Monsieur Spade is an insipid, confusing, and ultimately unnecessary reincarnation of Dashiell Hammett's famous detective Sam Spade. Set in a French village over 20 years after the events of The Maltese Falcon the now retired detective finds himself up to his ears in a fresh mystery. Writers Tom Fontana and Scott Frank have endeavored to create a labyrinthine film noir plot worthy of Hammett and Raymond Chandler but lost the conception of the Sam Spade character. Furthermore they reduce him to a player in the game rather than the driving force as Spade recedes into the background as the episodes progress. Finally the story is severely compromised by the dreadful climax and insertion of an out-of-place person who wraps up the loose ends as the title character stands in the backround with a bemused look on his face.
The insurmountable problem for fans of the classic 1941 film is the depiction of Spade; it is impossible to connect him to the role essayed by Humphrey Bogart. I could not accept Clive Owen as the same person even allowing for time passage and mellowing into old age. Frankly this iteration seems more like Chandler's Philip Marlowe or at best an amalgamation of the two. The way he is regarded by others in the story - as a legendary, mythical, iconic, and famous individual - is just flat out wrong; he was a private investigator from San Francisco whom no one in Bozouls, France would have ever heard of. Clive Owen's dry, laconic portrayal of him is fine in and of itself but is more Marlowe than Spade.
The story is a slow burn that drags and gives the impression it could have been condensed into 4 episodes without losing anything. The plot is difficult to follow and I doubt many Americans know anything about the Algierian War (I sure don't) that occurred over 60 years ago and is essential to the narrative. Furthermore at least half of the show requires the audience to read subtitles that sometimes go by so fast you miss part of the conversation. There are precious few callbacks to the Maltese Falcon (those words are never uttered) that will likely get past viewers unfamiliar with that story. The most egregious element of the teleplay is the hamfisted last minute insertion of Alfre Woodard into the mix to sit all the key players down in an Agatha Christie setting for a positively putrid denouement. After sitting through 5+ episodes of intense skulduggery this lighthearted wrap up is bizarre to say the least.
On the plus side the score is evocative and the establishing panoramas of beautiful Bozouls are brilliantly captured. Nighttime sequences lensed in the claustrophobic city streets and alleyways conjure up an effective film noir milieu. As far as performances go the standout is Cara Bossom as the 15 - possibly 17 - year old daughter of Spade and Brigid O'Shaughnessy who is just as duplicitous as her mother which is a nice touch. Another fun one is Dean Winters (of Allstate Mayhem & John Wick fame) as the foul-mouthed Father Morgan who is likely a CIA plant and unfortunately only appears in 2 episodes. Clive Owen seems an odd choice for Sam Spade and, as mentioned before, becomes more superfluous as the story progresses although he does have a handful of standout moments (his sit-down with Jonathan Zaccai as nemesis Philippe Saint-Andre at the beginning of episode 3 is the best scene in the show). Over the course of the series his endless wisecracks and monotone delivery eventually grates on the nerves as he appears to be a smart aleck just for the sake of it.
Overall Monsieur Spade is an undoubtedly earnest attempt to tell a convoluted noir mystery in the vein of authors Hammett and Chandler with the hook of Sam Spade to garner an audience. Fans of The Maltese Falcon are likely to be disappointed and the story is probably too convoluted and slow for most.
