Les témoins

French crime drama 'Witnesses' appears to take many of its cues from the superb Danish series 'The Killing': an intense, career focused, thoughtful but lonely female protagonist, with a tendency to go into dark places alone, coupled with a landscape that is always painted grey (in this case, the seaside town of Le Treport, which probably won't attract too many additional holiday makers as a result of its portrayal). Unfortuantly, there are also some problems, most notably, a complex plot that doesn't make a lot of sense. For example, it's clear that the crime under investigation involves someone seeking revenge on a retired detective, so the first thing the police do is to bring the person in question back onto the job specifically to lead the case. It's a standard trope of television detectives, of course, that they accidentally find a personal link to the case they're investigating; but it's a bit crazy to assume the reverse, that a known personal involvement would lead to someone being put in charge, especially as much of the tension in the drama comes from his own reluctance to share what he knows with his colleagues. The acting from the two leads was good, and I also liked the mood of the piece, but ultimately, the story just isn't very plausible or engaging.

Despite the tendency to compare it to recent offerings like The Bridge and The Tunnel etc, really you should forget those and seek to approach this with a clean slate.

We're seeing it with a head start here in Australia, and episode 2 shows that the promise is there to live beyond the initial opening episode and what are always grand setups.

Whats truly astonishing to me is that for the lead actress, Marie Dompnier, this is the first outing for her in front of a camera (i understand she is a seasoned theatre actor). She is transfixing, not only for her appealing appearance (i already have a crush, but will move beyond the superficial hereon in!), but for making her confident female detective character utterly believable. Its something of a triumph right there. She looks as though she has been acting on film for some time. I hope to see more of her in the future.

As i said, im 2 episodes in and i cannot not follow through!

Series 1 is excellent. The female lead detective, Sandra Winckler, is outstanding as she strives to prove herself in a male-dominated profession. Also outstanding is Paul Maisonneuve, the retired detective, who comes back to work with Winckler on solving a series of puzzling crimes that involve corpses being dug up and displayed in model homes. The plot slowly unfolds and comes to a satisfying conclusion in the final two episodes of Season 1. Seasons 2 is longer and during the second half, the behavior of Sandra Winckler is so unprofessional and implausible that it seriously lowers the quality of the series. Season 1 gets a 9; season 2 a 5.

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..)

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.