Hugo pop! | It’s just Monday, my dear!

A little wooly blanket, an expensive candle and phentex slippers, I always look forward to my Monday night of TV. Mainly due to Dumas and Weaponsthe two fall series that air each other at 8 p.m., one on Radio-Canada, the other on TVA.

These two soap operas are teeming with confusing characters and full of false leads, nothing to calm our armchair detective impulses.

At Radio-Canada, Dumas, by author Luc Dionne, has been gaining points for two weeks. Monday evening’s episode, already online on Tou.tv Extra, contains a 100% Lucdionesque turnaround, which sheds light on this criminal-family saga in a different and astonishing way. A big one punch that Nostradumas – more and more blind, he is getting older! – never saw him tumbling in his rearview mirror.

In barely a month, Luc Dionne has compressed as much information as possible into his series centered around Jean Dumas (Gildor Roy), the cantankerous boss of the private security firm Intelco. If the good commander Daniel Chiasson of District 31 was the funny alter ego of Luc Dionne, Jean Dumas embodies the more brittle character of the prolific screenwriter, who will end up merging with Gildor Roy because they are so similar.

What has stood out about Dumas’ pivotal character for three weeks is obviously his stupid appearance.

But what hides behind this gruff facade is an extremely bright and connected man, who is always several steps ahead of his enemies.

Now, why did Vincent Guilbault (Patrice Bissonnette), the boyfriend of his ex-wife Stéphanie (Isabel Richer), try to assassinate Jean Dumas in the first episode? Luc Dionne planted a lousy real estate investment plot that hides the real motive. Because it would be too simple and Luc Dionne has accustomed us to more skillful pirouettes.

The fourth episode, the one that Radio-Canada broadcasts on Monday, points to a titillating, very plausible track. And finally, we enter the offices of the rival agency Investcan, headed by Pierre-Henri Cazal (Laurent Lucas) and Luigi Amadeo (Christian De La Cortina). Two shady associates, who accept mandates from organized crime, which Jean Dumas’ Intelco company systematically refuses. A third key person at Investcan, played by Catherine-Anne Toupin, also arrives in Monday evening’s episode, probably the best since the TV show was launched.

We now have to talk about Stéphanie Guérin (Isabel Richer), the least weeping widow on the small Quebec screen. It’s clear that she’s riding the Ferrari of antidepressants. Otherwise, how can we explain that Stéphanie is still standing after learning that her lover Vincent Guilbault betrayed her, that he tried to liquidate her ex-husband and that he was then killed in prison, before his trial took place ? Its coffee is strong or it’s strong coffee, choose.

To add to the weight of a future nervous breakdown for Stéphanie: the return of her junkie daughter Catherine (Jade Charbonneau), who refuses to see her, without forgetting her multi-million divorce from Jean Dumas which has not yet been resolved.

At Intelco, investigator Sophie Lacoste (Marie-Lyne Joncas) inherits seemingly innocuous files, which end up revealing a complex story.

The next case, starring Marie-Laurence Moreau and Daniel Thomas, is no exception to this rule, and it escalates.

I really like Jean Dumas’ right-hand man, the enigmatic Éric Bonin (Vincent Leclerc), about whom we know almost nothing, except that he is the godfather of Charlie (Lili Francke-Robitaille), Jean’s eldest daughter. and Stephanie. Efficient, discreet and loyal, Eric’s perfect guy armor hides a troubled past, but which one?

Lawyer Anthony Dumas (Jason Roy Léveillée) inherited his father’s pig-like character. Uncompromising, nervous and sanguine, it’s obvious that if Anthony clashes so much with his dad, it’s because they are the same: stubborn, resentful and angry. Thanks, we just saved them from psychoanalysis at $175 an hour.

For The weapons, on TVA, many viewers hesitate to adopt it because of its unattractive subject, life on a Canadian military base. Climb over your prejudice, like an infantry recruit, and enlist, as they say. It’s a captivating soap opera that immerses us in paranoia, intimidation and secrecy.

Of course, there are high-ranking officers from another era, violent and barbaric (François Papineau and Frédéric Millaire Zouvi), who humiliate the soldiers, but there are also modern people, who push for change in Kanawata .

This is the case of the characters of Lieutenant-Colonel Louis-Philippe Savard (Vincent-Guillaume Otis) and military policewoman Kim Falardeau (Eve Landry). Their collaboration, which seems natural, will not be established organically, let’s say.

This part of “the army within the army”, developed by the author Pierre-Marc Drouin, proves to be the most impactful element of the Weapons. Who makes up this secret JTF16 commando? Is Warrant Officer Wesley Augustin (Irdens Exantus) a good guy or a bad guy? Does Wesley suspect that his brother Xavier (Rodney Alexandre) was experiencing enormous distress before he stabbed a colleague?

Who knows what, ultimately? The ambiguity about the intentions of the protagonists firmly hooks us. Theories are being hatched about the spy infiltrated among the young people, soldier Aiden Larochelle (Alex Godbout). We imagine that Kim’s partner (Eve Landry) ended his life for a reason linked to the unhealthy climate which reigns in the elite unit of JTF16.

And we google what JAG means, because no character in Weapons has not yet verbalized it. This is the office of the Judge Advocate General of the Canadian Armed Forces. The equivalent of the Lapointe-Macdonald office, but reserved for reservists in trouble.

I levitate

With the deadly Familiprix ads

You know, the ones that warn us not to look up our symptoms on the internet? In the first, a father who thinks he is on the verge of death leaves a gold watch to his son only to learn that he suffers from… allergies. In the other, a beleaguered and supposedly doomed woman buys plane tickets for an expensive world tour and discovers that her terrible illness is… eczema. Funny and effective, these ads curb the desire to zap, an increasingly rare feat in this ocean of cutesy and consensual ads.

I avoid it

The DoorDash service slogan

No kidding, who really says “dash me that” when ordering a meal on this UberEats-type app? Hmm, a good pizzaghetti, give me that, quickly! In the radio ad, a father looks completely overwhelmed – and ridiculous – as he responds to his child’s endless demands. And their dialogue takes place in messy French. Dash that for me? No, flush it for me. It’s much better.