Spoiler alert: this blog details events in the fourth episode of Witnesses, which airs on Channel 4 at 10pm. To see a recap of episode three, click here.
I’ve had my doubts about this series, not least for the rampant implausibilities, but I’m now fully back on board after what was the best episode so far. There were plenty of enjoyably ominous scenes to ramp up the tension – first, the home-invasion-thriller vibe of the opening scene, then a sequence cutting between Paul, Sandra and Justin on the night of Justin’s kidnap, followed by Paul’s confrontation with Kaz Gorbier, several years in the making. And finally, yet another scintillating sign-off, this time finally unveiling the much-discussed wolf. I’m still entirely in the dark about potential motives, let alone suspects, but it’s a lot of fun.
The case
Gorbier vanishes with his wife and son, re-emerging only to kidnap Justin and use him as bait. Paul duly bites and is drugged and taken hostage, while the team learn that Gorbier had been receiving prison visits from an unidentified young woman. Meanwhile, some late-night thinking from Sandra uncovers a potential fourth victim, Yvan Kremer. Unfortunately, Muse, Laplace and Weber’s errant tennis partner, is bumped off before they can reach him. Finally, on a dark and stormy night, Kremer’s freshly buried corpse is disinterred by a familiar figure, a mystery accomplice and an understandably angry wolf.
The odd couple
Justin isn’t dead yet, but he’s in a bad way and I can’t say I’m surprised. Quite apart from the traditional role of the sidekick as fall guy, being outed as Belgian (thanks everyone who set me straight on that and the associated scatological slang last week) and tempting fate by talking about “living in a coffin”, he opened up about his emotional life and seemed on the verge of some sort of romantic contentment. In short, his card was marked – and on his birthday, too. Adding insult to injury, a comatose Justin is apparently more of a draw for his estranged family than a compos-mentis one.
I was a bit shocked by Sandra’s attitude to her partner. Not only did she effectively leave him for dead, clearly valuing the hated Paul over him (“he [Gorbier] has Justin, it’s too late”), but she also forgot his birthday. Not that Sandra hasn’t had her own problems with Feckless Eric and his fling. Laurence didn’t seem unduly fussed at being rumbled; the rapid end of the affair may add a little weight to SuffolkAndGood’s theories about a connection between her and Gorbier. And poor Chloée, caught in the crossfire. I’m still unclear whether she is Eric’s child, but I suspect not, as he would surely have known about her sleepwalking.
Paul Maisonneuve
I’m still not quite convinced that Paul’s storyline simply boils down to the long-nurtured grudge of a convicted killer about the mistreatment of his son: this would seem a waste of the man’s carefully cultured enigma. It could be that he was the father of Sandra’s miscarried (or even aborted, as some of you have speculated) child. Or, of course, that he is involved in some way with the murders – but I can’t rustle up a convincing motive for that beyond some sort of vague connection to the Geco boys.
There is certainly something very strange about his relationship with Laura. She “gives [him] the strength to go on”? Even odder, she didn’t seem surprised to hear it, but then if you hang around Paul for long enough, I suppose you get used to his peculiarities.
Other key players
Yvan Kremer: the final victim? From the moment he rose from his desk to flee, his expression screamed “stooge”. Kremer’s background seemed largely irrelevant (divorced, no kids, nondescript home, lots of friends) apart from the tennis. Of more interest was the manner and suddenness of his death. The killer clearly knows the intended victims are now being traced, which, together with Laplace’s murky suicide, implies an insider in the police. Could it really be Paul?
Clara Kurkiewicz: she felt like a character designed to move the plot from A to B, and it seems rather extraordinary that the police hadn’t spoken to her earlier. A touch of Stockholm syndrome and a line about Gorbier wanting to live in a big house with his victims, but otherwise not much to see here in terms of the wider story.
Laura: well, now we know. She has been digging up the corpses, but at Gorbier’s request? The reports of a young woman visiting him in prison would bear this out, as would Gorbier’s denial (“it’s not me digging them up”), which is at least technically true. Also, the presence of “daughters” in the show-home setup wouldn’t tally with the idea of Gorbier trying to recreate his own family, given that he only has a son (that we know of).
But who is her fellow grave-robber, and how in the blue hell did she acquire a wolf? Don’t forget, either, that she told Paul she actually knew one of the victims in the second show home, Catherine Mandrin – and all this after a first rendezvous with Paul made her sound like some sort of criminal lynchpin. But her motives are still a mystery beyond a vague air of misanthropy.
Time of the Wolf
Finally – the wolf lopes, snarling, into the picture. And quite the entrance, too – very Hammer Horror. No need for any more lupine hints or allusions after that, although Justin howling like a wolf at the thought of bedding Melanie was a bit disturbing. When he followed that with a rendition of Billie Holliday’s Guilty, I wondered if we were being sent a coded message.
Thoughts and observations
- How did a dentist become so proficient in stealth, surveillance, living rough, killing etc?
- That scene in which a self-assured boy hands Paul a box-fresh prepaid phone was straight outta Baltimore.
- Remember the tennis trophy chez Laplace? The devil is truly in the detail with this series.
- Sandra keeps going back to Caroline. I wonder if Laplace’s daughter still has a part to play here.
- I’m not sure Sandra has met Laura, has she? Not that she’s likely to spot her in the pouring rain and with a ruddy great wolf in the way.
- The hunt for Kremer reminded me of Sky Atlantic’s The Tunnel, another show to make great use of the unsettling otherness of cross-channel ferries.
- How did a wily old fox like Paul allow himself to be drugged?
- I would say Karim’s offence now looks like a sackable one.
- The rendezvous between Paul and Justin in the Gorbiers’ house felt heavy with significance – as if there was some sense of collusion there.
- Le Tréport tourist board alternative slogan of the week: “Le Tréport – where every cigarette brings something significant.”
