Series 3: The Butcher of La Villette

[David T. Cole]

Your Series 3 topic.

[Captanne]

I've watched every season (started with four and corrected my ways) and am just finishing this one up.  I am not a fan of this sort of show in the United States.  I assume it's a version of the Law & Order tapeworm?  I think what I love about Spiral is the European temperament (the French, in particular) and the "different enough" legal structure (cops, administration judges and the fluidity of the avocats.)

 

For series three, my money's on the intern.  

 

Also, I've had a ridiculous crush on Gilou since the very beginning. So there's that.

[Captanne]

Well, then.  I finished the series -- and I want more.  I wonder how to get the new season?  It's opening this year at home, I think.  ANYway, series three was by far the best and most intense, IMO.  I realize no one else is watching this and I'm just posting into the ether but hope springs eternal.

[shapeshifter]

Well, then.  I finished the series -- and I want more.  I wonder how to get the new season?  It's opening this year at home, I think.  ANYway, series three was by far the best and most intense, IMO.  I realize no one else is watching this and I'm just posting into the ether but hope springs eternal.

I know what you mean. I didn't bother putting up a thread for this week's Saving Hope because I seem to be an audience of one.

I watched just the first season of Spiral and am wondering if skipping ahead to the current season would be okay. Are there multi-season relationship arcs that would confuse me?

Assuming you want to watch Season 4 via legitimate sources, it looks like it's on iTunes.

[Captanne]

Season 4 is up on Netflix!  That's how I found Spiral in the first place.  Then I spent $85 on a package of the other three and mainlined them.  LOL  I feel like Laure and Gilou have rented space in my living room.  

 

In my opinion, the seasons stand up pretty well alone but are much better in order.  (I watched 4 and then 1, 2, 3.)

 

Series 5 is airing now but I found someone on the Intergoogle tubes who is recaping them with screen caps and that will tide me over until the DVDs surface.

 

And, yes to legitimate.  I can't deal with ripping off shows.  Not my scene.

[shapeshifter]

Season 4 is up on Netflix!...

Oh! I didn't even look there because I watched S1 on Hulu, and they have 2 and 3 too.

[Captanne]

Since this board is so quiet (just us two chickens), this is OT but the Roku (www.roku.com) has a universal search engine so you can check all of the "channels" you download the app for -- you don't need to subscribe to them at that point.  Frex, if I check "Spiral" it will show me everywhere I can find it -- then I just look for where I can get it free.  (In this case, it's on Hulu and Netflix.  S4 is free and they don't have the other seasons.  NB:  By "free", I mean I subscribe to Netflix.  I'm also on Amazon Prime.  But not Hulu.  So, I watched Spiral on Netflix.)

[Captanne]

So now skitter over to Netflix and watch 4!  :-)  5 is airing right now in France so I've resorted to reading a website with recaps.

 

file:///Users/annearmstrong/Desktop/Spiral%20–%20Engrenages%20Season%205,%20Episodes%201%20and%202%20%7C%20wandywatson.webloc

 

The thing about Series 3 is that, out of all of them, I saw how really screwed up Laure and Gilou are.  Both in their private lives and together.  Don't get me wrong -- I love the dynamic.  It's hard and confusing and weird but it makes me think.  

 

Bear in mind, I also liked the short-lived "Rubicon" and the very slow "The Killing".  I also really liked the Swedish version of Wallander and "The Top of the Lake". I like shows that make me think.

 

MHz is a great station.

 

ETA:  Here is how the blogger, Wandy Watson, describes Roban --

This results in us enjoying the delight of the lovechild of Arsene Wenger, Bernie Ecclestone and Andy Warhol, Judge François Roban being one of the main characters.

 LOL  Andy Warhol indeed. Edited January 20, 2015 by Captanne

[seamusk]

I just finished season 3. I continue to enjoy it, though I wish the writers would spend a little less time tearing the main characters down. I mean, it's entertaining and certainly keeps the tension up. But it's starting to feel like, "Turn in next time to see who screws up royally, or just plain gets screwed." Still, I love the characters for the most part. I just think there can be fun and tension in success at times too. I wouldn't mind an episode where i'm kind of happy for where everyone is at. Maybe ending the season with Laure being dragged off to face IGS maybe got to me. Why not ending it with her at least half smiling (perhaps also showing some upset) but with a beer and at least happy Gilou is sticking around and that they solved it and saved the lady at the end.

 

Truthfully, I love the gloom and doom. I like all of those shows Captanne likes, though I haven't seen Rubicon. I remember you from the Killing forum in any case. And I do like this kind of gloomy drama where the focus is on a single case that transpires throughout an entire season (or two it turns out). Which sort of contradicts my desire for an episode of happiness haha.

 

As a lover of this basic genre, I do get womyn dying an absolutely horrific death fatigue though. This season did it to me a bit. I think I might need to watch some lighter television for a bit. Or less television but then i'm currently obsessed with scandinavian crime novels so there is that.

 

Regarding finding shows like this on tv, I usually use Fan.tv. Not sure if Roku brings back more results or not. What I like on fan.tv is it brings up a pop-up and shows you where it's free and what it costs at the other sites (for rentals too). Anyhow, another source. But for now, seasons 1 to 4 are on hulu. It doesn't look like they are on Netflix anymore.

[Captanne]

Hello!  (waves)  I actually thought about The Killing the other day.  I think there is another show I watch that would benefit from toning down the death and going to one murder a season (Hannibal.)  I don't recommend Hannibal, btw.  Sometimes I find myself engrossed in shows I cannot recommend.  More's the shame but it's too macabre.  

 

You'll like Engrenages.  Series 5 has already aired in France.  I'm not sure when we'll get it here.

[meisje]

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For series three, my money's on the intern.  

Also, I've had a ridiculous crush on Gilou since the very beginning. So there's that.

I was convinced it was the intern as well! He certainly met a sad end, didn't he? Ahhh, Gilou drives me nuts and I can't figure out why he's around... he's not actually good at any part of the job. He can't listen (constantly turns witnesses away when they come to give vital info), can't deduce (never seems to do much other than charge when told), can't shoot (unless it's bystanders, and doesn't own up to it), and can't run (had a heart attack(?) in that last sprint, though he was up and on the job the following day like nothing had happened whatsoever), and can't even take a report (wanted a promotion so badly he decided to ignore a missing person and do zero about it while she was being murdered). His main traits are a disdain for most women and especially "whores" (whom he seeks out regularly), drinking heavily, and his codependent thing with Laure. She, at least, appears to have some finesse with the job.

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MHz is a great station.

I just found out about MHz a few weeks ago and have literally been turning on the dvr only to erase whatever garbage is on standard TV; it has been MHz-only here, room to room, device to device.

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As a lover of this basic genre, I do get womyn dying an absolutely horrific death fatigue though. This season did it to me a bit. I think I might need to watch some lighter television for a bit. Or less television but then i'm currently obsessed with scandinavian crime novels so there is that.

Word on the w.d.a.a.h.d.f.. This show has a particular way with all female characters essentially being victimized in some very shitty way even if they aren't the targets of a rape, murder or attempted rape or murder. And then there was divorce-lady, who needed custody and divorce help so she could be with her true love, her father. There are many plot lines so far devoted to fathers "consensually" (if that exists) having sex with their daughters, and then the many more plot lines of fathers raping their daughters. What the hell is going on people? And why is all dealt with in the courts with all of the passion of a parking ticket?!

Speaking of which, what do the French police have against victims of human trafficking, or just women forced into prostitution?! Threatening abused, violated and maligned women with jail time or worse is just not cool Laure, not cool at all. 

So, Karlsson is becoming a personal favorite, and I wholeheartedly enjoyed her moment of mutual respect in the hallway with Laure, her sacrifice for Pierre, and the long-awaited kiss between the two of them as she was headed back to that smokey-cuff-link-of-a-human-being Szabo.

It was so odd to find this series had an additional 4 episodes, and I wondered how it was going to change the flow. All in all, it held up quite well, but the mayoral investigation was really not that fascinating and took up a lot of (unresolved) screen time. Roban is Andy Warhol (such a good call)!!! I actually bought into Laure's relationship, though the start of it was previous sexual harassment, which is not generally a big turn on... 

Since I thought "the Mexican" was innocent for the first few eps, I was mostly appalled at the police beating an epileptic - in and out of the hospital - it was not a good look. But, he was an insanely creepy character who was utterly terrifying practically every moment he was onscreen! Season 3 really brought the goods. I'm not sure if there were years in between 1,2 and then the longer season 3, or what happened, but it felt like there was a good deal more developed.