For several moons now, Debbie Lynch-White, Olivia Palacci, Julie de Lafrenière and Sarah Desjeunes Rico have met at the auditions of television characters with atypical bodies or more generous curves, let’s say.
In cruder terms, these four actresses are still vying for roles as the fat, you know, curvy, funny woman (like: the sassy best friend) who serves as the comic support for a thinner heroine? They play them. All the time.
Tired of ending up in this professional cul-de-sac, the four actresses, supported by screenwriter Kim Lévesque-Lizotte, have invented their own series, Bombswhere their physique does not define the trajectory of the mid-thirties they embody.
Halfway between beefy drama and pure comedy, Bombs recount the fall – therefore, the explosion – of four professionals struggling with various addictions. In the first episode, which the Séries Plus channel will relay on Thursday, February 2, at 9 p.m., our four bombs detonate and land in the same common room of the Catharsis specialized center, a kind of Jean-Lapointe house, but in Orford, in Estrie .
In a polyamorous relationship, pool installer Claudine (Debbie Lynch-White) lives only for sex, with guys, girls, or solo. Performance-obsessed lawyer Vicky (Sarah Desjeunes Rico) piles up 70-hour weeks thanks to the drugs she swallows like Skittles.
Addicted to social networks, social worker Emma (Julie de Lafrenière), the most touching of the quartet, feeds fake profiles on Instagram and Facebook to generate “likes”, which she thrives on, disconnected from the real world.
And the boisterous Juliette (Olivia Palacci), who lives off her wealthy parents, ruins her relationship because of her obsession with poker.
In the first two episodes (out of a total of six) that I saw on Monday, the pace and tone of the Bombs vary greatly from scene to scene. From a poignant moment, we slide to a burlesque gag of a vibrator hidden in a laundry basket, to return to a moving confession.
This sudden shift creates ruptures that prevent us from embracing the bumpy journey of the four imperfect heroines.
The “luxury spa” aesthetic of Bombswhich resembles that of Nine Perfect Strangers from Amazon’s Prime Video, also hurts storyline buy-in. What the heroines are about to experience, a 21-day closed cure, does not look good, especially for Vicky’s violent withdrawal. The Scandinavian decor brushed with essential oils contrasts with the seriousness of the problems of its residents.
Around the four bombs, who did not know each other before reaching the bottom of the barrel, gravitate three other customers of the Catharsis center, including Étienne (Félix-Antoine Duval), who fights with an obsessive compulsive disorder, Jacynthe (Laetitia Isambert) , a prisoner of her orthorexia, as well as Grégoire (Jean-François Mercier), a grouchy almost mute. Jean-Nicolas Verreault embodies the psychotherapist Fabien (very direct), who guides the group sessions.
The best of Bombswhich was originally called The gorgeous, is revealed in the truth and the intimate moments when the girls, vulnerable, reveal their flaws and support each other in their trials. It is vibrant and comforting.
From memory, it is also the first time that a Quebec channel has entrusted four plump actresses with the first four roles in a big-budget miniseries. You have to salute him.
Ultimately, Bombs is not a bad show. The heroines are endearing and we want to follow them in their recovery. There are, however, some new-age elements that hamper the narrative. Also tell yourself that the character of the compulsive gambler (Olivia Palacci) softens after two hours, and that’s good. Because she is very, very intense in each of her appearances.
Big zapping Sunday
The majority After-party alliance, which splits into sub-alliances of two or three members, still dominates the house of Big Brother Celebrities and got the lead from Benoît Gagnon. It’s a shame that the host of Rouge FM leaves so quickly. I didn’t think I would appreciate this efficient player so much, who will get an unexpected chance to return to the loft next Sunday, after the third ousting of the season.
According to Numeris, 728,000 fans watched the Sunday gala of Big Brother Celebrities, on Noovo, compared to 1,464,000 who preferred The voice at VAT.
The last episode of true nature, seen by 776,000 couch potatoes, contained moving confessions from Caroline Néron (about her bankruptcy) and Denis Bernard (about her cancer and hair loss). The comedian Mathieu Dufour, the youngest of the trio, added himself well to the conversations overseen by Jean-Philippe Dion. Overall, a very good episode.
On the side of Everybody talks about it at Radio-Canada, which oscillated between the intensity of Roy Dupuis and the amusing frivolity of Bleu Jeans Bleu, the listening rating was estimated at 835,000 curious people, top minou!