HPI Haut Potentiel Intellectuel

Story: well, not all the episodes are perfect (a couple are exaggerated, I mean on investigation side and some things on the investigation process is taken lightly), but this show does really entertain! There is the background story which is very intriguing and keeps the interest alight, and there also is the romance, funny, drama, and serious side!

Actress & Actors and Acting: personally, I really like the cast, they all are very good. Very well done, guys!

Conclusion: if you are searching for something not very difficult, funny and with some romance along, well, this show will probably suits you! If you can't stand even the slightly mistake, well, I advise you to go watch other stuff as Orphan Black.

Audrey Fleurot makes the series worth watching. The concept is somewhat old - think Holmes + Will Hunting + saucy House and you get the idea, but after a few episodes the cast chemistry begins to show and as mentioned, Fleurot goes all-in for the quirky character. If the continues to improve, definitely worth the time.

/refers to Season 1/

Mrs. Fleurot is a really versatile actress, I have seen her in several other series (Engrenages, Un village français, Safe, etc.) and here she is so different - not frigid, not serious, but frivolous and careless... And she steals the show in every episode, even Mehdi Nebbou (a good actor as well) is not totally fitting/merited companion to her.

The cases are of different smoothness, but yet with twists, and even if you figure out the wrongdoer soon, there is always something behind until almost the very end. All in all, 8 points from me - 9 for Fleurot´s performance and 7 for script (realism included). And I am looking forward to Season 2.

PS Season 2 and 3 are as pleasant, with many unexpected twists included and an expected solution not included :) Crimes and criminals are never pleasant, but circumstances and/or people investigating them can be...

PPS Season 4 included more sad and confusing moments, but still - the quality is maintained. And more stuff to come, apparently.

I've really loved this first season, and hope a second season is coming soon.

Although the commited crimes are serious, the investigation is anything but serious. But it doesn't matter. It's the way the main characters have to work with each other that makes it so fun to watch.

Lille's police force is, to put it gently, not presented as the most intelligent force on earth, the plot is very thin, the proofing is so far fetched that it isn't believable anymore.

But this shouldn't be seen as a French Morse or Lewis. Neither as more serious detectives like Vera. It's a comedy with murder victems as the red line for the clashing and attractiveness between the main characters.

So yes, as Lucien Stam already mentioned, it fits in the same category as Death in Paradise.

This rating is for the 3 first seasons.

I like the premises and the acting in the first 2 seasons, especially from the leading lady.

High Intellectual Potential is seen by many as an advantage in life. In this series, it is shown in an hyperbolic fashion. The main character has superior memory and associative intelligence that allows her to solve deep mysteries in an instant, when unrelated triggers are put in place. This is not very realistic.

What is more realistic is how possessing high intellectual potential can be detrimental in life. No one understands her, she is a constant misfit and a societal failure, in part because her super-smart aura makes everyone around her feel stupid. She is also unable to set her mind to a long-term task and stick to it. She is easily distracted and very easily bored, and so she has no qualification, no diploma, no job, no money and everyone who has tried to live with her has given up on her. She has no fear of consequences and does not care for anyone's feelings, even when people genuinely try to help her, and even for her own children. She is also very good looking and uses that to her advantage, yet comes across as uncouth and gaudy with a very poor sense of taste.

That should have made her a profoundly unsympathetic character, yet, the main actress manages to overcome all this and show that her character is actually trampled over and used by everyone to her detriment, in particular by her family, and most particularly by her father, who has the same problems as her, even worse in a way. So in the end, she is rather lovable in spite of many flaws. This is quite a feat.

So I feel this is rather a good show. The down side is that the rest of the cast is basically a support cast. No one else is remotely as interesting as she is. No one rises to her level even the various love interests with rare exceptions. There is a main story in addition to each of the episode storyline, and this is one of deep sadness and betrayal.

The third season, however, magnifies all the downsides to a point where it become an unfunny caricature. I recommend the first 2 season, not really the last one.