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The Afterword “Spiral” discussion (episodes 9 and 12) – for the final time, a spoiler warning. Enough spoilers to ruin all the Camembert produced in France

by 17 Comments

Delayed, because I didn’t see episodes 11 and 12 until Tuesday, here’s the bumper four episode edition.
It’s quite long, so settle down with a decent glass of red and read on

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Comments

  1. That should of course read “Episodes 9 to 12”

    Once again let’s get the dumb element of the storyline out of the way.

    Let us recall that in the previous episodes Judge Roban had been compromised through the wiles of Josephine Karlsson, who realising Roban had to be neutralised if Edelman and she were to successfully defend David Cann, sought out and inveigled former Judge Machard (and Roban’s mortal enemy) into luring Roban into a compromising position, through attending a dinner with dodgy businessman M Solignac.

    We saw at the end of episode 8 Machard giving the evil laugh while telling Roban he couldn’t deny the dinner had taken place because he had photographs.

    So on to episode 9 and in a Gallic version of “with a single mighty bound, Jack was free”.
    Gilou and Laure, informed of Roban’s predicament lean on Solignac and he issues a statement denying the dinner took place. What? I mean WHAT? That was it, the scandal had died!

    Had Machard forgotten he had the photos? Was no reporter within the Fourth Estate (enervated and diminished as it may be these days) in the least intrigued and interested in following up and asking some questions? Even if he had lied about owning photos from the dinner, would Machard not have spoken up, having had Roban on his knees, if not fully prostrate? There was no follow up, whatsoever.

    No, everyone took this statement at face value, believed it to be true and never considered for a moment that something untoward might be going on behind the scenes. No one thought to ask why, if M Solignac had lied about the dinner, was Roban not at least demanding a public apology if not seeking some form of reparation? No one thought to ask why Solignac would lie about such a thing – (was it the case that “I have so many dinners and so many guests, silly me, all the faces blur into one”) No it was hey-ho, it’s on with the show. No problems, no sweat (and not because of any Prince Andrew like condition), no one cared. The problem not so much withered as simply evaporated and disappeared.

    What complete and utter bollocks.

    So despite the good things yet to be discussed, this Spiral/Engrenages series will be forever fatally flawed in my eyes.

    Laure has returned to form, reemerging as the dedicated cop, more than ready to step outside the confines of the law in pursuit of putting the bad guys away – only you feel after they pressure Solignac into reactivating the money-laundering organisation and she and Gilou relieve him of the bag of money she jokes about the pair of them taking off abroad – but you wonder is she joking or would she like to get out of the life of law enforcement?

    Fouad’s funeral opened up a new line of enquiry when they spot a guy consorting with Rayan and Nadia, his mother. He turns out to be Oury Mazouz (played by Mikaël Fitoussi, brother of Grégory who played the late, lamented Pierre). Gilou is able to exploit Soizic’s infatuation with him to block Mazouz’s accounts, so that they can force the money launderers back into action.

    Josephine once again demonstrates she is out for herself; so despite being taken in by Laure when she had nowhere else to stay (apart from Edelman’s place, where she’d never stay) she without a moment’s reflection advises Solignac to shop Laure and Gilou to Internal Affairs. So much for gratitude!

    Gilou and Laure are arrested, by Internal Affairs for whom Tintin is now working. A comic scene follows when Laure demands to be interrogated by an officer of at lest equal rank, only to by told the guy is an assistant commissioner )or something like that_.

    Again, some dodgy plotting here. We see Tintin’s boss asking him if he’s OK with working on this, which Tintin confirms. Surely he wouldn’t be asked about it: he’s be told that he had to recuse himself from the investigation. Fortunately for Laure and Gilou he is there and with old loyalties resurfacing he is less than absolutely assiduous in following the evidence.

    Preceding that though, the understanding between Gilou and Laure as they are individually interrogated and knowing just what the other would say and this coming up with a defence that is consistent was terrific. Shortcomings in the plotting aside, I think this series has been marked by some of the best acting performances we have yet seen since Spiral burst onto our screens, ten or more years ago.

    On the Internal Affairs search, they arrive at the squad offices searching for the money. Laure had wrapped it in evidence tape and stuffed it in a cupboard. Beckriche demands that the search be limited just to Gilou and Laure’s office – once again demonstrating his schizophrenic attitude to our hapless pair; did he guess that any evidence might be elsewhere. I’d have thought IA would demand the freedom to search anywhere. Fortunately Ali had come up trumps: he’d found the money and placed it in his own locker.

    Strange behaviour as he was feeling unwanted and rejected, being given the crap work and kept out of the circle of knowledge. Somehow he’d found the money, realised it was dodgy AND putting Gilou and Laure at risk and had the gumption to hide it away. I’m not altogether sure why he’s do that, given his status in the squad had been diminished since Laure’s return and the prospects of his situation improving didn’t look great.

    Still, the wordless scene when Laure and Gilou are released and they gather their belongings in Tintin’s presence was an absolute classic. The glances exchanged between Laure and Gilou – was that a brief smirk that crossed Laure’s face – the looks between them and Tintin. Brilliant acting by all three.

    We think it’s over for them, but the IA unit boss is dogged in his pursuit and keeps on their tails, coming to the realisation that they are using burner phones and tracing things back to Soizic, whom he leans upon. Tintin finds himself conflicted – job or loyalty to former colleagues and friends. Friends win out when he identifies the shop where they bought the phones and ensures that they won’t be rumbled.

    The focus of the action becomes David Cann’s club. Mazouz has been abducted by Cann and his chauffeur, Vadim. Mazouz turns out to be the brother of Cann’s wife Lydia, and we learn that Cann is the man who ordered Fouad’s killing. It’s not clear why the body wasn’t concealed rather than left in a public place, but it’s yet another unresolved aspect of this series.

    Cann is in two minds about killing Mazouz. Obviously his wife would never forgive him, though that seems to be the least of his worries.

    With the evidence they have gathered the police know that the money laundering is centred on the industrial units in Aubervilles and launch a successful raid that results in bundles of money literally falling from the ceiling. But not before Roban has to go to the Prefect of the district who has put a block on the raid – ostensibly because he wants to protect his constituents from oppressive police behaviour (claiming he’s seen the file and there is insufficient proof), but we have to suspect it’s because he’s in the pocket of Chen, head of the money-laundering ring. He reacts angrily to Roban accusing him of complicity in Herville’s murder but Roban has a copy of an e-mail, provided by the guy from the finance ministry in one of the earlier episodes that quickly resolves the situation. This leads to the weaselly claim of “I was only following orders”.

    The raid led to Chen’s arrest and hence to the startling revelation that Oury Mazouz is Cann’s brother in law.

    This aspect of the story is frustratingly not explored at all; the prefect has popped up a couple of times in this series, generally acting in an as unhelpful manner as he can, and like many politicians appears more concerned with his career than with ensuring the law is adhered to and justice can be seen to be done.

    The other political line, with the politician Laure spotted in the restaurant whose failure to get her money on time, led to Fouad’s death, also remains a significant loose end. Is that going to be part of the plot for series 8, I wonder?

    In the parallel Josephine/Lola storyline, Lola is obstinate in her refusal to allow Josephine to use evidence that could free her – being raped by her stepfather.

    In an attempt to circumvent Lola’s objections, Josephine secures her mother’s presence in court. Lola reacts by collapsing in the dock.

    What follows is utterly novel – Josephine wrestling with concepts of morality – should she ignore her client’s wishes and speak up and expose the damage Lola has suffered or keep her mouth shut and and possibly see her returned to prison for a long time. Josephine goes to Edelman (of all people) for advice. He’s as incredulous as we are that Josephine has a sense of ethics. What follows is, for me, one of the most incredible scenes in Spiral history; two characters we have come to consider as being largely amoral, discussing legal ethics. And it was absolutely beautifully played and it turned out to be totally credible. Kudos to Audrey Fleurot and Louis-Do de Lencquesaing for this brilliant scene, played so believably, movingly and truthfully.

    Edelman’s advice is that she has to get the best result for her client and if her client gets off, she won’t begrudge the evidence Josephine used to secure her freedom.

    Once in court it looks like Josephine is going to take Edelman’s advice, but having started her speech then relents and instead confesses to meeting Lola in prison and and describes her best qualities which states are both her greatest strength and weakness. Having sat, Lola rises to speak, much to Josephine’s surprise. The upshot, though we never hear her speech, is we see Lola given a suspended sentence and released in the light of time serves.

    Thanks to the eye-witness evidence of the young Syrian refugee who fingers Vadim, He’s not just Cann’s driver but his henchman too. They now know who killed Herville and probably killed Fouad.

    Cann’s accounts are frozen and in another plot development we discover Cann and Edelman are old school friends, as a result of which Edelman helps Cann out by going to a drop to pick up money to facilitate Cann’s flight only to be arrested because Cann’s phone had been tapped.

    Another superb scene was the one between Josephine and Roban, when she goes to him to try to make a deal for Edelman. His look of utter contempt as stand with the door open, waiting for her to speak was classic. Josephine has resorted to er true colours, Roban realise she was the one who set him up and asks how he can trust her and she replies it’s not about trust but mutual interest. She shows no shame for her behaviour, but suggests that she is less than interested in continuing her career. As she leaves his office he asks what has happened to her. She simply replies she’s tired and walks out.

    Her past precedes her – Roban takes the deal to Beckriche, Laure and Gilou, but they think she’s setting up a diversion and instead set off to stake out Cann’s wife and child, expecting him to turn up there.

    The new, reborn Josephine is once again in evidence as she goes to Cann’s club in search of him, but gets taken by Vadim, though not before she’s called Laure and Gilou to let them know where she is and that she’s spotted Vadim.

    Vadim meets his end on the street. Vadim grabs Josephine as the police raid the club. Ali has been outside and spots Vadim throwing her into a car. He challenges whims as Vadim goes for his gun Ali shoots and kills him. He’s completely shaken up and a distraught Josephine gets words of comfort from Laure. Laure tells her she’s sorry and Josephine says so is she.

    There are no expressions of triumph, no bravado. There’s despair at killing another human. He may have been a bastard, but he was still a person with a beating heart.

    Things aren’t quite over – Ali goes to a cell to get Mazouz, and it’s revealed they are cousins. Ali comes to the fore by putting Mazouz alongside Cann and then threatening to tell Nadia that Mazouz had her son killed. This cracks the case open as he spills the beans.

    At the celebration Tintin takes Gilou aside and warns him that his boss, having found Laure’s anti-depressants in the search of her apartment (I guess she was lucky that Josephine hadn’t let anything significant behind, otherwise she might have been charged with corruptly undermining her own investigation) that the boss is going to target Laure, as the potentially weaker target, while Beckriche admits that much as Gilou and Laure are pains in the arse, if he ever gets killed he wants them to investigate.

    The celebration scene ends with Roban telling Laure she doesn’t know how precious she is and she should accept it. This scene has been a complete contrast to all that has gone on before across the series as Laure is now smiling broadly and looks positively radiant.

    The next morning, we see Laure and Gilou in bed together. He says he’s going out for croissants, but instead surrenders the money and claims sole responsibility.

    Given a few minutes in a cell together Gilou tells Laure she must look after Romy.

    At the end of series six we saw Laure literally running away from her responsibility to her daughter. This close with her going to join Romy and her father in the park, with a smile on her face and a look of love in her eyes.

    So, a not whole satisfactory series of Spiral ends. There’s the whole Roban episode, that I’ll say no more about. However we never found out what Edelman’s words to Vern were, that caused him to drop the assault case against Josephine. The political corruption I’ve already alluded to remains unresolved. Vadim’s stupidity with the disposal of Fouad’s corpse in unexplained, yet with what we know now remains even more unlikely.

    What will happen with series 8? Will Gilou get off somehow? He stepped outside the law with the money, but a decent lawyer should be able to argue it was in pursuit of solving the murder of his boss. Maybe they will com up with a stupid reason – the money was counterfeit so there was no crime.

    Will Josephine truly step aside? It seems unlikely. Will Roban disappear gracefully to tend petunias? I have no idea. Will Laure accept a far more active role in Romy’s upbringing? yes, but on her terms.

    Probably. Does the Parisian underworld have something to worry about? Definitely yes.

  2. Wow, that took as long as an extra episode!

    You’re right, though, from the usual high Spiral standards there were undoubtedly plot holes in this one that I don’t remember being evident on previous seasons. The characters and the quality of the acting saw it over the line but I hope they tighten it back up for Season 8 (which I gather HAS been commissioned).

    Hard to think about Spiral without Roban so we’ll see if he’s back somehow.

  3. I read the other day that filming has already finished on Season 8.

    Not sure if this is just me but as the seasons have gone by I’m more conscious that I’m watching a company of actors. I wonder if some of the plot flaws (e.g. Tintin) have been about keeping the group of actors together/interacting. We have to suspend our disbelief more to accept that the same group of characters would be thrown together in the storyline, the coincidences become a bit more apparent. This isn’t a complaint, all the main cast are very compelling to watch and there were many scenes in this season which were as good as Spiral has ever been.

  4. I’m having a rewatch from the beginning. Just finished season one which is interesting to see from now, looking back. Laure was much less haggard, smiley, flirty with Pierre and just finding her feet so less sure of herself and less willing to push her luck. Josephine is more freckled than I remember and her hair isn’t the firey glow it has later. Tin Tin is solid with no hint of what comes later and Gilou is flaky and compromised – it seemed inconceivable then that he might be in charge one day. Pierre is weaker than I remember, and Roban was in his pomp, harsh, judgemental, confident. The colours are much more washed ou than they are now, and it’s so gruesome – autopsies galore. It’s a really solid story and I can see why I loved it from the off. I’m half way through season 2 and Josephine has her red glow and gutter morals fully in place. Awesome.

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