What to watch: Montreal-shot gangster comedy releases second season

We’re so deep into the brutal second-instalment of our Montreal pandemic-winter that most of us have already watched all the new content on every streaming platform. Ozark? Done. Inventing Anna? Yep. Euphoria? Religiously. Kanye’s three-part documentary? Obviously.

But there’s something that’s probably not on your radar, and it’s time for you to branch out into some amazing local content. C’est comme ça que je t’aime, a show about two suburban families who unintentionally turn to a life of crime during a hot summer in 1974, is a 10-episode series set in Quebec’s Ste-Foy, shot in Montreal pre-pandemic.

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The show is in French, but that’s where the handy closed caption button comes in. Created by writer/director duo François Létourneau and Jean-François Rivard, who have hit shows like Les Invincibles and Série Noire credited to their names, C’est comme ça que je t’aime is dark and twisted and absolutely hilarious.

C’est comme ça que je t’aime – Season Two

When two average suburban couples with middling careers and lukewarm marriages send their kids to sleep away camp one summer, their sudden freedom from responsibility and moral rectitude makes them go absolutely buck wild. For one, there’s the torrent of revelations, including infidelity and betrayal between the four friends, to expose how scripted and phoney their lives truly are. That’s a great jumping-off point for everyone to throw caution to the wind and basically live their best lives, except not exactly…

There’s Huguette Delisle (Marilyn Castonguay), pregnant and innocent, who somehow becomes a contract killer for Quebec’s notorious gangster scene, except she wasn’t really supposed to kill anyone, and now everyone’s life is in danger.

There’s Gaétan Delisle (François Létourneau), her husband, the hapless idiot, assistant to the assistant to the assistant to famed politician Robert Bourassa, who may or may not be having an affair and suddenly paranoid Huguette is trying to kill him.

There’s Micheline Paquette (Karine Gonthier-Hyndman), Huguette’s sex-crazed feminist best friend, who is trapped in her marriage, hates her husband and her life, and turns everyone’s worlds upside down when she decides she’s had enough.

There’s Serge Paquette (Patrice Robitaille), Micheline’s sexually frustrated husband, Gaétan’s right-hand man, the fussy and aggressive Alpha male big shot floor boss in a department store who might be falling in love with a self-proclaimed lesbian co-worker.

photo credit Radio-Canada

The four renegade friends’ summer devolves into an unexpected orgy of sex, drugs and crime, with a crazy supporting cast of devious characters.

It’s Breaking Bad meets Desperate Housewives, with big Thelma and Louise vibes, and it’s an absolute must-watch.

The best part about the show is that it’s actually loosely based on the true story of “les tueurs de Ste-Foy,” two real-life couples who turned to violent crime in Quebec’s 1970s mob scene.

And when you’re done bingeing the first season, you’re in luck — season two dropped earlier in March, and you can catch all 20 episodes on Tou.tv (season 1 is also available on CBC Gem).