rather attractive new arrival will provide competition for his affections.
The first case offers no respite, as the body of a hang glider soon shows itself to be the result of murder, not mishap. She was the wife of a man who is part of a rich and influential family. They resist any investigation that could reflect poorly on them or their businesses. Even worse, Cassandre’s inquiries turn up some old skeletons that are even more upsetting to many of the principals.
The second case is about the murder of a popular teacher at Jules’ school. Once again, the pressure is on because many locals were already fearful of the bad kids being housed in their town, and would love finding a scandal to justify closing it. If you don’t know what NIMBY means, Google it, since it’s an attitude that exists just about everywhere.
The cast is excellent. As usual for Euro fare, they are mostly attractive, but well shy of glamorous, to keep them in a relatively relatable dimension. There’s also less action and bloodshed than one typically finds in comparable US crime dramas. One bonus is the fourth member of the squad, Dominique Pinon, whose distinctive face you will recognize even if you don’t know his name. The veteran actor has played a wide array of supporting characters in comedies and dramas on both sides of the Atlantic, and always delivers the goods. With about 200 movie and TV credits under his belt, it’s gratifying to see him landing a steady gig.
There’s a lot of melodrama in the mix, especially surrounding Cassandre, her bitter son and bitterer (I don’t care if that’s not a real word. I like the way it scans here) ex. That’s usually a turn-off for me, but it’s all so well written and integrated by series creators Bruno Lecigne and Matthieu Masmondet that they set the table for a long and satisfying run.
“Cassandre” Season One, in French with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Jan. 14.
