This is the second outing for police detective Céline Trudeau (Isabel Richer) in the achingly beautiful setting of northern Quebec in Canada. For the first season, she was paired up with Alexandre Théberge (Alexandre Landry) but following an incident at the end of Season 1 involving his wife, Alex is not yet ready to return to work – although he clearly has other ideas, as he infiltrates his way into the investigation at every opportunity.
If you want to avoid all spoilers, stop reading this article now.
Instead, Céline has a new partner – a rookie called Daphné Constant (Naila Louidort), who excelled in her detective exams and is keen to make an impression on her notorious boss. But Céline doesn’t work well with others, so their partnership doesn’t get off to the best of starts.
The crime this time around happens in a luxury hotel (they’ve used the wonderful Fairmont Le Château Frontenac for the setting – and it does look spectacular) where a man is found dead in a bathtub; drowned not in water, but cement! The unfortunate gentleman is Hubert Philippin, an engineer who was responsible for the construction of a bridge that collapsed killing and injuring many people – hence, presumably, why his killer chose cement as the somewhat unusual murder weapon.
Outside of the death by concrete, we also discover more about Céline and her difficult relationships with her ex-husband, William (who she attacked in S1), and her daughter. And her on-off affair with Alex.
Whereas the majority of Walter Presents output is European, they do occasionally dip their toes into the icy waters of North America; but there’s something about the formulaic way our US and Canadian friends make their TV crime shows that just doesn’t ring true with me compared to the European output, and this is no exception to that rule.
There are so many cliches here – the feisty cop who doesn’t work well with others; the rookie who is trying to make an impression. We’ve seen these characters a million times before, and ‘The Chateau Murders' doesn’t bring anything new or intriguing to the table.
The acting is solid, and its production values are excellent. Like the first season, it looks magnificent on screen; it really is a stunning part of the world. But in terms of world-beating drama, it’s mid-table at best.
If you enjoy the more mainstream North American TV cop shows, you will find plenty to enjoy here; but it’s not for me.
Walter Presents: ‘The Wall Season 2 – The Chateau Murders' is available as a full box-set on Walter Presents via Channel 4 Streaming now.
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