“Master Crimes: Season 1” – TV Series Review

The French crime series “Master Crimes: Season One” offers a nice balance among the murders-du-jour, character development and levity. The six 45-minute episodes cover five different cases to be solved by criminal psych professor Louise Arbus (Muriel Robin), police detective Barbara Delandre (Anne Le Nen) and Arbus’ quartet of students she hand-picked for her team.

Arbus had been an exceptionally successful police profiler until she quit a decade earlier due to a conviction she’d obtained that haunted her ever since with doubts about whether they’d nailed the actual perp. That’s why she’d ensconced herself in academia, apart from periodic inquiries into who might have committed that murder most foul. But one particularly dramatic homicide caused her old friend the Chief (Olivier Claverie) to convince her to reenter the fray. As is par for the genre course, Delandre resents the outsider’s intrusion until she grows to appreciate Arbus’ unique expertise.

What makes the series so enjoyable is Robin’s portrayal of Arbus. She’s a middle-aged woman with consummate insightful-ness into human nature, and self-confidence bordering on smugness, a less surly variation on our Doctor House. But she uses her skills constructively in addressing not only the crimes but the lives of her colleagues and disciples. The tone of the series is less comedic than other favored French fare like “Captain Marleau” or “Captain Sharif” (both also streaming on MHz), but her sharp wit and a few quirks are prominent assets in the entertainment package.

The students are an engaging lot, each of whom brings a different skill set to the sleuthing. There’s an edgy hottie (Astrid Roos), a hunk (Victor Meutelet), a perky influencer (Thais Vauquieres) and a brilliant nerd (Nordine Ganso). All are given character arcs that put us in their corner, reminiscent of our series “The Librarians,” though without the sci-fi/magic motif.

The gory bits are minimized, displaying as little of the corpses as possible. Typically for European series, there’s far more emphasis on dialog and character than action. Although new challenges arise in each episode after the opening two-parter, running subplot threads keep one eager for the next installment. The season ends with all cases solved but lingering questions about some of those secondary matters. Supposedly, a second season will follow.

The scripts are solid, though a couple of the denouements seemed a bit facile. Bottom line: if you get a kick out of Professor Arbus, you’ll really enjoy the series. If you find her more annoying than entertaining – as some surely will – just spend your time elsewhere. But give it a couple of episodes before you decide. She may grow on you, in a non-fungal sense.

“Master Crimes,” in French with English subtitles, is available streaming on MHzChoice starting Tuesday, Sept. 3.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars