Allan Hawco, he of Republic of Doyle, has been visiting Saint-Pierre and Miquelon for decades. It is a little slice of France in the Atlantic not far from where he grew up, in Newfoundland.
He was there not too long ago and thought, dammit, this would be a great place to set a police procedural TV show. That is exactly what he has done.
Together with co-creator and co-showrunner Robina Lord-Stafford and writer-executive producer Perry Chaffe, this dream of creating a series on these tiny islands has come true. It airs Mondays after Murdoch Mysteries on CBC, or stream this week’s first episode now at CBC Gem.
Hawco cast himself as Donny “Fitz” Fitzpatrick, a police detective from St. John’s. His troubles begin when he busts a local politician who happens to be having an affair with Fitz’s estranged wife. The ensuing publicity looks bad so Fitz is packed off to Saint-Pierre in some tidy kind of cop exchange to do penance.
There he is teamed with local deputy police chief Geneviève “Arch” Archambault (Joséphine Jobert from Death in Paradise). She’s not too sure about this Fitz guy, but she is too good a cop to not be intrigued.
This is very much one of those fish out of Atlantic water dealios. Fitz, who throws up every time he’s on a police boat, doesn’t seem to have the stomach to work the island beat. Problem deux: he doesn’t speak french, incroyable in this very francophone squad room where he is already looked upon as the guy from come from away who should go back away.
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Viewers who miss Hawco’s fists-first detective from Doyle will find Fitz an older, wiser version. He too, it turns out, can take a bullet andheal quickly while working a case. The series opens with just such an incident and then flashes back “fifty-one hours earlier” to set up how Fitz got dinged in the line of fire.
Jobert as Arch makes a great foil as a no-nonsense cop with a back story we only learn about as the series goes on. We’re introduced to her walking the colourful streets of Saint-Pierre where, while french music plays in the background, she makes friends with a cute little Yorkie (an animal coached by expert trailer Sherri Davis, the master of the great German Shepherd Diesel on Hudson & Rex (shot in nearby St. John’s).
In the squad room, where he’s not exactly embraced by the other cops, Fitz witnesses firsthand a local, land-grabbing jerk in action named Gallagher (James Purefoy). He don’t like cops, he don’t like FItz, and snarls and huffs to let you know he’s gonna be trouble throughout this season.
Arch and FItz go about their business. The pair dig into some mischief at a picturesque church on one of the islands. A body is discovered. Coroner? Who needs a coroner when Arch already has gloves, a hazmat suit and a diploma in blood work.
A family of relative newcomers comes under scrutiny. No need to give anything away, but suffice to say I didn’t figure out the eventual trigger puller until all is revealed through Fitz’s savvy skills as an interrogator.
Props to cinematographer Ian Vatcher who captures the clean lines of the harbour area and the colourful side streets in all their crisp, Atlantic air glory. For variety, there are also scenes where Fitz and Arch exchange dialogue on board police boats that add a watery landscape touch to the hour.
When I first heard about this series, and having been to picturesque Saint-Pierre, I wondered if these would be enough crime on these small islands to drive a weekly series. “What, zee french bread sticks are stale again? Zut alors!”
International criminal activity, however, such as drug running, is a fact of life on Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. In any event, it is a TV show. Writers bring crime to unlikely places on TV all the time, including on Murder in a Small Town and Murdoch Mysteries.
Crime shows thrive on character, and little known Saint-Pierre is a pretty intriquing one all on its own. Fitz and Arch are fun to watch as well, with Jobert a worthy and flinty foil. Hawco gets to mature into a broader range of emotion as a damaged cop with something to prove. These two officers, so good at reading others while solving crimes, are built to get to the bottom of what makes the other one tick. The dialogue in the pilot promises sass and bilingual snark ahead. Vive la France.
