Spoiler alert: this blog details events in the third episode of Witnesses, which airs on Channel 4 at 10pm. To see a recap of episode two, click here.
After all the Big Bad Wolf allusions, I still worry that the most appropriate fairytale comparison for Witnesses might be The Emperor’s New Clothes. It’s getting thinner and more stretched when it ought to be getting deeper and more absorbing. But I’m still in for the duration, not least because each episode’s climax has made the longueurs worthwhile: first, the fun on the funicular, then last week’s night-time prang, and, this week, a cemetery shootout.
The case
Another Geco show home, another ghoulish set-up, this time with an urn containing Richard Laplace’s ashes standing in for his corpse (good shout, grauniad26). Once again the women in the equation are deemed irrelevant – I’m going to be charitable here and say this reflects Gorbier’s reprehensible attitude towards women rather than any latent shortcomings in the writing. Also, it now appears there is a third party involved in Gorbier and Greg Serano’s misdemeanours.
Laplace, Muse and Weber appear to have been blackmailing some poor soul, meeting at Le Tribal twice a year to collect their payoffs. Paul’s policing methods are proving distasteful, to say the least – not to mention putting his son in jeopardy. Still, there’s no sign yet that Sandra’s domestic travails are causing her to take her eye off the case, and at least there’s one less bad guy to catch following Serano’s suicide at the cemetary.
The odd couple
Justin appears to be an imbecile. (“Chew pastry”?) But an imbecile capable of the occasional piercing insight, such as reckoning that Gorbier wants to build Paul back up before knocking him down. Nonetheless, my calling him and Sandra a decaffeinated Saga and Martin is looking like a wild overestimation.
And while she seemed to shake off the post-prang limp pretty quickly, Sandra’s life isn’t getting any easier. Her partner Eric may still be having a fling on the side, and she’s two weeks pregnant, which, timing-wise, probably isn’t ideal. (Well done Isolde2 and barbapapa, who speculated that Sandra might be pregnant.) The miscarriage naturally explains the business on Paul’s training course, although we have yet to find out who Chloée’s father is.
Paul Maisonneuve
Unmoved by either Sandra’s accusations or Gorbier’s message (only his son’s disappearance caused that expression of distant amusement to crack), Paul is clearly a nasty piece of work.
Hounding Laplace to suicide (at best); blackmailing poor Jérémie Gorbier to give up his dad, then blackmailing his dad to turn himself in; and then being arrogant enough to believe that covering up the mic while Gorbier made his incriminating outburst would never be discovered. I think it’s fair to say his brief rapprochement with Sandra is at an end.
Nice to know, too, that he “sounds Belgian”. Something tells me it’s not meant as a compliment.
Other key players
Laura: She’s back, doesn’t work at Le Tribal (as I initially thought she did) and is causing strange stirrings in Paul, apparently. Why, when she challenged him, didn’t he just say she reminded him of his wife? Is there another woman, possibly much younger, who has bitten the dust on his watch?
Jérémie Gorbier: Poor, Lady Gaga-loving Gorbier Jr. I wonder what sort of long-term damage could have been done to the nervous then-eight-year-old by Paul’s desperate, amoral actions. Does he know his dad’s been hiding out in the loft, or did he merely see him in the night and assume that he was some sort of dreamy apparition?
Damien: Absent from this episode (although his boss Henri made a brief, inconsequential appearance), I wonder if Damien could be the mystery accomplice? He has Geco connections, so could offer access to the houses, and is friendly with Paul, so probably visited him in rehab, where he could have nicked his lock-up keys. Plus, he’s a bit short on money, so could do with bumping off his creditors …
Laurence Wanderwilt: AKA Eric’s Girl with the Lipstick. The arm around the waist didn’t look great, but it was hardly hard evidence. I can see Sandra getting this one wrong and driving Eric away just when she needs him most.
Time of the wolf
Another sighting, courtesy of Caroline (who keeps cropping up), this time in the Laplace garden while the urn theft took place. This probably can’t be dismissed as a couple of people seeing things any longer. But who owns a wolf?
Thanks, too, to France’s own ZizanieCriarde last week, for noting that “avoir vu le loup” is slang for a girl losing her virginity. There’s sure to be something in that.
Thoughts and observations
- “What are you doing to protect our dead?” made me chuckle – it felt more like a line from Les Revenants. Speaking of which, watch out for Laurent Lucas (Kaz Gorbier) in the upcoming season of our favourite French zombie drama.
- The identities of those show-home corpses, just for the record: Sylvie Tourneux, 45 and died of a long illness; Melissa Vernet, 16, cause of death unknown.
- Maxine (still on diligent expositional duty) and Sandra loudly discussing Paul’s loyalties in an open-plan office didn’t feel particularly professional.
- Presumably there was a message left in the first show home. What was it?
- If Chez Gorbier is “a family home”, then I’ll stick to my first-floor flat, thanks.
- Le Tréport Tourist Board alternative slogan of the week: “Le Tréport – where you can always find a lipreader when you need one.”
