Maroni

This four-episode debut season of a crime drama from French TV delivers a solid mystery in an exotic setting - French Guyana. We meet Chloe (Stephane Caillard), a police officer banished to this post in the remote jungle setting of Cayenne for some unspecified act of insubordination. On her first day, she's partnered with veteran detective Dialo (Adama Niane), and sent to the site of a gruesome murder. They find a catamaran adrift up river with the bodies of two white do-gooders who were distributing educational materials to isolated villages. She learns many locals resent such seemingly benevolent acts. They are descended from African slaves the French imported, and believe those efforts will cause their children to abandon their own language and culture.

Even so, the crime appears to have been committed as some kind of religious ritual. The husband and wife weren't just killed. They were mutilated and posed with other objects in an excessively bloody manner. They also learn the couple had a young son who is missing. Unraveling all of this is fills the rest of the season. Chloe is smart and tough, but rather arrogant for one thrust into a new and different culture, showing little concern for local customs and key figures. The urgency of rescuing the child denies her the time than needed for a learning curve, even if she were less headstrong about the job. Dialo knows people in all segments of the populace. During their investigations, we learn that he's troubled by the possibility that this crime is part of a long pattern in the area involving child abductions for arcane purposes.

Four episodes is just about the right length for getting to know these characters, understanding their specific environs, and remaining engaged in this suspenseful plot. The story unfolds with a fair amount of action, and considerable explanation of how present attitudes and beliefs were shaped by the former colony's history. We learn the meaning and significance of Iskander as part of that. And even though Chloe initially seems like a bit of a jerk, we wind up thinking whatever she did to be sent there was probably a justifiable response to someone's abuse of authority.

The season is self-contained. No annoying cliff-hangers while waiting for Season 2.

The first episode was taut and gripping. It looked like this was going to be a great mini series despite some over-the-top interventions by the Chloe character. Then it all went haywire. A stabbed person is using a rowing machine after three weeks; they were stabbed five times, lol, in the belly. A day later the same person is dying from septicaemia in a sudden relapse. Voodoo cures them alongside medicinal plants. Now, if there really were such a product, the pharmaceutical companies would be falling over themselves to get their hands on such a powerful antibiotic.

In the final episode we are supposed to believe that the transference of souls from a sacrifice to a long-dead baby can actually happen if done as part of a magic rite. It really is too much.

The character of Chloe is not realistic. She tramples on long-established norms and protocols as a rookie in Cayenne. I don't believe that anyone at all, even someone as wilful as she is meant to be, would blunder into situations and upset procedures and conventions as she did.

I was hoping for so much more from this especially as it had the Arte branding. There were points of interest and I learnt things I hadn't known, much of them about the lawlessness of this French outpost and about trafficking from Brazil of naive young women.

The scenery was rather beautiful but the towns were depressing.

After the ending of Season One it's hard to see how there could be a second season but apparently there is one according to this site. I am in two minds as to whether I'll be watching it if I come across it.

The police belatedly realize the couple has a home, they were not living on the boat. The police go to the home and immediately begin a minute search of the bookshelves in the first room. They do not go through the house to see if it is empty. They do not turn on the lights. They do not search for the boy.

This is slow AND it is stupid.

SEASON 1 - LES FANTÔMES DU FLEUVE (2.5/5)

The show has a solid mystery and takes full advantage of the exoticism of French Guyana, a French territory close to Brazil that usually doesn't receive much attention even from France. It's really interesting to learn more about French Guyana's culture, nature, and folklore but also their relationship with Brazil. The mix of occult and tropical gives this first season a strong identity. Just my opinion but I would have wished some positive light on French Guyana, I understand it's a crime thriller and the territory has a criminal side, but it's such a misknown part of the world I would have loved to see what makes this territory charming.

Maroni still fails to give the best show it can, the main character is unlikeable because of both the script and the actress' skills, she comes up as one-dimensional and broody. Also, she has many useless nude scenes that feel disrespectful to the actress herself.

The mystery itself is interesting, but it develops at a weird pace getting way too crazy at the end. Also, some characters seem like their story will lead to something but go nowhere making their character a waste of time.

Some moments are hard to believe also, the character would act way too normally after suffering from nearly fatal wounds or dangerous fevers.

SEASON 2 - LE TERRITOIRE DES OMBRES (4/5)

It's too bad that most viewers will stop after the average first season since the second one is a huge step up in all the right directions!

First of all, I need to say that the main actress Stephane Caillard, who didn't convince me in the first season, plays amazingly this time, She was able to give a way more nuanced character in Chloe. Also, she seems way more in control of Chloe's development. Since this season is centered on her character and her complicated past, Stephane really shines by being able to bring to life the most difficult moment of the show.

The mystery itself is captivating, more grounded, and well-developed than the first season. Going from a four-episode season to 6 really helped to perfect the pace.

After the French Guyana, another misunderstood French territory is put under the spotlight: Saint-Pierre et Miquelon. They did an amazing job presenting these beautiful snowy islands even if we have to keep in mind that the criminal side is exaggerated for the show.

The connection between Saint-Pierre and the Native American community in Newfoundland was a good idea and really brought the same unique identity that the first season had.

This season is brought down by the first. Every reference to the first season felt out of place and made the viewer realize some inconsistencies in Chloe's past between what she revealed in the first season and what we discover in this one. Also, the ghost part doesn't fit well with the story and is just an excuse to bring back a first-season character.