Parentless – The series is introduced with a brief scene of what appears to be an unconscious female victim being dragged to the bottom of a lake with a tether around her left ankle. She’ll soon startle awake and begin to struggle while being dragged further down.

The footage then abruptly switches to Juliet Dumon’s (Charlotte De Bruyne) to the quaint De Haan Village. It’s mere seconds later that she’s joining Jamal Hout (Nabil Mallat) at a crime scene. A brief consultation with Doctor Claessens identifies the victim as a 15 or 16-year-old female who likely drowned between 10 pm and 4 am the previous evening. After taking notes of the tether on the girl’s leg, the corresponding scratch marks, and self-inflicted cuts, Juliet quickly steps away without explanation.

Jamal will join her but they are soon called to attention by Conny Lefever (Fania Sorel) and a crime scene photographer. The photographer has found a silver chain bracelet adorned with the name, Fleur on the face and initials CD on the backside. Both Conny and Jamal suspect that the CD belongs to the local jewelry artisan, Claire Devos (Mieke Dobbels), but it is Jamal’s father who has an in with Claire’s husband, Koen Delrue (Piet De Praitere). Minutes later they are greeting him at his front door.

Koen immediately recognizes Jamal’s last name. Before this scene ends, it will also be revealed that Jamal’s father is running for mayor and can count on Koen’s note. As the inquiry takes off, Koen begins to suspect his daughter, Fleur Delrue (Fleur Vanderjeugt), is the victim. Amber Colpaert (Jule Bauwens) is revealed as the victim when Fleur returns home. Between bouts of sobbing, Fleur will reveal that she and Amber had traded bracelets, apparently something they did regularly. She’ll also admit that she and Amber’s friendship was on the rocks. According to her, everyone had been at odds with Amber as of late due to a recent attitude transformation. This brief meeting is concluded once Jamal tracks down Vader Colpaert’s (Wennie De Ruyck) work address.

The brief encounter with Vader sours the moment he thinks Juliet and Jamal are referring to him as an absentee father. Despite this, Vader will admit that the last time he saw Amber was the following morning when she left for school. He apparently spent the evening with his girlfriend and Amber always spent Friday nights with Fleur so they could attend hip-hop class together. He’s nearly unbelieving when Juliet tells him that Amber had stopped going to the class weeks ago. He breaks down in tears the instant she asks about a boyfriend.

Jamal will confirm Vader’s alibi while Juliet searches Amber’s room and finds a cell phone. Vader and Amber’s real mother, Tania Colepaert (Dolores Bouckaert) spend the entire passing blame. Juliet and Jamal will leave without mentioning the discovery.

Later that evening, Juliet is in the middle of a shower when Chloe Dumon’s (Amber Naert) social worker shows up with the news that she’s found a family to place Chloe with. Chloe is not at all happy about the news and this leads to a prolonged feud. As time passes, it will be revealed that Chloe isn’t yet the legal age of 17 and had been living with her grandfather Herman Dumon (Pieter Genard). His recent passing means that she now needs adult supervision which Juliet is unwilling to provide. There will be a brief mention of Chloe’s father that suggests he is alive but possibly missing or hiding.

While dropping Chloe off at her babysitting gig, Juliet learns from Jonas (Arend Pinoy) that Herman also left her with his sizeable whiskey tab. Although Jonas appears to feel guilty or ashamed about bringing up the issue, Juliet is now insistent on clearing the debt.

Juliet arrives at the station to learn that the actual cause of death has been officially declared as drowning, despite the head wound. There were also reports of Lorazepam and what appears to be consenting sexual activity. A boyfriend and prescription are still two concerns that need to be addressed. A visit with the department’s tech resident, Nico (Mil Sinave) unveils a back-and-forth text dispute with someone named Thomas Vermeire (Robbe Christiaens). Juliet waits until Jamal is gone to do an international search on Danny Dumon (Maarten Ketels). Although he asks about the name, Juliet provides little.

Juliet and Jamal briefly speak with Gene Vermeire (Jan Hammenecker) before he escorts them to question Thomas. Gene will also give him an alibi when he learns how serious the situation is. Thomas initially tells them that his relationship with Amber has ended long ago, but after showing him the text, he admits that she randomly went quiet on him several weeks ago. He apparently can’t tell them why. They apparently don’t believe him because Jamal speaks with Conny about tracking him.

On her way to visit Klaus Fiedler (Nicki Von Tempelhoff) and Chloe, Juliet briefly speaks with a financial advisor about selling Herman’s assets. Selling the antique store doesn’t appear to be a problem but the house will require Danny’s signature. Juliet appears a bit taken aback when she learns that Chloe won’t be joining them. Chloe leaves the instant Juliet and Klaus are gone. She’ll be shown meeting someone later.

Things aren’t thoroughly explained during Juliet and Klaus’s outing but it is revealed that Herman and Juliet weren’t getting along and he would die before they settle their problems. In addition, there appears to be an undefined reason that Herman was watching Chloe. Other than this talk, the outing appears to go rather well. Chloe has returned home by the time Juliet gets there.

Juliet is woken the following morning by a call from a colleague in Brussels, Celine (Salome Crickx). Celine claims that Juliet’s replacement, Kevin cannot find the ballistics report for The Rue Blaes’ case. Juliet reveals very little other than promising to send the file. This encounter is ended by a call from Jamal with a startling discovery on Amber’s case. While browsing Amber’s social media, Jamal noticed that Amber was getting some unhealthy attention from an account known as, Amigo, which was recently deactivated. Juliet will bring Fleur and her parents in for questioning when she notices a box of Lorazepam in the background of one of Amber’s pictures.

The interrogation will reveal that the Lorazepam was prescribed to Fleur’s mother as a sleep aid. As far as Amber’s relationship with Amigo goes, Fleur didn’t even know they were communicating or who the individual was. Fleur will break down and admit to meeting with Amber Friday at the beach but the meeting was extremely brief. It basically involved Amber crying and claiming that she missed Fleur, but was ended when Amber received a text message. Amber apparently walked off without an explanation. It is also learned that Amber had two phones. The newest one was well over a 1,000 Euro purchase.

A further search will reveal that Amber was spending money left and right, whereas her father couldn’t even afford a simple computer. After learning that Amigo has virtually erased his online footprint, for now, the team returns their attention to Thomas. They will return to his house after discovering his alibi didn’t hold up.

Instead of finding Thomas at home, Juliet and Jamal find Gene passed out in the garage from breathing exhaust fumes. Although he doesn’t have a pulse, they will try and fail to resuscitate him. Just as Jamal declares him dead, Thomas returns. He doesn’t take the discovery so well. As Juliet later arranges to have emergency services deal with Gene’s body, she experiences several flashbacks that don’t tell much of a story at the moment. She will soon be interrupted by Thomas who ominously gives her a USB drive and makes her promise not to tell his family.

The contents of this drive will later be revealed as blackmail against Gene and the likely cause of his suicide. At the station, Thomas will explain that his dad had hired Amber as an escort. He only knew her as Kimberley831 but because she knew him, she refused to have sex with him. This led to a physical fight that would result in Amber’s death. Thomas would only discover this when he came home to find Gene on the couch after a fight with his mother. Gene would try to play the episode down as a typical spat, but Thomas claims he could tell there was more to the situation. It would take some convincing but Gene would eventually tell him everything.

Despite having just learned that his father killed Amber, it was the random arrival of a stranger that surprised both of them. The man was there apparently to deal with Amber’s body, although neither Gene nor Thomas had called him or told him anything. Thomas is unable to provide any further usable information about the man or the vehicle he was driving.

Juliet leaves Jamal at the station searching for the apartment from the blackmail video while Juliet tempts Chloe with pizza. Chloe is clearly still not ready for that. The episode ends with Chloe sending someone a photo who tells her that she looks like a model, the same time Amigo had told Amber.

 

Juliet Review

Not a horrible series but it is incredibly detail-oriented and long-winded. There aren’t a lot of characters and most of them have their fair share of complexities but there is very little different about them. Despite everything about the case and characters being similar to other series, this series does have a different feel to it.

I can appreciate the seriousness and authenticity but it makes for a longwinded, drawn-out police procedural. I’d have to give the premiere a 5.5 out of 10.

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