The final two episodes of “Maigret” are titled Maigret comes home, and yet again Maigret starts solving one case, and it becomes a pair of cases! While one of those is about the murder of Antoine Batille, the son of the famous Lucient perfume house owner, the other case is very close to Maigret’s heart. To be specific, the dreams Maigret was seeing led him up to the moment of truth in no other place but Saint Fiacre. Countess Sophie does call for Maigret, and Maigret turns up only to chance upon an enemy force eating away at the estate. Back at home, another stranger danger awaits Maigret’s arrival. The season finale has no lack of thrills, and let us see what leads Maigret down this descending spiral of crimes, murders, and exploitation.
What did Antoine Batille record?
Antoine Batille is a young student from Sorbonne who walks into a bar ten minutes prior to its closing and asks for a shot of vodka. He casually slips in a recorder in a newspaper fold near him to record the scene, but a man comes up to him, holding him by the collar and asking him whether he was recording. Antoine frees himself and walks out of the bar, and as he is walking down the lane, a strange figure turns up and stabs him to death. The case reaches Maigret, and he and his team get on board to solve the murders. There are initial suspects—an Arabian girlfriend whose uncle might be enraged (this is soon dismissed)—and Maigret and his team reach the bar where Antoine was last seen. They find out about Branchu, who threatened Antoine with his accomplices.
The tape recorder has been found, and Maigret goes through its recording. Antoine’s father and sister confirm that Antoine was recording the ambient noise of everyday life for a project at the Sorbonne—he wanted to listen in from a life of privilege to the life that actually goes on in the streets. It is safe to assume that he was not on a mission to expose criminals, but accidentally he caught on record the plans Branchu, Mila, and their accomplices were making about an art robbery. Branchu runs an art restoration business, and this high-value art robbery was slated to happen soon. While Maigret puts them under surveillance, he realizes that Countess Sophie’s son, Maurice, is advising Branchu on estimations of art. Although Maurice denies having anything to do with the robbery, we will be seeing Maurice again in Saint Defiacre.
Cavre, Maigret’s teammate, is certain that Branchu is linked with this murder, but Maigret is not too sure. If the robbers killed Antoine, why would they leave the recorder—evidence that could incriminate them? Cavre wants to look past it and catch the gang mid-heist; Maigret encourages them, and his department, La-Crim, and BRB get on a joint mission to arrest the suspects. However, while all this is happening, Sophie calls Maigret, chiding him for questioning Maurice on his activities; Maigret assures her that the activities were “potentially” criminal, but nothing was convicted. However, this opens up a channel of communication between Maigret and Saint Defiacre once again.
Why Did Maigret Return to Saint-Fiacre?
One night while the investigation is still going on, Sophie calls Maigret paranoid and asks him to come help her. She thinks her new estate manager Gautlier, his daughter Natalie, and her current partner Janos are exploiting her financially. She also mentions a rapid heart illness, and Maigret decides to visit her for closure. He has been having the same dream about Sophie calling her home, and he decides to take action following the dream. Maigret meets Sophie outside of the church that he has been seeing in his dream. Sophie goes to sit inside, while Maigret watches from the back as an altar boy shows her an image, after which she collapses on the table in front. Maigret rushes to check her, but Sophie is dead.
Maigret is now stuck at Saint Defiacre, investigating Sophie’s murder unofficially, as he is also trying to do the math of Antoine’s murder. Carve is convinced that Mila, Branchu’s accomplice, who has now been arrested, is responsible for the murder. However, Maigret gets a mysterious call from a stranger who he thinks has killed Antoine; while he pursues this case slowly, Carve wants to draft a chargesheet with credits to his own name. Maigret tells the department to put his own name on the sheet and says that it would be better for Carve in the longer run.
Who Killed Sophie Des Saint Fiacre?
As mentioned earlier, Sophie Des Saint Fiacre was neck-deep in debt with a two million overdraft. The new estate manager, Gautlier, tells Maigret that he has been selling off the farmlands to get Sophie by, yet his daughter Natalie had refused to give an extension to Sophie just the day before, as Sophie mentioned on the phone. Sophie suspected that something was going wrong since while she is worrying about the estate, Gautlier is showing off his newfound wealth. As soon as Sophie is dead, her partner Janos makes a hurried escape despite Maigret asking him not to; Maigret also notices that Gautlier is giving him a ride. He is right to assume that something was going on behind Sophie’s back. When Maurice visits the estate, he asks Maurice to make an announcement of selling the estate off.
The plan is to bring everyone involved in Saint Fiacre in the same room. As Maurice makes his announcement, Maigret enters the conversation, asking the prices of the farmlands around the estate. It looks like Gautlier has been selling them off at a dirt cheap cost to a certain buyer, and then this buyer is selling the same property for millions. Maigret reveals that this decoy company is run by none other than Gautlier and his daughter, and Janos was also hand in glove in this since he paid the altar boy to show Sophie the compromised images of herself, knowing that her heart would not be able to bear this. There is one other person involved in this, Dr. Bouchadron, who paved the way to killing Sophie by giving her the wrong medication. Maigret solves the case of Sophie’s murder and, in a way, reaches a closure about his father’s honesty compared to the new estate manager’s exploitation of Sophie.
Who Killed Antoile Battille?
When the killer called Maigret, he had asked the killer a singular question. The question being whether the caller had killed before. Maigret was reflecting on the killer before saying that he has crossed a line from the community of men by committing the act of murder. Now he shall be in isolation until he is seen for his act. Looks like that is what the killer was doing. If a tree falls in a forest and there is no one to hear the sound, does it even make a sound? Maigret will have to go over this question while the killer waits at his house, holding a knife to Louis’ throat.
After Sophie’s case is solved, Maigret receives a phone call from Louis, and it takes him a moment to understand that the killer is holding Louis hostage at her residence. Maigret rushes to town and confronts the killer. The killer, Bercy, finally answers the question. He says that he has killed before, but no one knew about it. He probably wanted to go serial-killer style for his next murders (lack of motive, more a point to be made) so that he can get the spotlight. Well, he probably felt like stealing the Crown Jewels and having nobody to show them to, if you know what I mean! Maigret slowly breaks his defense and gets the story out. Bercy killed Antoine simply because he looked happy and content with his life. He stabbed him a few times and came back to look at his face; Antoine was expecting help, but he stabbed him again just to prove how big, bad, and vicious he can be. This is a psychological cry to be seen. However, as he holds Louis by the knife, Maigret prepares to shoot him, but Sophie, who is a psych ward nurse, talks him out of the act by asking him to accept what he has done. She says that he will be able to sleep once he does. At this point, all of his defense crumbles down, and the killer gives in. Maigret’s team flies in in a helicopter to arrest Bercy. Louis offers him a drink before he goes in. Louis’ adept management of the situation was surely a nice change from Maigret saving everyone!
The case is resolved; Carve, who was certain that Mila committed the crime, was already dismissed while Mila was caught on the CCTV. Now with Maigret’s theory being proven right, he asks for a transfer to another department. However, with so much happening professionally and personally, Maigret also decides to take some time off and go to the country with his wife. Hopefully, we shall be seeing a Maigret Jr. in season two!
