Under Law and Grace (Prière D'enquêter)
I came across another entry in the ‘detective and clergyman’ subgenre. (Think Father Brown, Grantchester, Don Matteo...) This one is from France and since it first aired in 2020 there have been six 90-minute TV movies.
In the first movie there has been a murder at a monastery, which brings together Elii, a tough talking detective, and Clement, a seemingly mild-mannered novitiate at the monastery. As these things go, at first they don’t get along at all but on the way to solving the murder they form a sometimes uneasy alliance. Elli’s backstory includes raising three sisters after their parents, one Jewish, one Muslim, died in a car crash, while Clement is trying to find out who dropped him off at the monastery as an infant and why. You also sense he may sometimes waver on taking his full vows, and it was good to see Elli loosen up a bit from her original stridency
The stories themselves, which often involve the monastery, are generally interesting and well-scripted, and it is no surprise when Clement pops up in the second movie as a police consultant. There is also a refreshing lack of something that has popped up too often in what I’ve been watching of late, gore. Indeed, none of the murders occur on-screen. As well, the movies never descend into being twee the way some of the other series in this subgenre sometimes do.
I will definitely be watching for more episodes.
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