This show is the very essence of undemanding, or maybe cosy. I do enjoy it but it's just a bit sugary, so you feel rather as though you've seen off a few cream cakes or chocs by the end.
As with most crime dramas of the sort, everything really hinges on the "detective" - in this case Jean White - working it all out before the *trained police officers*. Treating the police like dimwits wasn't actually all that acceptable back in the "Golden Age" of crime when Christie & co were writing (& indeed some of those authors did have police detectives who aren't idiots - Ngaio Marsh for example) but it's even less realistic nowadays. Much of season 1 of Mme Blanc featured mysteries Jean was involved in due to it being her own life that was affected, or because Caron enlisted her help due to her knowledge of antiques. It was much easier to suspend disbelief.
In this instance, the prickly Insp Gaultier would almost certainly warn Jean off far more harshly than she does here, and I was also expecting her to turn up to chuck Jean out of Caron's house. You can't swan around in a crime scene even if the home owner gives you the key!
But never mind - it all allows Jean to solve the mystery in double quick time, so that she can explain to Gaultier (& us) who did it and why. Plus she finds a business opportunity for the future, which presumably will provide at least some of the plots in S2.
I do hope the Tony Robinson character will be back so that he can get a PROPER comeuppance for his pilfering. It was all well and good him returning the music box, but it was only one of the several things he had stolen and there really ought to be consequences.
I liked the increase in the spoken French but as someone else says, the subtitles need attention as they are virtually unreadable in some instances. They need a grey background so the text is properly visible.
I have to be honest the choral bit at the end didn't impress. It was a bit too underpowered. Allowing the two rich characters to "join in" was crass.
I will certainly watch the new series of Madam Blanc, but it's 100% forgettable and undemanding "comfort" TV.
.
As with most crime dramas of the sort, everything really hinges on the "detective" - in this case Jean White - working it all out before the *trained police officers*. Treating the police like dimwits wasn't actually all that acceptable back in the "Golden Age" of crime when Christie & co were writing (& indeed some of those authors did have police detectives who aren't idiots - Ngaio Marsh for example) but it's even less realistic nowadays. Much of season 1 of Mme Blanc featured mysteries Jean was involved in due to it being her own life that was affected, or because Caron enlisted her help due to her knowledge of antiques. It was much easier to suspend disbelief.
In this instance, the prickly Insp Gaultier would almost certainly warn Jean off far more harshly than she does here, and I was also expecting her to turn up to chuck Jean out of Caron's house. You can't swan around in a crime scene even if the home owner gives you the key!
But never mind - it all allows Jean to solve the mystery in double quick time, so that she can explain to Gaultier (& us) who did it and why. Plus she finds a business opportunity for the future, which presumably will provide at least some of the plots in S2.
I do hope the Tony Robinson character will be back so that he can get a PROPER comeuppance for his pilfering. It was all well and good him returning the music box, but it was only one of the several things he had stolen and there really ought to be consequences.
I liked the increase in the spoken French but as someone else says, the subtitles need attention as they are virtually unreadable in some instances. They need a grey background so the text is properly visible.
I have to be honest the choral bit at the end didn't impress. It was a bit too underpowered. Allowing the two rich characters to "join in" was crass.
I will certainly watch the new series of Madam Blanc, but it's 100% forgettable and undemanding "comfort" TV.
.
