True Detective has shown that a police drama in which a ritual murder has taken place and which has to be solved by looking into the past can be extremely good. The French Le Passager also takes that idea, but does it manage to reach the same heights as the American show?
The series opens at a train yard, where the lifeless body is found of a man who is wearing the severed head of a bull. It is a reference to the minotaur from Greek mythology and agent Anaïs Chatelet (Raphaëlle Agogué) is put on the case, with the assignment to finish this up as quickly as she can. A suspect is found, but he’s completely lost his mind and is brought to a psychiatric ward, lead by doctor Mathias Freire (Jean-Hugues Anglade). Chatelet and Freire are not two people who get along well as she wants to interrogate the suspect as soon as she can, but Freire doesn’t allow it. They find out that the murder might have been committed by someone else and the two are forced to work together and find out what’s going on as more mythology inspired murders are executed.
The idea behind the series is fascinating and as with every police show you want to know who’s responsible and why he did it. Finding the answer turns out to be very complicated, especially when Freire finds out that he has a past he can’t remember. It complicates the case severely and takes the two to various towns in France.
The whole they dig keeps getting deeper, without giving many answers. Add to that the fact that the main characters, although played well, aren’t really sympathetic and the result is a show which isn’t always easy to watch, even though it only consists out of six episodes. It happens too often that people just happen to be at a specific place when something happens, making it all feel too artificial. The result is a world which isn’t very believable. The ending feels rushed and you get the feeling the boxset might be missing another DVD. Maybe the thinking is that you’ll want a second season, but personally I’ve had enough.
Nice review. This does sound very similar to True Detective. First season was pretty good but 2 so far has been lackluster.
It does, but isn’t at the same level by a long shot. I loved the first season of True Detective, but was already afraid the second season wouldn’t be able to match it. Haven’t watched it yet, but sad to hear it’s not as good.
Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams are superb, though.
I’ll watch it eventually 🙂
Hi, I was surprised to see the DVD was released in the Netherlands months before the series aired in France. Could you please tell me, did the series air on Dutch TV (if yes, which channel/when?) or was it just released on DVD? Thank you.
It was released on DVD over here.
Thank you, that’s quite interesting.
Totally agree, but after watching 1 episode I have seen enough.
The end credits 3D animation looks like it was made by a high school student in 2006.