‘Cannes Confidential’ Recap: ‘The Deadlier Species’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Lucie Lucas and Jamie Bamber as Detective Lieutenant Camille Delmasse and Harry King in Episode 104 of ‘Cannes Confidential’ – ‘The Deadlier Species’. (Photo Courtesy of Acorn TV/AMC Networks.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Four of ‘Cannes Confidential’. To revisit the previous episode, click here. Also, this article was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.
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What’s fascinating about some of the people in our lives, specifically the ones that mean the world to us and that we cannot live without, is that our initial encounter with some of them… was somewhat unsavory. It could have been related to the awkwardness of our first encounter or perhaps something in the moment didn’t quiet jibe. But there are indeed lifelong friends and partners that people meet, that were almost cast off, and well… why weren’t they? Because if everything was that bad and that wrong, surely everyone should have parted ways. But instead, they stuck around, likely due to the fact that the time everyone eventually spent together, revealed something of value that was waiting to be uncovered. If anything, that process is top of mind today, simply because it was put on full display in the next episode of Cannes Confidential on Acorn TV.
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But it sure didn’t seem as though that was going to be the case in ‘The Deadlier Species’. Since this story opened up with an attack on Camille, courtesy of Borie, in an attempt to prevent a meeting between father and daughter. But no one scares Camille that easily and she survived the attempt and met with her father who provided her with more dead ends. Which brought her back to Harry King, wherein she pressed him for more on the matter so she could finally prove her father to be innocent and get him out jail. In a tense manner of course since they didn’t reach that aforementioned harmony point just yet. But some concerns about an upcoming birthday bash for the heir to an arms empire, changed that, and brought forth that special moment where Camille and Harry began to realize… they complimented one another nicely. 

Which was made possible by the fact… that Harry once again forced his way into the case. Because the heir apparent was getting death threats from someone identifying themselves as the Nightshade. An individual known to be a brilliant assassin, and they were so secretive and so good at their duties, that the police and other agencies had little intelligence on them. But Harry knew how to find information that others could not, such as some fascinating info regarding payouts that relate to her father’s case, and everything one needed to know about the Nightshade. Including a potential profile of what could be a female assassin, and this was so comprehensive and so powerful… that Camille found herself offering nothing but respect to Harry. To the point where she kept him around close to help with the case.

Not to mention, their tension began to frost, and one could say a beautiful friendship… and perhaps more… was formed here. But any deeper pondering on that had to wait. Because the Nightshade was indeed in this hotel and made their move, and in the process… revealed that it was two women working in tandem to bring down one heir apparent. Which meant, it was up to Camille and Harry, and Lea save the day, in their own unique ways of course. Since Lea used her trademark blunt force to bring one assassin down. All while Camille took part in the thrill of the chase and a good beatdown to lead the other assassin to Harry. Who used calm and guile to stop her, so that the arrests could take place, and so everyone could learn that the Nightshade actually died long ago on a bungled assassination attempt of the heir’s father. Meaning his daughters were eager to take up the mantle and finish family business.

Of course… they failed too thanks to this trio and well, this all brought about one amazing episode. One that offered up another compelling case, one that required some good old fashioned detective work between Harry and Camille and offered one of the most delightful chase sequences seen on television in recent years. Thanks to the brilliant juxtaposition of Camille’s fiery desire to bring a felon down and Harry’s chill manner. But above all, this really was a fine way to explore how people that annoy us, suddenly become more to us, since Harry really did deliver here and show his worth to Camille and well, it will be interesting to see if that leads to just good friendship, or the love affair of a lifetime, as season one of this refreshing show continues along. Until next time.

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