Like their loyal audience (6.1 million viewers during their last appearance in 2020), the Lepic and Bouley couples have aged and they live it more or less well. When this unprecedented double episode begins, Renaud is depressed because Robinets Binet has put him into early retirement. Denis dreams of retirement but, with his erratic professional life, he is far from having contributed enough to receive one. Fabienne copes with her marital boredom by writing “olé olé” novels and Valérie has become a conspiracy theorist under the influence of her best friend.
To get their parents out of their routine, the children decide to register them for a competition launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) to send ordinary citizens on a space mission. The Boulpics on the Moon? The concept does not lack audacity, and the production benefited from a partnership with the ESA (filming in a real control center, access to archives to design the shuttle, etc.) and the expertise of renowned professionals like astronaut Jean-François Clervoy.
“Principled Catholics” versus “cool bobos”
Unfortunately, the script by Anne Giafferi (collection director of seasons 1 and 2) and Jeanne Bizot is not completely up to par. If certain lines hit the mark, the wealth of comic situations that the space adventure potentially represented is far from being exploited and, despite a strong start, the comic vein quickly runs out of steam. Is it because the parent-child relationships and the differences in education that made the series so special are relegated to the confines of the plot?
Fortunately, France Télévisions has the good idea of putting all nine seasons of the series online for free on the France.tv platform for thirty days. By reviewing the 69 episodes broadcast between 2007 and 2017, we can see to what extent Don’t do this, don’t do that knew how to capture the spirit of the times and dissect our parental failings with spicy humor. Whether we are more “principled Catholic” or “cool bobo”!
“Don’t do this, don’t do that. We’re going to walk on the Moon”, on the france.tv platform, broadcast on France 2, December 18 at 9 p.m.