Abhiroop Das
Co-created by Sylvain Caron and Julien Leclercq, ‘Elite Force,’ also known as ‘GIGN,’ draws attention to the inner workings of special forces and counter-intelligence units through a fictionalized depiction of the eponymous unit. The GIGN, also known as Groupe d’Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale, specializes in handling the most sensitive and complicated domestic cases, but for Commander David Berger, everything is put on the line after a bomb explosion hits too close to home.
Tasked with bringing the criminals to justice and raising a new generation of officers, David becomes embroiled in a mystery tied to his dark past. He is not alone in this vortex either, as an up-and-coming officer, Max, also gets drawn in. By the end of this French crime thriller series, everything David loves and holds dear is brought to the center of a ruthless battle, forcing him to make a series of difficult choices with unpredictable outcomes. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Elite Force Plot Synopsis
‘Elite Force’ begins at the training center of GIGN, or Groupe d’Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale, which is France’s most elite special forces unit. As we go through a list of trainees who are being tested to their limits, one character stands out. Maxime “Max” Villier is chillingly pragmatic and just as competent when it comes to tactics and physicality. What draws the attention of Commander David Berger, however, is the fact that Max is the son of Laurent, his former partner in the force. Laurent died under mysterious circumstances, with only David as the witness, which is why he doesn’t want Max to become an officer and potentially meet the same fate. However, no matter how many challenges he throws Max’s way, the young blood proves himself to be worthy of the mantle and is formally assigned as David’s mentee going forward.
Not long before Max’s training is completed, a truck full of experimental explosives known as CL-20 is stolen from GIGN’s compounds, and David’s team is put in charge of retrieving it. Though they manage to locate the truck, it turns out that the attackers are using hostages to force officers into doing the dirty work. Worse, the officers are unable to retrieve all of the CL-20, which spells trouble. Things spiral out of control on Max’s graduation night, when Christophe, David’s superior, gets caught up in a car bombing. Though he manages to barely survive, the injuries turn out to be too severe. Soon, more assailants show up at the hospital to target Christophe, who eventually passes away. As David craves revenge, the dwindling investigation of GIGN forces him to take matters into his own hands.
Using a blend of instincts and evidence, David connects the attack on Christophe to the attack from more than a decade ago that took Laurent’s life. At the ruins of what was formerly a crime scene, David comes across Alexis, a former colonel whose young daughter, Lina, was also there on that fateful day. As Alexis charges ahead, we learn that Max also secretly followed David to the scene, desperate to know the truth about what happened to his father. In the ensuing chaos, Max kills Alexis, but not before learning that David’s actions led to Laurent’s death. Before the mystery can be quelled, authorities swoop into the scene, and David is nearly imprisoned for going rogue, until Max steps in and saves both of their skins. However, the trouble is far from over: only a few days later, David learns that his daughter’s music school has been taken over, and she might be inside.
Elite Force Ending: Is Jess Dead? Is Manon Rescued?
Season 1 of ‘Elite Force’ ends with a great sense of tragedy, as David’s wife, Jess, dies in a bomb explosion set up by Amal Mayard. Though the hostage crisis initially leads us to believe that Amal’s target is Manon, in reality, that turns out to be a misdirection. With all of the GIGN’s attention directed at the music school, Amal is able to sneakily put a bomb right under Jess and David’s car, possibly well before she takes Manon hostage. As Jess waits outside the school in hopes of reuniting with her family, Amal remotely triggers the bomb, only for David to pour all his energy into saving his daughter from the school. Though other members of the GIGN manage to track down Amal’s hideout and discover her true plan, by then it’s too late.
In many ways, Jess’ death is a repeat of what happens in episode 1 with Christophe, with a similar modus operandi. This revelation also explains why Amal specifically adds a timer to her bomb, instead of opting for a definitive, immediate kill-switch. Her real goal is to draw out the entire procedure and give David the full illusion of safety and victory, until everything he’s held dear is snatched right in front of his eyes. He is not the only witness to the explosion either, as Manon and Max both watch as Jess, someone who was wholly unrelated to Amal and David’s shared past, becomes a victim of the cycle of vengeance and bloodshed. While there were death flags and warnings surrounding David’s arc from the very start, this still comes as a complete shock to him and the viewers alike.
The bomb attached to Manon, on the other hand, turns out to be a fake one, as we see its timer go off and do nothing. Though she is technically rescued, Manon now has to live with the memory of watching her mother die instead, and that is a fate as crushing. Not long before this, the mother-daughter duo was planning to head to Singapore for the next chapter in their life, and David had only just come to recognize how it was the correct decision. Now, however, the state of this family is turned upside down forever. Manon now shares an experience not unlike Max’s, in that they both have to bear the brunt of crimes beyond their comprehension, because of both individual and systemic powers being at play.
Why Does Amal Target David?
The action of the masterminds behind the many bombings and attacks of this season, Amal and Alexis Mayard, can only be contextualized with a trip back in time. As it turns out, their fates are directly linked to David and Laurent’s, dating back to the fateful incident at the research facility. Alexis was in charge of the lab developing CL-20, the dangerous explosive that is used throughout the series. However, one of the workers snapped and decided to take the entire lab hostage, precisely when Alexis was with Amal and their daughter, Lina. Though the police were tasked with rescuing all the hostages, Amal soon decided to take things into her own hands, first by sending her daughter away to hide deeper inside the lab, and then by trying to shoot down the captor herself.
Though Amal was able to gun the man down, she sustained a bullet to the neck as well. Worse, the man, in his dying breath, switched on a detonator that was meant to blow all of the CL-20 reserves in the next five minutes. Though Amal tasked David and Laurent, who were both on duty that day, with saving her daughter, circumstances prevented them from doing so. When they were asked to retreat in lieu of the incoming explosion, David and Laurent argued about staying back, leading the latter to accidentally get trapped inside a room with an auto-lock. Both Laurent and Nina, the little child, perished that day, but we aren’t made privy to Amal’s fate until much later. In the present, it is revealed that not only is Amal alive, but that she and her husband hold quite a grudge against the GIGN.
After CL-20 is brought back into production and supplied to the GIGM, the Mayards hatch an elaborate plan to steal as much of it as they can, and then orchestrate a string of explosions and domestic terror attacks as part of their vendetta. The deeper logic behind their actions, however, is to take revenge specifically against the GIGN officers who failed to save their daughter. This chiefly includes Christophe and David, which explains the targeted moves against them. While Christophe is met with a slow and painful death after the explosion in episode 1, Amal puts David through even more misery, bringing him the same pain she felt that day, the pain of losing family. Though she isn’t justified in doing any of this, her actions only echo the sheer destructiveness of the cycle of violence.
What Happens to Max? Will He Join David in Revenge?
After Max learns the truth about his father’s death, more questions are raised than answered. Perhaps most important of these is the role of Alexis in the events so far, as this alone should have led David to realize who he truly is after. When Max and Alexis stand face-to-face, the latter claims that David was directly responsible for the death of Laurent, and while that isn’t correct, David likely feels the same way. Though Max is initially blinded by rage after hearing this, his mind soon clears up, allowing the truth to set in. However, along with that comes an even bigger revelation, that his biological father is not actually Laurent, but David, who had an affair with Laurent’s wife, Nathalie. This gives a more personal dimension to their already intertwined fates.
Upon learning that David is his biological father, Max’s initial reaction is very quickly replaced by a longing for a relationship that they never had. Having spent most of his childhood and teenage years without a father or father-figure in his life, Max is quick to believe that David can fill that role and become more than just his mentor. We see that in how quickly he accepts Manon as his half-sister. By extension, this also means that he takes Jess’ death on a personal level. However, where the story goes from this point onwards entirely depends on David’s reaction to the tragedy. With both Amal and Alexis dead, there is no way for him to channel any of his rage, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility of there being remnant forces in Amal’s ranks.
For Amal and Alexis to orchestrate a series of complicated bombings without any insider assistance can be hard to believe, especially since the first explosion takes place right inside the training center’s parking lot. Adding to that, their ability to mobilize ex-military or paramilitary agents, it is entirely possible that there are still forces left in the game, forces that are united in their hatred of Cl-20 explosives. Though David will likely get some time off for mourning, we know by now that he prefers to channel his emotions through work. How Max plays into this larger equation, be it as a junior officer or as David’s son, remains to be seen.
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