The Break – Season 1 on Netflix (4/5)

The Break is a crime thriller series on Netflix now. Season 1 of the Belgian show (org. title La trêve) should leave you breathless. This story keeps you guessing as all the secrets of a small town are revealed. Watch on Netflix now!

The Break is on Netflix with Season 1 now and Season 2 will be out February 9, 2019. The first season of this show from Belgium (with the original title La trêve) is a crazy ride from the beginning until the very end.

The story will keep you guessing along with the pretty unlikeable main character. As he reveals the often sick and twisted secrets of people living in a small village, he comes closer to the truth.

Once you start watching Season 1 of The Break on Netflix, you will not want to stop. Sure, Netflix will give you the old “Are you still watching?”, but you will be quick to acknowledge this, so you can get to the next episode.

This is one hell of a sick show in many ways, but it also feels incredibly realistic!

Episode 1 of the Netflix show The Break

The story in The Break begins with Yoann Peeters moving back to the city where he spent his teenage years. He left when he was 18 years old, and returns as a police inspector with a teenage daughter.

Just as he arrives, a young black man (the only one in this town) is found dead. Yoann Peters has been working in the big city but knows damn well how things work in this small town.

So when everyone is quick to dismiss the young black man’s death as a suicide, he won’t have it. With just a bit of logic – and an autopsy to confirm his theory – it’s quickly determined that he was murdered.

After this, Season 1 of The Break (or La trêve) becomes a good old “Whodunnit”. Finding out who actually killed him involves getting to know all the dark and dirty secrets of the people in this small town. And, yes, there is plenty to be discovered!

A new meaning to the term “sister wife”

I won’t be giving away spoilers in this review of The Break since you really will want to discover all the weird and twisted things on your own. However, fairly early on a story will come to light that involves a rather incestuous relationship. The term “sister wife” will never be quite the same. 

Don’t worry, we’re not talking the infamous The X-Files episode “Home” or anything. It’s not inbred craziness, but it is your first sign that this small town is not as normal and innocent as you would think. The overall feeling in The Break is more along the lines of the British Broadchurch or the French thriller The Forest which is also on Netflix.

Recommended reading: Review of the French Netflix thriller series The Forest >

Fortunately, the story in The Break does also involve a lot of people who do their best to be kind and welcoming.

Who killed Driss Assani?

We quickly come to realize that the murdered black man, Driss Assani, was very well-liked. He was the star of the town’s football team – or “soccer” for Americans reading this. 

The main problem when it comes to solving the murder case is “simply” that the people have so many secrets. This means they withhold information because coming forward would reveal something they want to keep secret. This, in turn, means that we keep suspecting people of the murder.

A few episodes in, you’ll get used to this and know that the murderer won’t be revealed until the tenth and final episode. Instead, you get to guess what they know about Driss Assani’s murder. And also, take a guess about what each person has as their own sick secret!

The cast of The Break

The star in The Break is Yoann Blanc, who portrays the lead character Inspector Yoann Peeters. He is so intensely annoying a lot of the time, but this too has a very sensible explanation. Well, in part. He is also just kind of an a**hole.

He’s a brilliant detective, but really shouldn’t be dealing too much with people. Yoann Blanc portrays him perfectly and I’m happy to note that he’ll be back in Season 2.

Another important character is his daughter, Camille. She’s portrayed by Sophie Breyer and you can’t help but feel for the girl. Father and daughter have a fairly good relationship, but it’s obvious that she’s the most grown-up and responsible of the two. Not exactly fair.

Sophie Breyer also had a tiny role in the brilliant movie Raw (with the original French title Grave), which won so many awards!

Recommended reading: Check out our top-rated review of Raw here >

Also, there’s Jérémy Zagba portraying Driss Assani. Sure, the first time we see him, he has already been murdered. But we get to know him quite well in various flashbacks.

Overall, the cast is really good and even though you might not know any of the actors, it doesn’t take anything away from the story. Quite the contrary!

Watch Season 1 of The Break on Netflix now!

To me, Season 1 of The Break was absolutely addictive and a quick binge-watch. It has 10 episodes and you should get completely enthralled by the story right off the bat.

The story in The Break (La trêve) was created by Stéphane Bergmans, Benjamin d’Aoust, and Matthieu Donck. Unless you’re familiar with Belgian film or TV shows, you won’t know any of their past productions. In fact, even if you are from Belgium, you may not know their previous writing credits, since they haven’t done much.

And again, it doesn’t matter, because The Break is all you need to watch to know they’re pretty damn good at what they do!

Look, if you don’t want to watch something foreign and decide not to watch this, then it truly is your loss. This series has pretty much everything – otherwise, Netflix probably wouldn’t be pushing our Season 2 of The Break soon.

The Break season 1 is out on Netflix in most countries now! Season 2 starts February 9, 2019.

Read our review of Season 2 >

Details

Creators: Stéphane Bergmans, Benjamin d’Aoust, Matthieu Donck
Stars: Yoann Blanc, Sophie Breyer, Jasmina Douieb, Guillaume Kerbusch, Jérémy Zagba, Lara Hubinont, Jean-Benoît Ugeux, Vincent Grass

Plot

The body of 19 year old Driss Assani, a footballer with Heiderfeld football club is pulled out of the river Semois, a stones throw from Heiderfeld, a small town of a few thousand inhabitants in the Belgian Ardennes. The investigation is led by Inspector Yoann Peeters, who has recently moved there after a domestic tragedy, accompanied by Sebastian Drummer, an idealistic and inexperienced young police officer. Peeters will find himself confronted with a real conundrum, where one person’s guilt does not mean that others are not responsible.