SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Maigret Season 1, Episode 2.

Maigret firmly establishes its own lane with “The Lazy Burglar, Part Two.” The PBS Masterpiece show’s conclusion to its opening mystery colors even further outside the genre lines than the series premiere. That’s what makes it so entertaining—viewers know what’s coming and then they don’t, not quite.

That’s particularly remarkable in the crime genre, which by and large has a very strict template. The hero is chasing the bad guy through pieces of evidence until they either arrest them or they don’t. Most episodes of many crime shows start at the beginning with the crime and move straight ahead. Maigret Season 1, Episode 2 picks up where Episode 1 left off, but even as it checks off the boxes, there are little wobbles here and there that keep things interesting. And the final few minutes are Harbinson’s particular message that this won’t be a typical detective show.

Maigret is still hot on the trail of the bank robbery crew, but is now stuck sharing command authority with Inspector Cavre (played by Rob Kazinsky with just the perfect amount of arrogance). At the same time, he’s refusing to let go of the unrelated murder of thief Honore Cuendet, which he’s now connected to a powerful businessman. In Maigret’s head both crimes are of equal importance. It doesn’t matter the scope or who the players are. It’s refreshing to have a protagonist who doesn’t make judgments (or is forced to make them by outside forces). Maigret’s dynamic with Cuendet’s mother Justine continues to be one of the best parts of this story, because it illustrates that Maigret doesn’t see criminals—he just sees people.

What’s great about actor Benjamin Wainwright‘s performance as Maigret is all the things he doesn’t do. Maigret’s responses are often succinct or sometimes not even a response—just a look. He doesn’t get into the kinds of office arguments or only sort of funny one-liners that populate American TV procedurals. His one scene of staring off into the distance from an office balcony lasts about 20 seconds before it gets interrupted. Every chance Wainwright has to do something expected, he avoids. Part of that is Harbinson’s script not creating those scenes, but there’s an economy to Wainwright’s performance that truly works for Maigret.

Maigret does only what it needs to, and nothing more. The audience can follow what happens in each investigative scene because everyone speaks in generally plain language. There’s no huge fanfare in the action-packed moments when the police finally catch up to the robbery crew, or when Maigret catches on to the fact that the robberies are just one part of the master plan. The best viewers get is the obligatory shot of Maigret and team walking out of their office in full tactical gear, but otherwise, the solution to the plot is more efficient than dramatic.

The fourth act of “The Lazy Burglar, Part Two” is particularly wonderful and the best illustration of what makes Maigret different from other genre shows and its predecessors. Kernavel has Maigret set up a reconstruction of Honore Cuendet’s murder, which the suspects, the victim’s family and all the lawyers attend. This is the “here’s what happened” bit that shows like Colombo and Monk made famous, that generally either act as grandstanding for the hero or the writers’ way of explaining themselves to viewers. In Maigret, this isn’t a narrative shortcut; it actually is an emotional story beat.

Maigret does indeed tell everyone what happened—but when he gets to the part where he explains how Cuendet was beaten to death, what’s fantastic is that viewers see the hesitation from Lapointe and Janvier. They’re tasked with having to re-enact the fatal blows, yet both are conscious of the fact that they’re doing so in front of Cuendet’s mother and his wife. Those little few seconds are a small detail that speaks volumes about how Maigret treats its characters, as well as how the characters treat one another.

Later on, Maigret could have another “hero moment” when he gets into Rosalie’s car as she’s waiting for Fernand’s escape helicopter to touch down. He apologizes to her for the pending arrests, saying that “At least you’ll be together, even if it’s in prison.” Rosalie understandably slaps him—but with the way Wainwright plays it, and the way Harbinson has illustrated Maigret up to that point, viewers get the sense that he genuinely meant the apology. It’s not a snarky one-liner to have the proverbial last laugh. He understands her pain at not being able to “save” her husband, even if they are on opposite sides of the law.

Maigret Season 1, Episode 2 ends with two diametrically opposed scenes. After finding out that Cuendet’s killers have disappeared from custody, Maigret confronts the DGSE officer involved, who makes his own pithy comment about how Cuendet’s family can sell the necklace he stole for enough money to forget their grief. This is the only instance in “The Lazy Burglar, Part Two” when the audience sees Maigret angry, as he shoves the necklace back in the other man’s face before smashing it on the ground. The image of the DGSE officer on his hands and knees, trying desperately to pick up the diamonds, sums up the whole episode perfectly.

But to go from that to Maigret and Louise celebrating her pregnancy is a stark contrast, and it’s good to end the first case on a positive note. Maigret has delivered a mystery with enough twists, but within that there’s a poignant story of humanity, and that’s what will serve the series well. Its ability to shed expectations and to just go with what feels real in the moment sets it apart in a very crowded genre.

Maigret airs Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on PBS. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Playground Entertainment and Masterpiece.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.