Plot

One of the associates of a high-tech company is assassinated. The crime scene suggests that this Orthodox Jew may have been the victim of the Golem, a mythical clay creature obeying the orders of its creator.

Astrid and Raphaëlle

Episode 2-6: Golem

A man in orthodox Jewish clothing goes to a flat in a traditional Paris building; he knocks impatiently on the door, calling for Aaron; but there is no answer. He knocks on an adjacent door, for Mr Cohen, but there is no answer there either. Raphaëlle Coste is a mid-level Paris police detective, of unconventional manner. She takes with her Astrid Nielsen, who works in the Criminal Records Office. Astrid is affected by autism, but Raphaëlle has discovered that Astrid is very skilled at noticing small but significant details, and Raphaëlle often asks her to collaborate. They get to the scene; the man is lying dead in a pool of blood. Nico, Raphaëlle's assistant, reports that he is Aaron Feldman, 41 years old, an entrepreneur. Judging by his book collection he is also a Kabbelah follower, a form of Jewish mysticism. The man who discovered the body is Samuel Gompel; he is waiting at the scene. Raphaëlle interviews Gompel; the dead man had been struggling after the death of his wife, Eve. She died in a boating accident a year ago. He didn't have any enemies - he was a kindly man. Fournier, the police pathologist arrives; Astrid has already determined the cause of death - the fall and an impact on the right temporal lobe. In his right hand he is clutching a bracelet inscribed with Hebrew letters. Gompel reads the letters - they spell out "death". But there is a piece missing; they find it and Gompel says that it adds the word "truth" - with that you can control the Golem. The Golem can be controlled by the pieces; a Golem is a clay giant figure capable of killing anti-Semitic people. There was clay on the floor and the forensic people confirm that it matches the markings on the dead man's head. It seems to have been fashioned into a clay model of a golem. Nico Perran and Arthur Enguien are in Raphaëlle's team in the police headquarters. They have traced the company that Aaron Feldman ran; he was the money man, and the brains of the company was Joachim Kaplan. The company seems to be named GOL-M. Raphaëlle and Nico go to the company headquarters with Astrid; as they go in they are intercepted by a receptionist who later turns out to be an artificial intelligence image. Astrid has a long conversation with her about puzzles. But a secretary explains to Raphaëlle that the image is modelled on Eve Feldman, the wife of the deceased. Nico hasn't managed to find Joachim Kaplan but he has tracked down the fact that his brother Julien Kaplan is at a synagogue. Raphaëlle goes to see him with Astrid. Raphaëlle asks him if the Kaballah might resent Aaron creating an artificial intelligence being, on religious grounds. The man explains the significance of some of the Hebrew writing that was on the bracelet, but it is difficult to see how this relates to the real world. He refers to Gematria, the Kabbalah, it reveals the secret behind the texts. The man is taken aback when Raphaëlle tells him that Aaron was killed yesterday. Back in HQ, Raphaëlle says that the mystery of Gematria is now consuming Astrid's interest. Enguien has discovered that Feldman had hired a private investigator. Who was he investigating? Joachim. Now Raphaëlle gets a phone call saying that Joachim Kaplan is at the offices of GOL-M and has gone berserk. They will go there now. They find him there and he is hyperventilating. Nico manages to calm him a little, but when Raphaëlle opens a cupboard door, there is a phone there and Joachim screams that there is a Dybbuk there. Astrid is investigating the background on a computer at the Criminal Records Office where she works, and picks up her phone. She seems to have missed a called from Tetsuo Tanaka, the Japanese shopkeeper who has an amorous interest in her. Now Joachim is in hospital, but in no fit state to speak to anyone. Raphaëlle and Fournier confer - it was a psychotic episode. A man is there who is a rabbi and also a clinician. The man explains that Joachim has bipolar disorder. Astrid is sitting on a bench out of doors, when Mr Tanaka approaches. He has procured for her a Hebrew bible. She tells him she is interested in Gematria, and he says he is too, but from the point of view of numerology rather than the puzzle dimension that interests Astrid. Mr Tanaka is trying to form a romantic attachment with Astrid, but she is summoned to a briefing at police headquarters, and once again Mt Tanaka is rebuffed. In fact Astrid participates by being on speakerphone. Nico reports that he has tracked down the private investigator used by Aaron Feldman. He thought Joachim was having an affair with his girlfriend. He didn't find anything and he stopped after Eve's death. She was Eve Marciac. Raphaëlle meets Forest in a bar, and tries out her theory f the murder on him, but he is not convinced; she hasn't really got any proof. Back in HQ she gets a report from Enguien that Eve, Joachim and Aaron were inseparable. Raphaëlle gets a call from an unknown number, and the female caller says that if she wants to find the killer, Joachim Feldman killed Aaron; he is at 6, rue de la Vacquerie. Raphaëlle, Nico and Arthur Enguien grab their coats and go there. They have keys and Raphaëlle and Nico enter, with guns raised and pointing, for some reason. The place is a workshop of some kind, and there are several of the golem figures stacked on a trolley. Nico finds a freezer with supplies of clay in it; he suggests that striking someone with a frozen slab of clay would be a pretty effective weapon. On of the neatly stacked slabs is missing. Back at Police HQ, the rabbi-doctor has come in. He has discovered that Joachim's blood had an amphetamine in it The rabbi is certain that Joachim wasn't a user. If he was struggling he turned to Julien. Raphaëlle goes to the hospital to see Joachim. She says she has found the workshop and the clay golems. Did one of them strike Aaron Feldman? He replies, "No; I did. He was framing me for Eve's death." We weren't lovers, just friends; it was Aaron who killed Eve. Eve told him; although she is dead, it is her ghost who told him. The dybbuk. Back at HQ Raphaëlle and Nico are discussing the case; Astrid arrives and says maybe he was drugged. She has found that high amphetamine levels were found in his blood, yet his ordinary medicine for his bipolar condition was not; yet he had a supply of the tablets available. But it seems likely that the pills he was taking were tampered with. Astrid mentions to Raphaëlle that Mr Tanaka and she were together in the park. Raphaëlle is delighted, and wants to know all about it, but Astrid says thee is nothing more to tell. Astrid wants to go back to the criminal records office to check some matters; she has noted that Eve's body was never found. We next see Astrid at the social skills workshop she goes to. The discussion is about emotional feelings, and afterwards she mentions to William that she has seen Mr Tanaka in the park; she is clearly disturbed by irrational feelings that she may have, but the matter is not concluded. At Police HQ the next day, Enguien reports that the capsules that Feldman was taking had been changed and wee amphetamine instead of his proper medication. The dosage was enough to destabilise his condition, but not enough to kill him. With Astrid's help the team now conclude that marine images - seagulls, boats, Sea Spray perfume, were used to trigger Feldman's illness. An email sent to him referred to the possibility of Aaron being killed by the dybbuk. They go to see the Commissioner; he reminds them that Eve is dead, and cannot have been the person who called Joachim. But her body was never found, and there is a record of a phone call every evening at the same time. But Enguien has been unable to track down the origin of the phone calls, which are carried on the internet, not the ordinary telephone network. But there is someone who could possibly crack it: William, the organiser of the social skills workshops - if the Commissioner will agree to him coming in and using the Commissioner's computer. William manages to get into a website where there is a code wheel that can be solved by using gematria. Astrid manages to solve it, and then there is on the screen a telephone interface. They make the call and Eve Marciac answers, and is visible on the screen. Raphaëlle asks Eve whether she regrets what she has done, and Eve states repeatedly that actual murder is worse than incitement to murder. Raphaëlle contradicts this without effect on Eve. William asks to be allowed to speak to her, and he puts a traditional human dilemma question to her (if you could switch the points of an out-of-control tram, would you prefer the tram to kill a child on one track, or five adults on the other?) Eve gives an objectively rational answer and William realises immediately that "Eve" is an artificial intelligence being. They conclude that Julien, Joachim's brother is the only person who had the skills to set this up. They bring him in for questioning. Julien denies everything, yet Raphaëlle is convinced now that he was the perpetrator of everything. Nico suggests using Eve's avatar to get him to confess. But who knows enough about artificial intelligence to accomplish this. Astrid knows someone: not William but his friend from earlier episodes - Camille Berezin. She carries out the necessary programming and makes "Eve" phone Julien. He immediately sees through the ruse and realises it is Raphaëlle making the call. Raphaëlle tries to keep the conversation going to see if Julien will reveal something incriminating. But a lot of conversation achieves nothing and Raphaëlle decides to change tactics; she asks Camille to make "Eve" say that she is dead; Aaron killed me and Joachim lied to you. We killed them together. Now in police HQ Julien is being questioned. He seems to have admitted to the incitement to murder, and he says that is unimportant because he was following God's will. He explains that Eve and Aaron got into an argument on the boat, and she pushed him and he pushed her back, but she fell overboard. Nico tries to persuade Julien to confess so as to reduce Aarons' prison sentence. After some delay he does so. Astrid is with William somewhere. She mentions that romantic affection, that she observes in other people, doesn't work for her, but she can function without it. Nevertheless she is now going to see Mr Tanaka, in the park for the third time. In the park Astrid and Mr Tanaka agree that the claimed "poetry" of a sunset is an illusion. His interest is in the power of numbers, and he launches into an extended explanation of something. Astrid switches off, and interrupts him, and leaves. Mr Tanaka looks disappointed. Astrid goes to see Raphaëlle and she explains the strange tingly feeling she had in her stomach while she was with Mr Tanaka. Raphaëlle smiles knowingly. Raphaëlle gently suggest that Astrid is falling in love; Astrid is momentarily alarmed at the idea, but seems to come to terms with it.