SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Maigret Season 2, Episode 3.
The most interesting thing about Maigret Season 2 is the feeling of chaos and uncertainty, and Episode 3 of the PBS Masterpiece series is where it starts. “Maigret’s Revolver, Part 1” not only puts the titular hero on the hot seat professionally, but the whole subplot is about everyone else getting in his way. The end result is a story that just constantly seems out of sorts, as the whole show takes on this volatile feeling.
The title of the episode does reveal one of the bigger spoilers, as does an early scene, which is basically a depiction of the old acting saying about showing a gun in the first act to use it in the fourth. The audience sees one of Maigret’s friends inspecting a revolver in the apartment, so it’s not any shock when the gun turns up missing in the final scene. The episode isn’t going to be titled after something that doesn’t matter.
But the two high-profile cases Maigret is assigned both deal with people who are not quite okay. The first is the most obvious; a man named Francois Lagrange claims to be a fan of the Chief Inspector, even as his first scene is him approaching his doctor for a refill on his medication. Lagrange is quite mentally ill, and suddenly Maigret and Louise are pulled into the struggles of himself and his teenage son Alain. But in the second case, an apparent drowning turns out to be far more, as the squad investigates the cosmetic surgeon who may or may not have killed his live-in nanny. Even if he turns out to be innocent, there’s a lot going on in Dr. Armand Giroux’s head, too, with the previous death of his wife and an unexpected pregnancy. It’s as if the unpredictability in the cases is meant to reflect the unsteadiness in La Crim as a whole.
That’s where Maigret Season 2, Episode 3 gets interesting from a character development standpoint, even if it’s executed awkwardly. Viewers already know that Director Guichard is going to disrupt Maigret’s team, and this is the episode where that happens. It’s a straight-up trade: Lucas for Bonfils. How this happens plays out with timing so fast that it feels like a sitcom: there are mere moments between Kernavel telling Maigret that Guichard has given him a second case, Guichard calling Lucas to tell her she’s leaving, and Bonfils showing up in the office. It would have been better dramatically to spread these things out a bit, especially since they’re all coming from the same person. By having them all happen at once, it’s unintentionally funny.
Speaking of funny, most of the humor naturally comes from Bonfils not having a clue about his new team. That’s the most obvious place to find it, and the fact that actors Benjamin Wainwright and Alex Bhat are friends makes it even more amusing when Bonfils butts heads with Maigret. What’s nice is that Bonfils isn’t just written to be the wide-eyed new guy; that’s a part of it, but writer Patrick Harbinson doesn’t forget that Bonfils was a cop before this. At times, Bonfils’ questions have merit; at other times they really don’t, but it’s meaningful that he’s not an outright clown.
And from that moment on, the audience can feel the difference in Maigret’s team. Even though Lucas isn’t entirely gone—otherwise actor Kerrie Hayes wouldn’t have anything to do—it’s obvious that everyone else is thrown off by her absence. Bonfils also brings the exact opposite energy; Lucas is calm and steady, whereas Bonfils is almost like a puppy, eager to get things done but not really understanding what’s happening around him. One of the cool things about “Maigret’s Revolver, Part 1” is further glimpses into who the rest of the characters are without Maigret. Lucas is off taking a ramen-making course. Karim Lapointe gets more screen time as he bonds with a potential witness. If Harbinson is going to pull the team away from Maigret, at least he’s also using it as an opportunity to show more about them. Because no matter what the title is, Maigret is at its best as an ensemble piece.
This is a particularly good outing for Benjamin Wainwright, who so well conveys Maigret suddenly being in this uncertain place. He’s annoyed at having not one but two cases thrust upon him by Guichard (as he should be), he’s having to deal with people who seemingly don’t make sense, and then he loses his most trusted lieutenant. Wainwright finds little ways to get Maigret’s vulnerability out. That doesn’t mean tearing down the character; after all, the show kind of already did that in the season premiere. It’s tiny clues, from a look to a change in tone. And we are all Maigret in watching this episode—we feel the same confusion and frustration that he does. We just have to hope he sorts it all out.
Maigret airs Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on PBS Masterpiece, and is streaming on the PBS App and PBS Masterpiece on Prime Video. Photo Credit: Gabor Kotschy/Courtesy of Playground Entertainment and 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.
