Saint-Pierre

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.

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.

So I got to see Saint-Pierre for the first time at an early screening in Toronto back in December and truthfully didn't even realize it was a real place at first. Who knew there was an island off the coast of Newfoundland that belongs to France! I had heard of other islands in the Carribean but had no idea we had one so close to Canada. Anyways, that really peaked my interest to see the show and so far in the first episodes its been fun to see the location!

The two main characters seem to strongly dislike each other but I'm sure that will change and I look forward to watching these two good actors bring that to life. Looking forward for more!

Love love the setting. Exquisite. It is the star of the show for now.

However, we are damned with the same old, stale plot line of a crime that is solved in 47 minutes. People are more sophisticated now with Netflix and British crime series that take the crime over a number of episodes. Stop the "Murder She Wrote" template and go for the more complex, like Netflix "Lincoln Lawyer" or "Mr. & Mrs. Smith". Both only an hour long but gave the viewer a story that we could sink our teeth into. Hence their success! Trust me we can handle it.

Same with the character development. Too many paper-thin tropes. The sassy female, the crooked captain, the rich villain, the newcomer with a sorry tale. All of these are fine in general, but you absolutely need to give them some depth. Make them interesting, juicy. Canada's "Family Law", for instance, their characters have some meat on the bones. Have to engage your viewer in stories with weight and characters we care about and want to know more.

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.