The Bureau

A masterfully written series, in an absolutely original way compared to the many other spy series, generally set in the UK or USA. It must be said that only countries that have had major foreign geopolitical interests have a background capable of giving depth to espionage productions. Le Bureau, from this point of view, presents the entire history of France's relations with the countries of the Maghreb and the Middle East. The interpretation of most of the actors is very high quality. The second season is much more interesting than the first. I then like to make a comparison between Carrie Mathison of Homeland and Guillaume Debailly of Le Bureau, it is the complexity of the character of the two protagonist agents that gives depth to two shows of such great quality.

Season 1 through 3 is a solid spy drama using current events as background story, and that makes it very enjoyable. The 4th season is dragging on with the main character, and to be perfectly honest other character in the show could have been developed a lot more and brough firmly in the foreground. That is not the case and this could easily be called the unbelievable adventure of rogue agent Malotru.

Horrific tradecraft; perhaps, inevitable if you don’t have le Carré in your canon.

Not in English in French

Sending an agent to Iran with the IQ of a french onion explains why the French end up paying too much ransom to Iranians.

Just finished watching Season 1. This is one spy-thriller that does not focus on action and focuses on drama instead. And as much as I thought I would hate it, I did end up loving it. It does get a bit slow. But some brilliant performances, and a nice dose of character study and character dynamics make this show special. Mathieu Kassovitz as special agent Malotru impresses, with his controlled expressions, and the feeling that he is just on the tip before boiling over. It is only in brief moments of self-reflection when the audience gets to see the perfect spy who committed the one grave mistake of falling in love. Loved it!