We watched what we thought was the first season of The Paris Murders on PBS last year, and I was intrigued enough to wonder if there were more seasons available, but the show wasn’t on any of the streaming services we got at the time, so I put the idea out of my mind, assuming PBS would eventually play another season. But then, recently, Mom had to buy something on Amazon that required a short-term subscription to Prime, and with her new prime membership came Prime Video, and inside of that, we found out that PBS Masterpiece was doing a seven-day free trial, and they had seven seasons of The Paris Murders.
My first thought was that, of course, I could watch all seven seasons in seven days, but when it turned out that I was mistaken, because of work and sleep and other annoying things like that, we reluctantly decided to pay the fee for the month so we could watch the rest of the episodes (and then maybe watch them all again).
And then, when I started to get close to the end of the series, I looked the show up online and it turned out that there were supposed to be ten seasons. For some reason, when PBS decided to air the French show Profilage, they changed the title to Paris Murders and started with season four, calling it season one. I have no idea why they did this, and now, having watched all seven available seasons, I am desperate to know what came before, but I have no idea where to find those first three seasons, or why PBS decided to disappear them. There are some mysteries in the series that I think must be hidden in those first three seasons, but also, I just miss the show and it would be a relief to have a few more seasons to wallow in.
Part of the intrigue is also that I can find snippets of the earlier seasons in these weird video compilations on YouTube, put to music, so I can see hints of all of the storylines I missed, including a whole other character, but I have no idea what it all means.
It’s important to say, somewhere in here, that Profilage is a crime show set in Paris, created by two women, and with an emphasis on crimes that impact women. There is a deep understanding in this show of how trauma (especially in childhood) impacts who you can become in the future, and the immense work it takes to create a liveable life in the aftermath.
I always find it so difficult to relate to the shiny, glossy, successful surfaces people show to the world, in real life and especially on TV, where even police detectives are in full makeup in the middle of the night, so when I’m allowed to see through the cracks to the person underneath, and feel like this is a person who is really struggling and really trying to heal, the relief I feel is deep and lasting, even if its fiction.
My biggest disappointment, though, while watching this clearly addictive series, was that in season four (really season seven in the original count), Chloe, the female lead, a criminologist with a, let’s say, quirky personality (or tormented, sweet, complicated, loveable, and mentally ill) decides to leave Paris (and the show), and her protégé, the much less lovable Adele, takes her place. It’s possible that getting to watch those first three seasons would fill up my Chloe tank, and help me appreciate her protégé a bit more, but without those three seasons, I’m in limbo.
The actress who played Chloe (Odile Vuillemin) did an amazing job of capturing the physical awkwardness and social oddness of her character, while also being deeply loving and present with all of the other characters. She was especially good opposite Commander Rocher (Philippe Bas) who, unfortunately, lost some of his depth when she left the show (though he remained ridiculously good looking and reliable and an unreasonably good athlete, which makes for some amazing action scenes).
Basically, I got very, very attached to these characters, possibly because I tried to watch seven seasons in less than a week, but also because I saw something in Chloe, especially, that resonated with me. Her vulnerability, her brokenness, her willingness to show all of her emotions, no matter how unpretty they may have seemed to other people, reached me. And I felt like there were things I could have learned from her, like a puppy mill rescue can follow a dog who’s lived in a home for a while, to figure out how everything works, and follow in their familiar footsteps.
Chloe, with her fiery red hair, and sixties style outfits, and the heels, and the bags, doesn’t look or act anything like me, but I could feel what she was feeling. And I miss her.
So, yeah, if anyone knows how someone in the United States can access the first three seasons of Profilage, please let me know.
I’m also hoping that showing season four/season one of the show on PBS, and maybe building a new audience in the United States, will create enough interest to get the writers to consider bringing the show back, or creating something new to bring Odile Vuillemin and Philippe Bas back together again to work on more cases.
A girl can dream.
If you haven’t had a chance yet, please check out my novel, Yeshiva Girl, on Amazon. And if you feel called to write a review of the book, on Amazon, or anywhere else, I’d be honored.
Yeshiva Girl is about a Jewish teenager on Long Island, named Isabel, though her father calls her Jezebel. Her father has been accused of inappropriate sexual behavior with one of his students, which he denies, but Izzy implicitly believes it’s true. As a result of his problems, her father sends her to a co-ed Orthodox yeshiva for tenth grade, out of the blue, and Izzy and her mother can’t figure out how to prevent it. At Yeshiva, though, Izzy finds that religious people are much more complicated than she had expected. Some, like her father, may use religion as a place to hide, but others search for and find comfort, and community, and even enlightenment. The question is, what will Izzy find?
rachelmankowitz 
Have you considered being a TV/ film critic? After finding the original 3 seasons of Profilage, of course.
Thank you!
Hi,
My wife and I just finished the PBS Season 1 (4) and share your frustration. But what we found even more frustrating was that the final episode of Season One, Episode 12 ended with a cliff hanger (Chloe hanging herself) and Season Two, Episode 1 begins a year later with Chloe having adopted Lili and her mother freed from the narcissist. What happened? There has to be another missing season. Any thoughts?
Steve
They do go back and explain what happened, but I hear you. They did the same jumping ahead thing in later seasons and its always disorienting.
The series does show the impact of the murders on the society
Here’s something that might help: https://www.ebay.com/itm/116410111769 —Bobbi
Thank you!
Another series to add to my too-long list.
Rachel , thank you so much for this posting, my daughter and I also loved this show and wish we had seen the first three seasons. And by the way, I have been following you when I can for over 10 years, and although I am not faithful, I always appreciate your post –
Thanks so much! And if I find out how to watch those first three seasons, I will be sure to let you know 🙂
Thank you so much!
I have also gotten so attached to fictional characters—on television and in books—I mourn them when the series ends. I am on Book 13 of Jacqueline Winspeare’s Maisie Dobbs 18 book series. I will miss Maisie when I finish. And don’t get me started on how Sue Grafton died before finishing the ladt of her A is for _____ series!
I love Maisie Dobbs! I’m putting off reading the final novel because I’m not ready for her to be gone.
A
Rachel & @shapcomp18– My people! I put off reading the last Maisie Dobbs book for a couple of months because I couldn’t bear not to have her in my life anymore. I finally finished it the other day. I totally understand where you are coming from. I’ve tried a couple of other series, but the writing and characterization just aren’t anywhere as good.
Also looking for the 1st 3 seasons of Profilage.
Perhaps buy these on eBay? Assuming the DVD comes with subtitles. I think the first ever episode is called ‘Moins Que Rien’, which means something like ‘Less Than Nothing.’ Good luck!
Thank you!
I have the perfect solution but like so many of my perfect solutions I’m sure this one has some fatal flaw I’m not seeing. Go to France! It’s a wildly popular series, lasting 10 seasons. Surely a streamer over there has the full series available. I did discover that Prime Video has one episode from the original season one available. (Why just one?) if a European vacation isn’t in the cards for right now, maybe one of the comments about finding them on eBay will pan out. Good luck!
I love your plan!
If you decide to go and want an interpreter I volunteer! I don’t speak French but I am willing to learn! 😀
Ha! Of course!
Oh good! I’ll start packing – just in case.
Good post Rachel, though we’re not into TV shows anymore. Glad to see the little one settling in.
Thank you!
I have not heard of this series. I can appreciate your frustration with missing seasons. It would be great to have a single streaming service that had everything.
That would be awesome!
Finding an engaging series is rewarding, I agree. I donate enough to PBS in order to earn their Passport status which entitles me to watch, even binge, their shows. They have a section called “Walter Presents” that features foreign series. The Paris Murders is part of that collection. And it does start with season three. I have been meaning to watch it and will definitely check it out after I finish my addiction to Netflix’s Lincoln Lawyer series. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
How great you found a character you could relate to. I hope you’re able to find the earlier seasons.
Me too! Thank you!
Great dose of cuteness in your new family member. Good luck with the TV series.
Thank you!
I think the most ‘enjoyable’ characters, whether in books or on screen, are those that we find something we can identify with. 🙂
Absolutely!
Another thing we have in common! I actually was going to use some of your quotes in one of my upcoming articles about my attachment to fictional characters Yes, your piece motivated me!
Thank you!
I don’t know how you could attempt to binge watch that many seasons of anything unless you were housebound or couldn’t move. I can’t make it through more than 2 hours of anything. I did binge watch The Gilmore Girls (not the whole thing) when I had eye surgery and wasn’t supposed to do anything about 10 years ago. I hope you find a way to watch it. I also hope you are having a good Hanukkah.
You too!
LOVE
Happy New Year!
Happy New year!
My problem with these addictive miniseries‘ would be it takes away considerable book reading time away. How about you?
I’m okay with that, as long as the writing is good.
I just finished Episode 12 of Season Two (5) with a sick doctor who is in prison for being a serial rapist and killer and yet is still able to control several nurses on the outside into kidnapping blond women, for who knows what, keeping them alive in a boarded up barn while Chloe is dealing with schizophrenia was just a little too much. I didn’t even mention that a police officer was stabbed in the back at her wedding, and no one noticed including her. Or that the lead detective was making a deal with the serial killer to get a kidney for his dying sister. Or that the serial killer was able to cause a prison riot, enabling him to escape and finish off the bride. Ridiculous and a waste of time! Great characters, but the writers must have started taking hallucinogenics.
It’s altogether possible!
Going through the same confusion. I did find that you can purchase Profilage 1-3 for $73. each. A little too pricey for me but, certainnement, I would love to. Let’s all keep on trying. Maybe PBS will wake up and smell the….
Fingers crossed!
The “weird video compilations” are called fan edits and most of them are mine, actually. It’s really stupid seasons 1 and 2 are not available, they are the best of all 10. 3 is mostly Chloe suffering. Sadly season 10 it’s really bad, basically a repeat of the previous seasons.
You can find season 1 here https://ok.ru/video/c17904994 as well as many of the other seasons. Here https://ok.ru/video/c9220928 all seasons in French, no subtitles. Matthieu’s story is explained in the episodes Storms, originally 5×05 and 5×06.
Thank you so much!!!!!!
You’re welcome. I’m a huge fan of the show, so if you have any questions about the early seasons, you can ask me. You can find me on ao3 under the name OrlanitaMariciaCanon, I have also written many fanfics about Profilage there.
Sounds great! Thank you!
I’m also a dog lover and a long-retired writer. Thank you for reading my blog. Cheers, Muriel
Thank you for visiting!
I found how to access saisons 1-3 using a VPN with a server in France, at https://www.tf1.fr/tf1/profilage. You have to join TF1+, and they also have an app, but it can be a free account, and the audio and subtitles are only in French. I also found them uploaded on YouTube with the German dub and subtitles but in YouTube you can have it automatically generate subtitles to English. Sometimes the translation does not make sense but it’s better than nothing. The problem with the YouTube videos is that for some reason they are zoomed in so much that the screen is cut off on all four sides so you really don’t get a good picture. I tried zooming out, but it just makes everything smaller and it is still all cut off. If only I could figure out how to combine the subtitles with the original TF1 video..
Wow! Great info!
We watched the first season and liked it. Now I’m not sure whether to continue or not. :-). We binge PBS through Passport by making a donation to our local station. Not sure if that’s an option where you live, but we use it pretty regularly.
I loved it all the way through! Someone sent me links to the first few seasons in French (without subtitles), so I am slowly, very slowly, making my way through those.
That wouldn’t work for me since I don’t speak French, but I’m very impressed by your efforts.
Also, if you live in the US, you may have access to a lot of great programming (including some great mystery programs) via Hoopla through your local library.
I love Hoopla! We also get Kanopy through our library, but Hoopla has a lot more fun stuff on it.
Same here and I agree!
I also saw you subscribed to my blog, “Reading, Writing, Ranting, and Raving, which I no longer update. If you are interested in my more recent posts, they can be found on https://thebyrdandthebees.wordpress.com. I post a lot about our bees, but also travel and genealogy and anything else that comes into my head.
So PBS served up a French crime drama with half the story missing and called it gourmet TV—bon appétit, confusion! Rachel Mankowitz fell for the show’s original weirdo-genius, Chloé Saint-Laurent, only to find the network had ghosted her first three seasons like an ex with commitment issues. Now she’s on a digital scavenger hunt just to see the whole picture—because apparently, emotional resonance isn’t region-locked, but licensing deals sure are.
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I was able to piece the TF1 videos together with English subtitles from opensubtitles.org, but it wasn’t easy by any means. That said, we finished watching the first 3 seasons last night, and I can say now that I don’t see how they could have tried to pass off the show without those seasons. There is SO much that happened, and SO much background on the characters that you can’t just leave that out! We are going to start watching from season 4 again now that we have seen the first 3 seasons.
Wow! That’s dedication! It seems like a good sign that you want to rewatch the later seasons now. I’ll need to take a look at the opensubtitles.org site.
So, were you ever able to find the first three years of Profilage with English subtitles?
Nope. And I got tired of hitting my head against the wall of French, so now I’m watching Alice Nevers with English subtitles.
You cam find them all now on Amazon Prime / PBS shows (seasons 1-10) with subtitles.
That’s awesome. Thank you!
have you checked Britbox? Or Acorn Tv? – paid apps. But they are worth it.
Google or search Paris Murders and it should give you streaming services that air it.
I loved Britbox! Maybe Acorn TV next.
If you like Paris Murders you should give Astrid (Astrid et Raphaelle in France) a try. Another quirky female lead.
The BBC actually did a remake of Astrid (called Patience) that’s on PBS now, but I still like The Paris Murders better!
The remake “Patience” is a pale shadow of Astrid. Watch the real thing.
I enjoyed 2 seasons of this show, too, via Amazon Prime. I would have loved to watch more of it, but Prime only carried those two seasons.
There’s got to be a better way to organize the streaming world so that we can actually watch the shows we get addicted to. Fingers crossed they figure it out soon!
“Would I have to share my chicken treats?”
That caption is perfect for that photo. So, so cute!
Thank you!
What happened to Adele at the end of Season 9? She is no longer on the show in Season 10 and seems to have been replaced with Lamarck’s daughter!
She left to live a “normal” life. Season 10 was pretty disappointing.
I stopped watching Season 10 after 2 episodes
Makes sense.