Summary
Some loose ends were left danging in Baptiste Episode 6 as the BBC mini-series was brought to a serviceable if slightly unsatisfying conclusion.
You might recall that we left things last week on something of a somber note, as the Romanian gangster Nicolae (Zachary Baharov) had tracked Edward Stratton (Tom Hollander) to a caravan and sliced up his ex-wife Clare (Clare Calbraith) and her new fella Carl (David Michaels). Luckily Nicolae got a knife in the guts for his trouble; unluckily, Baptiste Episode 6 seems to have forgotten all his prior characterization.
Case in point: Stratton calmly leaves Nicolae to bleed out while pumping him for information on the whereabouts of Natalie’s sister Cristina, and on the way back to Amsterdam, armed with new information, he smugly informs the police of what has gone on, explaining that he “has something to do” before he turns himself in. What, he’s some kind of cool vigilante tough guy now? I thought he was a nervous Englishman!
With the knowledge that the notorious Dragomir Zelincu “bought himself a pair of t**s” and became Kim Vogel (Talisa Garcia), Stratton knew to track down her grieving boyfriend Greg (Trystan Gravelle), who you’ll recall is in possession of oodles of damning evidence that is swiftly determined to be Kim’s insurance policy against the Brigada Serbilu. It didn’t do her much good, but it’s useful enough that the authorities can raid the Serbilu’s sex-trafficking compound, although Cristina depressingly (and somewhat pointlessly) isn’t among those rescued.
Elsewhere, Julien Baptiste (Tchéky Karyo) teamed up with Europol officer Genevieve Taylor (Jessica Raine) for a quick car chase — my favorite moment of Baptiste Episode 6 was the two of them nervously, frantically laughing at the end of it, which I thought was a likably naturalistic touch — and the scaring up of some more leads. Of most pressing concern: Who’s the snitch? Is it police commissioner Martha Horchner (Barbara Sarafian), Baptiste’s yogi old flame? Nope, but she does tip off her and Baptiste’s son, Niels (Boris Van Severen), when it turns out to be him.
Admittedly, Martha did try to do everyone a solid by setting Niels up in a police sting, which went badly for her since he shot her in the head, and slightly better but still pretty badly for Baptiste, whom he shot in the arm. As Baptiste Episode 6 briefly checked in on all the other incidental characters in the six-part mystery, it occurred to me that this was a bit of a messy, unsatisfying conclusion, all things considered. I didn’t hate it, but I found myself weirdly unengaged, partly a bit glad that the whole thing was over after slightly outstaying its welcome. A shame, really. The international success of the show will likely determine its future. I hope it’s brighter than Baptiste’s that’s for sure.
What happened in Genevieve’s apartment?
Yes, that was weird, wasn’t it? What did happen to Toma, Niels’ associate, who had slipped into Genevieve’s apartment armed with a, gasp, chopper?? From the conversation between her and Baptiste after she had checked that her apartment was empty, her Bucharest undercover agent informed her that the Serbilu brothers, who Niels answered to, had decided to cut their losses and put out a bounty on his head on Niels’ head instead. Thus, we are to assume that they ordered Toma to abandon the hit on Genevieve, which is when he left through her balcony door that she had discovered open – what a lucky break for her that she woud never know! Before I figured it out, I kept expecting Toma to jump out and cut her to pieces during her phone conversation with Baptiste!
Also, that climactic scene in the square when Niels was captured by the police was a little confusing. Did Niels really shoot his mother, and was it deliberate or an accident? Martha was reaching into her handbag for what I assume was a gun – did she intend to pull it out on Niels? Because to me, it looked like while she intended to do so, Baptiste saw and called out to her to stop, but her gun then went off accidentally and the stray bullet hit her in the head.