Maigret Season 1 Episode 5 Review: Maigret Comes Home, Part 1

A boy is killed just outside Jules’s home on Maigret Season 1 Episode 5, “Maigret Comes Home, Part 1.”  Yet it’s something even more personal that warrants this episode’s title.

When our victim, Antione, is stabbed shortly after recording a suspicious conversation in a bar, the reason seems obvious. Yet Maigret, summoned by a witness, finds the recorder while trying to help and immediately thinks otherwise.

Antione’s family is wealthy and famous, reporters already gathering outside as the team talks to his father and sister, Minou. Minou explains that Antione just liked recording everything in the world around him, making his death still more tragic.

So do the recordings matter? Everyone else seems to think so—and they’re used effectively to catch robbers in the act. Maigret still follows up on leads from the tape, though the first is a dead end. He asks everyone to attend Antione’s funeral.

Before they can, Maigret realizes he knows someone they’ve been following: Sophie’s son, Marcus. She first rebuffs him, but upon realization that there may be a plot against her, begs for his help (and resorts to emotional manipulation.)

Agreeing to her demands is already questionable, but Maigret may also be in danger. He mocks the potential killer during a press conference, spurring an anonymous man to call into a television show and say he’s “disappointed” by the detective.

As intrigued as I’ve been by the adult Sophie’s presence in Jules’s life, I can’t say she’s living up to who she is in his memories. Over one hour, she moves from anger to apologies and from protecting his father’s reputation to attacking it as needed.

I do understand she’s in a desperate situation, but it’s hard to feel too much empathy when she’s so dismissive of the fact Maigret will have to risk his work (and likely life) to offer this assistance. I do hope she at least comes to see what he has at stake.

That said, we’re also shown that returning home is something the detective has been struggling with for some time. By that token, there’s benefit in a situation so dire that it overcomes his reservations. I just hope the cost isn’t too high.

Meanwhile, in this final case of the season, the show seems to have finally found the right balance in giving us plenty of time to explore our main character’s lives while also creating an episodic plot moving enough that we truly want to see justice.

Antione’s tapes are quietly stirring, and a great device for making him real when we only get to see him alive for a few minutes. I hope the balance continues and Maigret is able to help Sophie while still having time to bring peace to the boy’s family.

If there’s one thing I’d still like to see, it’s more time with the rest of the ensemble cast. Given what is likely to unfold in the final hour of season one, it’s unlikely that’ll happen just yet. All the more reason to bring the show—and everyone on it—back.

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Maigret airs Sundays at 9/8c on PBS.

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