The series “Sam”, still worn by Natacha Lindinger, returns this Monday on TF1 for a season 6 placed under the sign of change. With the program a move to the countryside and new actors, including Chantal Ladesou and Barbara Cabrita.
Change of scenery for Sam. The successful TF1 series, still led by Natacha Lindinger as a French rock’n’roll teacher, returns this Monday, January 3 from 9:05 pm on the air with a new season 6 in the form of a “reboot” which will change everything, or almost.
A very good idea on the part of the production to avoid tiring the public and bring a little freshness to the characters who started, sometimes, to go around in circles.
Sam, fish out of the water in a lost little town
A year after the broadcast of season 5, which ended with the separation of Sam and Antoine (Thomas Jouannet, who does not repeat) on their wedding day, direction the campaign in these eight new episodes already available in preview on Salto in recent weeks, which welcome a slew of new faces, including Thierry Neuvic, Chantal Ladesou, and Barbara Cabrita.
Sam, who has resigned from National Education, no longer has a job and big money worries when season 6 begins. She is still convinced by Xavier (Fred Testot) to follow him to Saint-Paul Le Truchon, the little lost village where Thomas (Alexandre Bierry) and Aurélie (Charlotte Gaccio) settled, on the occasion of the latter’s birthday. A real nightmare for Sam who hates the countryside. And who does not suspect for a single moment the trap in which she is about to fall.
JEAN-PHILIPPE BALTEL / AUTHENTIC PROD / TF1
Following a plan drawn up by Xavier and Aurélie, the heroine embodied to perfection by Natacha Lindinger is indeed offered a position as a French teacher in the village school. Seeing the opportunity to settle his debts, Sam agrees to join until the end of the school year the ranks of the establishment without contract held by Anne-Marie Valadier (Chantal Ladesou), who runs this school stuck in the 1940s with an iron fist.
Seeing Sam evolve in this environment which is totally foreign to him is a real treat and opens the field of possibilities for the character who takes a new start, freed from his romantic past and his complicated family history.
Surrounded by her loving family – Xavier and Aurélie – she will try to dynamise the established order within Anne-Marie’s school. And will, more or less with difficulty, be adopted by the inhabitants of the village. To the point of realizing that, ultimately, his place is now here? Nothing is less sure. And this is the whole issue of this sixth season which has the merit of not resting on its achievements. And which has in store for us many twists and turns, between surprise pregnancy, unexpected death, and more or less transient amnesia.
New characters tastier than ever
Fans of the first hour may be disappointed to see that Issa Doumbia (N’Dollo), Alika Del Sol (Malika), Adama Niane (Issa), and Arthur Choisnet (Tom), who embodied the CPE and the teachers from previous seasons, have left the series. But this new season of Sam manages without difficulty to renew his gallery of characters. To the point of offering us, without a doubt, the strongest cast the series has seen since its launch.
Chantal Ladesou, far from her crazy character of What is this granny ?! and the humor that characterizes her, surprises in the role of this school principal a rigid “hair”, who advocates discipline, but hides behind her shell an unhealed wound and a very complicated relationship with her daughter, Felicia ( Barbara Cabrita), who also teaches at Saint-Paul Le Truchon.
Barbara Cabrita, seen recently in Luther and in Escape, is also the very pleasant surprise of this season 6, and offers us a score both solar and fragile in the skin of Felicia, known as “Fé”, which functions as a link between most of the characters, and form a trio of shock that we have already adopted with Sam and Laurent, the mayor of the village played by Thierry Neuvic.
JEAN-PHILIPPE BALTEL / AUTHENTIC PROD / TF1
The other new faces – Noom Diawara, Jean-Noël Brouté, and Francis Perrin in secret lover of Anne-Marie, are not left out. And the dynamics set up between Sam, Xavier, and their new colleagues and friends are easily imposed as the great strength of this sixth salvo, which always mixes drama and comedy with the right dosage.
We can still regret that Aurélie, the character played by Charlotte Gaccio (Tomorrow belongs to us), is not entitled to a more important place – while she is one of the only survivors of the original cast with Natacha Lindinger, Fred Testot, and Fanny Gilles. Even if his friendship with Sam and Xavier is undoubtedly further strengthened in these new episodes.
As for the other negative point, it is to be found on the side of school intrigues, which are quite uneven and often struggle to fascinate. Those of episodes 2, 3, and 5, which deal in particular with domestic violence and the opposition between major studies and agricultural work, being undoubtedly the strongest and most interesting of the season.
But this reboot is nonetheless a great success, which should not disturb fans of the series too much as Sam, still so free and hothead, remains true to herself. More invigorated than ever by this new living environment and by the encounters she will make over the eight episodes. Which can only bode well for the future and for a possible season 7 that we already hope to see materialize.
Find the entire season 6 of Sam in preview on the Salto platform.