SPIRAL. Season 7. BBC 4 Saturday evenings. UK pace. NO SPOILERS!

[rosegoldwatcher]

Thread for Episode 1 and 2 (Season 7) of Spiral on BBC4.

We are watching on BBC 4, UK pace and have only seen episodes 1 & 2 so far.

Please, NO SPOILERS.

Am beginning to wonder how much I am missing by not speaking French. (Commented earlier that language seemed less racist but maybe it isn't, just sanitised sub titles).

From twitter:

Full on snort-laughed at "on s'est fait baisé" being translated to "wind-up" Golly gosh! #Engrenages #Spiral Laure + Gilou are my swearing spirit animals.

Apparently should be "we got fucked" (google translate!)

twitter.com/sophieLANT/status/1185904987710349318

I was thinking how much slower the episodes were tonight. But there were so many plot developments that it was probably just as well.

Is Josephine really back on her feet or is she yet again in the clutches of a man. She has never really been completely independent. She has had to compromise with a male colleague or boss.

And what no for Laure? She's not just messing up her personal life but her work as well :'(

Maybe Laure and Josephine will help each other recover from their traumas?

I reckon the money laundering storyline will go all the way to government level.

We're only halfway through the series still, so plenty of twists and turns to come.

The swearing translations are funny - I revised French swearing ready for this series!
I’m really interested to see how the Laure-Josephine situation plays out. Also liking Ali as the new Tintin.
Caroline Proust is just the most amazing actress, though. The scene when she gave up custody of Romy and the final scene last night when Gilou turned on her just show how good she is.

I must admit I sneaked over to the Guardian to see comments on the series recap they run. Needless to say being the Guardian some male(?) person commented that having a story line about pregnancy and depression meant it wasn't proper detective series!!!!!!!!!

And found out, as I had glimpsed at the end there is a dedication to someone and apparently it is the producer who has been involved since the start and recently died. This was meant to be the last series but they have (quickly) started filming another one which is likely to be the last one.

But more interstingly someone pointed out that wasn't the department that the suddenly very openly angry Judge has handed the case over to, the one that TinTin moved to.

Anyway, enough of other people's comments.

I thought Josephine wearing the top that her cell mate had given her was rather touching - or was it that she had nothing else? Why is she always surrounded by men who have no empathy? She has always to work on their terms and it always ends badly.

And its strange but I have never really liked Laure but really feel that with everything that has gone wrong she needs someone to be a good friend. But she always ends up pushing anyone who tries to get close to her away. Put dont think she has had a female friend to turn to, so maybe she and Josephine could be a mutal support group.

But that will all go wrong if Josephine is legal representing one of the men that Laure and the others think is part of the money laundering.

Its strange though being interested in how what seems to be a sort of "rogue" police team are the main characters, when in real lif we would be horrified to think they were investigating us or one of our friends or family.

I have just got into Spiral and am loving it. Been bit poorly and binged 6&what could of 7 in about 2 days! How can I catchup on Series 4&5 does anyone know?

You can buy the back series on Amazon

I thought the two episodes on saturday (2 Nov) where really, really good. (A bit distracted by the arty filming in some scenes)

I think the plotting and how some of the stories are interlinked is really clever.

I think its quite good that in some way Laure is sort of being what would traditionally be the male character (out of touch with her feelings, job obsessed) and Gilou who seems to have gone quite touchy feely. The scene with the hitch hiker was hilarious - but sad.

But please, please, just for once could Josephine get a job that isn't dependent on some man lusting after her. Its as though they are saying you cant be a high flying female lawyer on your own merit. It will always be because some man wants to own you.

And although I normally support all her attempts at seeking revenge on the men who have betrayed her, really, really, sad that she has exposed Judge Roban.

So much to talk about from saturday and no one to talk to!

Have Laure and Gilou just gone too far once too often?

A bit mean making Tintin investigate them though. I feel confident that they'll come out of it smelling of roses eventually though, don't you?

Well I think that is part of Spiral's good points. It's not just the police procedurals ( wrongly or rightly executed) but the personal dilemas they create for the characters.

I did wonder whether it was because Tintin felt so betrayed by his former friends / team that he exposed what Laure and Gilou had done. I think he is so bitter about they way they treated him.

Or maybe it will be the moment when he realises wanting to do things on just a professional level will always estrange him on a personal level.

I dont see how they can come out smelling of roses. But part of me thinks that Ali, who feels really let down by the Gilou who was working so closely with them, will somehow make it right for them. Alternatively he will do a Tintin and Laure and Gilou might have to think about resigning.

I am so worried about Josephine though. I think Lola will be her downfall.

I think you are right about Josephine and her feelings for Lola

Have caught up at last!
Only two more episodes. This series has sped by and I am missing it already.
So glad that Laure and Gilou have rekindled their lustful friendship.
So pleased to see Josephine back to her best/worst.

I really can't envisage a series 8 without M. Roban though - he cannot be allowed to retire!

Oh no! Do you mean it is finishing tomorrow (later today)?

I can think they will sort out all the threads even in 2 hours.

Hope it isn't too clunky. But on the other had maybe that is why they have filmed a series 8, as it will finish with a question mark over whether Laure and Gilou are dismissed.

But will be said with no Judge. Maybe he will become an independed advisor.

And please, please let Josephine have some good fortune and not be left having to dance to the tune of horrible men. Are we going to see her Sapphic side come through? Will she and Lola walk off hand in hand into the sunset. (Not a likely Spiral storyline)

Her whole storyline seems to be a warning to high flying women. Dont ever think you will be allowed in the upper echelons on your own merit, it will always be on the patronage of some sleazy male.

I got the impression that Tintin was trying to downplay Laure and Gilou's activities ( when he was talking to his boss) but new information came to light that meant he had no choice but to arrest them.

Gosh, I loved this series - and I've never seen any of the previous ones. I've tried before and just couldn't pick it up, but for some reason this one worked. Now I've got 6 series to catch up on!

I can't imagine how a series 8 will pan out now, though. Saying nothing about the ending of this one.....

Sigh - I wasn't that happy with how they ended this series though please I had though Ali might help up Laure and Gilou as they carry on oblivious to everyone else and what damage they might be doing. (such as Tintin having to leave and join another department).

Not happy that after Gilou's taking all the blame they finish with Laure all happy and smiling and apparently suddently reconciled to motherhood.

But was getting more and more distracted towards the end as the Josephine Lola storyling just disappeared. At one point I thought on no, poor Josepine will lose out again by getting caught up defending Eidelman (spelling?) what she should have been waiting at the prison gates for Lola. (The men on the Guardian recap thread are all adamant that Josephine would not get involved with Lola and would end up with Eidelman.) So all we saw was the emotional hug through the court screen. I am very cross about this.

And thought it quite sweet that twice when the Judge got a bit drunk he was so infatuated / caring about Laure. A bit of a crush. Hadn't really thought about it before but just assumed how the Judge sort of crept around was because that was how the actor was, but again when drunk the Judge became almost balletic!

I cant imagine how the next series will work if Gilou, Josephine and Raban are all not going to appear.

In all honesty Spiral is a bit too complex for me, and dont always understand the plot twists. For instance even though it was explained I never really grasped how the money laundering worked. And why at the end did Nadia started working with the police?

I dont think Spiral is perfect but I really do think it is so much better than any UK dective series. Or is that just me slight in awe of French style. Even the sniffer dog seemed a but more chic than one of our own!

(Slight spoiler but have read a press release that indicates 2 of the 3 characters I mentioned above will be in Series 8 - which I suppose we wont see for a year.)

sorry about typos

I really enjoyed it and loved seeing Josephine happy, if only for a brief interlude. Yes, it was odd that they didn't do any more with her storyline with Lola.

Wasn't Gilou a bit dodgy in the last series (at one point he stole some money he had found in a perp's house, although I'm not sure that he didn't return it later on in the series)? Maybe he felt he deserved to go down for it, although I'd never really supposed that they meant to keep the wads of money, had they?

I agree that it was strange that Laure did an about-turn regarding her daughter, but on the other hand, maybe Gilou's sacrifice made her realise that she needed to get on with living her life fully.

Nadia helped the police to help secure the release of Mazouz who was her lover and possibly as a way of exacting her revenge on Cann who she knew to have been involved in her son's murder.

Roll on series 8.

I thought Nadia helped the police because she thought that he'd been kidnapped and was trying to help him.

Thanks - I dont know why I thought Nadia started helping the police earlier that the kidnap, but it was after. In a way she was quite detatched about her sons, especially the younger one.

And yes, Gilou was very dodgy in the earlly series. The others may have bent the rules but he was nearly as much criminal as cop. If I remember right a heavy drug user and very abusive of prostituted women. And in one series he did steal (temporarily borrow?) some gold ingots.

He sort of turned himself around thinking he was going to play happy families with Laure, so in fact as the start of this series the fact that he hadn't gone back downhill but was in training and going a bit green with Ali was quite positive. To the extent that he seems to have been able to distance himself from his cop role to the extent he can give it up to help Laure who now seems to want to give up and go all maternal.

It was the cutting corners and borderline criminality that meant Tintin got more and more isolated from the rest of the team. In the end they just didn't bother to bring him in on whatever dodgy tactic they were going to use.

Still cross about no hint at all of whether Josephine and Lola are going to get involved.

I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed for the next 12 months!