The Finale
Family Business has had quite the ride over the past 5 episodes and it all culminates in this final 30 minute slice of comedy. Despite ending with a cliffhanger, the episode does well to round out and close up some of the relationships between characters, especially Joseph and Aida who have a suitably heartwarming final scene together. The episode itself begins when Olivier doesn’t turn up in the morning. Ali and Joseph go looking for him in the garage where they left the truck. They find it empty and suspect Ali’s boss Virgile is the one responsible. The police then find the truck abandoned and bring it back to the farm. After some back and forth, they open the back up and it turns out the truck is empty. Clem later arrives and reveals that she has been tracking Olivier’s location. This leads them to a heavily guarded compound. As they manage to infiltrate it, they come face to face with a new criminal group who Virgile tried to sell the drugs to. The woman in charge has them tied up and explains that she will agree to give them 50% of the weed. She also thinks that Virgile and Olivier sold them out and wants Joseph to punish them by cutting their fingers off. Seeing that Joseph is only capable of cutting Olivier’s hair, she takes the shears of Joseph and threatens to cut off his genitals which then prompts Clem to stop her by cutting his little finger. This impresses the woman greatly and she lets them go. A few days pass and the coffee shop has now been remodeled. The family sit down to watch the news and find out that Clem’s father has been fired. The Prime Minister also announces that the rumours regarding the legalization of marijuana were false, which send the family into uproar. After getting rid of all the plants, Gérard tells his son that despite everything he is proud of him as he never gives up no matter how many times he fails. Olivier recites a Jewish prayer which results in Gerard finally accepting him as part of the family. Joseph tells his Dad that he wants to take over the family business, but Gerard finally understands that it’s not for him and they share a touching moment. The next morning, Gerard meets with Aida to convince her to give his son another chance which she does after telling Joseph that he is going to be a father. Joseph arrives at the shop to celebrates the good news, but is greeted by the same woman who took all their weed. She tells them the weed they made has sold so well that she wants them to make some more and go into business together. However, she threatens to cut their limbs if they don’t co-operate. The episode then ends with Ludmila agreeing to make more weed for them. Despite the cliffhanger ending, the show manages to wrap up most of the storylines whilst keeping the same humorous tone throughout. The witty dialogue between all the actors is skillfully delivered whilst all the touching moments between the different family members make Family Business a funny but refreshingly heart-warming addition to Netflix’s growing catalogue. With the finale leaving things wide open for a second season and the actors all on-board to make this happen, it remains to be seen whether Netflix give this one the nod for a second go. In the meantime, this new French comedy does well and ends on a high, closing things out with enough resolution for the character subplots to make for a satisfying watch.
