ART OF THE CRIME Series Review — Murder With Artistic Intent

A man waltzes on stage decked out in his dancer’s belt, pointe shoes, and slick-backed hair. The tune of Siegfried’s Variation echoes through the auditorium as the man dances gracefully in front of a line of judges. The camera cuts to the judges’ unmoving faces; hands on the chin, in awe. We see the twirls, the jumps, the plies.

The elegant scene is cut off by an erratic one, a young woman in her tutu running through halls. She runs as if she’s late for something, or running from something. Whatever the case, she’s breathing heavy, feet slapping the marble floors as she tries to make it backstage before the performance is over. Soon enough the music stops, the man bows, and he exits the stage.

He enters backstage almost doubling over, completely exhausted from the performance he just gave. There’s a sea of other ballerinas around him, stretching, practicing, preparing for when they hear their name to perform on that very stage.

The woman who was running comes up to him, noticing he’s out of breath. We find out this is Lea and her boyfriend, Maxime. Maxime reassures her she’s fine but notices a tear in her tutu and urges her to get that fixed. They agree to meet up at the foyer before she is called up. 

 After getting her tutu hemmed, Lea rushes out of the wardrobe room and enters the foyer looking for Maxime. The music suddenly changes. The setting is ominous. “Maxime?” she calls out. There’s only silence. She walks further down the hall and sees the unimaginable; her boyfriend dead on the floor with a paper shoved in his throat. Her eyes go wide and she rushes to his body, screaming for someone, anyone, to help. The dark music gets louder, and we are left to ask ourselves:

Who killed Maxime and what for?

THE ART OF THE CRIME Finds The Truth in Artifacts

Captain Verlay and Ms. Chassagne from the art crimes unit hop on the scene, the Foyer de la Danse, to find out what really happened. They use historical clues, ranging from dissecting Edgar Degas’ poem that was written on the paper lodged in Maxime’s throat to considering a creepy sculpture of an infamous 14-year-old girl who students say haunts the school.