With the wave of returns (and sequels) that we are experiencing, I swear that one of the ones that I most wanted to see was the one of the inspector Laura Lebrel in which I hope it is the door (either with a season 4 or in successive telefilms) to see more ‘The mysteries of Laura’ on TVE.
Under the title of ‘Laura and the mystery of the unexpected murderer’ we see again in action the character played by María Pujalte, now retired and running a country house, who is called in to help investigate a seemingly impossible case.
This is the murder of Ortiz (Joaquín Climent), rector of criminology who is found dead during an academic act locked in his office, with the windows and the door closed from the inside and no clue to the weapon or the culprit.
Retrieving ‘The Mysteries of Laura’
The film, written by Javier Holgado and Carlos Vila and directed by Pablo Guerrero, chooses to maintain the structure that they maintained for years in the series, showing us the victim and suspects in those moments prior to the death and, later, presenting those in charge of investigating the case.
Despite the time that may have passed, the film does not spend too much time introducing (again) the main characters of the series, whom we see how life is going after so long. Brief dialogues here and there put us in a situation clearly and we reconnect with everyone as if there had been no interruption.
The character of Beatriz Carvajal, now a successful novelist thanks to the “inspiration” of her daughter’s exploits, gives the key to why the genre is so popular. It is a puzzle for the viewer/detective to solve and completing it is satisfying. And this is and has always been this series as a champion of the genre in its most classic aspect.
The writers seem to tell us in their mouths that, despite the trend in television of shady detectives and lurid cases that put the protagonists on the edge and surf moral grays that these are ‘The mysteries of Laura’ of always: It is a classic mystery in which we are part of the clues and what smells bad to us. That’s not to say they don’t cast both doubt and false suspicion, and in fact, there’s a twist midway through the episode that forces you to put the pieces back together.
It’s not like everything goes smoothly either. Although I think they handle the reintroduction of the characters well, they are not quite fine with the insertion of the flashbacks that lead us to the case that caused Laura to withdraw. While they are important, they are a bit disjointed. In general, I have the feeling that the direction is not very successful in this aspect.
But the flaws, especially in form, of the film are forgiven for the virtues of a story that works quite well. In short, ‘Laura and the Mystery of the Unexpected Murderer’ is a good comeback from ‘The Mysteries of Laura’. While preserving the essence and virtues of the series, leaves us wanting to see more cases of Inspector Lebrel. Hopefully it will be like that.