Long John

It’s another moody page, and diving into its intricacies would only divulge spoilers.

In place of notes, here is a short discussion of a tv show I’ve enjoyed recently (a throwback to the old “The Week” posts I used to do):

• Three Pines

Like most of the world, it seems, my wife and I are always on the lookout for a good murder mystery. In Three Pines (on Amazon Prime) we found a surprising show that, despite its conventional demeanor, upended some interesting tropes. First, it’s a show that takes place in rural Quebec, where its characters smoothly bounce between speaking in English and French. While many countries have murder mystery shows in many different languages, it’s less the languages that makes it unique and more its setting.

Secondly, the main character, Armand Gamache, is played brilliantly by Alfred Molina. Gamache is kind of a French-Canadian Columbo––unassuming, quiet, calculating, and sympathetic. But it’s Molina’s performance that sells it; he’s always thinking and listening and caring, which plays well for his interaction with the other characters but also for the personal struggles Gamache is dealing with in the show.

Lastly, the structure of the season was a breath of fresh air. A tight eight episodes, it generally bucks the dominant trend of a season being a single story cut up into episodes like chapters in a book. While there is a through-line, the eight episodes are actually a series of two-part stories with characters weaving in and out of all of them (since it all takes place in the rural town of Three Pines).

It was a delight with really strong writing, acting, and bring being really vocal about shining a light on really important issues that many other pieces of entertainment ignore.