Four years to the day after the last episode, the Bouleys and the Lepics are back on France 2 for a new adventure of Don’t do this, don’t do that – recently bereaved. If the series ended in April 2017 after 68 episodes, the two happy tribes had already returned on Friday December 18, 2020 for an event episode. An early Christmas gift very appreciated by fans at the time! In fact, there were 5,485,000 of them in front of their small screen that evening. So, on this Wednesday, December 18, 2024, the protagonists of the series born in 2007 are back at it again. Thus, Valérie Bonneton (Fabienne), Isabelle Gélinas (Valérie), Guillaume de Tonquédec (Renaud), Bruno Salomone (Denis), their children, but not only that, are back for a double lunar episode, co-written in particular by Anne Giafféri , the creator of the series, and writer of the first episodes. We will also note the presence of François Vincentelli (Dominique) and… Jamy, in his own role.
Don’t do this, don’t do that : What is this new double episode with Valérie Bonneton (Fabienne) and Guillaume de Tonquédec (Renaud) about?
In Sèvres, time has passed, and while the children have left the nest, the parents are reinventing themselves with more or less success. If Fabienne (Valérie Bonneton) devotes herself to writing olé-olé novels, Renaud (Guillaume de Tonquédec) is in the midst of depression, after his early retirement. With the Bouleys, it’s not better! While Denis (Bruno Salomone) is still in search of his professional path, Valérie (Isabelle Gélinas) has become a conspirator. Deeply worried about their parents, the children then decide to act and enroll them in a project that could give meaning to their existence: the first citizen competition, the winners of which have the opportunity to go to the Moon. If the reaction is mixed depending on the case, the quartet nevertheless agrees to bend to the wishes of their children, without taking the possible outcome seriously. However, to everyone’s surprise, what was just a big joke will take a new turn when they learn that they have been chosen to fly into space…
Don’t do this, don’t do that : Should we watch this new double episode with Isabelle Gélinas (Valérie) and Bruno Salomone (Denis)? Our opinion!
From the outset, it must be admitted that at the Télé Loisirs editorial team, many of us were somewhat taken aback when reading the pitch for this episode – the filming of which we witnessed. Taking our heroes to the Moon, while until then, the series managed to make us laugh by caricaturing our daily lives, we said to ourselves that that was going a bit far… And finally, without us really being able to decide if it was is positive or not, it is the same ambivalent feeling that inhabited us after watching this episode. So yes, of course, we take undisguised pleasure in reuniting with our favorite characters four years after their last adventures, and we will easily agree to watch the next episodes if there are any. But the absurd aspect of the scenario leaves us a little unsatisfied… Finally, and the comparison will stop there, we find ourselves as at the time of Gendarme and the Extraterrestrialswith Louis de Funès. The pleasure of seeing our heroes again is there, but we wonder what fly could have bitten the authors. For this long-awaited return of Don’t do this, don’t do thatwhich is also written by the creator of the series, we could perhaps have expected a simpler, more identifying situation. This absolutely does not prevent the DNA of the series, in particular in the diversity of themes addressed, from being maintained. As such, the underlying subject of the difficulty of finding one’s place in society when one approaches sixty is relevant and well covered. We can also salute the authors’ desire to diversify the tones with several truly vibrant moments of emotion, and even, without spoilersome almost dramatic scenes. But the laughter in all this? So, yes, obviously, we smile a lot at the sharpness of the lines, or the incredible nature of a few scenes, but we can’t say that this episode makes us laugh. We are even a little disappointed by the twisted destiny of Fabienne (Valérie Bonneton) and Valérie (Isabelle Gélinas), becoming caricatured characters, despite the talent of the actresses. Idem, even if the production of Alexandre Castagnetti is careful and the pleasure of the reunion between actors seems obvious in the image, we cannot fail to note some lengths which could have been filled if the other emblematic characters of the fiction, apart from the parents, had been truly integrated into the plot. Indeed, if all the children are present in this episode, the number of family scenes can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and their score is almost non-existent. And even the presences, usually so refreshing, of Cécile Rebboah (Corinne) and Isabelle Nanty (Christiane Pottin), are reduced to nothing. Eventually, Don’t do this, don’t do thatcomes up against the problem of series that we have known for many years. We always come back, out of habit, to see friends we haven’t seen for a long time, or to rediscover the sweet and nostalgic sensations of yesteryear. But, even if we wouldn’t miss this meeting for anything in the world, we can’t say that the reunion will necessarily be as intense as in the past… That will still not prevent our hope of finding the Bouleys and the Lepic for a new, more flamboyant episode, in four years…
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