Renoir (serial)

Season 1-10

French police procedural with Candice Renoir as the protagonist. She is a detective in the crime division and has been recently been appoint Commander and team leader in Sete. She is taking the job after 10 years away from the force to raise a family and follow her husband in his job. She finds the team was promised to Antoine, so tension is high from the start. And Candice is a eccentric detective, so her methods are effective yet strange. 

This is a 10 year series, and as the team evolves and develops chemistry, it is an absolute pleasure to partake. A combination of her investigative brilliance, her ongoing imposter syndrome in life and the struggles of everyone with personal and professional stress. I love that the stressors are real feeling, and not hyper exaggerated for dramatic effect. Makes the whole thing hold together. And since the series went off the air as planned, it has a really well done wrap up. Highly recommend.

5 stars (out of 5) 

The Last Woodsmen (serial)

Season 3

Logging outfit owner Jared has made a deal to buy a "forever claim", but needs to earn $2 million before the end of the season. This provides the dramatic pressure around which to tell the story. Opening up other claims to earn extra money, getting the mechanic to flip a tug for quick cash, etc. Just fun to watch the variety of events...

My biggest disappointment is that in the end, after the claim is purchases, the tag line for next season is something like "What do we need to do next to expand the empire". Why, after buying a forever claim, can you not just log the claim forever, giving jobs to the crew. Why does expansion need to be the goal?

4 stars (out of 5)

Mother's Day

A story of several friends who are mom's of different varieties. Jennifer Anniston leads the group as a single mom, who finds her husband marries a much younger woman, and has to come to terms for the kids sake. The friends are all dealing with some other "culturally sensitive relationship". High message movie that plays as a rom-com. So ... meh...

2 stars (out of 5)

Office Romance

JLo is the CEO of the airline that her father (still on the board) founded. Roy Kent is the new company lawyer. She doesn't need any help, especially from men. He just wants to do his job and be near his incarcerated sister. Company crisis + trip to caribbean island + trope + trope + chemistry. Can you guess if they fall in love? In actuality, not bad chemistry and I love Roy Kent :)

3 stars (out of 5)

No Offence (serial)

Season 1-3

British police procedural that gives definite The Wire vibes. Set in the grit of Manchester, the DCI, DS, and DI are all women who run the show and are brilliant police. The plot for season one follows a series of murders of young women with Downs Syndrome as the through thread. In fact, there are not really many disconnected cases or storylines in each episode. But somehow each does hold together as an individual unit. Season 2 digs into human trafficking and the local criminal families and 3 jumps to a political storyline (with a mayoral race as central). DI Deering is the brilliant boss who is always one step ahead and willing to take a risk when necessary. And when the risk blows up, she and her team pivot quickly to still be one step ahead (of both the criminals and their own bosses). Really well done. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Patience (serial)

This is the British adaptation of the French series Astrid. The storyline follows protagonist Patience Evans, a young, autistic woman who works in criminal records as an archivist/researcher for the police. Her (now deceased) father was a police detective and she is a puzzle hound. Turns out she is exceptional in connecting disparate clues to put together cases. I really loved the French series, and this is also good, but different. Patience is slightly less severely autistic than Astrid, has a different relationship with her boss (who changes between season 1 and 2), and the boyfriend is definitely more realistic (meaning more clunky with relationship). Somehow the differences between the two seem to be the difference between French and British police procedurals in general. French more austere, where the fact that Raphael is a bit rogue is both counter point to Astrid and a bit of the story itself. The British version, rogue seems to be more the norm, and the fact that Patience is less severe means that there is not nearly as much tension in the relationship/autism angle. Even neurodivergent seems typical. 

4 stars (out of 5)

The Wagner Method (serial)

Season 1-4

French TV police procedural where the key team is protagonist Cesár Wagner (hypochondriac police captain),  Dr. Beaumont (forensic pathologist - unrequited love interest) and Dr. Weiss (personal physician - unrequited love interest). The three develop a fabulous friendship while dealing with Wagner's ailments and solving murders in Strasbourg. I love that the feared ailment of the day always contributes somehow to the case. I love how Wagner's background as Strasbourg elite plays out. I love how the history of France in WWII and the Nazi occupation is still so fresh and prescient in the culture of the show. 

4 stars (out of 5)