They are too rare, benevolent comedies like Leofrom Club illico, who scrutinize the daily lives of ordinary people without denigrating their simpler way of life, planted light years away from the $8 matcha lattes of Mile-Ex.
Posted at 8:15 a.m.
Leo, it’s heartwarming, sweet, funny and stripped of sarcasm. In each of the 22-minute episodes, the harmony between funny lines and tender moments never breaks. It is an exercise in balance well mastered and maintained by actors gifted as much for drama as for comedy.
The fourth season of this series imagined by Fabien Cloutier, online since Thursday on Videotron’s Club illico, digs with delicacy and intelligence into the upheavals experienced, while trying to hide them, the inhabitants of Walton, a fictional town in Beauce.
The fourth chapter of Leo starts five years after the end of the third. The son of Léo (Fabien Cloutier) and Cindy (Marie-Laurence Moreau), the redhead Paul (Alexi Robidoux), begins kindergarten in the class of Mme Charlotte (Raphaëlle Lalande), an authoritarian and cold teacher, trained in cadets.
Poor Paul hates school and hates his too “strict” teacher, which creates friction between his parents.
The first three episodes of Leo 4 examine the increasingly tense relationship between Leo and Cindy, sucked into the whirlwind of family routine. Léo no longer works at Dubeau Gateaux and devotes himself entirely to the orchard he bought with his best friend Chabot (Steve Laplante).
At the pastry factory, Cindy replaces the boss Jacynthe (Catherine Chabot) and her schedule overflows everywhere, encroaching on matrimonial activities.
There is also water in the gas of the second pivotal couple of the series Leo, namely Chabot and Karine (Sylvie De Morais-Nogueira). Karine discovered wine, according to her boyfriend, and does not hesitate to sip several bottles during the week. Chabot and Karine will dip their big toes into the risky pool of the “open couple” and will find that (element crossed out for disclosure).
Leo draws its strength from the beauty of its colorful and endearing characters.
The second episode contains an anthology scene featuring the two extra-talkative sisters Jessica and Chantale, played by Anne Dorval and Sandrine Bisson. They are tasty, the two hairdressers. We should have written them more replies.
Nothing slips away incognito under the clever nose of the truculent Jessica: “Léo, you know it, I am like Marie-Claude Barrette. I look at the world and I grasp their emotions right away. »
My favorite remains Pouliot (Hubert Proulx), aka Poule-Djotte. His laugh worthy of the exorcist deserves its own cell phone ringtone. Special mention to little Maiden, the son of Dugars (Sébastien Dubé), who also attends kindergarten and who draws tattoos of naked dancers with felt-tip pens.
And even if Léo no longer sees them at work, the employees of Dubeau Gateaux all come back, including Landry (Mario Jean), Drouin (Simon Lacroix) and Perreault (Guillaume Cyr), who turns paranoid when an artisanal tarterie opens its doors in the village. .
As for Couture (Marc Labrèche), the new volunteer retiree aficionado of ponchos, he gives a boost to the orchard without learning to shut up, of course.
For the first time in five seasons, all of Leo’s friends live together, even the slimy Bourdon (Luc Boucher). This will lead to a very special celebration of love, which will bring together the whole gang of “winners”, including McDonald (Vincent Leclerc), who makes a too short appearance there.
In the sixth episode, Reynald (Pierre Lebeau) returns from Europe with terrible news. He will move in with his brother Yvon (Julien Poulin) to decant. Cindy’s mother, played by Micheline Bernard, now lives in residence, where her Alzheimer’s is progressing.
It’s rare that TV shows fundamentally good and vulnerable characters, who have their hearts in the right place. Leothat’s all, without pettiness, but with a lot of teasing.
Gala is desperately looking for an audience
Unsurprisingly, the Gala Québec Cinéma on Sunday did not blow up the Numeris devices, far from it. The ceremony celebrating Quebec cinema was watched by 468,000 people, about the same audience as last year (451,000). In 2018, the same seventh art festival attracted 720,000 onlookers, compared to 600,000 in 2019. The gala was not broadcast in 2020 due to the pandemic.
If it had been better, this gala would have performed better, because there was no competition on the other channels. TVA presented the Opération Enfant Soleil telethon, Noovo replayed films and Télé-Québec offered a recording of the musical program The waves of Petite-Vallée.
Sunday night’s most popular show was The goose that lays golden eggs on TVA with 687,000 viewers tuned in. Discovery de Radio-Canada (471,000) climbed to second place in the Sunday charts. Fascinating, as Charles Tisseyre would say.