There is much to commend this french police drama series set in suburban Paris - interesting characters, intense drama, mostly realistic feeling. However, my strikes against the series are: excessive focus on gruesome corpses - just too much; complete absence of any operational co-operation with the uniformed gendarmerie - surely unrealistic; very casual and disrespectful relations between the detectives of different ranks - improbable; security in the police station is so careless that lawyers wander freely unescorted gathering intelligence useful to their clients, and it is a wonder that half the suspects don't simply escape by running out; nearly all politicians are shown as corrupt - typical french intellectual prejudice. I don't believe this is a spoiler, but my final criticism against this series concerns when an undercover agent is planted in a gang at great personal risk but continues to frequent the police station base at high risk of being seen by dubious gang lawyers, gang suspects or other criminals brought in, any one of whom could blow his cover, causing his death. This was so ridiculous I found it hard to continue watching. In reality, once an agent goes undercover, all interactions with the originating force are managed with the greatest possible secrecy and precautions. Nevertheless, if you can stomach the excessive gore & violence, there is plenty of substance to sustain interest.

I've finished season one and was immersed for every moment (save a few). American TV writers could take a few (many!) pointers from the people who created Engrenages since it could survive solely on its story and character development.The suspense doesn't seem contrived and it really doesn't let up. I found my palms sweaty and heart rate elevated while sitting in the hotel chair glued to the laptop screen.The characters are mature (mostly), well developed, and believable. There hasn't been any argument about who is sleeping with whom. They don't bicker about petty events since they have bigger problems to deal with. Even the drug problem of one of the characters is limited to only a few minutes per show. In America they would have an entire show dedicated to some petty **** such as that. (I'm not knocking all American shows since there are some brilliant ones, but they are as plentiful as vitamins in a candy bar.) Two of the main characters sleep with each other and virtually no petty drama follows! I love it! I'm not usually a fan of police dramas, but if you are then you could fall in love with this one. You just have to be able to read subtitles and follow along at the same time. Unless you want to watch a dubbed version. *shudder* There really are no current American police dramas that can touch this one.

This is absolutely one great French crime drama TV series. The writing and acting (entire cast) is over the top. And that is why it's so frustrating and annoying to be hung out to dry after the third series.. with one left to go (and just when it looks as if Audrey Fleurot .. bit.ly/12EX5u8 .. and Fitoussi will finally become romantically involved). A web search shows there's no other location where you can get the fourth series (12 episodes). This happens time and again with many series on netflix... but when they are as exceptional as this one is, it gets you really annoyed. (Wikipedia indicates a fifth and sixth series have been ordered.) PS.. now 4 is on netflix.

Just finished season 4 of this cracking French Policier series. OK, it's not all totally realistic and you can pick holes in it if you want like everything else on TV (sometimes it's better to suspend disbelief a bit, even Breaking Bad was a bit silly in places and that is wonderful too). I often wonder why people watch shows like this if they expect exact realism and everything to be politically correct (check out a couple of reviews on here from people with strange expectations of a TV drama), this is a cop show and meant to entertain not a documentary to learn from that exactly mirrors the real world. Loved it, love Braquo too (check that out if you get a chance). Magnifique!