Our latest watch is Jo, an English language French police procedural series. It stars Jean Reno in his first TV role as Commander Joachim “Jo” Saint-Clair of the Paris homicide bureau. American movie watchers will know him from The Davinci Code. English actor Tom Austen plays Reno’s partner, Marc Bayard, who has been working with Jo for two years at the start of the series and shares a father-son relationship with him. Jill Henness, who you will remember from Law and Order, plays along Reno as Sister Karyn, an unorthodox nun who is in charge of a refuge for prostitutes.
Jo was created by Canadian-American screenwriter René Balcer of Law & Order fame. The show is set in Paris . Each episode is done like a mini “Davinci Code” that highlights one of the city’s iconic locations. There is only one season with eight episodes. Each episode runs 45-47 minutes like an American show.
When we pick an older show to watch, we usually try to find one with at least three seasons. When this one came up on Amazon Prime, we decide dto check it out because of Reno. His performances are the best part of the show. The plotlines and dialog don’t have much depth. WE can recommend this a “filler”, but If you want to spend some virtual time in Paris, either version of Maigret is probably a better choice.