There will be swordplay

One of the gems on the PBS Masterpiece streaming channel is the Walter Presents row, and one of the gems on that row is the lone season of Heer & Meester (2014). Heer is similar to the German herr, and means lord/mister/sir etc. Meester is like the French maitre, ‘master,’ as in ‘lawyer.’ So WP’s English translation of HM is Lord & Master.

Oddly, heer sometimes means ‘master’ too.

HM is a Dutch action-mystery, and lovingly pays homage to an earlier era, in which a suave gentleman sleuth drives fast cars, beds beautiful women, and solves mysteries with the help of 1) his faithful butler and 2) a female deputy prosecutor.

Schuurmans (R) and Fermin

It starred Daan Schuurmans as sleuth Valentijn Bentinck, Hubert Fermin as the butler Leo, and Sytske van der Ster as prosecutor Suze (pronounced soo-je) Geleijnse (pronounced he-line-sa). Ferdi Stofmeel played Frensdorf, Suze’s unlikeable workplace nemesis.

Sytske van der Ster as Suze, Season 1

HM was made in the 2010s, but its photography, production design, and jazz score gives it a 1970s sophisticated-movie-for-grownups feel.

The premise is simple: Valentijn was an orphan who was sponsored by a wealthy benefactor. He took the surname of the kindly orphanage priest, growing up there and at boarding school. Today he can live a playboy lifestyle thanks to a ginormous trust fund, but is troubled by not knowing where he comes from.

A Tale of Two Bridges

Capitaine Marleau #39, “Port d’attache” (Home Port), runtime 1:38:04
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Marleau is called to a small town to investigate an apparent homicide on a river ferry. The community was already in an uproar over a project to build a bridge, which would kill the ferry and rob local businesses of tourists. The victim is Sophie Lachaud, innkeeper and leader of the anti-bridge forces; she died after being pushed off the ferry’s bridge onto the deck below.

Marleau looks at Sophie’s sister Vickie, then at escaped convict Argann, Sophie’s ex the ferry pilot, and wealthy Manuel, the bridge contractor. Throw in a midnight graffiti poet and some sibling rivalry, and it's a mystery only Marleau can untangle.

Elodie (Speedy the Gendarme from “La 7eme Danse”) is back, again played by Aurélie Verillon.

Marple & Marple

Astrid et Raphaëlle S06E08, “Le Testament” (The Will), runtime 59:43
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The sixth season concludes. Raph tags along with Astrid on a trip to visit Edgar Three Names, a fellow puzzle enthusiast– who only lives in a massive chateau on a massive estate 60 miles from Paris. Except when they arrive… well, there’s an unexpected death to solve, an ancient document missing, a high-tech breakthrough, and a chateau-load of suspects to sift through.

The duo confronts the suspects

Beauvois’s auditors try Astrid’s patience. And Beauvois of course is a threat, as she was introduced in time to set up the cliffhanger finale. Raph gets tests for her hand problem.


MISC

Subtitles colors: a virtual person speaks in Blue; sounds in VR are Purple.


NOTES

Fonds (0’53”) normally means ‘funds,’ but here Astrid clearly uses it to mean files/documents.

An electromyogram (1’14”) measures nerve and muscle response.

The department of Eure-et-Loir (4’06”) is 30-ish miles west of Paris; its major city is Chartres.
      Nogent-le-Rotrou is a further 30 miles west of Chartres.
      The sweeping orchestral music (the manor’s theme) is like what you hear when James Bond arrives at the scene of his mission.

The job of Services funéraires, Funeral Services (8’16”), is self-explanatory, but it appears that in addition to private companies, in France such services can also provided by public agencies or companies.

Orléans (11’48”) is about 35 miles south of Chartres.

Astrid says Je peux parler? C’est quand, ‘Can I speak? When is it?’ (25’55”). This must mean something like ‘Is it my turn now?’
      It sounds like Raph exclaims accouche, ‘birth,’ which is usually slang for ‘spit it out,’ but here it’s used like ‘eureka.’

27’11”: There’s just no good translation for maitre in a context like this.

Saint-Paul-de-Vence (28’22”) is a picturesque hill town near Nice.

31’16”: It’s the Pontoise courthouse again.

33’31”: We don't ever hear back from Tetsuo.

Barça (40’02”) is the nickname of FC Barcelona.

I’m pretty sure football match prolongations, ‘extensions,’ means the ‘injury time’ added to the official clock to compensate for play being stopped by injuries and such.

41’05”: On the phone with Nico, Raph is walking past 9 Place des Victoires, a large circular junction of five streets. In the center is a statue of Louis XIV on horseback, it’s in the background when she turns the corner into Rue d’Aboukir.

46’31”: Seriously? Did the writers really think the Juliens could be mixed up?
      Yad Vashem is the World Holocaust Remembrance Center.

50’35”: Do we know what a holographic will is? It’s written and signed in the person’s own handwriting, and as such does not need to be witnessed.

Chop-chop

Astrid et Raphaëlle S06E07, “La Veuve” (The Widow), runtime 48:08
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It’s a dark and stormy night. A lone woman lures a building security guard away from his post. He returns a half hour later to find a dead man in the building, separated from his head in the revolutionary manner. Crucially, the evidence indicates he got the chop right there in the guillotine-free space. The trail leads to an elusive figure, a crime victim now the mastermind behind an elaborate revenge scheme.

The team suits up

Astrid encounters a higher-up who has taken an ‘interest’ in Criminal Documentation. Delphine is back, briefly. The squad and Vassieux figure out how to work together. Astrid and Tetsuo come to an understanding.


NOTES

Which is your favorite guillotine nickname (7’53”)?
      Fournier just says Monte-à-Regret (climbs reluctantly) when the full nickname is ‘Abbey of Monte-à-Regret.’ The Monte-à-Regret part is self-explanatory, and the Abbey part is because a monastery/convent separates you from the rest of the world as does the fatal platform.

After tempers flare between Raph and Vassieux, she mutters darkly: Tu peux pas te foutu tu me colle pour qu'il y ait (10’48”). The first part means ‘you can’t mess with me.’ The next part, tu me colle, is pretty common and means a lot of things that boil down to ‘stick to/follow,’ literally or metaphorically. Pour qu'il y ait means ‘so that there may be.’ The parts don’t make sense together. I did my best.

Astrid says ‘Il vous re 1 hour and 7 minutes’ (12’01”). She must mean Il vous reste (you have/you’ve got), and therefore she was using a contraction, Il vous re’.

MuCEM (14’26”) is the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations.

One of the guillotine parts is the mouton (sheep), which is the weight which holds the blade in the up position.
      The upper and lower lunettes are the parts that hold the victim’s neck in position.
      The bascule is a board that starts out vertical, the victim is held against it, and it is rotated to horizontal so the neck can be placed between the lunettes.

It was too hard to find out what a collier d'angoisse, Anguish Collar (29’04”), really is because the only thing that comes up is from the game Last Man Standing.

Saint-Cloud (35’08”) is a wealthy suburb west of Paris.

There’s no Grande Ecole Internationale de Paris (38’26” c.f.) that I can find.

40’04”: The three roads roughly form a triangle on the southeast side of the lake.

How could the execution take place with SPOILER, who has one of the pieces, in custody?

Minor League Musk

Astrid et Raphaëlle S06E06, “La Part du Diable” (The Devil’s Share), runtime 53:48
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The squad investigates the murder of a man found in an ultra-secure server farm with his eyes and mouth sewn shut. Industrial pollution, a powerful techpreneur, and extreme Catholicism are involved.

Raphaëlle and Nicolas visit a monastery

Meanwhile, everyone’s concerned about how Astrid is coping with Tetsuo’s revelation; she’s giving him the cold shoulder. New Commissioner ‘I worked with the FBI’ Vassieux starts work. Mathilde Nielsen shows up to give her daughter some advice.


MISC

Hubert Roulleau (Vassieux) was the ill-fated Rossi in Meurtres dans les trois vallees, and ‘Hubert’ the rich boy detective on Crimes Parfait.

NOTES

The team arrives at the Asmodeus data center (1’02”). The original Asmodeus was a demon in Jewish folklore, and associated with the sin of lust.

The theme music (1’59”) has been altered for this episode, it’s darker and heavier.

Norah found un fichier qui était resté, ‘a file that remains/was left [behind?]’ (8’26”). It’s an odd way to say uploaded, but that’s the line.

The statue in this establishing shot (12’59”) is Triomphe de la République by Jules Dalou, and depicts Marianne, the female personification of France. It was installed in 1899 in the center of Place de la Nation, on the line between the 11th and 12th.

I’m translating Benoît (17’24” c.f.) as Benedict every time, to avoid confusion.

Saint-Michel-en-Darnois (18’20”) is a made-up place.

20’03”: By d'aménagements (accommodations) I assume they mean equipment like home medical gear and even alterations for access.
      Frankincense, Siamese benzoin, and galbanum are all aromatic plant resins.

I think this is the first time the Criminal Documentation Center has been called ‘the Doc’ (20’45”).

Saint-Benedict-du-Bon-Secours (21’15”) means St Benedict of Good Help.

      The role of the head monk (abbott?) is uncredited.

Place Beauvau is the Interior Ministry (25’03”), located in the 8th across the street from the presidential palace. Vassieux is afraid of Interior because its minister is the head of the police and security services. It's also where Bachert has gone. 

The Golden Ratio (28’51”) is 1:1.618, the geometric proportion of one object to a larger object that is considered pleasing to the eye.

Six Feet of Separation

Astrid et Raphaëlle S06E05, “Coup(s) de Théâtre” (Twist of Fate), runtime 46:05
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We begin with a brief rewind to the year 2020; Astrid and Raph have known each other for about a year, and everyone is Zooming, masking, and social distancing. A potential exposure has Raph isolated at home. Which means Astrid is with Nico at the scene of a concerning disappearance: a doctor is missing, and all the evidence points to her husband. Cut to 2025, the husband is on trial for the doctor’s murder, and now Astrid takes the witness stand. Only she notices something in the case file that calls the accused’s guilt into question, leading her to cause disorder in the court. Norah finds out Tetsuo's secret, and tells Raph.

NOTES

Rungis (3’25”) is a southern suburb adjacent to Orly airport.

During lockdown in 2020, every night at 8 the French would gather at windows and on balconies to cheer health care workers (4’47”).

The judge is the Présidente Tribunal (6’26”), so she’s Madame President. I’m abbreviating it MP.

One of the lawyers is named Fox (7’43”)...

Dewaere does a really great job of walking with a barely perceptible limp (8’26” c.f.).

The courthouse location (12’16”) is at 4 Place Nicolas Flamel in Pontoise, 13 miles northwest of Paris. It’s the same one used in Capitaine Marleau, “La der des der.”

…the other lawyer is named Raven (12’59”). The Raven & The Fox is a well-known and often-referenced poem by Jean de la Fontaine (1621-1695), based on the Aesop and Phaedrus fables.

OPJ (16’12”), this hasn’t come up before, is ‘Judicial Police Officer.’ There’s even a show called OPJ.

En “off” (17’33”) means ‘off the record.’

Refaire le film, ‘remake the film’ (22’01”), apparently means ‘recapitulate.’

22’49”: Raph crosses Rue Notre Dame des Victoires, the basilica of the same name is in the background.

      She meets Tetsuo outside the Bar du Moulin, 10 Place des Petits Pères. The caricatures on the windows of the bar are like those done by Helen Soubeyrand, whom you can find on Instagram by looking up #ambidextrous #portrait.

26’’06”: It’s the same establishing shot as Episode 4, of the Canal Saint-Martin from the Pont Maria Pacôme.

The map of the area where SPOILER escaped from SPOILER (38’02” c.f.) is of the town of Pontcarré, 12 miles east of Paris. There’s what looks like a light manufacturing campus just southeast of the cemetery.

When Tetsuo explains his status is jouhatsu (43’31”), it actually does mean ‘vanished/evaporated.’

A Beautiful Mind

Astrid et Raphaëlle S06E04, “La Théorie Du Tout” (The Theory of Everything), runtime 54:44
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The body of a prominent mathematician is discovered in an unexpected place: the trunk of a drug trafficker’s submerged car. The clues lead to a mysterious room, where complications ensue.

Leading suspects include an ex-con gambler, the professor’s professor son, his prodigal daughter, and the functionary of a shadowy tech corporation.

Raph is vertical again; she and Nico are observing their first anniversary. Uh-oh, Tetsuo has a dangerous secret. A mystery man is lurking around Astrid. Super(cilious) agent Dagobert reappears.


NOTES

The University of Val-de-Seine (5’28”) is made up.

5’38” c.f. : Establishing shot is from Pont Maria Pacôme (Rue Louis Blanc) looking south down the Canal Saint-Martin.

Where Tetsuo and Tanaka converse in Japanese (5’46”), I used Google Translate on the audio where possible. I got something a little different from the burned-in French subtitles.

I don’t think vilain petit canard de la famille, ‘ugly duckling of the family’ (10’09”), means precisely the same in French as in English. ‘Black sheep’ would be more appropriate for the framing, but oh well.

I managed to cut down Norah’s explanation of Diane’s record, while still conveying all the ideas.

The 17th district (10’40”) is in northwest Paris, to the west of Montmartre. It’s diverse, from the 5-star hotels near the Arc de Triomphe at one end, to the public housing blocks and massive Balzac high school at the other.

The tire track (11’50”): how could the car have been in the hallway? And Raph clearly says voiture (car).

The Riemann hypothesis (17’04”) was created by Bernhard Riemann (1826-1866), a German mathematician. The hypothesis asserts that, where ζ(s) is a complex number (ζ is zeta), “all interesting solutions of the equation ζ(s) = 0 lie on a vertical straight line.” Yeah, I don’t either. Anyway, it’s unsolved– but it has been checked to 10 trillion solutions.

Lequesnoy’s explanations about Diane (29’54”) include coup de cavalrie (it sounds like) which would mean something like ‘sudden attack/charge.’ It doesn't seem to be something people say, so I'm going to assume she said coup de connerie, and put ‘tricked us.’

Is the prize in dollars or euros?

• Tetsuo first explains (17’35”) the Riemann solution prize is a million dollars (prix d'un million de dollars)
• Carl say euros (22’13”)

Then there’s the Metacortis project funding:

• Laure says (29’49”) it was 500,000 dollars.
• Diane says she needed to give Metacortis back its 500,000 euros (37’30”)

46’08”: Astrid is referring to a few seconds earlier, where Guillaume asks his father Pourquoi vous faites ça? (Why are you doing this?) using vous instead of tu.

The Spookiness Continues

Astrid et Raphaëlle S06E03 “Le boli maudit” (The Cursed Boli), runtime 51:15
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Astrid and Raph have tackled cases concerning UFOs, reincarnation, werewolves, Aztec gods, witches, golems, mediums, Mormons, and now— cursed statuettes.

The case is the murder of a retiree in his pottery workshop. Raph arrives at the scene in her wheelchair, a la Ironside. Among the clay objects is a boli, an African altar/shrine object which represents magic/power. But this one is filled with blood.

(L-R) Charlotte Gaccio as Delphine, Sophia Yamna as Norah, Lola Dewaere as Raphaëlle, and Benoit Michel as Nicolas.

Heritage issues are a further complication, as the boli was stolen by a French land rapist during the colonial era.

It is also believed to be cursed, meaning that Raph and Nico get to go back and forth about rationality again. An African art expert is consulted. Profiler Delphine Simon returns. Raph is not optimistic about her rehab, and asks the social skills workshop for advice. Colonialism gets more negative publicity. Raph is surprised with a job offer.


NOTES

4’29”: Fact check– True.

The African Worlds Institute (5’01”) is real, located in the real world at 12 Rue de Fillettes.

The Jacques Files, part 2

Astrid et Raphaëlle S06E02, “Le Pensionnat” (Boarding School), runtime 49:32
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The Léo Dumas case continues– and it’s equally a case about Jacques Slimani and Overlook, the boarding school he attended. Raph is perplexed by how rich her life was in the coma; fearing being sidelined, she goes AWOL from the hospital. The surviving ghost debunkers burgle Overlook to make up for the lack of a search warrant, emerging with what could be a ghost trap or maybe just a canister vacuum cleaner. What does it do? Who is Raph’s ghost buddy Hubert? What clues point back to rising guest star Alice ‘the Selena Gomez of France’ Cornillac? Will Mulder and Scully be dropping by?

Benoit Michel in front of the Fondation de Rosa Abreu de Grancher

NOTES

3’04” c.f.: Now that it’s been established that Odin is an acronym, I’ll be spelling it ODIN, and treating them as plural as needed.

6’48”: Astrid has a ‘horseshoe puzzle,’ but of course in French the H is silent, so it sounds like ‘or-shoo puzzl.’
      Il était trop pris, ‘it is too taken/caught,’ I think means it preoccupies her.

A tableur (11’59”) isn’t a painting, it’s a spreadsheet or table.

Heures sup' (14’21”) means ‘overtime’/OT.

A 10-31 (19’12”) is ‘crime in progress/pick up suspect.’

The vacuum cleaner (20’41”) actually does look like a gammagraph.

The Actemium Gam80 gammagraph

21’06”: Carl reminds the team that the vacuum cleaner is evidence on pourra jamais l'intégrer dans la procédure (we will never be able to integrate it into the procedure). I have to shorten it to ‘it’s procedurally excluded.’

Raph talks about laisser des plumes, ‘lose feathers’ (23’44”), meaning to suffer damage.

The ‘Institute for Paranormal Studies’ building (25’03”) is the Fondation de Rosa Abreu de Grancher at 59A Boulevard Jourdan, a student dorm in the international enclave of the University of Paris.
      It’s at this point that the episode starts to feel like a backdoor pilot for Ghost Debunkers.

The Hopital l’Est Parisien (28’09”) is a private hospital in Aulnay-sous-bois, east of Paris. It is not the hospital shown at 2’03”.

Feathers again.  ‘The feather of the flying elephant’ (38’50”) is, of course, a Dumbo reference.

45’44”: It sounds like Nico is describing an Ironman suit. Jean Slimani just walked out of his lab in one, killed Leo, and returned it? Sure.

Dead, but got better

Astrid et Raphaëlle S06E01, “La mort de Raphaëlle” (The Death of Raphaëlle), runtime 46:10
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The sixth season opens in the ambulance as poisoned-by-Lamarck Raph is rushed to the hospital from Astrid and Tetsuo’s interrupted courthouse wedding. It’s a close call. The poison affected her nervous system, leaving her unable to walk. Astrid Facetimes with Raph to involve her in a new case: a man found crushed under a piano that mysteriously fell on him from the other side of a room. Another clue is bent spoons. Presumably Uri Geller was not in the vicinity.

(L-R) Dewaere, Michel, Yamna, and Mortensen.

The victim was, it seems, a ‘ghost debunker,’ and his co-debunkers help the squad focus on a medium who helps his (and sometimes her) very powerful clients communicate with the dead; Nico has a spooky run-in with a medium; a cardiac patient befriends Raph; Astrid sets up a satellite archive in Raph’s hospital room; Théo (remember him?) is afraid to visit his mom in the hospital; reality gets somewhat bent.


NOTES

Dimethylmercury (0’15”) is really bad news.
      VX is a chemical warfare nerve agent and is Dimethylmercury’s evil-er twin.

1’11”: I’m changing ‘shock’ to ‘clear’ because that’s what we say in the US.
      They stop after only one shock?

Astrid addresses Raphaëlle as Raph (7’23” c.f.), I think this is a first. I listened very carefully, I don’t hear a breathy -aëlle tacked on.

Dr William G. Roll (11’14”) was a parapsychologist at the University of West Georgia, known for his work on poltergeists.
      The name of a paranormal researcher may be mentioned, it sounds like Matrice, but it’s from a video and the audio is distorted. I’m omitting it.

Défonce tout le monde, ‘smashed everyone’ (12’18”), means outdistancing one’s competitors. I’m putting ‘blew everyone away.’

Tronches (19’56”) means ‘familiar faces,’ or ordinary.

Epinay-sur-Orge (26’04”) is a suburb 9 miles south of Paris. It has no Police Judiciaire office.

This is the first time I’ve heard Sacrée bécane!, ‘Holy bike!’ (28’18”). I’m leaving it that way because it’s cute.

Fais de la figuration (29’09”) is also a new one, it means ‘to be an extra,’ like in a movie.

Le plus ouf means ‘the craziest thing.’ Ouf usually means ‘phew.’
      Malabar is apparently an Indian word that means ‘bruiser/big strong guy.’

The full name of Tracfin (32’29”), the financial intelligence unit, is Processing Intelligence and Action Against Clandestine Financial Channels. It looks for money laundering, terrorism financing and the like

34’54”: I normally translate sur haut-parleur (on speakerphone) as ‘on speaker,’ but I think Astrid would say ‘on speakerphone.’

URSSAF, Unions de Recouvrement des Cotisations de Sécurité Sociale et d'Allocations Familiales (37’00”), ‘Organizations for the Collection of Social Security and Family Benefit Contributions’ collect and distribute social security taxes for a number of purposes, including the health system. It is a network of government-regulated private organizations.

42’47”: Warning Astrid not to step on a conversational landmine, Nico says what sounds like à nasse, à naz, or à naze. Nasse means ‘trap’ and naz sometimes means ‘dud.’ And naze means ‘worthless/pointless.’