Diane Kleber

Based on the books but not like the books. The TV series is a serious show, well-acted and well-presented. Inspector Gamache and his immediate team are, or are being, well developed. As are the original or morphed (elderly Bea and Inspector Lacoste now being indigenous) characters that are part of the over-arching theme this season--an original to the TV series theme of crimes, past and present, against the First Nations peoples. An indigenous theme was only a kernel in one book--although with far reaching in consequences--but not the same as the TV story. So I have enjoyed the series and hope it continues, but I cannot help but wish there will be much more character development of the primary residents of the Three Pines village who, so far, come across as mostly strange, angry or suspicious ciphers. The books have serious themes but a major difference from the TV series is that the residents of Three Pines are whole people and often warm and welcoming--the village is not the closed, cold and self-serving place it appears to be in the TV series. In the books, the residents may be quirky, but they have warmth and kindness as well as human foibles and serious issues. Gamache really needs to get to know the people of Three Pines much more and they need to get to know him.