A Very Secret Service

I stumbled upon this show by accident, and had never heard of it before. It really caught me by surprise, and my love for it keeps growing with every episode.

This show is whimsical and fast-paced, and you're never bored watching it. There are a lot of fun pokes at French stereotypes, as well as stereotypes surrounding the Cold War and a post-WW2 Europe.

The humor is witty and quick, with a ton of fast one-liners, comical sound effects and visual humor. The darkness of the jokes are wrapped so neatly, each one feels like a little present. It's old-school, but still modern, in its filming and editing.

Each of the characters are such glorious stereotypes, but even though they're made to look like two-dimensional characters, they're all deep and unique, and you love each of them in a special way.

This Netflix Original production is a send-up of the French secret service, French bureaucracy, French colonialism and numerous other aspects of things stereotyped as French. It is brilliantly written, directed and acted. I find myself frequently laughing out loud.

A show like this could quickly devolve into being played too broadly (think of "Get Smart") but this one doesn't. It maintains its edge by keeping a wry seriousness hand-in-hand with its lunacy. There are times when the show is even somewhat dark but it never loses its comic heart.

There is only one season (2015) playing on Netflix streaming video at this time. I don't know if they made a second season, but I hope so!

In French with English subtitles.

Not since Mel Brooks...Peter Sellers or even Allo Allo have I seen anything as well scripted and directed as good as this show...top of its class....i recommend you give it a look for yourself...brilliant...

Season 1 - This is the best of the two seasons. You're introduced to the show's dry humour and wit. Similar to several period shows like Downton Abbey or Mad Men, the show uses real life incidents as a background. Near the end of a season, a conspiracy-like sub-plot will emerge but will leave several questions on your mind. Season 1 - 10/10

Season 2 - A few episodes seem rather slow but the show does something incredible - it upgrades several female characters and gives them a third dimension. Especially, Marie-Jo (played by the graceful Marie-Julie Baup) is perhaps the best Season 2 character. This season can also be called the "Season of Breakups" as every main character deals with heartbreak. The sub-plot that began in Season 1 becomes the main plot of Season 2 and this takes all the agents to Moscow, Berlin and finally, Algeria. Season 2 - 8/10 (if a few episodes were faster, I would have given this a 10 too)

Season One: A Very Secret Service is a sophisticated French satire about the Cold War, colonialism and racism. The series is especially meaningful - and humorous - to those with some understanding of post-War history.

The main character Andre Merlaux struggles to make sense of the bureaucracy surrounding intelligence operations and, whether skillfully or by chance, protects the French Republic from its enemies more than once. Once Merlaux gets the hang of the whole spy thing then the rules change again.

Au Service de la France is a laugh. It pokes holes in the the world, France and the era (yes, everyone did smoke in the 1960s, even on airplanes!). The series also none too subtly delivers a none too positive message on the role of Western powers in establishment of the post War global structure. So, yes, it's kind of a political show!