Our review of Commandant Saint-Barth, on TF1

An unreasonable histrionic commander, flirtatious, playful, braggart, cheater in his spare time. Three collaborators including a psychorigid captain, a perched scientist and a perfectly indolent lawyer. For the commissioner, she is as cramped in her suits as in her way of thinking. All this under the sun and in the lush landscapes of Guadeloupe.

Arte had Maroni. Canal+ had produced Guyana. France 2 had Murders in Paradise et Criminal Tropics both made overseas, relatively inexpensive to produce, exotic, popular and profitable. TF1 needed its series in the tropics. So that its viewers forget a little of the grayness of the metropolis, in the heart of winter.

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After a special episode of Search Sections produced in Martinique, the channel therefore offers Commander Saint-Bartha six-episode series created by Anouk Filippini and Hugo Nathan-Murat. She writes books for young people. Him, episodes of The Internnotably. The fruit of their first collaboration is a paradox. A nanar of the most beautiful water (turquoise).

A dead woman at the top of a coconut tree

It’s difficult to do more than the pitch of this series: a star cop from the mainland returns to the country after sixteen years of absence. Without having had time to get to know his new team, including George (Philypa Phoenix), the yin to whom he will soon be the yang, he investigates the death of a young woman found at the top of a coconut tree. But the worst is yet to come.

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Just like the premise of the program in which he plays the title role, this Commander Saint-Barth, played by the comedian, actor and ex-water ski champion Florent Peyre, combines clichés. They range from Hawaiian shirts to threadbare valves, through rebellious character (great cops are potential great thugs and vice versa), charm (for flirting), various skills (to vary the pleasures). ), the reunion with old friends, the love of youth (for the “love”), the criminal past of the father on the run (for the injury), without forgetting the crazy dog ​​side which inevitably shakes up the habits of the brigade .

In the manner of a Magnum without his Higgins or a Bond without his M, Saint-Barth leads the way, attracting all eyes, and leaves little room for other characters whose contours a good series would on the contrary carefully draw. But maybe it will come… « I totally projected myself into the character »declares the actor, whose energy tries to put itself at the service of the series like the phlegm of Julien Doré for Panda or the overflowing madness of Audrey Fleurot carries HPI.

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This category of detective series is therefore no longer based on the progress of an investigation, which has moved to second or even third place, but on the personality of its hero and his ability to occupy the screen. Crime scenes are missing. The dead no longer speak, or very little. Saint-Barth, moreover, cannot bear the sight of a corpse.

Commander Saint-Barth meets all the standards of family entertainment. Police comedy in the vein of HPI, Panda, Mademoiselle Holmes, The Negotiator or The Recruitthe series alternates action, gags and a ton of good feelings. Florent Peyre, obviously, is having fun. Not us.