Hi everyone!
I've just finished watching Season 4 of "Spiral" (Engrenages) and am very pleased to say that it is the best season to date. All of the crew are back and spending 12 hours with them is like spending time with close friends.
SPOILER ALERT:
Season 4 picks up more-or-less right where Season 3 left off. Laure is under investigation for allegedly shooting a suspect (held over from Season 3). Judge Roban returns after the scandal involving the suicide of his intern and is determined on re-establishing his reputation despite it seems the entire French justice system being against him. Pierre and Josephine are working to establish their private practice. Gilou still cannot help being drawn to the 'dark side'. Tintin continues to be as honorable as ever while he and his wife expect a new baby.
Season 4's central plot is complicated and multi-faceted. On the surface, it seems to be about the plight of illegal immigrants in France and the harsh conditions they face in detention centers. But, of course, this being "Spiral", there's a lot more to it than that. Throw into the mix anarchists trying to overthrow the government through terrorism, a Kurdish family that is straight out of the Godfather, and a Russian emigre gangster with some serious family issues, police and political in-fighting, and you have a season with more twists and turns than ever.
But what makes this season most satisfying is the human element. Even the seemingly strongest characters show a surprising amount of vulnerability. We learn something of Josephine's background and why she's the ruthless, rather heartless, woman we've come to love to hate. Laure finds herself in the midst of a love triangle with all-too-tragic consequences. Pierre crosses the line into the corruption he has heretofore resolved to vanquish.
The other thing that strikes me -- and is the series' central theme -- is how even the most honorable among us is not always immune to the temptation of corruption and the immediate benefits it seduces us into believing it can give us.
The characters of "Spiral" are extremely flawed. Justice is their ultimate goal but the means by which they achieve this noble aim are often questionable, never more so than in Season 4. No one comes out of this season with their hands clean. (And without giving anything away, the final moments of the final episode are heartbreaking. I was wiping away tears as I watched.)
I recently read that Season 5 is currently in production. For those of us in North America this means we'll sadly have to wait another year to see it. In the meantime, relish Season 4 or binge-watch it if you must, or go back to Season 1 and watch all 40 episodes from the start.
In my opinion, "Spiral" Season 4 is one of the best television series ever made.
Showing posts with label Engrenages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Engrenages. Show all posts
Monday, October 7, 2013
Saturday, January 5, 2013
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.
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.
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