For reference My top SCI-FI = Blade Runner, Battlestar (remake), The Expanse, and my favorite CRIME/ POLITICAL/ SPY dramas = The Killing (U.S.), Bodyguard, Berlin Station, Dexter, Black Mirror Season 1, Bron/Broen. I also love well-crafted stylized shows like The Boys, Killing Eve and Money Heist.
I'm not European nor American, not a Francophile, no film/TV genre connoisseur nor a purist. But I'm super picky. I would dump a high production value show with my favorite actors in it, if the writing/ premise/ narrative flow fail my standards.
To me, Le Bureau des Légendes is in a class of its own, the "why didn't anyone tell me about this show the last few years?" outlier. The amount of heart AND discipline that went into this show, speechless. I don't only "like" the people who created this show, I respect them, because they respect their audience. The sincerity, the passion to communicate nuanced hard truths, the depth of intelligence, the layers of human emotion versus reason... The Bureau's narrators make "serious spy shows" like Homeland look insultingly dumbed down, and technically meticulous The Americans feel fake and contrived. Even a 3 minute hackers' department scene has been researched and presented with zero compromise AND great economy, yet without the writers/ directors making a fuss about "look we're so diligent".
Everything film gurus b*tched about French art films, all James Bond BS, all Bourne Identity excesses, turned upside down by The Bureau product, cast, and superb crew. Everything good about classic spy dramas, everything that truly matters in our world's ongoing geopolitical struggles, AND super demanding realistic technical details in the Middle East sets or Moscow spa or posh Baku Hilton or unglamorous crowded French intelligence offices or hacker scribble board, are delivered with seamless dexterity and conviction. No clunky exposition annoyance, no narrative hands-of-god wanking, no ADHD editing nor convoluted time jumping, no camera stunts, no needless pandering to baser instincts, no "make muh-country great again" preaching, yet one is made to care more about Tyranny vs Democracy and Humanity and War and Love and The State We Are In, more than ever.
Even at the seemingly least humane moments, this show is conveying human decency, the most wanted world commodity this last few years.
That, is why I can't call it a spy drama, the same way Blade Runner is not mere science fiction, but classical drama. Le Bureau des Légendes is a classical piece of work, without even trying to be one.
I'm in the 4th season, and praying that this journey won't end.
As a few other reviewers have said: this is the best TV series ever written.
I'm not European nor American, not a Francophile, no film/TV genre connoisseur nor a purist. But I'm super picky. I would dump a high production value show with my favorite actors in it, if the writing/ premise/ narrative flow fail my standards.
To me, Le Bureau des Légendes is in a class of its own, the "why didn't anyone tell me about this show the last few years?" outlier. The amount of heart AND discipline that went into this show, speechless. I don't only "like" the people who created this show, I respect them, because they respect their audience. The sincerity, the passion to communicate nuanced hard truths, the depth of intelligence, the layers of human emotion versus reason... The Bureau's narrators make "serious spy shows" like Homeland look insultingly dumbed down, and technically meticulous The Americans feel fake and contrived. Even a 3 minute hackers' department scene has been researched and presented with zero compromise AND great economy, yet without the writers/ directors making a fuss about "look we're so diligent".
Everything film gurus b*tched about French art films, all James Bond BS, all Bourne Identity excesses, turned upside down by The Bureau product, cast, and superb crew. Everything good about classic spy dramas, everything that truly matters in our world's ongoing geopolitical struggles, AND super demanding realistic technical details in the Middle East sets or Moscow spa or posh Baku Hilton or unglamorous crowded French intelligence offices or hacker scribble board, are delivered with seamless dexterity and conviction. No clunky exposition annoyance, no narrative hands-of-god wanking, no ADHD editing nor convoluted time jumping, no camera stunts, no needless pandering to baser instincts, no "make muh-country great again" preaching, yet one is made to care more about Tyranny vs Democracy and Humanity and War and Love and The State We Are In, more than ever.
Even at the seemingly least humane moments, this show is conveying human decency, the most wanted world commodity this last few years.
That, is why I can't call it a spy drama, the same way Blade Runner is not mere science fiction, but classical drama. Le Bureau des Légendes is a classical piece of work, without even trying to be one.
I'm in the 4th season, and praying that this journey won't end.
As a few other reviewers have said: this is the best TV series ever written.