Saint-Pierre

I like Allan Hawco and Josephine Jobert.

I like the back drop of St Pierre.

I like the bilingualism.

I want to like this show but until episode 6 it is one cliche after another.

But it really redeems itself in Episode 6! There may be hope for this show!

Up until episode 6 I thought this:

This is wIf you are a fan of cozy mysteries you will recognize every single plot of every single episode at the beginning of the show. Even the side stories are cliches. It is only the music that creates suspense.

Surely between France and Canada some writers with some creativity could be located...

Maybe send these two detectives out to comb these two countries and find a creative team capable of coming up with a plot worthy of the actors and the location.

The premise of this is very much like The Mallorca Files. Both series are set on a tourist island, with two very different male and female police officers. One of the police officers has arrived on the island to work, but is under a mysterious cloud. After joining forces with a very established local officer, both end up being a great team after a wonky start. They solve some tough cases as both are very capable in their own way and their unique skill sets mesh incredibly well. There is also amazing country side and interesting locals to enjoy as well.

The similarities to the other series aside though, Saint Pierre is a very enjoyable show on its own merits. I really hope it does well and we get to see many more seasons.

In Episode 2 of Saint-Pierre we get to see Bastille Day celebrations. Suddenly Arch and Fitz discover a mysterious body and much hijinx ensues. The two of them clash over their different approaches - Fitz goes by his gut and Arch cares about evidence. This ends up being entertaining to watch the two of them disagree.

Overall I've been so impressed with Josephine Jobert's acting. I'm excited to see her onscreen chemistry and friendship with Allan take shape. Saint-Pierre as a location is really neat to see and its fun to see new facets of the island in each episode. Looking forward to the next episode to see where it takes us!

SEASON 1 (3/5)

I'm very happy to finally see some nice productions taking place in the Saint-Pierre et Miquelon islands! It's such a hidden gem in the world.

The show is the formulaic detective show to watch after work we all know. It doesn't re-invent anything for the genre but gives you some entertaining investigations and a very charismatic cast, especially the main duo, Josephine Jobert and Allan Hawco, who shine in their respective roles.

The show seems to be stuck in their "crime of the week" format, each episode ends with a reveal that is supposed to make move forward an overaching story which it's nice but it's usually five minutes of it and then they barely come back to these reveals until the end of the next episode. I think the show would gain by mixing in a better way their main story and the episodic crimes.

It's a comfort show; despite the murders, Saint-Pierre never shared any heavy subjects or any very sad/difficult moments.

As someone from Saint-Pierre, I had a fun time guessing which scenes were shot in Saint-Pierre and which one was shot in Canada, but if you don't know the islands by heart like myself, the edits made everything pretty smooth.

The last episode made me excited and very intrigued about the next season, but it was a little unfair to end like that.

This show has me scratching my head, and partly at my own response to it. There's definitely something (or a few things) not quite right, but I'm not sure if it's the occasionally disastrous acting or actors (the actor who plays Arch's boss Marcus is abysmal, with one and only one facial expression in his toolbox), their inability to rise above sometimes mediocre and/or clichéd scripts, or simply bad direction. So I don't want to blame it all on the writers or actors, because direction has got to have something to do with it. And yet despite all that, I watch the show religiously every week and continue to be entertained by it. Maybe it's the earnestness of the leads, IDK, but I still enjoy it and I hope they can work out the problems for a better S2.