Braquo

I loved the first episodes of the the series. Set in Paris, it features a french police brigade.It has some nudity, violence and action with a French accent and flavour. Nice and refreshing since most shows are about the American or English reality. Unfortunately, the crudeness that was interesting and refreshing in the first episodes goes on and on. It is as if the plot is always the same, a group of hard policemen and women that fight crime not really caring about the law. They kill the villain. Then comes another.... So, murder after murder and law violation after law violation, the cops always get away with it. It gets unbelievable.... It should have lasted one or two seasons and give it a good finale as a prize. Some characters manage to disappear from season to season without much explanation, probably the actors weren't available...

/refers to Seasons 1-3/ I regard myself as a fan of British and Scandinavian crimes series, but sometimes, for diversity, it is interesting to find out what is going on in other countries. Respective French series were rather unknown to me, but after Engrenages - a pleasant surprise! - I was sure that Braquo would bring along additional pleasant moments.

And I was not mistaken. The series is thrilling, meaty, with versatile characters and performances (particularly Jean-Hugues Anglade as Eddy Caplan and Karole Rocher as Roxane Delgado) with French characteristics and peculiarities caught. There is a thin line between police and criminal actions... well, I am not sure how realistic all this is in an EU/NATO country, but as the activities and comprehensions were motivated and seamlessly depicted, one did not wonder too often.

Well, for me, the Season 3 went a bit onto slippery ground due to post-Soviet mob relations, and those speaking Russian were sometimes not convincing, with terrible accent or mistakes, but still, I am looking forward to the Season 4 already and can easily recommend the Series to all them keen on intensive and effective crime-solving.

PS Season 4 is back on track, nice.

Take " The Shield" and amp it up by swearing more, having more violence, and way more sex, et voila! Well not quite. In Braquo the dialog has a male macho Black and White staccato. The action is fervid, and it's this that saves it, because the plot holes are massive. Bring disbelief into viewing it and it becomes comedy, so best thing is to amp up the Lizard brain and bring out the teenager or Trump voter that lurks inside. "How are they going to get out of this" buildups are followed by RUFKM plot twists dreamed up by writers that don't care about the real world of cause and effect. Tortured for days and voila nothing to show for it but some stitches, just to remind us of the torture, juiced to the max by electrical prods and voila able to recover in 5 minutes flat.

Can't believe anyone would pan season two of Braquo. You try putting together something as phenomenal as that show. Just be thankful that the world has crime and detection offerings from something beyond the technocracy filled serials originating in the US. Any human empathy in American serials is swallowed and drowned in the budding stage by the cacophonous technoRock background music. With European master film making we are given highly believable, living people situations with gut wrenching results. Focus on the use of music in Euro filming and compare it to the monster that has come into American stuff. It is sickening. Emotion is the creed with Euro filming not something on the "attempt to exploit" block. I am freaking to hear that Braquo isn't on board for 2014 presentation. It could only be that their writer died or went overboard, took a live round. The corollary serial 'Engranages' is doing well, what on earth could have tipped over Braquo other than the actors got paid and paid well and consequently OD'd in celebration (not acceptable). I think they should come back by popular demand. Their work is totally believable. Maybe the fatah had a hand in undermining the show. I think Braquo is an essential part of Europe's hope of preserving the culture of the continent and surviving the scourging flood of smuggled narcotic toxins.

Personally I loved every minute of each season.

Gritty and yet, generally believable story lines brilliantly interpreted by each of the cast. Watching here in the UK, the subtitles really weren't necessary as each nuance of every scene was clearly revealed by the superb acting.

I'm going to miss it, but at the same time, I'm glad they didn't run it into the ground, as is the case with so many similar shows.

Au revoir mes amies.