This first season (at least one more is in the making at this point) is a pretty good bit of television. There are about three main cases, some of which intertwine, but all of them of course deal with the French secret service.
The stories develop mostly slowly, rather focusing on a believable portrayal of things, instead of letting the action, suspense or drama get too much in the way. At times it does feel a bit dry because of that, but in the end it does help the effectiveness of the series. One choice I do find quite unbelievable, though. When Malotru boldly goes to visit Nadia at the airport in the ninth episode, he can only add to the danger she is already in. I understand why and how he defends his choice, but still, he should have understood by then that her mind was made up. And perhaps the ending with 'Cyclone' has a few too many happy clichés in there, but what the hey.
The acting and cinematography are quite good, if not terrific. The tone of things is rather subdued and human - on some level, since most of these people doing this sort of work are required to act quite inhuman a lot of the time. It takes a while before the whole story becomes clear to the viewer, which makes it all the more fun (read: suspenseful) and there is still plenty to work with in season two.
So, even if I didn't always sympathize or even empathize with all the characters, this is still a pretty good show. It does not, and will never beat a classic like 'Tinker tailor soldier spy' (the 1979 version, of course!), but I didn't really expect that to happen anyway.
A big 7 out of 10.
The stories develop mostly slowly, rather focusing on a believable portrayal of things, instead of letting the action, suspense or drama get too much in the way. At times it does feel a bit dry because of that, but in the end it does help the effectiveness of the series. One choice I do find quite unbelievable, though. When Malotru boldly goes to visit Nadia at the airport in the ninth episode, he can only add to the danger she is already in. I understand why and how he defends his choice, but still, he should have understood by then that her mind was made up. And perhaps the ending with 'Cyclone' has a few too many happy clichés in there, but what the hey.
The acting and cinematography are quite good, if not terrific. The tone of things is rather subdued and human - on some level, since most of these people doing this sort of work are required to act quite inhuman a lot of the time. It takes a while before the whole story becomes clear to the viewer, which makes it all the more fun (read: suspenseful) and there is still plenty to work with in season two.
So, even if I didn't always sympathize or even empathize with all the characters, this is still a pretty good show. It does not, and will never beat a classic like 'Tinker tailor soldier spy' (the 1979 version, of course!), but I didn't really expect that to happen anyway.
A big 7 out of 10.