Category: Television

Here there be spoilers

Monsieur Spade in its final episode could have been titled Where the Spies Are. It feels as though they are crawling out of the woodwork, so to speak. *There is a tenuous connection in that previous sentence to the latter part of this episode.

This episode starts with another flashback. This time Jean-Pierre is not reliving a horrible memory from his past. He can’t he is ll est mort. Marguerite is having this one. Jean Pierre is making love to her and this one is bittersweet.

Fastforward and Subtitles everywhere

Marguerite brings coffee to Patrice and Monsieur Spade. The three speak very briefly of Jean-Pierre. The conversation moves to the bartender who arrives. For those who hate subtitles this will a special kind of hell. (If they start going too fast, we recommend rewinding the scene.)

Zayd has been traded around different groups and individuals. The Chosen One ended up with Philippe. As the episode moves forward, it feels like everyone has a stake in the new Mahid. Jean-Pierre gives the boy to Philippe, to pay a debt.

Sam bums a cigarette.

The sniper and his accomplice

A black motorcycle speeds past Monsieur Spade and he follows it. It is the vehicle Sam chased after he Teresa were shot at. Sam knows who the man on the motorcycle is. Henri. Spade is angry, frustrated and short tempered. He and Henri have a terse conversation. After slapping Anatole for interrupting, Sam learns that Henri is not part of the OAS after all.

Anatole reveals that the France he envisions is xenophobic. He wants a France to be full of french people, every other nationality can get out. Willingly or forcibly, they must go.

*The best line in this entire segment goes, hands down, to Monsieur Spade who tells Anatole, “You sound like a leaflet someone dropped from an airplane.*

Introductions are in order

Spade returns home to find that the dogwood tree has be “struck by lightning.” He also finds a visitor in his house. It is the mysterious, Mister Kahn. He tells Sam that he is a “P.I.” just like Monsieur Spade. Kahn also tells Spade that he is there to retrieve the boy. The P.I. says that Zayd is very dangerous. *Later in this final episode, the young boy comes across as being an adult. Casting really hit the mark with Ismaël Berqouch as Zayd.*

Kahn gives an in depth definition of sabotage. He also tells Sam that it was he who saved his life “the other night.” Sam learns that Jean Pierre could have been spared, but he went too far. The conversation ends when Kahn says he will handle the Zayd problem alone.

Sam looks for Teresa and finds her room empty. She has been altering Danielle’s clothes. He remembers his late love. This flashback explains his almost obsessive connection to the pool.

dangerous

Maurice searches the alleys to find out who is moaning. Patrice is going through pictures. He realizes that Maurice is not at his desk. Philippe sets up his sniper’s nest. Teresa confronts Henri and tells him she knows he is OAS, the secret army. She learns this after taking his book. All Teresa wanted to know was where to find Philippe. Teresa reveals that Philippe is not her father.

George Fitzsimmons and Gazala have an informational, sexually charged tryst. Mrs Fitzsimmons arrives after the meeting and removes George with extreme prejudice. He is run over by her car; twice. She then shoots “her son” three times. We learn that female spy thought George was bent.

Patrice finds out from the Widow Huchet (Splendid scene this. Hats off to Fannie Lineros for this performance. #nosmallparts) that there is suspicious activity at “the hole.”

Teresa finds the mad, and murderous, monk. Maurice attempts a rescue but fails. The madman slashes Maurice’s leg. Teresa bites the monk who then pulls a gun. He tells her he will bite her back if this happens again.

Marguerite returns Jean Pierre’s pistol, the gift from Philippe.

history repeats itself

Mr Kahn meets Gazala and Zayd at the bridge. The P.I. believes that Philippe will shoot him after the transaction for the boy. Kahn opens the briefcase as proof that he has the promised money.

Philippe shoots him.

Gazala throws the briefcase over the bridge to distract the other sniper; Henri. She follows the money and the secret soldier misses the shot. Kahn’s colleague tries to collect Zayd and Philippe attempt to kill him as well. Henri shoots at Philippe.

The village is a hive of activity. Patrice learns of Maurice being hurt. He checks on his brother. Maurice tells his brother that the mad monk has Teresa.

The monk drags Teresa to the center of the bridge. He says that there a gun held to her head. Zayd walks to meet them hands held out empty. He seems very grown up, an adult. The monk lets Teresa go and begins praying.

Sam drives up and Teresa runs to him. He shoots at the zealot, the emphysema spoils the shot. Almost like the murder of Gabrielle’s late husband, several guns put an end to the monk’s life.

US Intelligence shows up and Marguerite finds Zayd. He gives her a hug. Suddenly he is a child again.

cards on the table

The “Colonel” from US Intel speaks to all the players in this deadly game. She apparently knows a lot about everyone. The head of intelligence blasts all the people who put Zayd in danger. The colonel also tells Father Morgan that is the Church’s fault that all those nuns died. Morgan calls her a “b*tch” and leaves. It seems as though the Colonel knows who everyone is, even Monsieur Spade.

Spade and the Colonel have a verbal sparring match. They take turns sniping at each other with no clear winner at the end. He tells her that the late George killed the intruder in his pool. It seems that the bullet went through and killed his dogwood tree.

The military head tells Sam about his old office. It is, she says, the property of an agent who represents female impersonators. She gets Zayd to follow her by whistling the Colonel Bogey March. He responds in kind. After all the players leave, Philippe in a police car, Marguerite and Spade mildly flirt.

Monsieur Spade dons sunglasses as Teresa tells him she will be okay if he does not want her around. She puts on sunglasses and he tells her, “Call me Sam.”

The episode ends with another of those pool and Gabrielle moments.

the review bit

In terms of entertainment value this sleepy little thriller, borrowing heavily from about every film noire moment, killed it. Owen with his almost impeccable American accent, Bossom literally convincing us that she was growing up before our eyes, these were the frosting on this French pastry.

At no time does this six part series destroy our suspension of disbelief. From the mad monk to the secret army all the plot points and the ever present flashbacks add up to sell this Sam Spade mystery effortlessly.

The choice of location, the cinematography, and the casting were spot on. One really felt like we were looking at early ’60s France. While not being sure just how Spade’s creator; Dashiell Hammett would have felt about this one we believe he would have approved.

Monsieur Spade is streaming on AcornTV and AMC+. Go check it out.