Series 1: Network of Corruption

[David T. Cole]

Your Series 1 topic!

[dramachick]

Thank you!  So happy to have a forum for this show!

 

Spiral kept popping up in my Netflix queue so much that I felt compelled to try it out, and I'm so glad I did.  I got hooked immediately, and pretty soon I forgot that I was reading subtitles because I was totally into the characters and how they worked with and against each other in the justice system.  The characters are extremely well written and fleshed out as complex and multidimensional individuals. 

 

I wasn't sure what to make of Captain Laure Berthaud and her team at first.  I thought Gilou was going to be a stereotypical fuck-up cop with his drug use, etc. forcing his resentful co-workers to cover for him all the time.  I mean, a suspect did walk out of the building right in front of Gilou's coked-up face.  But Laure is wicked loyal to Gilou and with each episode I was able to see more of why they cared so much for each other and how good they were together.

 

Pierre, Pierre, Pierre!  I had never seen that gorgeous actor before, but apparently, he's a fan favorite on Mr. Selfridge, which is a show I don't watch.  Pierre is gonna have to toughen up and not be so trusting if he's gonna make it in his chosen profession.  He's loyal in the same way Laure is, but his friend and wife didn't deserve his loyalty at all.  They were both basically dishonest people who lied to him without a second thought.

 

I don't know what to say about Ms. Karlsson.  She's a good lawyer that seems to be drawn to the dark side.  I wonder what her back story is.

 

What happened to the sisters was so terrible, and the ending was just heartbreaking for the father.  Damn.

[Fex]

I loved it too. So far I've just watched the first season, and it was great. Bleak at times. But great. I love Laure, her attitude towards sex, her loyalty to her team, her sensible outfits. 

After watching the entire season, I don't know how to take Karlsson, either. I was kind of horrified when she destroyed the tape exonerating Leroy. I definitely would like to see more of her, and I hope to get a better read on her.

[dramachick]

At first I thought Karlsson was being mean for no reason by destroying the tape that would have cleared Leroy.  But then I thought about how the mother of his child was in a desperate situation facing her imminent death and wanted to make sure Leroy would take care of his child without negative feelings, so the mother sacrificed her good name and reputation for the sake of her child.  Karlsson must have thought he was in guilty, especially with the parallel to the rape case she handled where it turned out that her client really was guilty.  In a way, Karlsson made sure that the child's mother received some justice by denying Leroy total vindication, but allowing him to have enough for him to try to be a good father.  I don't know.  Karlsson is strange.

[shapeshifter]

I just finished season one on Hulu. The last scene with the dry twisted tree trunks in the field was reminiscent of the later-produced True Detectives.

So the corpse was Laborde, right? Are we supposed to know who was responsible? Karlsson (indirectly)? Or Pierre?

At first I thought Karlsson was being mean for no reason by destroying the tape that would have cleared Leroy.  But then I thought about how the mother of his child was in a desperate situation facing her imminent death and wanted to make sure Leroy would take care of his child without negative feelings, so the mother sacrificed her good name and reputation for the sake of her child.  Karlsson must have thought he was in guilty, especially with the parallel to the rape case she handled where it turned out that her client really was guilty.  In a way, Karlsson made sure that the child's mother received some justice by denying Leroy total vindication, but allowing him to have enough for him to try to be a good father.  I don't know.  Karlsson is strange.

That makes sense. I had thought her destruction of the testamony was related to her tentative agreement to work with Laborde because the scene came on the heels of the one with her meeting with him, but that didn't make sense. Your conclusion is the only one that fits with her destroying the papers and recording rather than keeping them for use later.

[joelene]

Been plowing through season one in a couple of days now and thought it was excellent. I came here to ask about what the hell was up Karlsson destroying the testamony! If it's as you say then that makes sense, but how would she know he was really guilty? Just a hunch? More than a hunch?

I loved what she did with that guilty client a couple of episodes earlier. Making sure he was prosecuted even though she was defending him just because he disrespected her. It was a twist on the profession I don't think I've seen before

I was wondering who's corpse (or was it just a head?) we saw at the end too. I hope you're right in that is was Laborde. Not sure how keen I'd be if Karlsson joined "his team". I want my characters morally grey and his was purely the dark side, but I'm sure they'd cook up something good even if he's still alive.

I'll find out soon enough. Season two later today!

Edited February 10, 2015 by joelene

[Captanne]

Not really answering any of the questions because I watched Series one a while ago -- but isn't it amazing?  I love Loure in all her crazy fucked up wildness.  And who doesn't have a crush on Gilou?  Karlsson is too much of a two dimensional "villain" in the beginning but she gets better.  I just gave my work colleague my Series one DVD -- will check in as I hear his response.

[joelene]

It's a really, really great show. Despite being a law drama with mysteries and murder plots and the whole shebang it's very much a character driven show as opposed to its American counterparts. It's fascinating how all these people - cops, judges, lawyers - work together. Can't say I have a crush on Gilou, though! Clément is a looker, but difficult to have a crush on. I like the general absence of sex appeal. We get enough of that anyway.

I'm already half-way through season 2 but I daren't go into the thread to post anything until I've finished the whole thing. I usually have a hard time binge watching non-English (or my own language - swedish) speaking shows but when an episode of Spiral ends I just gotta see the next.

[Captanne]

Pierre is too "pretty boy" for my tastes.  Give Gilou a season or two and he'll grow on you.  The farther you get from the "hooker and heroin" memories, the better he gets.

 

ETA:  "Heroine" versus "heroin" was actually kind of deep!

Edited February 12, 2015 by Captanne

[joelene]

My tastes are very varied. I could easily go for either type so Gilou may very well grow on me. Lol, the hooker and heroine wasn't very sexy, no.

ETA: Just saw what I actually wrote. I would totally watch The Hooker, The Heroine the movie.

Edited February 15, 2015 by joelene

[seamusk]

I'm pleasantly surprised that there is a thread for this show! I absolutely love it. If that was supposed to be Laborde I totally missed that. I'm into season 3 now so I won't say much here. Too hard to distinguish what was exclusively season 1 at this point.

[meisje]

Speaking of the Netflix cues that finally wear one down... I finally watched s1 of Spiral and it was less gripping than I expected! Sounds like I'm in the minority with that opinion, but I'm glad there's a thread to break things down and read other musings. The destruction of the documents and tape by karlsson threw me for a loop. It looked as if it were some part of her agreement to start up with Laborde, but I'm curious about the other theory here, and hope more info will be divulged as the series continues... I just love when you start a show very late and then have seasons at your disposal!

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It's a really, really great show. Despite being a law drama with mysteries and murder plots and the whole shebang it's very much a character driven show as opposed to its American counterparts. It's fascinating how all these people - cops, judges, lawyers - work together. Can't say I have a crush on Gilou, though! Clément is a looker, but difficult to have a crush on. I like the general absence of sex appeal. We get enough of that anyway.

I'm already half-way through season 2 but I daren't go into the thread to post anything until I've finished the whole thing. I usually have a hard time binge watching non-English (or my own language - swedish) speaking shows but when an episode of Spiral ends I just gotta see the next.

It definitely rang some Law and Order bells with me, which I can't say I cared for, but I'm still hoping for some redemption. Speaking of Sweden, I've been completely immersed in a few Danish shows and, most recently, 3 seasons of Beck, and found the switch to a French series jolting! I loved s1 of Les Revenants, but Spiral feels very dated and some of the characters too 1-dimensional for me, but I'm also trying to figure out how much is (TV) culture shock? I found myself missing the heavy social drinking of Denmark and Sweden when coke-cop continued to snort his way through the season with few (if any) redeeming qualities. And the misogyny, sweet Jesus, in truly a categorical disaster in Spiral, more so than anything I've seen so far. Old Judge creeps me out intensely, and I was sorry to see him drive the young mother back into addiction and suicide -- though the hilarity of his taking the diary home to read in an entirely glass/unsecured home and then to leave it while he wandered upstairs was so bizarre that it caused me to laugh quite a bit. His gross questioning of the rape victim, and the cops playing hump-the-dummy as they hauled it in for the re-enactment, has just caused me to worry about the French justice system - and wonder why sexual harassment and general disgustingness is tolerated among all our characters.

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What happened to the sisters was so terrible, and the ending was just heartbreaking for the father.  Damn.

That poor, poor family... I'm sure it was supposed to be some sort of message of peace that the mother was able to put that assassin out of business, but I seriously thought the father would just drop dead of a heart attack from sheer heartbreak over losing, now, every single person whom he loved. Just so gd brutal.