History Series / Engrenages

* KickTheSonOfABitch: In the fifth season, [[spoiler:Zach Gabbaï, an armed robber and murderer, gets beaten to death by two drug dealers who he didn't pay fast enough.]]

* FieryRedhead: Averted, Karlsson is usually very cold-blooded and calculating.

* FiveManBand: The cops in season three.
** TheLeader: Laure
** TheLancer: Gilou
** TheSmartGuy: Fromentin
** TheChick: Nana
** TheBigGuy: Nounours in season 3, [=JP=] in season 4

* BombThrowingAnarchists: {{Averted}}, because the artificer was literally HoistByHisOwnPetard. Then {{played straight}} with the bombing of the [[spoiler:police headquarters in Paris.]]

* PoisonousFriend: [[spoiler:Benoit]]

* ByTheBookCop: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] with Fromentin, who is LawfulGood at heart, but will [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight stick to]] [[TrueCompanions his friends]] when needed.

* DysfunctionJunction: all the way through, but the third season takes it UpToEleven.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: As well as the three main protagonists, there are dozens of secondary characters, all of whom are important to the frequently labyrinthine plot arcs.

!This show provides examples of:

* WhosYourDaddy: [[spoiler:Laure's pregnancy in season 5 may be by either Sami or Bremont.]]

* DeathOfAChild: [[spoiler:In the penultimate episode of the final season, just when it looks as if Karlsson and Edelman have set Souleyman's life on the right track, he goes out looking for drugs, runs into Titi and gets murdered.]]

* MayorPain

''Engrenages'' (literally "cogs" or "gears", but [[DoubleMeaningTitle with implications akin to "wheels within wheels" and "spiralling out of control"]]), 2005-present, known in English-speaking markets as ''Spiral'', is a French PoliceProcedural CrimeAndPunishmentSeries set in the less touristy parts of Paris. The three main protagonists play different roles in the French justice system: Capitaine Laure Berthaud represents the police, Maitre Pierre Clément is a prosecutor, and François Roban is an examining magistrate. Clément is written out in the fifth season, and Joséphine Karlsson, previously his AmoralAttorney foil, takes over as a leading character.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome:
** Sami in the third season. Although that may explain how screwed up Berthaud is.
*** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by the fact that Sami joined the team only for one mission (for [[ReverseMole obvious reasons]]), and that his job doesn't really allow him to enter a stable relationship, especially with [[MarriedToTheJob Laure]]
*** And then [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when [[spoiler:he came back in season 4 to join Laure's team]]

* SharpDressedMan: When Pierre isn't wearing his judicial robes, he's rarely seen without a ''very'' sharp suit.
** Brémont also often wears nice suits, contrasting with the more casual clothes of Laure's team. Same with Commissaire Beckriche in Season 6.

* BelligerentSexualTension: Between [[spoiler:Beckriche and Bordieu]] in the final season. [[spoiler:Their relationship consists of her constantly chewing him out for his team's bending of the rules for the first half of the season, until they start dating.]]

The first season deals with the murder of a Romanian prostitute that turns out to have heavy political connections. The second season covers an investigation into a group of North African gangsters. Both of these two seasons also have MysteryOfTheWeek elements, but the third season dumps this in favour of putting the three characters into separate plot arcs: Berthaud hunts a SerialKiller of prostitutes in Paris's former abbatoir district; Clément, disgusted with politics and corruption, attempts to set up as an independent lawyer; and Roban starts a quixotic investigation into a corrupt mayor with very high-level connections. The fourth season dives into the French debate over illegal immigration, with a far-left-wing terrorist group attacking people who they consider responsible for treating immigrants unjustly. The fifth season sees the investigation into the dead bodies of a mother and daughter discovered in a canal uncovering a chaotic labyrinth of street-level crime. In the sixth season, Berthaud and her team investigate the gruesome murder of a young police officer; an ailing Roban has to deal with the suspicious death of an elite graduate student and part-time [[HighClassCallGirl High Class Call Boy]]; and Karlsson takes on the defense of a wealthy young man accused of murdering his abusive father. In the seventh season, the characters find themselves investigating the murder of a senior policeman who was shot dead along with the owner of a Chinese restaurant, what initially appears to be an armed robbery gone wrong turns out to be connected with a rather more complex criminal network. Meanwhile, Karlsson attempts to rebuild her life and career.

* TheInfiltration: Sami's job.

* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:Fromentin leaves the team at the end of season six after falling out with Laure and Gilou.]]

* {{Fanservice}}: It's a French work, so there's a fair amount of nudity, male and female. Berthaud herself even has a naked sex scene!

The first season deals with the murder of a Romanian prostitute that turns out to have heavy political connections. The second season covers an investigation into a group of North African gangsters. Both of these two seasons also have MysteryOfTheWeek elements, but the third season dumps this in favour of putting the three characters into separate plot arcs: Berthaud hunts a SerialKiller of prostitutes in Paris's former abbatoir district; Clément, disgusted with politics and corruption, attempts to set up as an independent lawyer; and Roban starts a quixotic investigation into a corrupt mayor with very high-level connections. The fourth season dives into the French debate over illegal immigration, with a far-left-wing terrorist group attacking people who they consider responsible for treating immigrants unjustly. The fifth season sees the investigation into the dead bodies of a mother and daughter discovered in a canal uncovering a chaotic labyrinth of street-level crime. In the sixth season, Berthaud and her team investigate the gruesome murder of a young police officer; an ailing Roban has to deal with the suspicious death of an elite graduate student and part-time [[HighClassCallGirl High Class Call Boy]]; and Karlsson takes on the defense of a wealthy young man accused of murdering his abusive father.

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Clément is accidentally shot dead during a hostage situation halfway through the fifth series.]]

* DomesticAbuser: [[spoiler:Karlsson's father, by implication, if not [[ParentalIncest worse]]]].