Beau Séjour

I really enjoyed watching this show, so much so that I stayed up til after 1am last night finishing it off and I'm a teacher who has to be at school ungodly early. I probably wouldn't have chosen to watch this on my own. I started the show after my 3 year old got hold of the remote and put it on thinking it was something else, and when I heard the music I thought, "what kind of weird, foreign show is this?" But I turned it back on later and watched the first episode, considering it pretty interesting. I was skeptical at first of the whole undead/ghost plot and wasn't sure how to deal with it plausibly, but quickly became entrenched in the characters and really found myself enjoying each episode. I literally watched the majority of the season last night, because I could not turn it off. I kept saying, "this is the last one," and then it would be such a crazy cliffhanger, that I had to see what happened next. I actually didn't guess the killer until the very end, which I think is fantastic. There were lots of twists and turns, but even more important than plot twists was just that I thought it very good and steadily captivating. It had good acting and writing. It was dark, but I was peaceful at the end. It wasn't hokey, though it was sad. I felt settled after finishing and glad that I'd watched it.

I honestly respects everyone's opinion and I will never state that someone else's thoughts and views are irrelevant, but I just need to highlight something here… The other reviewer submitted his comment when only six (out of the ten) episodes got aired on Belgian television and then already publicly claimed that the series was dumb, predictable and derivative. That's not fair. If you don't like a series after a few episodes, just stop watching but don't discourage other people to watch, because the creators deserve a chance to tell their FULL story. Admittedly I also wasn't very impressed after the first couple of episodes of "Beau Séjour", but the concept was curious and compelling enough to keep watching all ten episodes, and I must underline that every new episode was darker, more suspenseful and better than the one before.

The series centers on a teenage girl, Kato Hoeven, who wakes up one morning in a bloody bathtub in a sleazy hotel that has yet to be opened for the public. Kato quickly comes to the painful conclusion that she is dead – viciously murdered, in fact – but that her "ghost" is still around; presumably to solve her own murder. Five people can apparently still see and talk to Kato, including her alcoholic father, her jealous stepsister, the corrupt local chief of police, her secretive best friend and a handsome but mysterious young lad who recently got released from a psychiatric clinic. As the story unfolds, it rapidly becomes clear that all five of them in some way interacted with the poor girl during the night she got murdered. Is the killer one of these five person or does each of them need to solve their own little piece of the puzzle. The regular investigation is led by two intelligent police women, and they stumble upon several complicating leads, like a drug-trafficking network, previous unsolved murders, cuber-stalking and police involvement.

No, the premise of "Beau Séjour" isn't exactly innovative and the series is definitely modeled after a handful of successful American prime-time series, but you honestly can't blame the makers (who are all women, by the way) for being ambitious. Although I think there's still a number of defaults and illogicalities in the story, the screenplays are very well-written, with professional and excessive use of tense cliffhangers, unpredictable plot-twists and shocking revelations. Especially for a Belgian series aired on national television during prime time, "Beau Séjour" has a very dark and depressing atmosphere, features a fairly large amount of violence and extreme language and it certainly doesn't avoid sensitive subjects that are mostly still taboo. I simply must also mention that the series has a downright fantastic and ultimately moody theme-song!

The acting performances are really good, also thanks to the fact that the cast is allowed to speak in their own local vulgar dialects. Whenever actors and actresses are obliged to talk the so- called "civilized Dutch", like the cast in most films and TV-series originating from Flanders, the performances often suffer tremendously from this. The cast doesn't include Flanders' absolute finest players, but still there are several acclaimed names like Reinhilde Decleir, Barbara Serafian, Katrin Lohman and Jan Hammenecker. The rest of the cast is familiar as well, if you live in Belgium at least, and especially the young cast members give away solid performances. The grand finale – at the end of the 10th episode ONLY – is bleak and grim but satisfying. In case you think the denouement is far-fetched or implausible, then I suggest to watch the daily news, because horrifying tragedies like these really do happen.

At around the time of the 8th episode, I heard on the radio that the acclaimed company Netflix bought the international rights for airing the series. Here's to hoping it will have some success beyond the Belgian borders as well.

This was a very enjoyable show. The writing was good, the acting was good, and the plot was very interesting. I also really enjoyed the imagery and character interactions. I thought it was very realistic. I watched the entire show in just a week. I will say that it is a little drawn out and slow moving, and some of the dialogue was strange (although this might be because the English translation was a little to formal), but overall I really enjoyed this show. It would be great for anyone who appreciates more subtle acting and a dark story.

I really, REALLY, enjoyed this series (even though I had to use subtitles, so I know some feeling was lost in translation). I had heard nothing of it and grew really attached to some of the characters and REALLY hated a couple of others. Such investment and attachment to characters tells me that the actors were doing something right. Kudos to the Actors, writers and everyone who took part in this series. Great job and hope to see more like it!!! I give it an 8 out of 10!

Beau Sejour is a fine piece of dark Drama, interesting enough to keep the attention of those who enjoy a nice tale of unfortunate events, slowly unfolding.

• (+) It has an interesting screenplay, twists and turns completed with very good attention to details.
• (+) It has very good acting from the cast with show of emotions a la European, set in a small town, each one harboring his/her dark little secrets.
• (+) It has a very nice opening sequence completed with a suiting and caressing song.
• (+) The music throughout is light and fitting.
• (-) It shows physical capabilities and interactions for the main protagonist, way beyond logic and acceptance for a serious Mystery Drama show. (Its weakest point IMO)

A somewhat underestimated series, too good to pass under the radar and having 37 reviews only!

Hope more new people find about it and enjoy it as much as I did.