What is the plot?

In the county of Montargis in France, in the year 1787, the Count of Montargis rules, people die of hunger and live in extreme poverty, a group of rebels organize themselves and live in hiding, while the nobles enjoy the wealth. A 16-year-old girl named Rebecca disappears and days later she is found savagely dead. A man of African origin named Eko is accused and sentenced to death for the crime. But the young doctor Joseph Guillotine believes that he is innocent and will investigate on his own. Meanwhile, Countess Elise de Montargis protects her younger sister Madeleine in the castle. She remembers the forbidden love she had with a man who was not from the aristocracy, Albert Guillonite, Josehp's brother. He was murdered by the Count, who is supposed to be in another city. In the county, exercising the functions of the government is Charles de Montargis. But in reality, there is a whole conspiracy from the palace of Versailles, where the same King of France has ordered to infect with the blue blood virus all the powerful people of France. A virus that is able to revive the dead, who need to feed on human flesh.

A new revision of the French Revolution, but from the point of view of a horror story, with satisfactory creative licenses, which make this series very entertaining.

Don't expect a historical series with a reliable account of the French Revolution. That historical fact is only the world in which this horror-splashed fantasy has been created.

You'll find action, adventure, romance, crime, social struggle and horror.

The metaphor in which the rich eat the poor is excellently represented by the story they tell us. The King of France, has in his possession, the virus, which was brought from America. His plan is to infect all nobles and men exercising power in France. The virus kills them, their heart stops beating, but they come back as zombies/vampires, with acute senses, extreme strength, much hunger for human flesh, and blood becomes blue.

It is because of this detail that it will be known as the virus of blue blood, and that its carriers will be the royal family and aristocracy of France. Blue blood will literally feed on poor people.

It is the death of that young woman called Rebecca, in the lands of the Montargis, that will give rise to the movement that will become the rebellion of the oppressed people, against the rich aristocrats who rule over them. It is Rebecca who caused the French Revolution, as the voice-over of one of the characters in the opening scene of the series says.

The only way to kill a zombie is to cut off its head. A reference to the Josehp guillotine in the series , invented the guillotine in the following season. Only one commoner has the blue blood virus, the Albert Guillotine. The one that everyone thought was dead, even his beloved countess. Albert was infected by Nais, the main carrier of the virus, in America. Now, he has to save Eko's life and try to find Nais, to prevent the virus from spreading. To achieve this, he will have to ask for the help of Marianne, leader of the brotherhood, the rebels who want to overthrow the dominant system.

There is room for an impossible love story marked by tragedy. Albert Guillotne and Countess Elise de Montargis A love that will be condemned, because it is already dead. For now he can control his hunger for human flesh, but the time will come when he will not be able to control it. Therefore, to see again the woman he loves only increases his pain

The horror scenes, including the apparitions to Madeleine, of the strange specter of a black woman (Nails), are made in the style of haunted house stories. And the scenes of the blue-blooded zombies (they could also be a kind of vampire) show enough blood to satisfy our thirst for bloody scenes. The series is not shy, it shows the cruelty and terror to delight us.

The photography of the series is in charge of Mathieu Plainfossé, Martial Schmeltz and Antoine Sanier

The atmosphere, the scenery, the photography, the makeup, the location and the costume design, is really excellent. They take us directly to that time, the misery of the streets of that county, the dirt, the poverty, you can even feel the stench of the streets and the people. The whole visual aspect of the series is really bleak. Of course, the scenes inside the palace are also endowed with a lot of beauty, contrasting with the misery and horror that the people live.

This can make the production costs high, and in case of a second season, these could increase, because the action moves to the Paris before the revolution.

Some critics that you read in the film forums and in the internet series, have been hard on the series, there is a small sector that expresses their anger for the anachronistic situations that are seen in the series. For example, that the Josph Guillotin in the series is a mestizo, that one of the female protagonists, who is part of the aristocracy, is a faithful defender of equality and female empowerment, etc. He has been labeled as progressive netflix propaganda. But I differ from all those opinions.

It is true that many situations or characters from different ethnic groups could not occur or coexist at the time the series is set, but from the beginning there is talk of a fantasy series, which should not be governed by historical accuracy. The creators have only taken the French Revolution as a historical basis to make this whole universe of fantastic horror.

The most ironic thing of all, is that most of these critics come from people who said they only saw the first episode. I saw the whole series ( 8 episodes ) and I loved the series because it was entertaining. It's not a history class about the French revolution, nor do I care about the diversity of ethnicities or strong female characters. On the contrary, I like them, because it's a fantastic story.

The story they tell us is a historical fantasy that is dystopian in horror.

The real Joseph Guillotin

Joseph Ignace Guillotin was a French doctor and politician who was not actually the inventor of the guillotine. Similar devices had already been used in other countries such as Germany, Italy, England, etc. But in each of these countries he had another name. For example, in Germany it was called Fallbeil and in Italy it was known as the manna.

But it was Joseph Guillotin who proposed to use this device, to avoid painful deaths to those condemned to death. It was he who introduced it in France, when he became a deputy in 1789, so it is known as Guillotine.

The order for the design of the device was given to another physician, Antoine Louis, who asked for help from a German harp manufacturer. Both were inspired by all other similar apparatuses to create the first prototype of what is now known as the guillotine.

The guillotine was to be installed in front of the Paris town hall and Nicolas-Jacques Pelletier, a man convicted of theft, became the first to be executed under the new system, on April 25, 1792. It is estimated that almost 17 thousand people were executed with the guillotine.

If you are interested in knowing more about the life of the real Joseph Guillotin, you can read this wikipedia article: Link

The creator and showrunner of the series is Aurélien Molas, a talented French filmmaker who, at only 35 years of age, is embarking on a professional career that encompasses other areas. In 2010, she published her first novel, a thriller entitled La Onzième Plaie, in which a police investigation takes place in the midst of a Paris full of violence. Two years later, she wrote her second novel entitled Les Fantômes du Delta, another thriller, this time with a story developed in Nigeria, which describes corruption, violence and a group of doctors involved in the story. Both books are available on Amazon, in case you are interested in buying them.

He work in French television, on various projects for different television companies. He wrote the miniseries Maroni, les fantasômes du fleuve and has been co-creator of the miniseries Une île , Trauma and Crime Time , hora de perigo which received a nomination for several important awards. He has also worked as a location manager for the 2019 French film, Furie.

Now, the big moment has arrived, being the creator of this original series for Netflix, where he is also in charge of the scripts, along with Jérémie Rozan and Edouard Salier. I think he has enough talent to become a future reference. He has a great imagination and the series has left me totally satisfied.

There are many actors and actresses involved in the series, some do a more solid job than others, but in general, the cast works perfectly, each one embodies the assigned character and all are important for the development of the plot. Many are actors not very well known by the American public, but all have a background in France and other European countries.

Amir El Kacem plays Josehp Guillotin, the young doctor who believes his brother has died and is willing to get a cure for the blue blood virus. The actor has participated in more than 20 film and television productions in France. Lionel Erdogan plays Albert Guillotin, the only non-aristocratic who has the blue blood virus. He is a young actor known in his country, he participated in the movie Grace of Monaco in 2014.

The beautiful actress Marilou Aussilloux plays Countess Elise de Montargis, the aristocrat who cares about her people. She is Madeleine's older sister, whom she protects and at the same time keeps a secret from her. The character is quite important within the plot. This is one of the most important works of the 26-year-old actress. She has also recently participated in the film Adieu les cons

Model and actress Gaia Weiss plays Marianne, the leader of the rebel movement. A friend of Albert's, her face is disfigured by the Montargis. I loved the character, she is the tough woman, willing to do anything for her ideals. I have seen this actress in other productions. That was Thorunn, one of Bjorn's wives in the second season of Vikings. He worked in the film Mary Queen of Scot, We are Boats, The Legend of Hercules and last year participated in the film Judy with Renee Zellweger and the series Outlander.

Julien Frison plays the main villain of this first season, Count Donatien de Mortagis, son of Charles, who has always been classified as weak, but his father injected the virus, becoming a being that will spread the horror in the county. He is an annoying villain, he is unpleasant and the interpretation is the sum of clichés of the very bad ones, besides the fact that the actor exaggerates the character's behavior, surely to emphasize the madness. Because he is a totally crazy character.

Isabel Aimé González-Sola plays Katell, Josehp's friend and lover. Doudou Masta is Oka, the man of African origin, friend of Albert, who helped control the virus. Coline Beal plays Ophelie, the countess's companion and Madeleine's caretaker. And the young actress Amélia Lacquemant plays Madeleine, the supposed sister of Countess Elise, who is mute and has the specter of a black woman, as well as having dreams, in which she sees that everyone is going to die from the virus.