Streaming series review - Chantal: Season 3

Chantal: Season Three **** (out of 5) Once again we return to the west Belgian town of Loveringem, with its amusingly anachronistic obsession over everything about American rural southern and cowboy culture, except the cattle. The nature of the crimes and the mix of character comedy continue as well as fans would expect. Most of the locals still cling to the sexism that has plagued our eponymous head of the small local police force (Maaike Cafmeyer) throughout the series – especially virulent among her “superiors”. No matter how many times she proves herself smarter than the honchos, they just can’t accept her higher level of skills. By now, though, many of the citizens and the small crew under her have seen the light.

Here’s your usual refresher course of reviews from the prior seasons:

https://patch.com/missouri/clayton-richmondheights/streaming-series-review-chantal-season-2

As before, the eight-episode season begins and ends with two-parters, surrounding six separate cases. Several secondary plot threads run through the season. Among those, the biggest is Chantal’s romance with totally-smitten neighbor Arne (Steven Mahieu), whose aspirations for their couplehood are constantly at odds with the challenges of her job. Any of their intimate plans are routinely sidelined by the next crime crisis. He’s like a golden retriever, bereft each time his owner leaves for work, yet ready to please whenever she finally returns. Several other romances wax and wane in the margins.

In the first episode, “Sheriff” Rik (Dries Heyneman) shows up in the town’s bar for a celebration with a new girlfriend, Shana (statuesque hottie Lize Feryn) on his arm. No one can believe this lifelong loser shlub could get with someone so obviously far out of his league. Every series fan will also wonder what less-than-romantic explanation there could possibly be for this pairing. Then a series of burglaries points to an old brilliant and vicious nemesis known as The Fox as the culprit, even though he’s still in jail from his last round of offenses. Lieven Debrauwer, who plays the archvillain, contributes a highlight performance – especially for a longtime director and writer making his first appearance in front of the cameras.

Episode Three begins with a star soccer player kneecapped by thugs for reasons unknown. It also brings back the loathsome rich jerk (and vitriolic Chantal opponent) from previous seasons, Schiettekatte (Wim Opbrouck), who owns the team and is now running for high public office. More about him later. The fourth is arguably the funniest, as a wizened pair of neighboring brothers are locked in a feud with escalating acts of vandalism and accusations. They got along for years, until the wife of one decided the other was more of a kindred spirit, if not soulmate, and moved in with him.

By contrast, the fifth is the most unpleasant. A car wrecks a roadside memorial to a couple’s dead son, setting off an uproar of demonstrations and political posturing over finding and punishing whoever had done it. In #6, an old drunken grouch living in a rundown trailer scares off a government housing inspector, gets bonked on the noggin and then becomes the prime suspect when a dead guy is found in one of the loner’s rusting vehicles. Chantal’s kind-hearted efforts to clean up the curmudgeonly hermit and his seedy little patch may prove to be his undoing.

The final pair starts when someone blackmails the odious Schiettekatte (See? I told you more of him was coming.) with photos of him in the company of the aforementioned foxy Shana. This could derail his election, since he’s campaigning loudly on family values (like so many other hypocrites who come readily to mind). It also threatens his plans for a multimillion-euro construction project, overseen by a close relative of his beleaguered wife. This one delivers a slew of twists and turns that serve well as the season’s, and apparently series’, finale. It was fun while it lasted.

(Chantal: Season 3, mostly in Dutch with subtitles, streams on MHz Choice as of 4/14/26)