ANNEE ZERO
(Start Over)

• Episode 1
• Episode 2
• Episode 3
• Episode 4

EPISODE 1

Surgeon Marc Honore is murdered on New Year's Eve 2024, having announced he knows who is murdering his patients. His estranged wife Anna is helped into the lift by ambulanceman Cedric and police officer Juliette. One short power failure later, they find themselves emerging from the lift one year earlier, New Year's Eve 2023. They each have good reasons to want to make a few changes to the year this time around.

ANNEE ZERO (also titled START OVER for the english-speaking world) is a bit like GROUNDHOG DAY only for a year and only one repeat. Of course, this being a French production it's not so much about time travel or murders as it is about people discussing their feelings. Anna finds herself back with the husband she left because of his spiral after suspension over dead patients. Those deaths and that spiral have not yet happened. Neither has her affair with the handsome young doctor who has just arrived in the hospital and has no knowledge of their months' long affair. Juliette's husband is not yet dead from a heart attack, she and her daughter have not been kicked out of their home because of his gambling debts and she has a chance to catch a lot of bad guys. Cedric's wheelchair-bound fiancee is no longer wheelchair bounds, since she has not yet been hit by a car and has no idea who he is.

No time is spent on wondering just how this time trip has occured. These are smart enough people, but they're not theoretical physics professors. Instead, they struggle to fit back into the life that was a year in their past and deal with the new normal. It naturally occurs to them that they have a chance to change the things that had happened previously. First up is Juliette, trying to prevent her husband from suffering his heart attack so far from medical help. Her success in saving him, even though the heart attacks right on schedule, makes it clear that they can change their past and potentially stop the series of murders that led to Marc's death.

This opening episode sets up the basic scene of each of the main trio's lives before pulling the time travel switch. After that, there are no surprises in their reactions, their following actions or the outcomes of the same. There are dilemmas to be faced, to be sure, but whether or not to act isn't one of them, since inaction would lead to the death of people they love. Only Cedric is given a proper headscratcher in that his fiancee no longer knows him and is no longer in a wheelchair.

Time, it is revealed very quickly, can be changed, but also fights bacK.

EPISODE 2

The year continues to play out for the three unwilling time travellers as they attempt to find clues as to who the murderer is. Anna must continue her life with the man who she was about to leave, whilst fighting her attraction to the man she was about to leave him for. Juliette uses her memory of events as yet unhappened to create a perfect arrest record, which places her under suspicion from her bosses. Cedric attempts to woo his former fiancee, who shows less interest now she is not in a wheelchair.

First things first, Cedric is the most annoying character ever. He has a lovely neighbour who is obviously in love with him, but ignores her for the former fiancee who treats him badly. His attempts to woo her come off as stalking, and quite rightly because that's exactly what they are. The outcome of this line of action is inevitable.

Juliette is also completely foolish in her actions. To go from someone on report for inadequate performance to supercop overnight was clearly going to raise a few red flags somewhere. Anna's issues are pure soap opera, caught between two men and with exterior forces limiting her actions. Her strand is the central one, and yet it is the least showy of the three, with less happening and no real twists to play on.

Apart from the obviously foolish actions of the characters, the show is still watchable as they try to cope with the new reality in a believable way. Other shows would have had them researching time travelling and visiting experts in the subject, but here they simply try to deal with the fallout. This is combined with committed performances that underscore the real in the face of the fantastic.

EPISODE 3

Cedric is confined to a wheelchair and his once-upon-a-time fiancee is now attempting to look after him. He must choose between her future life of possibilities against his own happiness of her being with him. Juliette's success at the racetrack brings her under increased suspicion even as she is promoted. Anna continues to struggle with the two men in her life. The murderer is revealed by a clue that has been in plain sight, and ignored, since the start.

The central trio finally seem to be putting some clues together as to the identity of the killer. This was revealed to the audience at the episode's beginning, which allows for the Anna storyline to have more built in drama a tension. Cedric's story is still the most affecting as his role with that of his once-time fiancee is reversed. He also continues to be the more annoying of the characters, pushing away the woman he has been so relentlessly pursuing.

Juliette, at least, has learned that perfection is suspicious and throws her partner a big win, allaying his suspicions for a little while. His reaction is believably male.

The performances continue to be strong enough, but are still constrained by the soap operatics and the slow-moving procedural storyline. Grittiness is not in the show's DNA. It remains watchable, however, and the pace is starting to ramp up a little and it's a nice little cliffhanger to end on.

EPISODE 4

The New Year is fast approaching, along with its tumultuous events, but the time-shifted trio now have a plan to catch the identified killer, which is just as well as their personal lives are coming apart at the seams.

It's the final episode and everything kicks off. The killer turns out to be one step ahead of his pursuers. Anna's left on the edge of death, Cedric is unable to assist and Juliette is driven to extreme action. It's all a bit silly, but still exciting. The operation scene is perhaps a touch too graphic for some, and the rest of the show.

The killer's motivation is finally revealed and proves to be a bit disappointingly mundane, but at least sets up a tense standoff in a cemetary. All the activity makes up for the slowness of the other episodes.

The story has worked well enough as a standalone mini-series, but throws in a twist at the end in to offer a second season, but it is done so in such a half-hearted manner that it is unlikely to materialise.