Less than a year after the plane crash, “Tomorrow belongs to us” creates the event again this evening by staging a devastating explosion in high school. A new shocking and visually stunning disaster plot that will make a mark.
The production and the screenwriters of Tomorrow belongs to us have decided to hit hard on the occasion of the start of the school year and to offer us two disaster episodes which fans of the soap opera will remember for a long time.
After the bus accident, which in November 2018 had launched what was to become an annual tradition, the fire of the mas, the intrigue of the prisoners of the cave, the hostage-taking at the Spoon and the plane crash that occurred on the beach of Sète last January, place to a devastating explosion within the high school Agnès Varda.
At the heart of the episodes broadcast this Wednesday 6 and this Thursday 7 September on TF1, this drama will obviously upset the lives of many key characters of Tomorrow belongs to us, from Chloé, the headmistress of shock camped by Ingrid Chauvin, to François (Emmanuel Moire) , passing by Jack (Dimitri Fouque), Dorian (Rayane Huber) or even Marianne (Luce Mouchel), who came to intervene with the students and was unlucky to be in the establishment at the time of the explosion.
And if the daily soap opera supervised by Nicolas Brossette is not in its first exceptional plot, these two shocking episodes, which will have lasting repercussions on the series, impose themselves as what Tomorrow belongs to us probably did. best in terms of disaster and suspense, by achieving an unstoppable balance between great spectacle and emotion.
Exceptional means that really show on the screen
In the line of the plane crash, which had required four weeks of preparation to design the plane which was going to be destroyed and five days of intensive filming on the beach, this explosion, which occurs in the first minutes of the broadcast episode this evening on TF1, pushed the teams of Newen, which produces Tomorrow belongs to us, to think big in order to offer a real show to the faithful of the series.
Following this tragedy – accidental or deliberate, it will be up to the cops at the police station to find out – the structure and the roof of the school begin to collapse, creating panic within the school.
While some characters, like Chloé, helplessly watch this disaster from the courtyard of the establishment, others, such as François, Charlie (Clémence Lassalas), Jack, Lizzie (Juliette Mabilat) and Marianne find themselves stuck in the interior under the rubble, prisoners of the ruined classrooms.
Obviously, who says exceptional plot says exceptional conditions. While the soap opera teams usually shoot the equivalent of one episode per day (crossboarding the plots by set and by set), these two episodes alone required two weeks of shooting. And months of preparation beforehand on the part of the props or special effects managers.
Philippe Warrin/CAPA Pictures/TF1
“We shot continuously, scene after scene, which is unusual for us, but helped us to raise the anxiety.”explained to us Clémence Lassalas, who lends her features to Charlie Molina.
“We started with the scenes of the first explosions outside, and then we focused on the scenes inside the school. My scenes with Emmanuel Moire were shot over one or two days in a row, and the same thing then for the other class with Marianne, Jack and Lizzie. It lasted in all about two weeks”.
From the explosion, this new disaster ark manages to grab us, with its totally destroyed high school, its bursts of stunts and special effects (special mention to a Chloé projected several meters during the collapse of the structure), and its situations of life or death.
Unlike many series, the actors of Tomorrow belongs to us did not shoot on a green screen for the purposes of these two episodes. The explosions were actually added by special effects, while the actors shot in the high school sets transformed into a battlefield, with stones (real and fake polystyrene) scattered and dust cannons in action.
“It was crazy because I was used to seeing high school in normal conditions”says Clémence Lassalas, who had already experienced a disaster arch during the hostage taking in 2021.
“And there, when we arrived on the set, we discovered that they had demolished everything a bit. It helped me to put myself in a situation, it made me a little anxious. There were stones everywhere, fake stones, real stones. Dust, rubble. When we discovered that we were a little shocked, but it helped put us in the mood”.
With these two visually impressive episodes, which will be milestones in its history, Tomorrow belongs to us has undoubtedly succeeded in its return, and the start of its season 7.
However, it is impossible to know the budget for these two exceptional episodes, even if Théophile Clément, who succeeds Aude Thévenin as producer after having been artistic director of the series, admits to Télé Loisirs:
“It’s a large sum but you can see it. We spent what it took to make it work and to believe in it”. A successful bet, as the means deployed are actually seen on the screen, ensuring a great show on all floors.
Prepare the tissues, Tomorrow belongs to us will make you cry
For five years now, each disaster plot of Tomorrow belongs to us has offered us its share of spectacle. Like the unexpected bus accident that had turned the lives of Clémentine and Jessica upside down, the oppressive fire that had destroyed the Bellanger farmhouse, or the crash that had pushed the limits of what a daily soap is capable of delivering, with the time and budget constraints inherent in producing one episode a day at a breakneck pace.
The explosion of the Agnès Varda high school, its pyrotechnic effects, its falling rocks and its impression of chaos after the explosion only reinforce all this, by proposing the most impressive disaster in the history of the soap opera carried by Ingrid Chauvin.
But above all, these episodes perhaps stand out as what Tomorrow belongs to us has done best thanks to the strong emotion that emerges from them and the constant tension that accompanies the ordeal that François or Lizzie will experience tonight.
Philippe Warrin/CAPA Pictures/TF1
Where the hostage-taking had led to the death of Ulysses, an endearing but unimportant character in the universe of the series, and where the crash had seriously injured Sara and Jack, without really making us fear for their lives so far , the explosion that occurs to Agnès Varda manages to create real suspense.
And to plunge François, Charlie, Marianne and other characters into the most dramatic situations which, whatever happens, will have strong repercussions on the rest of the series.
Will some heroes of Tomorrow Belongs to Us die? You will have to be there this evening at 7:10 p.m. in front of TF1 to find out. One thing is certain: the fans are certainly not prepared for what awaits them, especially since the actors and actresses all deliver breathtaking performances.
Special mention to Clémence Lassalas and Emmanuel Moire, overwhelming during the ordeal that falls on their characters, to Juliette Mabilat, whose character of Lizzie is completely revealed, and to Charlotte Gaccio, Honorine Magnier or Sasha Birdy who reach us touch the heart on the other side of the high school gates, while Audrey, Bénédicte, Rayane and so many others are desperately waiting for news from their loved ones and imagining the worst.
As for the last sequence of tonight’s episode, involving in particular François, Charlie and Adam (Alain le Bars), it could well be one of the most moving and sad moments of Tomorrow belongs to us in seven years of ‘adventure. And alone justifies that viewers prepare their stock of tissues. After that, nothing will ever be quite the same in Sète.