I'm sure some came to this show with high hopes but speaking personally, while hearing something described as "the new The Wire" doesn't do much for me since it is more about the audience the show is trying to appeal to than it is about the quality of the show. For this reason I didn't rush to come to Spiral (as it is called in the UK) because I presumed it would not be up to the description. Turns out that the first season more or less proved me correct in this assumption because it is far from the standard of that police show.
This isn't to say that it is bad though because actually I quite enjoyed it and found it mostly very engaging. The overarching plot is solid and has lots of subplots going on, all of which offer potential but the show's biggest problem is its rush to be something that the material simply isn't. It is ironic that the title literally translates as gears or cogs, because this machine is trying to run faster than the parts can justify and it really shows. So at the cog level we do get plenty of darkness and twists and turns but when it comes to their delivery on screen they are generally overdone. The darkness is really pushed in our faces too much, with lots of unnecessary gore that doesn't always amount to much. The camera also has plenty of good movement (I liked it pulling in or out of corridors) but it overdoes this crash-zoom thing, using it frequently at the end of episodes as if we are meant to be shocked by the cliffhanger even when it isn't really much of a cliffhanger. Things like this are everywhere because the show tends to be trying to deliver better than it is actually built and it just comes off like it is trying a bit too hard and ironically highlights that the quality isn't there.
We see this in some of the characters. I liked everyone but the characters are not built as complex as the show makes them appear on the surface. So I did like Laure as a central character but really there isn't much meat on her – she can strop around when required but there isn't more than you see happening. Likewise, although the plot gives Clément things to appear complex and murky about, he really tends to come off like a guy in a catalogue shoot who is trying to "look intense" in his nice suit. The supporting characters are decent but again nobody really "is" so much as they are "shown to be". The cast go with this and they are mostly good at what they are asked to do – I just wish it had really built the amorality from the bottom up, rather than working so hard to convince me at the superficial level.
That said, I liked Engrenages enough to return to it again for the second season. Hopefully it can continue the style and tone but make it function better and building the cogs properly, connecting them and making the show run at a pace that fits with all the detail, not just the top end.
This isn't to say that it is bad though because actually I quite enjoyed it and found it mostly very engaging. The overarching plot is solid and has lots of subplots going on, all of which offer potential but the show's biggest problem is its rush to be something that the material simply isn't. It is ironic that the title literally translates as gears or cogs, because this machine is trying to run faster than the parts can justify and it really shows. So at the cog level we do get plenty of darkness and twists and turns but when it comes to their delivery on screen they are generally overdone. The darkness is really pushed in our faces too much, with lots of unnecessary gore that doesn't always amount to much. The camera also has plenty of good movement (I liked it pulling in or out of corridors) but it overdoes this crash-zoom thing, using it frequently at the end of episodes as if we are meant to be shocked by the cliffhanger even when it isn't really much of a cliffhanger. Things like this are everywhere because the show tends to be trying to deliver better than it is actually built and it just comes off like it is trying a bit too hard and ironically highlights that the quality isn't there.
We see this in some of the characters. I liked everyone but the characters are not built as complex as the show makes them appear on the surface. So I did like Laure as a central character but really there isn't much meat on her – she can strop around when required but there isn't more than you see happening. Likewise, although the plot gives Clément things to appear complex and murky about, he really tends to come off like a guy in a catalogue shoot who is trying to "look intense" in his nice suit. The supporting characters are decent but again nobody really "is" so much as they are "shown to be". The cast go with this and they are mostly good at what they are asked to do – I just wish it had really built the amorality from the bottom up, rather than working so hard to convince me at the superficial level.
That said, I liked Engrenages enough to return to it again for the second season. Hopefully it can continue the style and tone but make it function better and building the cogs properly, connecting them and making the show run at a pace that fits with all the detail, not just the top end.
