After six scintillating Saturdays’ worth of murder, mayhem and malheur, French crime drama Spiral concludes with a double-bill that untangles the criss-crossing cat’s cradle of storylines and brings the series to a grim but gripping conclusion.
Judge François Roban (Phillipe Duclos) and his ever-present clerk Marianne (Elisabeth Macocco) finally achieve what they believe is a double victory over treacherous intern Arnaud Ledoré (Xavier Robic) and the corrupt Mayor of Villedieu, Didier Courcelles (Nicolas Moreau). Unfortunately, both moments of triumph are fleeting. ‘Acting all virtuous and moral never got you anywhere,’ gloats Roban’s turncoat brother Martin (Gilles Cohen) smugly; and, alas, he’s right. Nothing works out the way the Judge wants it to: not with Arnaud, the case against Courcelles or in his on-off relationship with Arnaud’s mother Isabelle (Anne Alvaro). Even Martin doesn’t get the claquez dans le visage he so richly deserves.
Meanwhile, at Les Avocats à la Cour, there’s an epiphanic moment for Josephine Karlsson (Audrey Fleurot). Having demonstrated her ruthless efficiency as a defence lawyer, her mercenary adoration of filthy lucre and her exceptional ability to be a cold, sarcastic bitch, Josephine finally reveals a speck of humanity beneath the glamorously amoral exterior and acts with surprising nobility in a final attempt to save the career of her beleaguered colleague Pierre Clément (Grégory Fitoussi). Perhaps some of his virtues have rubbed off on her; or maybe it’s just the smouldering sexual tension between them has finally become unbearable.
However, enjoyable though these plot strands are, they’re secondary to the resolution of the principal story of the season: Captain Laure Berthaud’s (Caroline Proust) self-appointed personal mission to take down the Butcher of La Villette, Ronaldo Fuentes (Misha Arias de la Cantolla). In addition to Laure and her CID team, the least popular pervert in Paris is also being pursued by psychopathic pimps and the Crime Squad, the latter thanks to Charles Hawtrey lookalike Patricia (Corinne Masiero) – the prostitute with a voice deeper than her throat – who passes vital information to superintendent Vincent Brémont (Bruno Debrant) when Laure’s deputy Gilou (Thierry Godard) rebuffs her offer of help, bellowing ‘Scum like you shouldn’t reproduce; don’t come back!’ into her face.
It’s not a great couple of episodes for Gilou in many ways – not least because of his decision to quit CID for Special Branch – but at least he gets to stamp on an Albanian’s testicles during a jail visit and shout ‘Sometime never; now piss off!’ when a fellow cop asks him about his leaving do.
Despite the plethora of people on Ronaldo’s trail, it is – of course – Laure who faces the killer at the finish, and the climax is as downbeat as regular viewers might expect. However, there is also a pleasing sense of circularity and resolution; and the best news of all for fans of this darkly delightful drama is that three further seasons of Spiral have already been commissioned. We haven’t seen the last of Captain Berthaud and her collection of vests just yet – and that, if you pardon our French, is magnifique.
Airs at 9pm on Saturday 7th May 2011 on BBC Four.