Monsieur Spade- Season 1 Episode 2 Recap & Review

Episode 2

Episode 2 of Monsieur Spade begins in the aftermath of the horrific mass murders at the manor. All the bodies are taken away from the cathedral. Chief Patrice warns Sam to remain vigilant and procure something “more than your wits” to protect against the wanton madman. Back at home, Sam grows concerned when he cannot find Teresa. Helena, who fell asleep on the couch, reports that Teresa was at home last night. But she must have gotten away when Helena fell asleep. However, Sam fears something more sinister.

When he goes for his car in the parking lot, Sam realizes that its tyres have been slashed. Instead, he takes out Gabrielle’s Rolls Royce – where the very first time the duo met each other. On his way out, Sam runs into George, who explains that he saw Teresa at dawn. She was in a panic, had mud on her shoes, and looked distressed. She didn’t even stop to greet him. Sam heads for the manor where he finds Claude, the janitor, sweeping the floors.

He reports that all the children have been sent away to Saint Foye. The whole town of Bozouls is spooked by this incident and Claude’s expression of grief aptly captures the general mood. Sam goes into Elizabeth’s office – the Mother Superior – and picks up the files of the befallen nuns. However, he is surprised that there are only five, even though there are six bodies. When he hears the bells ring, Sam heads for the bell tower. On finding an unfinished cigarette from his case, Sam realizes Teresa is casually smoking above him, sitting on a wooden beam. 

The duo leaves in Gabrielle’s car for the house. However, en route, they are shot at by an unidentified gunman. He fires twice, breaching the car’s back window on the first occasion, and narrowly missing Teresa’s head on the second. Sam knows these are warning shots and puts the car in reverse. The gunman panics, hops on his bike, and escapes through the fields. Sam gives chase but the car’s limitations ensure that the assailant gets away. 

Upon investigating the bullets, Patrice and his brother conclude that the shots were fired from an army rifle. Spade rules out Philippe’s involvement. He is certain even Philippe won’t put her daughter in harm’s way to hurt Spade. Teresa is unwilling to talk to Patrice and her demeanor reminds Sam of Brigid. Henri reports back with vital information about Philippe. He mentions that a lot of details like time, dates, and places are blacked out from the records of his service file.

Sam deduces Philippe is a spy, working for the intelligence unit. Henri also tells Sam about the rumours swirling around Philippe’s last visit to the base. He was said to be hiding an Algerian woman in the army quarters, which is highly unusual. Sam visits the doctor’s office, who examined the bodies. It is confirmed that Sister Angelique’s, who hails from Africa, file is missing. The doctor also finds a quaint necklace on her person, which has a photo of her and a young boy. 

When Inspector Laurent Suchet – from the Minister of Interior, Paris – shows up at Patrice’s office, we learn of his prior friendship with Elizabeth. Even though they weren’t on the same ideological step, they both shared a warm relationship. Suchet wants to take away the bodies to Paris and oversee the investigation. Patrice threatens to “badly bruise” Suchet if he doesn’t leave.

Sam leaves the Rolls Royce at Anatole’s garage for repair work. He also notices that the garage houses the bike that was used by the assailant earlier. However, he doesn’t bring up the subject with him. Marguerite, who walks with Spade from the garage to the bar, suspects Jean Pierre might have been the gunman. But Spade rules it out, saying that even though he is troubled, murder isn’t his cup of tea.

Jean Pierre is shown to be suffering from PTSD. The horrors of the war are still fresh in his memory, terrorizing him every waking second. His marriage with Marguerite isn’t the same as before…and they both know it. 

Lady Cynthia, George’s mother, shows up at the house. Sam is generous enough to permit the duo to see George’s father’s painting in the living room. She also brings up Philippe in the conversation, asking Sam his whereabouts. There is a connection between them that needs more of a spotlight in the next episode.

Jean and Marguerite have another fight when he comes back home. Jean still suspects that Sam and Marguerite slept together. He is also convinced that Gabrielle’s promise to give him her part of the club still stands. He talks about hiring a lawyer to displace Sam from his share of ownership.

The most affecting scene in the episode is arguably the one between Sam and Teresa. He finally ekes out from her the happenings on the night of the mass murder. We know that the mysterious monk, who walked up to Spade and Patrice in Episode 1 during lunch, killed the nuns. Teresa explains that the woman Philippe was hiding with him was Angelique. He showed up a month later, wounded, with the boy in the locket. He asked Teresa to hide Zahid in the bell tower. 

On that fateful night, Teresa remembers the shrieks of children running away from the chapel. She locked them in a room and asked them to remain quiet. She then proceeded to watch the horrifying sight of the monk killing the nuns after asking Zahid’s whereabouts. He finally caught wind of Teresa, who stabbed him deep in the stomach with a knife. Right before the monk killed Angelique, she muttered, “The Mahdi waits for us.” Neither Teresa nor Sam have any idea what it means right now. 

The explosive climactic scene reveals Zahid hiding behind curtains at Marguerite’s club with a gun. 

The Episode Review

Episode 2 is a strong follow-up to the opening episode. It ebbed and flowed, springing into action with the shooting sequence. But it also had quite moments of deliberation and character-building.

The compact setting of Bozouls emerges as an interesting metaphor for a broken, wounded town recovering from bad memories. The vivid cinematography catches the eye in Episode 2, sumptuously blending with a symbolic background score.

Clive Owen has maintained consistency with his portrayal. We haven’t seen the wondering glint of the detective yet in the way we expected. However, the executive decision to tweak his character is a mature one. 

Scott Frank and Tom Fontana deserve a lot of praise for their bold filmmaking. Monsieur Spade is well on its way to becoming a memorable piece of content in this dizzying digital age.