Review by C.J. Bunce
Hulu’s pick-up of the French-Belgian series Haut Potentiel Intellectuel as a companion to its U.S. adaptation of the show turned out to be a big win for English-speaking viewers. Its cast of English voice actors is what all dubbed series need–a near seamless performance that allows the original actors to deliver the same experiences but to a new audience. With a complex, zany, and fast-talking lead character like Audrey Fleurot’s Morgane Alvaro, there is no room for error. Any writer will tell you comedy is hard, so maintaining the integrity of a police procedural that is equal parts crime mystery and comedy is an achievement. Doing it four seasons in a row is a triumph. The eight fourth season episodes are now streaming on Hulu. If you haven’t tried on shows outside the English language, this would be a great starter.
Morgane has a 160 IQ which makes her gifted, also referred to as Haut Potentiel Intellectuel aka HIP, which translates to High Potential Intellectual. Her character emerged as a quirky office cleaner who knocked over some documents one night working at police headquarters, quickly to realize the accused pictured on the murder board was actually one of the victims. Her highly functioning mind is counterbalanced by a socially maladjusted way of dealing with others. She’s a savant of sorts like Psych’s Shawn Spencer but more adept at memorizing obscure facts and processing information like Adrian Monk on the series Monk or the original mastermind detective Sherlock Holmes. Over four seasons the police moved from tapping Morgane for her talents to becoming dependent on her–often they seemed to be getting lazy, ready to sit back and let Morgane excitedly solve the crimes.
Balancing the endearing and likeable with the boisterous walking nightmare Morgane shows us each episode might make her one tough heroine to stick with. But the writers surround her with enough mystery, life hazards, and farcical situations to keep viewers coming back. This includes clever uses of split screens and other cinematic devices, and a tried and true method of putting viewers in her head via notes handwritten (by the show editor?) on the screen and ever-improving visual effects. This season Morgane adds using a pigeon as a sort of muse and spirit guide.
From a dramatic standpoint Morgane has two key obstacles to her pursuing a romantic interest with series co-star and sometimes police partner Adam Karadec, played by Mehdi Nebbou. The “will they/won’t they” that defines other police procedural comedies, like Castle, is a tighter needle to thread when the two players are so very different in every way. It’s a weird romance that works. Morgane is both fashion forward and fashion challenged, loud, outgoing, and intrusive, and “Kara” is reserved, methodic, calm, and we never get a clear indication of what is on his mind–the camera seems to work at finding hints at what he is thinking by focusing on his subtle expressions in close-ups. The hint of lust in his eyes doesn’t seem to change when Morgane is pregnant. Or when the father of the baby could be him or one of two other guys.
Barrier #1? Morgane really doesn’t know who the father is. Daughter Théa, played by Cypriane Gardin, has no interest in Morgane going forward with the baby. It’s a great choice that probably wouldn’t fly in a U.S. version, but her nagging her mom to get rid of the baby adds a fresh level to the humor of the show. But along with being pregnant is Barrier #2: Morgane learning Kara is leaving the department to take another job with the force is a gut punch. Fleurot’s skill at not showing emotions while also clearly being devastated showcases some high-level acting prowess. How does she do it?
Fleurot’s Morgane is a fiery redhead who could be sisters to the office-working Donna Noble of Doctor Who fame. Fleurot is brash, and fantastically so. She takes over and practically clobbers the other actors in every scene, and you can’t help loving her for it, even with some cringey colloquialisms about cops and more profanity than U.S. Prime Time would allow. But HIP also maintains a full-fledged ensemble cast, which includes police squad boss Céline (Marie Denarnaud) and detective Daphné Forestier (Bérangère McNeese). Bruno Sanches continues to upstage the cast by one-upping Morgane’s crazy choices and antics as daffy cop Gilles Vandraud. This year Gilles gets a girlfriend (played by Myra Tylliann) who only adds to the fun.
Creators Stéphane Carrié, Alice Chegaray-Breugnot, and Nicolas Jean maintained the mystery and genre fun for 32 hours. Can they get another season? We can only hope.
Don’t miss all four seasons of Haut Potentiel Intellectuel now streaming on Hulu.
