SPOILER ALERT AND WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Maigret Season 2, Episode 1. It also contains discussion of suicide.
The Maigret Season 2 premiere starts with a gut punch. “The Hanged Man, Part 1” is a tragic episode of the PBS Masterpiece series, but it also keeps to everything that’s made the show a success. Namely, it’s the title character who drives the mystery, both inside and out.
It doesn’t become clear until late in the premiere who the title is referring to. Instead, the action opens with a bomb threat at a bank; when Maigret and his team arrive on the scene, their attention is drawn to a young woman named Adeline Jeunet who appears to be recording the whole thing from a bench outside. With all signs pointing to her as the perpetrator, and believing she may be literally holding the bomb, Maigret is stunned when his attempt to talk Adeline into peaceful surrender ends with her shooting herself in front of him. All of this happens before the opening credits, and sets the tone not only for this episode, but for the whole season.
Showrunner Patrick Harbinson serves as both writer and director, and he successfully creates an increasingly claustrophobic feeling throughout the episode. The only time there feels like a lot of space is the one time when the visuals don’t quite work: when shots from body cameras and a drone are cut into the action. Those obviously make sense logistically, but they also take the audience somewhat out of the moment. Elsewhere, though, are several shots at close range, at different angles, or in small spaces that help to stoke further discomfort in the audience. It also works well with the quietly uncomfortable performance of Benjamin Wainwright, who proves again why he’s the perfect modern Maigret.
Countless TV crime dramas have done the episode in which the hero is haunted by a particular case; sometimes, that’s been a character’s whole backstory. In “The Hanged Man, Part 1,” Maigret is obviously affected by Adeline’s suicide, but Wainwright and Harbinson are able to convey that without dwelling too much on it. The focus remains on Adeline’s death and not Maigret’s angst. It’s mostly up to Wainwright, who plays the torment in Maigret’s moments of silence, with the notable exception of the “drinking games” he plays with suspect Claude Van Damme. The second time he shows up at the bistro Claude owns with his wife, Maigret snaps on the man with two lines that Wainwright perfectly delivers: “Adeline was so upset, she blew her brains out. That’s what I call upset.” The disgust is palpable.
But this is why Wainwright is so watchable in the role: there’s a stillness to Maigret, yet he still feels alive as a character. The actor is able to get across everything going through his head, sometimes without saying a word. And that’s what makes the Maigret Season 2 premiere interesting, as Maigret is noticeably off-balance. He finds himself coming face-to-face with his old rival Justin Cavre, now working for the IGDS—Internal Affairs—and in the brief scene where Cavre questions Maigret’s handling of Adeline, it’s more awkward than dramatic. Actor Rob Kazinsky has fully leaned into Cavre as a villain now; a later scene where Cavre is caught snooping around his old team is laughable with how unconvincing he is.
Then there’s the introduction of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries star Nathaniel Parker as Xavier Guichard, Maigret’s mentor and the man who promoted him to Chief Inspector in the first place. Guichard only has one scene, and his argument for why he’s now suspicious of Maigret is not quite convincing just yet. It’ll take another episode or two to fully understand his change of heart. But it’s a blast for British TV fans to see Parker. And it’s also lovely that Stefanie Martini‘s Louise Maigret continues to play a prominent role; it’s Louise who is first to identify that Claude knew Adeline. Everyone has a part to play, as it should be.
The Maigret Season 2 premiere maps out a clear idea of what’s ahead in the rest of the season, both professionally and personally, for Maigret. The fans get to see him out of his element, which they already know is a rare thing indeed, and learn about a different part of his past. The premiere has a noticeable lack of the show’s humor beyond the opening scene celebrating Maigret’s birthday, but that makes sense given what happens afterward. And the cliffhanger, in which Maigret is struck by a car and left unconscious in an alley, is a classic crime drama scene. Between Wainwright’s impressive performance and an efficient script setting up plenty of dominoes to tumble over, Maigret is back and just as great as ever.
Maigret Season 2 premieres Oct. 18, 2026 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on PBS Masterpiece, and streaming on the PBS App and PBS Masterpiece on Prime Video. Photo Credit: Gabor Kotschy/Courtesy of PBS Masterpiece.
Article content is (c)2020-2026 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.
