Walter IuzzolinoÔÇÖs series on Channel 4 ÔÇô Walter Presents ÔÇô selects the most popular, critically acclaimed television dramas from around the world, allowing anyone with a laptop and Wi-Fi in Britain to falsely feel like they are cultured through watching handpicked shows (such as SpainÔÇÖs Locked Up to Belgian black-comedy thriller The Out-Laws) for free on Channel 4ÔÇÖs streaming service All 4.
Each week Sinead McCausland will┬ábe reviewing a new show that the titular Walter has selected, hopefully encouraging more fans of world drama TV shows that arenÔÇÖt American. Here are her thoughts on The Passenger.
Each episode of The Passenger is titled after a figure from ancient mythology. The figures include Oedipus, a tragic hero who gouged out his own eyes; Icarus, who flew too close to the sun; and Prometheus, a Greek mythological figure who shaped man out of mud and tricked Zeus.
The first episode is centred on a decapitated, naked body wearing a bullÔÇÖs head, which is, of course, a reference to the premiering episodeÔÇÖs choice of mythological figure: Minotaur. As the characters discover within the episode, the eponymous figure was a creature made of the body of a man and the head of a bull, placed in the centre of a labyrinth. This is a clever starting point for the atypical French crime thriller, then, as the rest of series one plays out like a complicated maze viewers have to try and navigate their way around; trying to discover which turn is the right choice to make while watching the showÔÇÖs central figure Captain Chatelet (played by Rapha├½lle Agogu├®) make the opposite choices.
Captain Chatelet also uses the help of the prime suspect of the murder ÔÇô a psychiatrist called Mathias ÔÇô to try and solve the case. As each episode continues, the relationship created between potential-murderer and detective becomes more tense and captivating, mirroring the escalation in mystery due to the increase in body counts. It is these dead bodies that make The PassengerÔÇÖs cinematography seem so self-assured. Reminiscent of Bryan FullerÔÇÖs Hannibal, the programme is able to showcase the murdererÔÇÖs appreciation of beauty and Greek myth through their victims, yet still stay grounded within the moral compass of Chatelet. Art and murder is infused in The Passenger, with the final episode taking place in a painting room with what looks like blood, but is in fact red paint, on pouring from the walls.
With a twist ending only six one hour-long episodes, The Passenger is a thought-provoking and un-stereotypical French crime thriller mini-series that can easily be watched in one sitting, but appreciated for many more.
The Passenger is a part of the series Walter Presents for Channel 4. For more information on Walter Presents, click here. The first series of The Passenger is available to watch here.
Sinead McCausland