History Series / Engrenages

* BombThrowingAnarchists: {{Averted}}, because the artificer was litteraly HoistByHisOwnPetard.
** And then {{played straight}} with the bombing of the [[spoiler:Police headquarters.]]

* EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench: [[ZigZaggingTrope Averted as much as it's played straight]]. Whilst Pierre and Joséphine always manage to look incredibly elegant, Laure always gives the impression she's about to fall apart and Gilou perpetually looks like he's coming down off a 3-day bender. Many ancillary characters even exhibit {{Gonk}}-like tendencies.

* SurprisePregnancy: [[spoiler:Laure didn't bother to check up on why she was missing periods, meaning that she didn't discover she was pregnant until it was too late to get an abortion easily under French laws.]]

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: In the sixth season, the Camara brothers are officially former gangsters gone straight and turned philanthropists and community organisers, while actually still deeply involved in crime.

* LesCopsSportif:
** The lesson you can learn from this is ''never'' get arrested in France.

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 a young 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.

''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.

* CorruptCop: [[spoiler:Le Requin, who hunts down prostitutes who flee their abusive pimps and hands them back]]

* VitriolicBestBuds: Herville and Berthaud (and her team) after his HeelFaceTurn and him being ReassignedToAntartica in season 6.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In S6, Gilou's girlfriend Amina just drops out of the show after it's revealed that [[spoiler:he's having an affair with Laure]], even though they'd just bought a flat together.

** Season 6 ends with the main investigation concluded in a moderately successful and morally-satisfying way, but is '''horrible''' for all the major characters personally. [[spoiler:Laure, on the point of finally taking Remy home and setting up a family with Gilou, panics and in the season's final shot literally runs off into the distance from the hospital; Roban is forced into sick leave and is told that even if his cancer can be sent into remission enough for him to return to work, it's incurable; Karlsson is prosecuted for the attempted murder of her rapist and, even if she manages to avoid jail, faces the end of her career; Fromentin, after getting divorced from his wife, ends up asking to be transferred out of Laure's squad in disgust at her general rule-bending, and in particular at her covering up Gilou's latest screw-up while also having an affair with him.]]

* AteHisGun: [[spoiler:Jolers shoots himself through the mouth in front of his colleagues]] in S6, after he's implicated in the murder [[spoiler:of one of his partners.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Season 4]], big time. [[spoiler:Sami dies, and Riffaud gets away.]]

* AteHisGun: Jolers shoots himself through the mouth in front of his colleagues in S6, after he's implicated in the murder of one of his partners.

* DefinitelyJustACold: Roban suffers repeated nosebleeds throughout the fifth season but refuses to seek any medical help. It still isn't resolved by the end of the season.

* RapeAsDrama: In the fourth season, [[spoiler:Karlsson wakes up in the street with her underwear missing, obvious signs of sex, and no memory of the night before after she went for drinks with some colleagues. Her immediate assumption is that she was drug-raped, and she starts her own investigation with Laure's covert help as to who the perp was.]]

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 a young student and part-time [[HighClassCallGirl High Class Call Boy]]; and Karlson takes on the defense of a wealthy young man accused of murdering his abusive father.

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 investigations into the dead body 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 a young student and part-time [[HighClassCallGirl High Class Call Boy]]; and Karlson takes on the defense of a wealthy young man accused of murdering his abusive father.

* HeelFaceTurn: Karlsson, at least when it comes to her job. With Szabo, she is as evil a lawyer can be. In season 4, she helps migrants that were fired by their [[CorruptCorporateExecutive boss]].

* CliffHanger: [[spoiler:The fifth season ending, with Laure's pregnancy hanging in the balance after she jumped into a river in a failed attempt to stop Oz from killing herself.]]

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 investigations into the dead body of a mother and daughter discovered in a canal uncovering a chaotic labyrinth of street-level crime.

After first achieving high critical acclaim in its native France on Canal+, the show was aired (and eventually co-funded) by Creator/TheBBC in 2006, and has [[SleeperHit since developed]] a loyal international fanbase. In the UK at least seems to have [[FollowTheLeader paved the way]] for a great deal of imported European gritty cop dramas. The show has proved so successful that after the third season ''three'' more were ordered simultaneously; season 6 has been ordered.

* CrapsackWorld: This is very much the side of France that the tourist board would rather have you not see, in a setting that draws inevitable comparisons to ''TheWire''.

* GenericEthnicCrimeGang: Eastern Europeans in the first and third seasons, North Africans in the second and fourth, and also Kurds in the fourth. The fourth season also finally has a gang boss with French ancestry.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Johnny Jorkal

After first achieving high critical acclaim in its native France on Canal+, the show was aired (and eventually co-funded) by Creator/TheBBC in 2006, and has [[SleeperHit since developed]] a loyal international fanbase. In the UK at least seems to have [[FollowTheLeader paved the way]] for a great deal of imported European gritty cop dramas. The show has proved so successful that after the third season ''three'' more were ordered simultaneously; season 6 is due in 2015.

* BombThrowingAnarchists: [[AvertedTrope Averted]], because the artificer was litterally HoistByHisOwnPetard.
** And then played straight with the bombing of the [[spoiler:Police headquarters.]]

* PlayingAgainstType: Audrey Fleurot (Karlsson) became famous for comedic roles.