Sat 13 Nov 2021
A French TV Episode Review: DÉTECTIVES “Convictions intimes†(2013).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[4] Comments
DÉTECTIVES. “Convictions intimes†(Firm Convictions). France Télévision Distribution. 22 May 2013 (Season One, Episode One). Sara Martins (Nora Abadie), Philippe Lefebvre (Philippe Roche), Jean-Luc Bideau (Maxime Roche). Currently streaming on MHz.
Roche and Son, a family owned and operated private eye agency, is running on hard time, and Maxime Roche the father, now retired, decides that to update the business – new technology and all — they need to join forces with another firm run by Nora Abadie (Sara Martins), a former French intelligence officer. Unfortunately he does not tell his son Phillipe, and the merger gets off to an obvious bad start.
The problem is basically this: Rocke and Son being a family-run business, they are too casual – not about their work – but in the office, with a couple of children having had free run of their previous location. It is hard for me to say, having watched only this, the first episode – and at that, one that ends in a cliffhanger – but it is easy to suppose that in spite of some initial antagonism between Nora and Philippe, opposites attract and the usual hesitant attempts at “will they or won’t they†will eventually prevail.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Their first case in common is an unusual one. The Roches are investigating the death of a young worker at a nuclear plant, while Nora is/has been the director of data security of the company owning the very same nuclear plant. She decides, however, that she’d better investigate on her own, just in case the Roches discover something incriminating.
In spite of the seriousness of the case, there is a light touch to all of this that makes this go down easily, and at least for now, I intend to keep watching. Immediately after this series Sara Martins was to go on to become DS Camille Bordey on Death in Paradise, a role I continue to regret she decided to give up halfway through the fourth season.
November 13th, 2021 at 10:26 pm
I have to admit I am hooked on many of these foreign series. They seem to remember some of the things that used to make episodic serial television a bit more entertaining to watch than much of today’s fare.
It may just be doing fewer episodes they have time to spend telling the story.
Over all the writing and acting seem a little sharper, a bit laid back and not half so on the nose.
November 14th, 2021 at 1:39 pm
I consider the present day the Golden Age of Television. Compared to the era of three-network viewing, it is now quite literally impossible to watch everything.
November 14th, 2021 at 8:56 pm
Steve,
I don’t disagree regarding the Golden Age, but you have to search a bit more. I can’t say there is much on the networks that compares to the best they once produced, but with streaming there is a far wider and more diverse collection of good choices.
Currently I’m wathcing the legendary BBC Rupert Davies MAIGRET series on Amazon Prime.
November 14th, 2021 at 9:03 pm
Right. Streaming is the only way to go. Network TV with all of their commercials is on its last legs, and even DVDs are on their way out. Just look on Amazon and see how quickly they’re trying to dump their inventory. DVDs from Warner Archives are now $9.99 with free shipping.
If it weren’t for UConn women’s basketball, I’d toss my cable box in an instant.