Happy Hallydays

This will be my last project for 2025, may you all enjoy the holidays. Let's hope 2026 brings an improvement in the state of the world.


Ardennes, “Secrets,” runtime 1:30:32
Subtitles download link

Ardennes is a new treat from director Josée Dayan (Capitaine Marleau) and her Passion Films production house. Subtitled “Secrets,” it is clearly a pilot.

Who are Dr. Olivier Rimbaud (David Hallyday from Capitaine Marleau, “À contre courant”) and his ‘housekeeper’ Olga (Bénédicte Cerutti)? Where do they really come from, what are they hiding (other than their matching tattoos), and whom or what are they hiding from? What are they up to in their Batcave beneath Olivier’s sumptuous chateau?

(L-R) Bénédicte Cerutti, Luba Azabal, Ben Attal, David Hallyday

Why does everything teen Zoé (Aminthe Audiard) sees turn hot pink when she's under stress, and why does she think she's actually a ghost? Just how badass but vulnerable is Cmdr. Anna Charrou (Luba Azabal)? Will she and Olivier be able to find and stop a serial kidnapper/murderer? What is causing the strange malady interfering with Anna’s— social life, let’s say. Is Olivier keeping fit, or combat-ready? And why is that almost-albino guy watching the chateau?

“Secrets” does a good job switching between the plotlines, and manages to fit in a couple of unexpected twists. It's fun when Rimbaud uses some of his psychiatrist skills to change the course of the investigation (or cover something up). It's all a very entertaining setup for what will hopefully become a long-running series.

Falco S03E05, “Sans pitié,” and S03E06, “Sacrifices”

Falco S03E05, “Sans pitié” (Merciless), runtime 48:15
Subtitles download link

Alex and Romain respond to the scene of a widow attacked and tortured in a cemetery. If that wasn’t enough, the MO is the same as a homicide of a doctor ten days earlier. The link between the victims is the city of Versailles, where she once lived and the doctor once worked– at the city’s women’s prison.

The jour-J for Carole and Philippe’s wedding approaches. Eleonore’s man problems get worse. We learn a little about Alex’s origins. Joy prepares to meet Romain's mother.

It doesn’t get more uncomfortable: Joy and Romain (Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux, L, and Clement Manuel) dine with his mother Marilise (Sophie Mounicot).

MISC

I’ve been working on and off on this and the following episode for a number of months, apologies to anyone waiting for them.


NOTES

1’20”: Aumônière au ravioles are very tiny cheese raviolis in a ‘purse’ of thin crepe-like pastry.

The EMT says he’ll give them more info sur place, ‘on-site’ (3’58”). But they’re already on-site, so he must mean ‘in/at house,’ as in ‘at base.’

Emergency surgery

Return To Paradise S02E01, “Apex Predator,” runtime 56:26
Subtitles download link

I’m one of those who have been sucked in (lured in?) by the light & comfy, easygoing exposition festival that is the Paradise franchise: first Death in, then Beyond, and now Return to. In Return, instead of a fish out of water away from home or returning to spawn, it’s a detective who is a fish out of water in her own home town.

Anna Samson (Mackenzie) and Lloyd Griffith (Colin)

Anna Samson is Australian detective Mackenzie Clarke, who some years prior fled her wedding in Dolphin Cove to become a DI in London. In Season 1 she has vague Internal Affairs trouble, and goes to wait out the deliberations back home down under. Only everyone remembers how she stood up local boy Glenn at the altar and left her job with the town police outpost, so they all hate her to some degree. Her old police boss– Glenn’s mom– nonetheless ropes Mack in to help out on a homicide, then hires her back short term as a DS. Is that the equivalent of British DI? I know from Brokenwood that a Detective Senior Sergeant is like a DCI… And then there’s Colin, the teddy bearish detective who was slated to become the DS. But I digress.

So that’s the premise. From episode to episode Mack works a fresh case while trying to sort out her feelings, especially toward Glenn (oops, complication: Glenn is now the medical examiner) and his mom. Mack’s only healthy emotional relationship is with her dog— which she had left with Glenn.

The show is now in its second season, coming soon to— I assume— Britbox.


MISC

I wasn’t planning on Return being a subtitling project, but I have trouble understanding some Australian accents, and I couldn’t watch the first episode of season 2 because the subtitles weren't good— sub-par, I mean. Boo, ABC.
      First, they seemed totally out of sync. The 1’8” recap was not subtitled, which is fine, but a subsequent 2’13” passes before the subtitles finally start. And I just can’t have that.
      1) I synced-up the titles that did exist, then 2) filled in the missing opening. As I worked though, I continued finding subtitle gaps, so I decided to keep going with the entire 56:26.

A standout in the cast is Celia Ireland as Reggie the civilian police helper, who is absolutely hilarious.

I encountered the same Subtitle Edit bug users have been reporting since 4.11, crashing when the spacebar is used for pause/play. I've reverted to 4.10– and it still happens! Only not as often.


NOTES

3’31”: This is the first line in the original subtitles, and it was originally coded as 00:05.982. All the subtitles before this were missing.

Here’s a strange pattern: subtitles for Colin were all missing. Even in the end credits Next Time reel. Even in conversations, Colin’s lines are missing but not those of who he’s talking to.
      I can only guess that whoever captured those subtitles used OCR on multicolored subs, and it ignored Colin's color.  

34’30”: Reggie is very bi this season.