Gloria

This is apparently a French remake of the Welsh series "Keeping Faith". The Welsh series, which I haven't seen, has two seasons and 20 episodes but "Gloria" has just six episodes so far. There's scope for a subsequent season as we see in the closing minutes of the final episode; I'd certainly watch it if it were to be made.

The storyline was unbelievable on occasion and some of Gloria's actions were over the top. The series was still gripping however despite my having guessed who the archvillain was towards the end of episode four. I had been sure I was right and I was.

The referral to child protection didn't ring entirely true - I used to work in children's services in the UK - unless the French system is completely different. Nor did Gloria's reaction to the social worker's intervention. She's a lawyer, after all, and would have been aware of the repurcussions of her disdain of Mme Faustin.

Others have remarked on Gloria's clothes. It hadn't occurred to me that the actress playing her part might have been pregnant and thus wore heavy, billowing apparel. At one point I wondered if she had no heating in her house and was willing her to take her heavy shawl off indoors. However, it could have just been that she was plump. On the few shots from behind, it would be kind to say that the stern was somewhat bulky. But that didn't really detract from the story. I'm only mentioning it because others have made such a song and dance of this.

So in conclusion, a pleasant few hours and I'm looking forward to the putative next season.

This is a six-episode miniseries from French TV, featuring a justifiably frazzled woman suddenly facing chaos on many fronts. Gloria (Cecile Bois) is a lawyer about to return from maternity leave after eight months at home with her third child. Her loving husband David (Michael Cohen) is also a partner in their firm. When he drives off to court one morning, she has no reason to feel anything but joy over their stable, successful life together.

But David vanishes. Accident? Foul play? Another woman? All possibilities are bounced around as Cecile's efforts to find out what happened spiral ever deeper down the proverbial rabbit hole. Old losses and grudges start emerging as her marriage, career, children and extended family either unravel, or become threatened. Or both. Gloria is smart and resourceful, but soon finds herself swamped from suddenly having to deal with problems and people beyond her ken.

Gloria has to quickly step in for David on a couple of cases, showing her professional brilliance, and making useful new friends of a couple of disreputable clients. Then her supposedly prospering firm turns out to be deeply in debt, and David's finances may have been entangled with some large-scale criminal activity, now putting their lives in unexpected danger. Added to all these destabilizing surprises is the involvement of a police detective zealously committed to nailing Gloria for everything in reach due to an episode in their legal history. Plus the suspense of an anonymous string-pulling villain even worse than the one she discovers to be the at the center of this crisis, Gaelle Brak (Anne Consigny). {Whew! I'm tired just from writing this paragraph.} That's a lot to unpack in six episodes, but they manage. If this summary seems familiar, that could be because Gloria is adapted from a 2017 British TV thriller, Keeping Faith, that ran for four years.

Even though Gloria and her kids face many threats - physical and otherwise - throughout, nothing occurs on-screen that's more graphic than our U. S. prime-time crime dramas. Actually, less so. We mostly see Gloria in various degrees of desperation and frustration as she pounces on each clue or lead, often unwisely, and frequently aggravating her situation.

Bois' performance as a woman suddenly under incredible stress due to no fault of her own is suitably exhausting to watch. We really feel her desperation and empathize with her scattershot reactions. Many may question her judgment at times, but we remain firmly in her corner. Because she's constantly having to respond to new surprises coming from all directions, the series carries considerable intensity over to its audience. Two arguable flaws come to mind. Gloria may be blindsided too many times in too many ways for some viewers' patience. And the most intriguing character of the lot is Consigny's calmly understated local crime boss, who deserved more screen time than allotted.

Bottom line - good for a binge, when you're craving ramped-up suspense.

I'm often ashamed of other women (usually American women) when they criticize apparel rather than the nitty gritty story that leads a desperate women into compromising and dangerous situations trying to solve her husband's disappearance. Had I been Gloria, I would have given police, specifically her brother-in-law, the fake idea and the wig rather than trying to unravel why her husband needed it. The female detective was unprofessional and she should have been removed from the case by her superiors because of the conflict of interest. Gloria played right into the psycho woman's hands by withholding evidence. The pushy in-laws is another story that was pretty obvious. I'm not quite finished with the last two episodes. I enjoyed Keeping Faith and am liking Gloria as well.

Cecile Bois's performance as Gloria is a tour de force while still being part of an excellent ensemble cast. We leave the usual Paris for Brittany in winter for this mystery that keeps you guessing to the end. I liked Gloria immediately, including her clothes (since this seems to be an issue with other reviewers) which were stylish on her pleasantly plump figure. For all those who live their lives on Instagram, this is what a woman who has had children really looks like. Gloria is completely believable, not perfect at all, but doing the best she can in such an extreme situation. She certainly goes where angels fear to tread in her search for the truth and there are awakenings of many kinds for people involved. The female police detective examining the case is a piece of work and French social bureaucracy is something else again! Recommended unreservedly.

It's a good series about a wife trying to figure out what happened to her husband who had suddenly disappeared.

However, for some obscure reasons, Cécile Bois wears terrible clothes, oversized ... why?