Season 1 (2016)
Created by: Dan Franck
Starring: Gérard Depardieu, Benoît Magimel, Stéphane Caillard
Rating: TV-14
Watch Marseille
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| Marseille - Intriguing French political drama. |
In this Netflix original, and their first French language show, Robert Taro (Gérard Depardieu) has been mayor of Marseille for twenty years. On the verge of retirement, he is betrayed his former protégé, and he decides to run for mayor again against his protégé turned rival Lucas Barrès (Benoît Magimel).
Verdict:
This is a political battle between two men that claim to love the city, but aren't above moral compromise at a chance to be the mayor. Barrès is the more nefarious, stopping at nothing to gain the mayor position, but Taro is by no means a clear cut good guy. Twists and surprises abound in each episode, though often with a heavy bit of contrivance and misdirection that makes the surprise feel like a cheat. Each character, even side characters, share some kind of connection and scheme against each other, often making this show feel like part soap opera.
This does not seem like a show apt for subsequent seasons. The entire plot is resolved in the eight episodes. Maybe a second season was never planned, I don't know.
The first episode is easily the best, and the show declines from there. If you can stand a heavy bit of reading and want to see a French political soap opera, this isn't too bad.
It depends.
Review
I'm providing a full recap, as subtitles only add to the complexity. You can listen to it dubbed in English, but the intonation is absolutely terrible. I recommend the subtitles.
Everyone is scheming behind each other's back, and everyone on this show is somehow interconnected.
From the start the show exudes a dark and ominous vibe, indicating Marseille mayor Taro has a drug problem. I wondered if this was going to be a Toronto mayor Rob Ford story, but it's not. Taro's drug snorting mayor is the hero of the show.
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| Marseille - Gérard Depardieu as Robert Taro |
Taro is tired of being a politician. Before he leaves office he wants to revitalize the city by redeveloping the port and building a casino.
The city council argues for and against it, pointing out that the mayor was previously against the idea. Old and younger members of the council clash, with the latter championing modernization.
I assumed Taro is just corrupt, there are some big hints that something shady is going down. We see a long haired, suit wearing guy using burner phones and taking photos of officials. We think it's related to the casino and that this is Taro's man. Shady guy is going to kill a judge, but this isn't Taro's man. This is Barrès man. Barrès is the villain in a show where everyone is a bit of a villain.
There's even a jewelry store robbery that is linked to a reporter, Julia, who is the girlfriend of one of the thieves. I wondered if this show was going to explore the class divide in Marseille, but it's not. Julia happens to be mayor Taro's daughter. There seems to be only two degrees of separation between any character you see on the screen.
It's a well produced show that introduced a lot of characters and related plot lines, but kept it interesting. The first episode sets up the arc for the season.
Lucas Barrès is the deputy mayor under Taro. Barrès was an orphan and Taro found him as a child, grooming him to be mayor. Taro planned to retire but still run the city through Barrès.
Barrès plays a nebbish character when he's a politician on camera, but his true colors are an arch villain. At first I thought he were two separate characters as his demeanor and look are quite stark depending on whether he's playing the sheep or wolf.
Barrès holds some ill will for Taro, though at this point we don't know why. Barrès votes against the casino and Taro considers it betrayal. Barrès tells Taro he's waited twenty years for this. Barrès had a judge killed just to swing the vote his way.
Episode 2 - Straw Man
With Barrès's betrayal, Taro can no longer control the office after retiring. Taro plans to rescind his statement that he will not run.
Barrès attends the judge's funeral with Julia's best friend. The show needed more drama and had to maintain the two degrees of separation.
Barrès claims to be free of Taro now. The show referenced multiple times that Barrès was Taro's lap dog. That charade is decidedly over and Barrès plans to continue to be deputy mayor. He was elected after all.
The shady guy from episode one is Ange Cosini. He's some kind of mafia, running gambling and drugs in the city. His lieutenant/trigger man becomes the boss to Julia's jewelry store robbing boyfriend, Eric, from episode one after fire bombing his car.
Cosini and Barrès appear to have a plan to take over the city. Cosini has the casino developers car fire bombed to put the final nail in that coffin.
Barrès uses Julia's friend to disseminate information that Taro has a degenerative illness. Something is wrong with Taro, but what. Taro's wife goes to the doctor demanding information. We assume about him, because that is what the show has told us. The structure of conversations in the show can be very odd just so they can hit us with a big reveal. The doctor starts the conversation talking about Taro and his addictions and pivots mid sentence without a segue into the fact that Taro's wife has the degenerative illness. This isn't the first time this has happened, and we're in just the second episode. It manufactures drama. That's not bad, but at least make conversations flow logically. Maybe it's the French translation, but I doubt it.
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| Marseille - Benoît Magimel as Lucas Barrès |
Barrès is making allies, bolstering his run for mayor. Taro will run for mayor again instead of retiring. His daughter Julia disagrees, but Taro's wife insists, stating there is no reason for them both to give up what they love. With her hand issue, her occupation as a concert cello player is done.
We see a lady jailbird named Claudia. We don't know who she is, but she's sending Taro texts about an old newspaper article about a 1972 bank robbery. Correctional officers search her cell finding the phone in the toilet. Let me point out an officer puts on a glove to search the toilet, then dunks her hand in the toilet water, over the top of the glove to get the cell phone that is bagged in the bottom. In that scenario, what good did the glove do?
Of course Barrès knows lady jailbird. Is that his mom? With this show I'm guessing it will be yes.
Taro and Barrès both go after party leaders, trying to get votes. Taros discovers Barrès doesn't have a law degree. His entire background has been forged and faked. For some reason Taro never leaks this to the press. This piece of information is never revisited.
Episode 4 - Hoax (Brainwashing)
Barrès trys to seduce a male politician. Why not? He's seduced half the people in the show.
Barrès hard work is paying off. He's leading the polls and Taro is in last place.
Somehow Taro knows Barrès's mother, who is indeed the woman in jail. Of course he knows her.
Julia never seems to work. The jewel thief in episode one, Eric, is just a friend. He thought he was more which makes him jealous, but he's also a little punk that gets pushed around. He is hard friend zoned, and Julia flirts with him whenever they're together.
Julia is also hooking up with his friend Selim. Not only is Eric a punk with a chip on his shoulder, now he's going crazy over the violation of the bro code.
If the plot wasn't convoluted enough, Barrès's campaign advisor Vanessa and Cosini appear to have their own scheme behind Barrès's back.
Episode 5 - Face-off
Eric is manning up but going a little crazy. I just don't care. He's an unlikable character that will probably get killed off at some point.
He's only tangentially related to the story through the mayor's daughter and she isn't really that important. All of these tangentially related stories push this to soap opera territory.
Somehow Julia's reporter boss is related to jailbird Claudia. Again, two degrees of separation.
Episode 6 - Liberty, Equality, Without Pity
In a plot line that isn't highly contrived, Taro is Barrès's father.
Taro's affair with a party leader is outed by Barrès. Taro's wife isn't happy, and his former mistress is sorry she leaked the information to Barrès. Too late now.
Julia is on the trail of tracking down jailbird Claudia. That will probably get run out until the last episode.
Ange Cosini top drug dealing lieutenant has what he claims is an "unexploded bomb" on Taro. He negotiates with Barrès for a restaurant to launder his money. I would guess it involves the mayor's daugther.
Barrès cronies are running schemes, walling up polling stations, and preventing people from voting. Julia's boyfriend Selim is working the polls for Taro, but is he doing this for free for Julia? Why does he care?
Eric is a little punk and stabs Selim with a cheap shot. He's the character we've hated from the beginning, and that feeling has only increased.
Episode 7 - Voted
Eric is a killer. Selim is dead. It's time for Eric to get got. Unfortunately, that never happens. His story is dropped.
Cosini's lieutenant has a picture of Taro's driver buying coke. It's enough for Taro to lose a couple thousand votes, and the lieutenant gets a restaurant to launder his money. Cosini will find the bank, Barrès will find a front man.
Julia is on the trail of Cosini, finding the lead through Selim. Will she be the one to bring Barrès down? She's got a lot of pieces, both Cosini and Claudia.
Chasserson is a slimy little fellow. He went to Barrès, back to Taro, and now he's with
Barrès. Chasserson is trying to recruit more people to Barrès, but they see right through him.
Taro is gearing up for the debate, hoping to make up ground. Barrès is bound to have a trick up his sleeve.
His trick is to replace the ballots. He'll make all ballots for Taro two mm too small so that they will be rejected.
Julia finds out about Claudia and goes to her father about the information. Barrès lied about being an orphan. Taro chides her for looking into it. He fathered Barrès with Claudia. Revealing that reveals his indiscretion.
Julia tells her mom Barrès is no good, but Rachel for some contrived reason doesn't buy it. She goes to Barrès's apartment the night before the election to seduce Barrès. It makes absolutely no sense, other than a ploy to add drama. Barrès refuses, surprisingly.
Really? Taro's wife kills herself? The execution was absolutely terrible. This show had a great first episode and has steadily gone down hill.
Episode 8 - The Final Battle
Barrès and Taro square off in a debate. Who will be the victor?
Rachel didn't die. Barrès is about to bring out the 1972 bank robbery, when Taro states his wife is on the brink of death. Taro excuses himself, though in reality his wife is fine though bruised up. The announcement erases the deficit, putting Taro narrowly in the lead.
With defeat imminent, Chasseron leaves and Cosini threatens to withdraw his aid. Why are people blaming Barrès? It's an unfortunate stroke of luck for Taro who is using his wife to his full advantage.
Barrès realizes his campaign advisor Vanessa and Cosini were manipulating him. She admits as much.
Julia visits Claudia. Claudia admits the facts. She was in love with Taro and Taro turned her in, ruining her life. She raised Lucas to get revenge and she hopes he succeeds.
Taro turned Claudia in to save her life. His addiction to painkillers started when he wrecked his car after seeing Claudia after the accident, having driven all night. The newspaper guy was Taro's friend and Claudia was arrested at his house.
Barrès goes to Rachel and tells her that Taro is a liar and a coward. He is Taro's son. Barrès then runs on the front page a picture of Taro's driver buying drugs.
Taro states his driver does not do drugs, the drugs were for him. He's been doing coke for several years due to a medical issue and no one has complained about his leadership yet.
Cosini's lieutenant kills him after being fed false information from Barrès.
Is it really doing the very first scene of the season is also the last? I hate when shows do that. A fitting end. As the results are revealed Taro, having defeated Barrès, has a heart attack. Barrès holds him, but no one can hear Barrès scream over the roar of the soccer stadium they are in.
There is no way this gets a second season. The plot has been resolved. It's also a good thing, because a second season would be absolute rubbish.
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