La faille

Season 1 The started off fine, but you need a big woolly jumper just to watch. It looked so cold and bleak.

It is set in Labrador, Northern Quebec in French with English subtitles.

This first season is set in the mining town of Fermont, north-eastern Quebec, Canada.

Fermont's major structural feature is popularly known as the Wall, which comprises self-contained residential, commercial, recreational and educational buildings.

In La Faille the main protagonist, detective sergeant Céline (Isabel Richer), is sent from provincial capital Quebec City to investigate the murder of a stripper-prostitute, inside the Wall. Assisting Céline is local uniformed policeman Alex (Alexandre Landry).

Céline encounters her estranged daughter Sophie (Maripier Morin) who is married to the mine-owner's son Lou (Jean-Philippe Perras).

I was expecting this to finish around episode 4, or 6 at the latest, but it was drawn out way too long to 8 episodes.

By the end it all got so contrived and bizarre that it was very difficult to work out what it was all about.

Especially, frustrating was not knowing what happened to Lou and whether he was culpable in one or more misdemeanours.

Episodes of forty minutes, cliffhangers, twists and turns. What more could one want to while away lockdown evenings?

Fermont is a grim place to live, behind a wall and with many of its facilities seemingly underground and needing to be ventilated by huge fans. This is what we see virtually at the beginning of the initial episode; something has gone wrong and the ventilation is wafting a terrible odour into the shops and corridors.

Upon the discovery of the cause of this, an experienced CID detective is drafted into take charge of the investigation from the local cops. Her sense of personal relationships is a disaster zone but she manages well enough with the young cop who's assigned to her as principal helper.

Various characters have murky motivations and pasts; some have perverted desires that become clear as the series progresses. The investigation is set against commercial and political malarky involving the local mine owner and his wife the local mayoress as well as the separate ambitions of their son involving some very shady activities.

It stands to reason that there are several false trails and red herrings but if one can't work out "whodunnit" by the end of episode four, then it's all going in one ear and out of the other.

It's easy watching and a reasonably well-directed production. Some of the personal relationships from before the start of the events in the series are to be swallowed only with a fistful of salt but in general one can let their unrealness pass.

I enjoyed the dichotomy between the claustrophobic, confining atmosphere of the small mall housing the cop shop, boutiques, bars and services against the vastness of the countryside and its hinterland, some of which can only be reached by "Ski-Doo", an iconic Canadian type of snowmobile.

I didn't binge watch one after the other, but saw it all within a couple of days and enjoyed it. It's eminently forgettable and the opposite of profound but there's nothing wrong with that. It's a series that did its job.

I enjoyed "The Wall" in part because Céline Trudeau is at the forefront of the action, a gutsy, mature, experienced woman often outpacing her younger male counterparts. The storylines are interesting, and the settings are beautiful. (Plus, the language is so melodic for us non-French speakers.)

Each season's major crime is different, allowing Céline to shine, whether it's dealing with a small northern mining community's murders and mishaps, an urban environmental conference marred by murder or a trip down memory lane among her homefolks that unearths family secrets - literally.

If I have one complaint, it's that the story arcs are about 25% too long and tend to drag a bit. Solid editing could pick up the pace, keep the storyline intact and still allow the plots to develop and the characters to shine.

This was without doubt one of the most debased and depraved series I have had the misfortune to watch. It did not start out so bad. There are 8 episodes. By Episode 5, I had had enough. It is merely an excuse to watch men abuse women, portray women in degrading and dehumanizing conditions, blame the women for their situation, and in most other ways offend viewers sensibilities. A creepy town and a creepy plot. And I thought Canada was a pretty nice country!

I had a feeling before even starting this one that I was going to like it a lot. Well I did, enough to watch all 8 episodes straight though with only small break.

Some will say it is predictable, and in some ways it could easily be seen that way, but it has enough red herrings to make it hard to work out. Plenty of suspects like any good whodunnit.

A good watch and the subtitles should not be a problem if you are not a French speaker.

If you are not hooked by the end of the first episode this is not a show for you.

8/10.