Un Village Français 6.12

Libération

or Liberation

6 Sep 1940

Antoine gets Marchetti to the police station. It isn't long before word gets out that Marchetti has been apprehended. Bériot is ordered to drive him to Dijon for trial but the people of Villeneuve want him tried in Villeneuve. Bériot manages to get Marchetti out of town in a car. The mob turns on Antoine and kills the remaining militia men who were not executed. Most of them are gunned down but Alban is hung in the schoolyard.

Daniel Larcher and Hortense try to get away but they are stopped by another mob. The mob knocks him down but forgets about him when they recognize Hortense. She is dragged through the streets with another woman who is similarly accused of sleeping with German soldiers. They are taken to the schoolyard. Gustave is there. She begs him to help her but he spits in her face. Someone takes a pair of scissors and cuts off all the hair on her head. Lucienne is there and watches it happen without saying a word.

Jules Bériot and Lucienne bury Kurt under a fake name, as planned. 

Antoine loses his position as chief of the police. Loriot is appointed in his place. Antoine decides to join the army and leaves Villeneuve with another young man who is doing the same. Before he leaves he asks Genevieve to marry him when he returns. She says she will.

Rita, Ézéchiel, and their kids pack up and get ready to head to Palestine.

The episode ends with Bériot renaming the schoolyard after Marie Germain. Everyone sings the Marseillaise as Antoine leaves town to serve in the army.

Thoughts

Raymond Schwartz and Jeannine were not in this episode. Edmond is in this episode but he only shows up in the final scene where Bériot is dedicating the schoolyard.

Anselme and Suzanne are in this episode and for the most part they don't take part in the mob violence. They just sit around and watch while the mob has its way with the militia men. The only exception is that Suzanne gets tired of the way they are toying with Alban and speeds things up by encouraging the mob to execute him.

I have serious doubts about how Antoine managed to get Marchetti to the police station without being accosted by anyone. Similarly I have serious doubts about how Bériot would have been treated after word got out about what they did, handing Marchetti over to the authorities in Dijon.

In general I found Bériot's actions to be less than savory. He seemed to be thinking quite a bit about his career first. I'm not sure if there was a right way to deal with the mob but seeing what motivated his course of action made me a little sick to my stomach. The final moment with the people singing the national anthem didn't exactly warm my heart.

This was a good episode but it wasn't a terribly happy or celebratory one as far as I am concerned. The mob violence took the shine off of it. Marchetti is presumably still alive. My guess is that Müller is also still alive and there's a good chance he will show up in at least one of the 12 episodes that remain in the series.