My 2024 TV resolution lasted just a few hours. Sorry, but not so sorry.
I believed in it though. Consume less empty calories on the small screen. Focus on the tough European television news, documentaries on the migration crisis in Africa and the complete TV5 programming. So. New year, new TV personality!
I failed miserably at the first temptation. The evening of 1er January, still stuffed with President’s Choice petit fours and strawberry Bubly, I came across Fool Me Ounce (Double trap), Netflix’s latest miniseries adapted from the detective novels of prolific writer Harlan Coben. How to say ? It looked really bad after three minutes and, eight hour-long episodes later, it still looked bad.
But why suffer so stupidly, and voluntarily, when the supply of good shows is exploding on all platforms? Excellent question. By intellectual laziness? By cruel masochism? Or a mix of both?
In the case of Double trap, online for five days on Netflix, I persevered because I like the effectiveness of the American author Harlan Coben, a specialist in these short thriller series full of twists and turns. I’ve seen almost all of his works and I’ve rarely been bothered, whether it’s Stay Close (Don’t walk away), Safe (Security), The Five (Jesse’s Shadow), The Stranger (Intimidation) Or The Woods (In the woods).
Yes, the Coben punch recipe repeats itself. But it’s devoured like a bag of chips, perched on the end of the sofa, always on the edge of possibility.
Alas, Fool Me Ounce, already at the top of Netflix’s popularity charts, is the worst production by Harlan Coben. It doesn’t even come close to being believable or plausible. In fact, the miniseries resembles a long Range Rover commercial, filmed on the roads of the magnificent English countryside, with a very average actress, who seems to find the scenario as ridiculous and convoluted as we do.
The story, if you insist, is that of the imperturbable Maya Stern, a former military helicopter pilot suffering from post-traumatic shock. Mother of little Lily, a little girl who spends all her time in the back seat of a luxury car, Maya lost her sister Claire and her husband Joe (Richard Armitage, who we see for 45 seconds, in total) in two different assassinations.
Of course, there is a link between these two murders, which the brave Maya, never bereaved, constantly armed with her bunch of keys, strives to find. In a classic case of twisted intrigue, false leads and shady characters multiply.
There’s the alcoholic detective who always passes out, the hat-wearing whistleblower who hides in an arcade, the ambiguous and overly helpful military policeman, the cold matriarch (Joanna Lumley, aka Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous) at the head of a mega-pharmaceutical company, the nanny who knows too much and the ghost of the past, if only it were a joke.
Once the last revelation is exposed, nothing to write to his mother, we realize that everything that happened between episodes 3 and 7 was of absolutely no use, apart from meddling and filling the void.
And the last scene, my dear, what a cutesy conclusion. If you have read the original book, know that the ending, which takes place in 2041, was modified for television. What a waste, spread with stressful music that is not necessary at all.
The framework of Harlan Coben’s TV series/books never moves. In a wealthy environment, where everyone lives in an architect’s house, a fallible, but still beautiful, character sees his world turned upside down by a dramatic event. We should feel empathy for Maya, a single mother traumatized by the war and a formidable driver of overly expensive cars.
But no. Maya functions like a robot with a single indecipherable expression and we never get attached to her. We follow her in her “investigation” parallel to that of the cops which, you will see, leads to a giant dead end.
And since we are in the manicured world of Harlan Coben, this cul-de-sac is lined with superb residences with huge windows (no fingerprints). From the heroine’s indestructible hairstyle to her fitted tweed coat, everything is impeccable in Fool Me Ounce. Everything, except the scenario, worthy of a Volvo ad.
I levitate
With Saltburn on Prime Video
This disturbing and surprising psychological thriller caused quite a buzz during the holiday break. And it’s not the kind of film that can be watched with family. In 2006, we follow two friends from Oxford University, the rich Felix (Jacob Elordi) and the “poor” Oliver (Barry Keoghan), who form an interested friendship turning into obsession. Directed by Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman), who also plays Camilla Parker Bowles in seasons 3 and 4 of The Crown, Saltburn evokes the work of Alfred Hitchcock and Patricia Highsmith. And it’s brilliant.
I avoid it
The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella
We know this British author for her amusing series The Shopaholic (there were nine volumes). I have read most of his other books, including My (not so) perfect life And Surprise me !, and Sophie Kinsella has never succeeded in recreating a heroine as endearing and funny as Becky Bloomwood, the compulsive shopper. His latest book, The Burnout, centered on a young Londoner suffering from burnout, duh, has fallen out of my hands several times. It’s boring, long and repetitive. Like a big seasonal depression.