Les témoins

I liked season 1 of Witnesses but season 2 is terrible. Preposterous plot and it violates an important rule of the genre: you don't introduce new characters at the very end of the series. There were so many questions which were never answered and the main detective was so unlikeable and self-centered, it was hard to root for her. Skip this one and watch something else!

Another IMDb reviewer (daggersineyes?) liked season 1, but urged readers vigorously to 'pass' on Season 2. But Season 2 started with a bus full of dead frozen people and a pretty amnesiac trying to reconnect with her family. Compelling?! Yeah, I should have listened to dagger. I also enjoyed Season 1 with its mysterious piles of bodies turning up, implicating a high official in murder. But Season 2 fell off the tracks after a few sessions. I can only imagine that the writers thought they were doing a 4-episode offering, but then we're told to expand it to 8----& they went "huh? We have identified the killer & his cohorts and possible motive'(the guy's a loony-tune... What else would explain it?)... Why would we need 4 more episodes?" Seriously, the writers should have just insisted on writing a new 4-parter instead of producing this drivel. It was as bad as those C-westerns of the early 40's with Nazi war criminals... And trucks! Typically, an 8-session season might be 3 story-lines (4+2+2) or whatever... Anything but a dragged-out bit of nonsense over an entire season.

I have seen 8-parters done in mystery series, but the scope was broader, of course. When you start with a bus full of dead people, you have to 'cut to the chase' fairly quickly . Oh well.. next time (I listen to 'dagger').

Not belittling the performances here, but the story was disgraceful! Not something the writers want on their resumés, I can assure you (O, you wrote t-h-a-t? That the one where 2 villains commit suicide? Always wondered what you guys were thinking ... We'll call you - don't call us..)

As a keen follower of mostly British and Scandinavian crime dramas, I try at times to broaden my horizon and find out what other nationalities/countries have come to offer. Thanks to the site here plus Wikipedia, it is now easy to look around and see what is going on elsewhere, together with brief synopsis and comments.

As I liked Braquo and Engrenages, then Les témoins met my eye as well - and caught my attention from the very first moments. The producers are apparently the admirers of Scandinavian film noir, but this was not annoying, on the contrary - the concept, camera-work, music score and mood were catchy to follow, and the story "started working" at once, making you ponder on and over what could and would really happen. Leading characters and actors were distinct (particularly Thierry Lhermitte as former police chief Paul Maisonneuve and Marie Dompnier as police lieutenant Sandra Winckler) and the plot had interesting twists and turns, full of mysticism, but without interventions from supernatural forces; plus the nature in North-Eastern France is very different from we are used to see in French films, accentuating the similarities with Western Scandinavia and Northern England and Scotland.

All in all, a good series, and the number of episodes (6) is just right to obtain a versatile, yet not protracted and not discursive crime series.

The first season was good, but halfway through the second season I was screaming expletives at the female lead detective Sandra and her cohort Catherine. They takes matters into their own hands in such a stupid, careless, pigheaded fashion, I couldn't stand it. I do not suffer fools gladly.

I've just finished watching this series following its run on Channel 4 in the UK, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It has bags of atmosphere, some fabulous and very intense acting, and a great central character in the stunning Marie Dompnier. Certainly an actress to watch.

In addition, considering its 6 hour running time and novelistic structure, not to mention 2 intertwined mysteries to keep the viewer guessing, it really jogs along at quite a clip, with as much intrigue and incident per episode as many mini-series have in their entire running times.

There were a few plotting issues that lose it one point out of 10, but otherwise I thought this was as gripping as anything I've seen on TV for a while.