Dealer – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

Spielberg

Episode 1 of Dealer begins with gunfire breaking out in the distance. A man sobs, apologizing to Tony, as we cut back in time and follow our time leading up to this moment.

We’re in the South of France, following two filmmakers called Thomas and Franck as they drive up to a shady apartment building where they’re meeting a man named Tony. Only, something isn’t right.

Between a man on a motorcycle guiding them in and being held up at gunpoint, the shaky cam actions follows this stand-off as Tony eventually shows up. Chuckles grip the group as it turns out they were just playing around this whole time.

Tony explains that the film crew are just there to film them for a fly on the wall documentary. Thomas is the one behind the camera, while Franck talks about his experience.

Suddenly, gunfire rains down as Franck drops to the ground and turns to the camera “What was that?!” He asks incredulously.

The Episode Review

Dealer gets off to a relatively tepid start, with an episode that hones in on our two filmmakers as they set off to visit Tony at his apartment.

There’s some good tension here but it’s done at the expense of an episode that uses a lot of shaky cam. While this does give a fly on the wall approach to the idea of a crime thriller, it also does so at the expense of missing crucial bits of action.

The gunfire at the end, for example, makes it incredibly difficult to work out what’s going on, although I guess in the episodes to come that could change. We shall see.

For now though, Dealer is going to be one of those make or break shows. If you dislike found footage projects – this most certainly is not going to be for you.