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.
3 Out Of 4 Stars