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Review: The Forest (La Forêt) (2017)
This miniseries was alright. It was fine as a crime show, but it had some typical cliches and I didn't think it had any specific charm that made it stand out compared to other crime miniseries that I've seen in the past.
Spoilers.
Story
The main mystery in this drama surrounded the death of one teenage girl, Jennifer, and her two missing friends. There was also a second mystery following the unknown origins of Eve Mendel, a teacher at the school.
The teenage girl who'd died, Jennifer, was sleeping with Vincent, the husband of one of the police officers Virginie, and the father of her friend Maya. The three were found to have prostituted themselves on a website for underage girls. Following that lead, only Oceane was found. At the end of the miniseries, it was revealed that the rapist/kidnapper/murderer was Gilles Lopez, the principal of the school. He'd raped and murdered Jennifer, and had kidnapped Maya before he was caught by the police. He was also responsible for a few disappearances of young women years before.
I didn't find this mystery to have a satisfactory ending. Lopez was barely on my radar at all as a character. When it was revealed that he was the criminal, I didn't even feel surprised because as a character, I didn't know or care about him. When interrogated, he didn't seem to be an interesting criminal either. He seemed totally unrepentant, but we didn't really get a good look at his thought process, and then he committed suicide. The buildup wasn't that great, but the payoff wasn't great either.
As for Eve's past, it had come up because the hermit in the woods was suspected of raping and murdering the girls, but later on, it appeared that he had a special connection with Eve. The miniseries ended with Eve finding out about her true origins and reconnecting with her family.
What bothered me about the writing was that the characters were kind of dramatic in the cliched way. Virginie was overprotective (to an unreasonable extent) over her friends and family despite being a police officer who needed to remain neutral. Everybody got angry at everybody else very easily. Nobody had any nuance.
Production
For a small town crime show, the small town in this show wasn't very charming. I'm not saying it needed to look pretty and attractive. I mean that the small town needed to have personality and it didn't in this miniseries.
In other small town crime shows I've seen, the town is very much another character in the story. But for the Forest, I knew nothing about this small town. I had no idea how small it was, I had no idea what it looked like. It simultaneously looked urban and rural.
The acting was fine, but was dragged down by the awkward and generic writing.
Characters
Virginie Musso
Virginie was one of the police officers, and the mother of Maya, who was one of the missing girls. At the beginning, Virginie was cringey as a character to me, because she jumped to conclusions so quickly. She was quick to protect Thierry because they were old friends. And later when Maya was missing, she did kind of cross the threshold of professionalism. I get that the actress was going through the motions of being a protective mother, but the writing fell flat for me.
Gaspard Decker
Decker was the new police detective in town. He was meant to be much more even tempered compared to Virginie, which he was. But otherwise he didn't really have a personality.
I think the writers really wanted Decker and Eve to have some romantic attraction but it was nonexistent for me. I felt no chemistry from the writing nor the characters.
Eve Mendel
Eve was the cool teacher. We know this because she rides a motorcycle everywhere. She spoke to the kids like she was their friend. The parents are suspicious of her because she's too cool.
Eve had mysterious origins. She'd come from the forest and spent some time in a psychiatric hospital. She'd lost her memories and was taken in by Abraham Mendel.
She also seemed to have a special connection to the forest. She'd followed a wolf to find clues connected to Manoa, the man in the forest, despite there supposedly being no wolves in the forest. And Manoa, the man in the woods, seemed to know something about her and see her as a friend. He'd wanted to tell her about what he saw of the murder of Jennifer but was killed before he was able to do so.
In the end, Decker found out that her mother had abducted her during a marital dispute with her father, and had lived in that forest for two years before Lopez had met her and killed her.
I get that Eve was supposed to be the cool one that everybody liked, but she came off as kind of generic to me.
Vincent Musso
Vincent was Virginie's husband and Maya and Tristan's husband. Vincent was sleeping with Jennifer, who was Maya's friend, and this caused a falling out between them.
In addition, Vincent had met Jennifer the day she died, so his DNA was on her clothes. He'd tried to go to the police station to hide his DNA sample, but he was still found out.
Of course, both Virginie and Maya were incredibly betrayed. Though the family of four had a big reunion when Maya came back, Virginie did eventually tell Vincent to leave. I'm super glad that she did lol. For Virginie, it wasn't even just that Vincent slept with someone he knew since she was a kid, Vincent also betrayed Virginie's love for him.
Maya Musso
Maya was Virginie and Vincent's adopted daughter. She had found out that Vincent was sleeping with her friend Jennifer and that caused an argument between the two.
Later, it was revealed that Jennifer, Maya, and Oceane were selling their virginities on a website. The police detectives though that Oceane and Maya had gone to the city to meet with clients but it turns out that Maya had changed her mind and decided to go home. That's when she disappeared.
At the end of the show, Maya was kidnapped by Gilles Lopez, and had crashed his car in order to escape. She reunited with her mom.
Thierry Rouget
Thierry was a local single dad, and friend of Virginie. Virginie was very protective of him. It was revealed that when Thierry was young, he'd set fire to Mendel's house and killed his wife and son.
Later in his adulthood, he wasn't doing well, and was often caught up in crime. He had a strained relationship with his daughter because she was so disappointed in him.
He was protective of her, but he just wasn't capable of taking care of her. At the end of the show, he went to jail for a string of break-ins he was responsible for, but he tried to make things right. He put Oceane under the guardianship of Eve until she became an adult.
Oceane Rouget
Oceane was Thierry's daughter, and a friend of Maya and Jennifer. Apparently it was her idea of going on the prostitution website. I guess she believed that it was her way out of the town, as she didn't think she had proper support from her dad.
By the end of the show, I don't know that she'd forgiven her dad, but I think the show tried to leave that door open for us to think that after time had passed, they would warm up to each other again.
Oceane was put under the care of Eve. When she went to school, she and Maya made up.
Gilles Lopez
Lopez was the school principal and the criminal who'd raped and murdered young women. He was responsible for a couple of missing women years ago, and he was responsible for raping and murdering Jennifer, and kidnapping Maya.
When interrogated, he didn't really say much. I think his argument was that he hadn't necessarily hurt the girls more than the other people who'd hurt them (e.g. Vincent sleeping with a teenage girl, abusive dad, etc.). He also seemed weirdly worried that his wife would know about his illegal activities.
It was revealed that he'd murdered Eve's mother, and the one clue he gave to Eve as they parted was Arriverderci, implying that she was Italian.
But ultimately we got no answers from him. He committed suicide before he could face justice or be further questioned.
Overall
This was an alright show, but nothing spectactular.
Spoilers.
Story
The main mystery in this drama surrounded the death of one teenage girl, Jennifer, and her two missing friends. There was also a second mystery following the unknown origins of Eve Mendel, a teacher at the school.
The teenage girl who'd died, Jennifer, was sleeping with Vincent, the husband of one of the police officers Virginie, and the father of her friend Maya. The three were found to have prostituted themselves on a website for underage girls. Following that lead, only Oceane was found. At the end of the miniseries, it was revealed that the rapist/kidnapper/murderer was Gilles Lopez, the principal of the school. He'd raped and murdered Jennifer, and had kidnapped Maya before he was caught by the police. He was also responsible for a few disappearances of young women years before.
I didn't find this mystery to have a satisfactory ending. Lopez was barely on my radar at all as a character. When it was revealed that he was the criminal, I didn't even feel surprised because as a character, I didn't know or care about him. When interrogated, he didn't seem to be an interesting criminal either. He seemed totally unrepentant, but we didn't really get a good look at his thought process, and then he committed suicide. The buildup wasn't that great, but the payoff wasn't great either.
As for Eve's past, it had come up because the hermit in the woods was suspected of raping and murdering the girls, but later on, it appeared that he had a special connection with Eve. The miniseries ended with Eve finding out about her true origins and reconnecting with her family.
What bothered me about the writing was that the characters were kind of dramatic in the cliched way. Virginie was overprotective (to an unreasonable extent) over her friends and family despite being a police officer who needed to remain neutral. Everybody got angry at everybody else very easily. Nobody had any nuance.
Production
For a small town crime show, the small town in this show wasn't very charming. I'm not saying it needed to look pretty and attractive. I mean that the small town needed to have personality and it didn't in this miniseries.
In other small town crime shows I've seen, the town is very much another character in the story. But for the Forest, I knew nothing about this small town. I had no idea how small it was, I had no idea what it looked like. It simultaneously looked urban and rural.
The acting was fine, but was dragged down by the awkward and generic writing.
Characters
Virginie Musso
Virginie was one of the police officers, and the mother of Maya, who was one of the missing girls. At the beginning, Virginie was cringey as a character to me, because she jumped to conclusions so quickly. She was quick to protect Thierry because they were old friends. And later when Maya was missing, she did kind of cross the threshold of professionalism. I get that the actress was going through the motions of being a protective mother, but the writing fell flat for me.
Gaspard Decker
Decker was the new police detective in town. He was meant to be much more even tempered compared to Virginie, which he was. But otherwise he didn't really have a personality.
I think the writers really wanted Decker and Eve to have some romantic attraction but it was nonexistent for me. I felt no chemistry from the writing nor the characters.
Eve Mendel
Eve was the cool teacher. We know this because she rides a motorcycle everywhere. She spoke to the kids like she was their friend. The parents are suspicious of her because she's too cool.
Eve had mysterious origins. She'd come from the forest and spent some time in a psychiatric hospital. She'd lost her memories and was taken in by Abraham Mendel.
She also seemed to have a special connection to the forest. She'd followed a wolf to find clues connected to Manoa, the man in the forest, despite there supposedly being no wolves in the forest. And Manoa, the man in the woods, seemed to know something about her and see her as a friend. He'd wanted to tell her about what he saw of the murder of Jennifer but was killed before he was able to do so.
In the end, Decker found out that her mother had abducted her during a marital dispute with her father, and had lived in that forest for two years before Lopez had met her and killed her.
I get that Eve was supposed to be the cool one that everybody liked, but she came off as kind of generic to me.
Vincent Musso
Vincent was Virginie's husband and Maya and Tristan's husband. Vincent was sleeping with Jennifer, who was Maya's friend, and this caused a falling out between them.
In addition, Vincent had met Jennifer the day she died, so his DNA was on her clothes. He'd tried to go to the police station to hide his DNA sample, but he was still found out.
Of course, both Virginie and Maya were incredibly betrayed. Though the family of four had a big reunion when Maya came back, Virginie did eventually tell Vincent to leave. I'm super glad that she did lol. For Virginie, it wasn't even just that Vincent slept with someone he knew since she was a kid, Vincent also betrayed Virginie's love for him.
Maya Musso
Maya was Virginie and Vincent's adopted daughter. She had found out that Vincent was sleeping with her friend Jennifer and that caused an argument between the two.
Later, it was revealed that Jennifer, Maya, and Oceane were selling their virginities on a website. The police detectives though that Oceane and Maya had gone to the city to meet with clients but it turns out that Maya had changed her mind and decided to go home. That's when she disappeared.
At the end of the show, Maya was kidnapped by Gilles Lopez, and had crashed his car in order to escape. She reunited with her mom.
Thierry Rouget
Thierry was a local single dad, and friend of Virginie. Virginie was very protective of him. It was revealed that when Thierry was young, he'd set fire to Mendel's house and killed his wife and son.
Later in his adulthood, he wasn't doing well, and was often caught up in crime. He had a strained relationship with his daughter because she was so disappointed in him.
He was protective of her, but he just wasn't capable of taking care of her. At the end of the show, he went to jail for a string of break-ins he was responsible for, but he tried to make things right. He put Oceane under the guardianship of Eve until she became an adult.
Oceane Rouget
Oceane was Thierry's daughter, and a friend of Maya and Jennifer. Apparently it was her idea of going on the prostitution website. I guess she believed that it was her way out of the town, as she didn't think she had proper support from her dad.
By the end of the show, I don't know that she'd forgiven her dad, but I think the show tried to leave that door open for us to think that after time had passed, they would warm up to each other again.
Oceane was put under the care of Eve. When she went to school, she and Maya made up.
Gilles Lopez
Lopez was the school principal and the criminal who'd raped and murdered young women. He was responsible for a couple of missing women years ago, and he was responsible for raping and murdering Jennifer, and kidnapping Maya.
When interrogated, he didn't really say much. I think his argument was that he hadn't necessarily hurt the girls more than the other people who'd hurt them (e.g. Vincent sleeping with a teenage girl, abusive dad, etc.). He also seemed weirdly worried that his wife would know about his illegal activities.
It was revealed that he'd murdered Eve's mother, and the one clue he gave to Eve as they parted was Arriverderci, implying that she was Italian.
But ultimately we got no answers from him. He committed suicide before he could face justice or be further questioned.
Overall
This was an alright show, but nothing spectactular.