You might call "Á contre-courant" 'the nepo baby episode'-- in the cast are Romane Bohringer, daughter of film legend Richard Bohringer, and David Hallyday, son of French rock legend Johnny Hallyday. (Another Hallyday child, Laura Smet, half-sister of David, appeared in the 2017 episode "Sang et Lumiere," as well as the more recent "Morte saison.")
Riwan Belkacemi, who was 'Bixente' in "Morte saison" and 'Greg' in "La cité des âmes en peine," is Gendarme 'Hakim' in this episode.
I'm not identifying this episode with Season/Episode numbers because I'm not certain where it goes in the order. I've seen it referenced as S04E11, but in only one place. It doesn't yet have an IMDB page.
Right from the top we have the zodiac engine and shouting. It sounds like the instructor yells pas comprend? ([do] you understand?), and then J'ai dit, tu comprends rien (I said, [do] you understand?). Overall the exchange seems to parallel the old English joke, 'Do you hear me?/I can't hear you.' So that's how I'm translating it.
Plougasnou-Carantec (13'48") refers to the football rivalry between the cities of Carantec & Henvic (neighbors sharing a club) and Plougasnou (plu-ya-noo) on the Bay of Morlaix in Brittany. The full name of the Plougasnou club is "Tregoroise de Plougasnou," which I thought was odd because Tregor is yet a third city nearby. It turns out that Tregor is also the name of an old province, in which Plougasnou is situated. No, what's odd is that the city of Tregor is across the line in the province of Haut Leon.
Babache (14'07") is one of many northern French words for someone not very intelligent.
At 14'41", Leila asks Marleau "What kind of cop are you?" Marleau replies Un flic a audimat. She could be saying two things:
1. "A cop with an audience." Marleau has often been self-referential. For instance, in "Morte saison" a forensic tech doesn't recognize her, and she asks him "Don't you have a TV?"
2. "A cop in Audimat!" Audimat! (Audience!) is a musical comedy about the competition between two TV producers. This would be another self-referential joke about Marleau being a show.
Ouessant Island (16'16"), also called Ushant, is off the western-most point in France.
Aux sombres héros de l'amer
In the official Aux sombres video, the band is performing in a pub, but also portray fishermen. It ends with the band appearing to die at sea-- but one is revived by Love.
Jacques de la Palice (1470-1525) was not Breton (18'22"). He was a nobleman and not entirely successful military leader, having been captured and killed at the Battle of Pavia.
Because Kenavo (19'31" and 96'57") is Breton for 'goodbye,' the joke must be that Marleau thinks it's like 'aloha.' Although, the second time she means both hello and goodbye.
At 19'43" Marleau's full line is 'Collective 50/50, did you see someone or not?' Collective 50/50 is an activist group of the French film/TV industry.
Marleau makes a vague joke (20'36") about having children: "Faite des gosses qui disait? Trois jour après il était mort" (Who said 'Make kids'? Three days later he was dead.) It doesn't seem to be a biblical reference. I think she's joking that your kids will kill you. To make the joke work better I've translated it as "Who said 'Let's have kids'? Three days later he was dead." Of course, three days implies his wife did it...
When Marleau references A Woman Under The Influence (23'39"), she makes the same gesture with her hands as Gena Rowlands at one point in the film.
'The Vilnius trial' (23'42") may refer to a 2023 suit by Lithuania against the French energy company Veolia, probably still in progress when this episode was in production. I don't know what it has to do with Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands.
Saint-Léger-sur-Drouette (25'05") is not a real place. The river La Drouette is about 20 miles from Paris, not in Brittany.
The newspaper Le Phare de L'Info, Lighthouse News, (25'10") was created for the show. The office location was an old oysterfarm building in Roche Jaune.
The Great Escape at Pont-Aven (25'43") appears to be a family-friendly glampground on the Atlantic coast of Brittany.
The Island of 30 Coffins (30'11") is a 2022 supernatural mystery series, co-written by Elsa Marpeau (creator of Capitaine Marleau).
'Hallyday' pun (33'29")!
Self-reference (34'01").
Marleau meets with Leila to organize a stakeout across from Cathedrale Saint-Tugdual in Treguier (47'20"), named after St. Tudwal, one of the seven founder saints of Brittany.
Marleau says Elias is forcément il y a une cacahuète (inevitably a peanut). I've translated it as 'has to be a nutcase' (47'35").
Another case of food idiom is Quel rapport avec la choucroute (52'13"), 'what does this have to do with sauerkraut?' Apparently this came from Tour de France riders dropping out during a race stage and having to ride in the sag wagon, which was covered with ads for sauerkraut. It means 'spinning your wheels' or 'getting nowhere fast.'
Verlan is a thing I always forget about. It's a French form of anagrammatic slang (it literally means 'inverse'). When Marleau uncovers a possible reason for the bombing, she remarks that it's not surprising the suspect coup etre vénére, 'could be worshipped' (54'18"). I scratched my head until I realized vénére is a verlan, she really means coup etre énervé, 'could be angry.'
Elise Lucet (57'00") is the host of Cash Investigation on France 2, making this a product placement reference for Marleau's current network.
The black-yellow-and-red object that looks like public art (77'55") is actually two objects. The red part is an aid to navigation buoy. The other part is something similar set in concrete.
Tac (79'34") is what is said while going through a list or steps, like "check" in English. In this case tac is standing for the evidence she is explaining to Gregoire, so I've translated it as "Do you follow?" Marleau uses tac this way in "Grand Hotel," (15'51"), and also to count the dealing of imaginary cards ("Grand Hotel," 31'14").
Longwy (91'00") is a city of 14,000 in the northeast near where the borders of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg meet. Its old district is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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