TV Review: My "Spiral" Addiction

Hi everyone!

I must confess to a new addiction. If you haven't heard of or checked out the French police procedural drama series "Spiral" on Netflix streaming, you're missing out on something quite wonderful. As so much European television does these days, "Spiral" (or "Engrenages" as its called in France) provides yet another reason to bemoan the state of most American television.

I just finished Season One. Seasons Two and Three are currently available on Netflix and the most recent Season Four is set to debut in the next few months. When it debuted in France in 2004, it was hailed as a milestone in French television and is the country's most successful television show, having been exported to 70 countries. I read online recently that a U.S. version is in the works. Unless it is being planned for HBO, FX, or Showtime, I don't imagine it'll have the same grit or bite of the original. Remember the U.S. remake of "Prime Suspect" from a season or two back?

What makes "Spiral" so addictive are the various interconnecting plots and characters that weave and spiral and spin at a measured yet at the same time breathless pace. The main story deals with the disappearance and deaths of two young Romanian women who become entangled in an international sex crime syndicate that reaches the top of the French government. Pierre Clement (effortlessly played by the impossibly good-looking Gregory Fitoussi) is the prosecuting attorney investigating the case. He is assisted by police chief Laure Berthaud (an appealing Caroline Proust) and her not incorruptible police squad, one of whom, Fitou (an amazing Thierry Godard), has a severe cocaine addiction that more than interferes with the investigation. A separate but still connected plot focuses on a driven young attorney (Audrey Fleurot) with questionable ethics who works with a disbarred lawyer who was formerly imprisoned on rape charges. Added to this already earthy mix is the investigation of a nanny who brutally murders the infant in her charge, a case surrounding the torture and penile dismemberment of a young man involved in a North African gang in Paris's infamous banlieues, and a particularly surprising twist involving drug trafficking. Somehow, over the course of Season One's eight episodes, it all comes together but not before you find yourself gasping in shock--and often horror--and screaming at your TV from the twisted audacity of it all. Once Season One ends, I guarantee, you'll be ready to immediately launch into Season Two.

Word of warning, however: "Spiral" is not for the faint of heart. There are autopsies and gore galore, the depiction (and occasionally the mere suggestion) of the crimes is visceral, and it does paint a very bleak portrait of contemporary society. This is definitely not the Paris of honeymoons and romance. Also, because France's legal system is based on the Napoleonic Code, it differs from what those of us in the U.S. and Britain are used to. I'm still not entirely sure what Pierre's U.S. equivalent would be. He seems to be both investigator and judge, but this doesn't at all detract from one's enjoyment of the show.

In my opinion, "Spiral" is one of the best crime procedural dramas ever written for television. If you're a fan of "The Wire," "Prime Suspect," "MI-5", or even "Law & Order," you'll be hooked.

Now on to Season Two...

Ciao.