Magellan

I am a fan of several different crime genres. This series is particularly entertaining because it takes you back and forth between the crime and the mystery and the ins and outs of Commissaire Magellan's family life. It is a wonderful balance between mystery and light humor. Nothing is over done or overly dramatic. This is a show you can watch with your family/teens/younger teens. There are gruesome or bloody moments, but always post-mortem and very temporary. The storyline is the focus, not the ability to shock an audience, which I find to be over the top, over done and erroneous. The characters are all likeable and believable. It is a nice break from the average crime/mystery show. The comedic relief is appreciated.

If you're a fan of Midsomer Murders, but also like your mysteries to have a decidedly Gallic twist, then Magellan is absolutely for you. The plots are convoluted, the suspects are plentiful, and the dogged Inspector is invariably going to get his man (or woman). But, what sets Magellan apart from what the French would call its British homologue is its edginess, its willingness to discover dark little corners in the psyches of even its most sympathetic characters, even Inspector Magellan himself. There's a focus on the actual crime investigation itself that sometimes gets blurred in Midsomer Murders; unlike its British cousin, Magellan's narratives are sharper, more detailed, and easier to take seriously. None of the casualness that sometimes makes Midsomer Murders seem like an excuse to meander through the sometimes incomprehensible (to a foreigner) personality quirks of the British provincial elite. There's real police business being done here, and Simon Magellan, despite his Colomboesque sartorial disarray and his exasperation with his often uncomfortable role as a 21st century divorced father desperately trying to do the right thing by his precocious teenaged daughters, really is a highly respected and insightful cop. His characteristically French aura of ironic detachment barely conceals a good and decent man who clearly understands what makes people tick and uses that understanding to tease out ingenious solutions to the tangled mysteries he encounters (references to Simenon's Maigret would be appropriate at this point). Yes, the mythical Northern town of Saignac appears to account for just about all of the murders recorded in France in any given month, but that's what we love about formulaic, locked room mysteries like this -- they tell us that the world may seem perennially out of joint, but that with local heroes like Tom Barnaby in England and Simon Magellan in France, everything will turn out more or less alright.

The series has been enjoyable. However, I have been fast forwarding the scenes with the nephew Ludo. Most reviews on this character have not been positive. So why do the producers or whoever are the decision makers insist on including this character? It is a shame. The interludes with the original cast was entertaining. Is it is grinding at best. Who can we appeal to for a change and have Ludo move to Antarctica and live there happily ever after. And we can move on enjoying Saignac with Magellan and Selma. That will be appreciated by many of us.

I love this 6,great scenery, mostly fantastic actors. Magellan is a cross between Vera and columbo. At least two murders per episode, although one only had one murder. What was stupid to me was the changing of the daughter's. Yes one was old enough to leave, but then they bring in a much younger girl than the youngest. She's always in adult conversations, she has a smart mouth and does she, attend school regularly??? Simon's friend Paul was ok in the beginning, then he wore his welcome out. But I would rather have him, than the bum nephew ludo. He's very unlikable, he's lazy and dirty looking. I hope there are more seasons of this series, just get rid of ludo and the entitled daughter.

This series was enjoyable utnil the character Ludo came on board. What a loser, irritating and annoying. Aside from that character I enjoy the show with great scenery, good mysteries and very little violence. MHz is great for foreign programming which far surpasses anything in the US excepet Yellowstone.