Down the drain: Spiral

With disappointment, I watched the first episode of the much-talked-of French series Spiral - and found it to be not by any degree better than a routine American police procedural or crime series - though quite a bit more gruesome than just about any American TV - the discovery of the faceless corpse in the first scene and the ghastly autopsy early are challenging for the viewer, and even for the characters (and perhaps the actors). Gruesome is not something I really look for on TV, however. Gruesome aside, the interest for American viewers will be primarily a look at the French criminal-justice system, apparently strikingly different from that in America: for example, parents with a complaint about the behavior of a public-school teacher go right to the public prosecutor, who hears them out, interviews the teacher and her colleagues, and brings the matter to resolution - without, apparently police involvement, much less education officials, unions, et al. If true, that's very surprising. Other than that, Spiral has the flaw of so many crime or mystery series, in that the clues just keep falling into place so that the crime can be solved in the requisite 47 minutes. It reminds me a little of the excellent US police series The Shield, in that there's one ongoing series narrative and a side story (0r even 2) per episode. I could forgive the crappy side story if the main narrative were more unusual and interesting, but there's nothing special or vivid about any of the characters, the ridiculous run of luck gathering clues and evidence over course of the hour is preposterous, and at the end, or at the beginning rather, we've got yet another story about a brutalized woman - can you say Dragon Tattoo? Compare this story, at least at its outset, with the much greater The Killing, that worked so effectively (in seasons 1 and 2 at least) because of vivid and likable characters and a great deal of attention to the family of the victim. The Spiral, at least in episode 1, does neither - just a rush to conclusion; in fact, one of its more effective devices is occasional use of fast-forward as we transition between main story and episodic subplot. Quel dommage.