Spiral (and other French police series)

[vinteuil]

Is this worth watching? We missed Spiral I and II.

... I liked it, in part. But it revels in some squalid violence, and its probing into the murkier elements of the French police/judiciary/politics system can be rather demanding.

Calum le Jazzboy seems very taken by the sultry charms of the evil Josephine Karlsson (Audrey Fleurot); me, I'm more taken by the anguish of our heroine Capt: Laure Berthaud (Caroline Proust). But after a time the anguish can become a bit trying (cf Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) in Homeland... )

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Oh, for heaven's sake, woman: EAT SOME FOOD!!!!!!!

I'm with vinty: Ms Proust has my adoration.

[Nick Armstrong]

it revels in some squalid violence, and its probing into the murkier elements of the French police/judiciary/politics system can be rather demanding.

I've never got into it, bit of a busman's holiday after a week in the law ... and I can get my French kicks elsewhere

I'll be sitting this out.

[DracoM]

It is so different from Killing/Bridge/Borgen and the odious Montalbano carp, an so quintessentially French that it is compulsive.

[Stunsworth]

Is this worth watching? We missed Spiral I and II.

Live just watched Spiral 1 on Netflix and greatly enjoyed it.

i think this is series 4, not series 3.

[Resurrection Man]

It is so different from Killing/Bridge/Borgen and the odious Montalbano carp, an so quintessentially French that it is compulsive.

Most definitely compulsive viewing especially after the tedious Borgen!

[vinteuil]

I enjoyed Phil Hogan's review in the Guardian -

"Gory visuals come as standard in the excellent French cops and lawyers drama Spiral, back in BBC4's Saturday night EU slot now that Borgen is done for another season. And conversations tend to be short. Why waste subtitles when what you want to say can be expressed by dragging someone across the floor by the hair? Things were brutal. Here was a gang terrorising bank staff; there a cadaver split open like a butcher's cow (the police were looking into it); here a detainee setting himself ablaze. We saw how one story clicked with the next (the show's French title, Engrenages, means "gears" or – even less tuneful to the translator's ear – "cogs"), and we were soon enjoying an undulating plot involving illegal aliens, people traffickers and bomb makers.
But, as is often the case, the most pressing concern in Spiral wasn't to find out who did or didn't chop someone's hands off, but whether its chaotic central trio of detectives – or indeed their antagonists in the Palais de Justice – could keep out of jail themselves. Hot-headed Captain Berthaud (Caroline Proust) was busy trying to squirm out of a charge of murdering a suspect in the last series, while Gilou, her coke-snorting oaf of a lieutenant, drifted into yet another inadvisable alliance with Arab lowlife (I can't work out if Spiral is being pointed or shameless in the way it depicts its ethnic minorities as criminals or cleaning staff or, in the case of one individual, a belly dancer).
Trouble likewise brewed for the lovebird lawyers – handsome Pierre Clément (last seen denying a child sex abuse charge) and sexy, leather-hearted Joséphine, whom you could easily imagine (in the words of the old song) pouring water on a drowning man. But missing from the scene was wise Judge Roban (the one who looks like Arsène Wenger drawn by Matt Groening), witnessed not long ago on the brink of suffocating his mother with a pillow. I hope he's back soon.
It's hard not to like Spiral, if only for the work that has gone into making it so unglamorous. Bravo to whoever has the job of dipping all the characters in the same shade of mud. It goes without saying that no one watches this in the hope of spotting the Eiffel Tower."

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

i think this is series 4, not series 3.

It is: when was Series 3 shown? (I must've missed it! )

[Stunsworth]

It is: when was Series 3 shown? (I must've missed it! )

I don't know I'm afraid. I only thought it must be the case when I noticed Netflix had three series available on their streaming service. Since they don't tend to have things that are bang up to date - the excellent remake of House of Cards with Kevin Spacey being an exception - I assumed the BBC series was number 4. Something their web site confirmed.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

oops i stand corrected and apologies i must have been distracted by summat ...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

the ladies in question

[vinteuil]

.. but Calum - didn't you think Phil Hogan got it right with: " sexy, leather-hearted Joséphine, whom you could easily imagine (in the words of the old song) pouring water on a drowning man... " ?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

chacun a son etc

[Nick Armstrong]

I enjoyed Phil Hogan's review in the Guardian

So did I. Many thanks, vinrouge.

But what do you think of the programme?

I tried to watch (again) but I can't get over the fact that these are unrelievedly unpleasant characters and plots I somehow can't engage with (nor for that matter do I particularly want them in the living room).

[vinteuil]

So did I. Many thanks, vinrouge.

But what do you think of the programme?

I tried to watch (again) but I can't get over the fact that these are unrelievedly unpleasant characters and plots I somehow can't engage with (nor for that matter do I particularly want them in the living room).

... I watched various episodes of former series, but the "unrelieved unpleasantness" is such that I no longer watch. Mme V was an addict of your Borgens and Killings, but couldn't be doing with Spiral. So I spent a happy evening listening to viol works of Marais instead...