“Cassandre” Season 1 – TV Series Review

The premise of the French TV crime drama, “Cassandre,” is nothing new to fans of the genre. A police detective from Paris moves to a much smaller city due to some sort of scandal/personal problem that made him/her want/need a change of scenery badly enough to take a big step down the career ladder. But based on the two episodes comprising first half of its debut season that were available for review, the scripts and casting still make this one a fine entry into your realm of viewing options. I must not be the only one thinking that way. After starting in 2015, it’s now up to 30 episodes (and still counting), with the same principal cast.

Gwendoline Hamon stars in the title role as an ambitious, successful detective who asks for transfer to the city where, as we soon learn, the juvenile detention school her surly teenage son Jules (Luca Malinowski) was sentenced to is located. She’s resented by her new colleagues not only for being an outsider, but for replacing the beloved old boss, who just happened to be the husband of the prosecutor (Beatrice Agenin) and the father of #2 detective Pascal (Alexandre Varga), who everyone assumed would take up his father’s position. For another source of friction within the unit, Nicky (Jessy Salomee Ugolin) is secretly boinking Pascal and worries that this rather attractive new arrival will provide competition for his affections.

The first case offers no respite, as the body of a hang glider soon shows itself to be the result of murder, not mishap. She was the wife of a man who is part of a rich and influential family. They resist any investigation that could reflect poorly on them or their businesses. Even worse, Cassandre’s inquiries turn up some old skeletons that are even more upsetting to many of the principals.

The second case is about the murder of a popular teacher at Jules’ school. Once again, the pressure is on because many locals were already fearful of the bad kids being housed in their town, and would love finding a scandal to justify closing it. If you don’t know what NIMBY means, Google it, since it’s an attitude that exists just about everywhere.

The cast is excellent. As usual for Euro fare, they are mostly attractive, but well shy of glamorous, to keep them in a relatively relatable dimension. There’s also less action and bloodshed than one typically finds in comparable US crime dramas. One bonus is the fourth member of the squad, Dominique Pinon, whose distinctive face you will recognize even if you don’t know his name. The veteran actor has played a wide array of supporting characters in comedies and dramas on both sides of the Atlantic, and always delivers the goods. With about 200 movie and TV credits under his belt, it’s gratifying to see him landing a steady gig.

There’s a lot of melodrama in the mix, especially surrounding Cassandre, her bitter son and bitterer (I don’t care if that’s not a real word. I like the way it scans here) ex. That’s usually a turn-off for me, but it’s all so well written and integrated by series creators Bruno Lecigne and Matthieu Masmondet that they set the table for a long and satisfying run.

“Cassandre” Season One, in French with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting Tuesday, Jan. 14.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars