Pretty Good

Best movie ever!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Blistering performances.

Mind-blowing acting. No kidding, ALL actors were brilliant, Carole Bouquet being such an otherworldly figure and a huge talent. The series is unique in a sense that it explores the tragic story behind a mother and her relationship with her estranged son. The serial killer story is there to test the limits of this relationship and serves as the basis of an emotional journey of hell through which the protagonists find the road to peace. There were indeed some plot holes in the copycat storyline, but in the end, this understated thriller is not a whodunnit kind of thing. It's a strong drama and a brilliant depiction of that mother-son relationship. Highly recommended.

My wife and I really enjoyed this series. Yes, there were some flaws: a few stupid decisions by the police and a little overacting; but overall it was a great series with a complicated plot that in the end made sense. This is one of the better detective series we have found recently and I would definitely recommend it.

La Mante is a thriller with enough twists to keep you guessing, and decent acting by the lead character, her son and the rest of the team. La Mante is a female serial killer who is asked to help catch her copycat who is always one step ahead.Besides some generic moments the series suffers from dumb decisions (ergo: dumb writing). For example when the police are going to the scene of a crime, without medics, while knowing there is a live victim. Another one is the lead investigator having a phone call with a doctor, while "other people" are listening.But the biggest flaw is La Mante herself. This is not the fault of the actress, who tries to make La Mante as enigmatic as possible. This is caused by superficial writing, and works in the first scenes, but after that, she (d)evolves into a character who does nothing more than deliver irritating silences, long stares, while showing as little emotion as possible. This starts to feel forced and generic after episode 2 and will continue to the end.As a series, it is decent. But as an attempt to create an enigmatic and scary serial killer, this series fails and falls flat.

While this is not a movie the French have some wonderful police mystery/crime dramas such as La Circle Rouge. Those story lines do not paint the police as bumbling idiots as this one does nor use implausible actions for dramatic effect as it also does.For example, La Mantis is being held secretly in a mansion converted to a prison guarded by ONE person. Got that, only one. Escape could be very simple but they would like to show how smart La Mantis is. So she puts food in an air duct to breed insects whose feces are poison then takes these feces and puts them inside a medicine capsule she had been given for migraine. She fakes collapse and when her guard gives her mouth to mouth she forces the capsule into his mouth so he will swallow it. REALLY? Even with just one person who knows just a little wouldn't the first thing they do be do take a pulse and not give mouth to mouth if it isn't required? And why use this hokey method when there are much more straightforward ways to overcome captors? Has anyone seen Silence of the Lambs? Its escape scene is much more intelligent.And that's not all. The main character gives his cell phone number to a childhood friend (who turns out to be his brother) and tells him to call it is the suspected serial killer calls. Then he proceeds NOT to answer his cell phone and let the call go to voicemail. Even when he finally picks up the message he doesn't send the closest police units but goes there himself - without an ambulance - to make sure it takes too long.And the copycat serial killer uses a cell phone whose location they can't identify because they say he is scrambling. Excuse me. Even for through away units you use triangulation so who are they trying to kid.There also is a very annoying lady who wanted to lead the team but the task is given to an undercover person who is La Mantis son because she wants to deal with him. She doesn't follow orders and really ought to be fired. When she does find out the team lead is La Mantis son she erupts with absolutely no understanding of why it was done and the captain tolerates this.The guards for the team leads wife get killed from sheer incompetence - they have no idea how to clear out a house. They put an easily removable tracking device on La Mantis. They do not use a helicopter to keep track of her. How many things can they do wrong? This is, frankly, slander to the French police and very bad drama.