I accuse (name withheld), in the condo of Martin Marchand (Olivier Gervais-Courchesne), with the golf club.
After five weeks of dogfighting around the Bedford mortuary farm, the identity of the person responsible for the murders in One Way: Survive will come to light in the last episode of this breathtaking eco-police thriller, relayed by the Noovo channel this Wednesday at 8 p.m.
Yes, I saw this final episode of Aller simple. No, I will not reveal anything compromising in this column, except that I only guessed the name of the killer at the end of the fifth episode, when the dark Sacha (Anglesh Major) confided to his hostage that he had never liquidated anyone.
Ding, ding! The apprentice farmer Sacha, super shady, was no longer at the top of the list of suspects. Who replaces him at the top of this macabre list? I found it, by deduction, but I lacked the clear and precise explanation, which tickles the limits of credibility, you will see.
The three authors of Aller simple (Annie Piérard, Bernard Dansereau and Étienne Piérard-Dansereau) reveal the pot aux roses in the first minutes of their final episode. At this point in the investigation, it is a lot more captivating to discover how the assassin operated rather than speculating, once again, on his identity.
Because there remains a lot of nebulous things to be clarified. First, who poisoned activist actress Ariane (Rosalie Bonenfant), a frequent user of the expression “the commies,” with W-18, an opioid 100 times more powerful than fentanyl? Sub-question: Who in this group of six thirty-somethings has the contacts to buy such a rare drug?
For those who have lost track, here is a short summary. The nightmare of One Way: Surviver began when Ariane accidentally shot young Xavier Marchand (Antoine Olivier Pilon), who had a sick obsession with her. Instead of contacting the police, the group of farmers decided to bury Xavier’s corpse, which triggered an unstoppable cascade of drama.
Then, as Ariane risked gossiping about everything, the assassin eliminated her, just like Xavier’s big brother, Martin Marchand, who was too curious, too nosy. There is only one culprit for all these crimes and he – or she – lives on the farm.
The control of Xavier’s cell phone by Félix (Simon Landry-Désy) was long and ate up a lot of airtime, I think. The trip to Niagara, the voice calls fabricated with extracts from YouTube videos, the false publications on social networks, the elastic of verisimilitude was stretched to its maximum.
Now, serious suspicions weigh on the timid Henri (Charles-Aubey Houde), who invented an alibi on the day of Martin Marchand’s homicide and who garlanded Ariane a few hours before her death. Psychoridige, the lawyer Kim (Rose-Marie Perreault) coldly lied to her friend Yasmina (Nahéma Ricci), who was caught secretly feeding Xavier’s cat. We also understood that the stoic Félix has the intelligence to cover his tracks, while the retiring Fanny (Sophie Nélisse) knows the slightest habits and secrets of her roommates, which allows her to maneuver with the greatest discretion.
It is thanks to the indiscretions of her partner Thomas (Jean-Nicolas Verreault), totally absorbed by the rural life of his neighbors, that investigator Juliette Michaud (Anick Lemay) will trace the chief psychopath. And urinary catheters, yes, yes, will play a crucial role in solving this giant murder mystery.
The key to the enigma is given to us by a secondary character almost absent from the season, which is a bit disappointing, because this turnaround is impossible to predict, even by reviewing, with a magnifying glass, the previous five episodes. The story still holds together and it involves a radical change in behavior from one of the protagonists.
You have to distill clues, but not too many. We must sow false trails, while remaining plausible. You have to build a realistic suspense that progresses and doesn’t reveal everything at once.
In short, it is a perilous screenwriting exercise of balancing between a bunch of factors to be measured intelligently. What was done in the case that concerns us.
If Aller simple landed on a platform like Netflix, it is obvious that it would generate viewing all over the planet. Who doesn’t like watching whodunit thrillers on TV?
For the moment, the three authors of Aller simple have not indicated their intention to write a third chapter to their work. Miss Marple really shouldn’t bow out before her final riddle or another tryst with death.
