Season 3 Recap
With so much drama in the DJP, is it any wonder that the occasional police officer would crack under the strain and request a transfer? I suppose not, but could anyone have guessed that officer would be Gilou?! Of the many agonizing twists Laure must endure as we begin Season 3, that was the hardest… on me. Sure, it’s kind of an unhealthy work environment, but come on! There are worse jobs; ask the Russian prostitutes at the center of the human trafficking ring that uses a serial killer to cover up their lesser crimes. Yes, that’s très compliqué but, then again, so is everything else happening this season. While Judge Roban’s impenetrable rectitude is tested beyond the limits of what any other mortal man could take, and Clément and Joséphine’s attempt at a new professional start is compromised by outside forces, Laure and her squad must look deeply into…
The heart of darkness.
If there was a prize for most disturbing TV crime scenes, this season of Spiral would win it hands-down. I guess describing, Ronaldo, the serial killer in question, as “The Butcher of Villete” wasn’t enough – they had to show his technique in the grimmest possible detail. He grabs pretty brunettes off the street, assaults, kills and literally butchers them, leaving their remains neatly wrapped for police to find, and the images will haunt me for a long time. Later, his uh, signature, is used by a bunch of low-life pimps who need cover when they murder their own merchandise. Nice friends, Ronaldo. Turns out, he was, for very upsetting reasons, raised with a sister who was actually his mother, and an ugly new family chapter begins when he moves from Mexico to Paris to live with her. Well, after all, if there’s one lesson we learn in season 3, it’s that…
Families are complicated.
Clément’s new career as an attorney starts with quite a bang. What seems like a simple custody case is complicated when it is revealed that his client is cheating on her husband with… her father? (If we thought there was any dark corner Spiral would avoid, we were wrong.) Appalled that he was financially compelled to argue on her behalf, he sees an opportunity to regain the moral high ground with his next case in defense of a young ne’er-do-well with a sad history. When the kid seeks more from him than legal support, however, Clément must face the reality of his new position down among the unwashed masses. (Joséphine, of course, is all too familiar with this rung on the ladder.) Judge Roban, too, is shaken from his lofty foundation when he is forced to make hard choices between his personal and professional lives. I mean, having adhered for so long to the strictest possible code, he barely even has a personal life, but when it looks like he’s about to get a shot at one, he’s forced to pay…
The price of Right.
It’s weird to think of Monsieur Judge having a mother, right? You mean he didn’t burst, fully-formed, from the side of a craggy cliff face overlooking a freezing sea? I was shocked to learn he even has a first name – Francois — but his mom prefers his shady brother, Martin, if one can even believe it. No matter how this hurts him, it doesn’t stop the Judge from doing his duty, not only to the law, but to his own righteousness. This does not come for free. He loses what seems like his once chance at love when he cannot overlook the desperate crime of his young intern, the son of his long-lost lover, Isabelle. Sadly, Isabelle loses much more. Betrayed in the end, Roban can only watch as all his efforts to do the right thing turn out so wrong. Laure, meanwhile, has no problem throwing away what could finally be a real relationship when she uses her old supervisor, now a colleague, to get Gilou out of a jam and to keep a grip on the Ronaldo investigation. Conversely, Joséphine’s short walk on the somewhat straight and narrow comes to an end when she sacrifices herself for the good of Clément. It’s enough to make anyone ask…
What is love?
I suppose there’s a reason these people never seem to go home. Judge Roban might find someone who meets his impossibly high standards if he’d give his indefatigable secretary, Marianne, more than a cursory glance. She might be the only one who appreciates him for who he really is! Across the road, Joséphine is forced back, if not into the arms of, at least into the chambers of the execrable Szabo, with a heart-stirring farewell to Clément. Will he now extend himself for her? And while Tintin tries to encourage Gilou to seek out a family life, as he has, Gilou, in the end, can’t break out of his dysfunctional familial bond with Laure. Thank God! When the chips are down, as they so often are, he’s there for her as she is for him. Are they all doomed to live alone, together? Let’s find out in Season 4.
* Due to distribution limitations, this program is only available to stream within the U.S.
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About the author:
Allison Lowe Huff is a freelance writer and editor with an overly concentrated interest in mystery stories from anywhere and everywhere. Follow her on Twitter @lowehuff.
