Manchester, England – The episode opens with David (Les Dennis) and George (David Ames) opening a wedding gift, a deck of playing cards, while someone watches through a window. David suggests it’s from a dealer mate when he detects a noise outside the window. George asks for some champagne. As David opens the door to the pantry, a mirror falls in front of him as someone knocks on the window.

Jean White (Sally Lindsay) greets David and George at the bus stop when they realize their bag has been damaged. Someone picks up their bag before trailing behind them.

Jean escorts them to their room when George receives a call. David admits to having feelings for George like none of the others. They briefly discuss his ex, Alan. She asks where he and George met. He says an antique event in Mayfair. They knew each other for three months before marrying. After showing her the playing cards, he explains how he narrowly missed the fallen mirror.

Simone (Djinda Kane) tells Barbara (Olivia Caffrey) that she needs her wife, Charlie Brodeur (Sanchia McCormack) to reach Jean. She warns that a love letter may not work because Charlie hasn’t visited in over six months. Barbara says further instructions will be given when Charlie contacts her. Simone asks if she’s still willing to pay her fee. Barbara reminds her of the last payment.

Brodeur & White Antiques – Charlie receives a letter from Simone, pleading with her to visit her at the prison.

Someone watches Jean, George, and David as they walk to her shop. George offers to buy David a vintage dagger with turquoise and pink opals on the handle but he refuses because of his opal superstition. Jean gifts the dagger to George. She suggests the playing cards are Rouen which was banned in 1628.

La Couronne Sainte Victiore Couronne – Gloria (Sue Vincent) tells Niall (Aonghus Weber) that his car is in good running condition. Dom Hayes (Steve Edge) says love is in the air. She tells him that Cooper is the perfect person to do nothing with. He assures her that he’ll like Cooper because of his excellent taste in women.

Jean orders a bottle of Chateau Simone Rouge. George, a sommelier, cannot identify the wine.

Charlie tells Jean that the playing cards were made for La Voisin, a French sorceress who was burnt at the stake. A winged serpent is embedded into each suit of the Queen. During the reign of Louis XIV, alchemists, and fortune tellers were believed to sell inheritance powder (poison). La Voisin testified that she and the king’s mistress performed black masses. In 1680, she was found guilty of witchcraft and burnt at the stake at the Place de Greve in Paris. She warns Jean that the playing cards are worth thousands but are cursed.

A man wielding a knife threatens George and David. A man rams his bike into the man, sending him plummeting to the ground. They report the incident to Caron (Alex Gaumond). David being distraught, provides a confused timeline of the incident. A witness claims the man on the bike rammed directly into the assailant. She asks why the cyclist didn’t stay to be identified. Later, she fills them in on the playing cards. David contributes all their bad luck to the curse. George points out that the slash on David’s bag is in the shape of a “V.” She assures them that it was only an accident. David suggests La Voisin is trying to drive him mad. George informs her that their wedding venue was a spiritualist church.

David is startled awake by what he believes to be La Voisin in the mirror. The next morning, he tells Jean and George that the playing cards should be burnt. Jean suggests waiting until they have evidence. He warns that La Voisin won’t stop until he’s dead.

Dom’s outside Jean’s house practicing what he’ll say to her. David is asleep in a chair when someone tries to suffocate him with a pillow. Dom prepares to knock on the door when the assailant emerges from the house. He knocks him to the ground as David and George approach. David identifies his assailant as Alan (Alexander Newland).

Jean tells David that Alan was out for revenge. George approaches with their bags to take David to Marseille.

Alan refuses to give a statement to Caron because he’s an “oppressor of the state.” He asks Jean to come into the police statement to take Alan’s statement. When she arrives, Alan claims to be protecting David from George. She tells him that she doesn’t believe it. He says David is George’s third husband, the first two died a few months are marrying him. He says George repositioned the mirror so it would fall on David. He pecked on the window to stop him from entering the pantry. He suggests the knife-wielding assailant was paid by George to attack David. She asks who tried to suffocate him inside her house. When he saw George holding the pillow over David’s face, he entered the house and punched him. Jean asks why he didn’t confront David with the evidence. He assures her that David would never believe him because he’s obsessed with George.

Jean informs Caron of George taking David to Marseille. He says there are two routes to Marseille. She calls Dom for assistance.

David asks George why they’re stopping there before reminding him of his vertigo. George suggests he eat and pull himself together. David admits to being in shock by Alan trying to kill him. George says it was Alan all along when they thought the playing cards were cursed. David assures him that it is a curse. Gorge says he sounds mad before trying the dagger that Jean gave him.

Jean tells Dom that she hasn’t forgiven him yet. She says it should have been a red flag when George couldn’t identify Chateau Simone Rouge at La Couronne. Alan tells them that George doesn’t get caught because he’s constantly moving. She suggests George created an image of La Voisin in the mirror utilizing her black shawl which was underneath a pillow on their bed.

George admits it was him trying to drive David mad. David asks why. George tells him that he’ll make his third deceased husband and he already has a fourth one in mind. He practices what he’ll say to the police as he urges him to step back. Jean orders him to not do it. When George turns, David punches him. Caron helps George into his cruiser.

David tells Alan that they had some great times. They reminisce about selling an Andy Warhol painting they’d found for six grand. David says when the love of his life started loving broccoli more than him, he went out and married the first psycho he set eyes on.

Dom apologizes to Jean for betraying her trust. They embrace.

A prison guard escorts Simone back to her cell when Charlie says bonjour as the episode comes to an end.

 

The Madame Blanc Mysteries Review

A deck of playing cards as a wedding gift set off a chain of bad luck for David. After scathing an injury or death by a fallen mirror, David and his new husband take a bus to Sainte Victiore to visit Jean. George wants to buy an antique dagger from Brodeur & White Antiques but Jean gives it to him.

Charlie assesses the playing cards to find out they belong to a 17^th-century witch, La Voisin. She swears the cards are cursed. An unknown man saves George from a knife-wielding assailant. He believes La Voisin visits him during the night. Later, he’s attacked by someone who tries to suffocate him with a pillow until the same man saves him. Dom’s outside when the man who’s believed to be the assailant emerges from Jean’s house. The man is no other than David’s former partner, Alan.

Alan convinces Jean that George is trying to kill David, not him. George has been married twice and both husbands died several months after the wedding. He tries to force David over a ledge when Jean, Dom, and Alan arrive.

Simone is being paid to get back in Charlie’s good graces so Barbara can get to Jean.

An episode without a murder is a change. A little slow, but one of the best episodes of series 2. It deserves a 6.8. Get more The Madame Blanc Mysteries recaps here. Support Reel Mockery by clicking the link. Ask about our advertising packages.