Pining for more "Three Pines"?

So, if you read my last post, you know that I was in the middle of the second season of Black Spot (Zone Blanche), hoping—against hope, really—that somehow the final episodes would wrap up loose ends and clear up the huge pile of questions that were boiling over in the eerie little village called Villefranche. Of course, the second season ended with a bang—with even more unresolved issues! And since that final episode originally aired in 2019, and we are in 2024, I think it’s safe to say that we are NEVER going to find answers to the most pressing concerns we have about these characters.

That reminded me of another series that got canceled after a cliffhanging final episode of a season. In 2022, Alfred Molina headed an Amazon Prime series based on very popular mysteries by Canadian author Louise Penny set near Montréal, Quebec. Alfred Molina played beloved detective Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Quebec, and Molina was, as always, great in his role.

Throughout the first season, the Chief Inspector confronts a string of odd mysteries that crop up in and around a wacky little town called Three Pines (thus, the series title), east of Montréal. Of course, there is a meta-mystery narrative arc that weaves throughout the entire first season, and the unraveling of that larger mystery—police corruption that seems ubiquitous in mystery series coupled with a more local storyline involving unjust treatment of indigenous population—lands us with a season finale clearly intended to keep us breathless until the start of second season!

Except that the second season never arrived. The series was canceled! (Mon dieu!)

Viewers have become all too familiar with the fickleness of streaming. Sure, plenty of new shows—even decent ones—got canceled on network TV before the advent of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and dozens of other streaming services. But does it seem to you that streaming series get canceled much more quickly, even capriciously? We hear shadowy tales of data wonks who scrutinize algorithms reflecting the speed at which certain series are consumed from beginning to end, and then network executives who make calls on whether something gets the green light to continue, right?

Another mystery: Why is it that Louise Penny novels—so popular with readers—don’t appear to succeed in series adaptations? An earlier attempt (in 2013) with British actor Nathaniel Parker (who also played Inspector Lynley from Elizabeth George’s novels*) as Gamache seemed to miss the mark. But Alfred Molina did seem better suited for this role with Amazon Prime. Is there something too much of the saint in the Gamache character to produce compelling television? Is the town of Three Pines too gimmicky? Is it that the series adaptations veer enough off original script to turn off the legions of devoted Penny fans? We’ll never know, since most of these issues don’t get revisited.

There is, at least, some consolation for those who got invested in Chief Inspector Gamache and the quirky residents of Three Pines. Louise Penny has published 18 novels featuring this detective.**

Now if you will just return the favor and let me know how I can find out what happened in Villefranche after Black Spot Season 2 finale?

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*Hmmm, perhaps another post topic?

**Just so you know, a large part of Amazon Prime series’s Season 1 plot line was not a part of Louise Penny’s own novels…