Season 2 of “La Flamme” finally arrives this Monday, May 23 on Canal +. And between the return of cult characters, parodies of legendary sequences from “Koh-Lanta”, and hilarious new candidates, “Le Flambeau”, by and with Jonathan Cohen, is a success.
What is it about ?
Goodbye villa and hello Chupacabra. After La Flamme, Marc and 15 other candidates will have to compete and survive on a desert island. Physical trials, mental manipulations and emotional betrayals will be the ingredients of this tropical cocktail.
From Monday May 23 at 9 p.m. on Canal+ (3 episodes per week) and available on demand on MyCANAL.
4 episodes seen out of 9.
Who is it with?
Following La Flamme oblige, Le Flambeau: les aventuriers de Chupacabra always features Jonathan Cohen in the skin of MAAAAARC, the airline pilot who has become Bachelor, anything but a gentleman, who now finds himself a candidate for an adventure game which he does not did not really grasp the principle.
At his side, fans of the “first season” will happily find Ana Girardot, Géraldine Nakache, Camille Chamoux, Leïla Bekhti, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Pierre Niney, and Ramzy Bedia in the roles of Anne, Marina, Chataléré, Alexandra, Soraya , Doctor Juiphe, and Tony Tonic. Which, for the most part, could well complicate Marc’s adventure.
Le Flambeau also introduces a host of colorful (and stupid) new characters who promise to make you laugh, like Carole (Natacha Lindinger), an outstanding competitor, Hervé (Jonathan Lambert), member of a sect, of Patrice dit Patoche (Kad Merad), bar owner of Nîmes focused on alcohol, or even of Philippe Machette (Gérard Darmon), a former soldier who sees himself today as an author “to hit”.
But also William (Mister V), an influencer who dreams of reaching 1,000 followers, Annick (Laura Felpin), a circus artist who seeks human adventure above all, Soso (Sébastien Chassagne), a real estate agent who has the particularity of to be a bubble child, and Yvan, a plotter played by Thomas Scimeca.
Without forgetting the presenter of the Flambeau: the adventurers of Chupacabra, who is camped by a larger-than-life Jérôme Commandeur as Denis Brogniart tinged with a midday game host.
Well worth a look ?
Now separated from Orchidée, Marc has decided to embark on a new quest for true love and therefore thinks of being the star of a dating reality TV show again when he finds himself on the beach of Chupacabra… and understands that he is in fact there to participate in a survival game of which he will not be the hero. Alongside a dozen other candidates who will do everything to win the modest sum of … 450 euros!
Rather than repeating the formula of season 1 by focusing this time on a Bachelorette, as was the case in the original concept Burning Love of which The Flame is the adaptation, Jonathan Cohen preferred to attack Koh -Lanta and programs of the same genre by taking up some of his characters who have become cult. A brilliant idea which promises, from the first minutes, to thrill both Marc fans and loyal viewers of the TF1 game.
Constitution of the teams (with absurd names in the key), mythical test of the rafts, search for food and stock of rice, spats between two tests, intervention of the doctor, or even repeated eliminations during the famous ceremony of ” electric torch”, Jonathan Cohen and the authors of Le Flambeau brilliantly parody the essential moments of Koh-Lanta.
With La Flamme sauce of course, that is to say with the same dose of absurdity, zaniness, and schoolboy humor that made the success of the first adventures of our favorite single airplane pilot. Even if the comedy of repetition – which had been able to tire some at the time – is fortunately a little less present in this season 2.
In addition to its unstoppable concept, the electric reunion with Alexandra or Anne, whom Marc still hates so much, and the many references to La Flamme, the success of Le Flambeau is also due to its surprises (in particular the circumstances of the “return” of Soraya, candidate at the heart dead monkey in season 1) and its gallery of new characters.
Natacha Lindinger excels as a raw team leader and ready to do anything to win, Jérôme Commandeur is hilarious as a presenter and succeeds wonderfully to Vincent Dedienne, and Kad Merad and Gérard Darmon are simply hilarious in the skin of the two clumsy deans of the show, who accumulate nonsense and jokes often below the belt.
Those who adored La Flamme will be served with this new version of Marc’s adventures which is totally in keeping with the line and proves to be just as successful, if not more so. As for the others, they should give the product a chance, as this parody which goes at 100 per hour does good in this complicated period in terms of news.
New lines already cult, wee-poo sequences that we are not about to forget, Le Flambeau hits very hard in four episodes (the only ones shown to the press for the moment). And we can’t wait to see what the next five have in store for us.
Note that the entire Flambeau will not be put online tomorrow on MyCANAL (as is usually the case) because the post-production of the series is still in progress.