Un Village Français 6.08

Le Procès

or The Trial

Alban prevents Xavier from detonating the explosives in the basement of the school. The representatives of the various factions come together with Bériot presiding and deciding that a court martial must occur that very day to try the 14 members of the militia captured at the school. Bériot appoints Anselme, Antoine, and Suzanne to be the judges and Edmond (leader of the CDL) to be the prosecutor. Bériot convinces Doctor Larcher to be the attorney for the defense by promising him that he will go easy on Hortense.

Rita tries to find food for her son. Edmond says he might be able to find her some food if she joins the communist party. She turns down his offer. She runs into Ezechial Cohen while she is searching for food. He points her in the direction of the black market. She ultimately ends up prostituting herself for food for her son.

Jules talks briefly with Kurt while Lucienne is not present. Kurt wants Jules to help him commit suicide. Jules says he can't do that. Jules confronts Lucienne. He explains to her what his plans are for the future. She says that she will support him but she doesn't want to talk about what she plans to do once things have settled down. 

The trial begins. Edmond wants to try all fourteen members of the militia as one. Daniel gets the chief judge, Anselme, to agree that this does not conform to French law. They are trying to rush their way through the trial. They don't get further than Blanchon who claims that he was following orders. Larcher backs him up on this point.

The episode ends with Bériot talking to the next man up the chain of command who tells him that he expects all fourteen men on trial to be found guilty and executed.

Thoughts

Marchetti, Raymond, Jeannine, and Hortense are not in this episode. Servier makes a brief appearance in this episode. A mob wants to lynch him but Bériot steps in and insists that they return him to his home and that he will be put on trial in due time.

This is a much better episode than the last couple. It is for the most part fairly dark and serious but there is one moment of levity in it.