Remember 1941, when all Villeneuve had to deal with was incompetent communists, increasingly aggressive Germans and, all right, maybe an execution or ten? Those were the days. The spring and summer of 1942 ushered in an entirely different era of anguish for the conquered people of Europe, one so brutal in scale that even those in active resistance could not have imagined the full scope. Hitler, if it could be believed, was just getting started, and, slowly but surely, the desperation to survive at any cost began to trickle into every corner of society. Thank goodness for people like…

The leader
Marie seems to have really found herself as a resistance fighter. Working for Cremieux in his one remaining business holding, she is quickly enrolled in his true scheme – producing collaboration-bashing pamphlets to distribute in the occupied north zone. It’s risky, but with the initially reluctant help of Bériot, the school basement has become the perfect newsroom from which to really go after the Germans – and right under their noses. All seems to be going well, until…

The train
A train full of foreign Jews must stop in Villeneuve for several days. Unable to house them anywhere else, Larcher forces Beriot to set them up in the school. Of course all good people agree this is a terrible situation, but… surely French Jews or their spouses won’t be affected. As history has taught us, no one yet understood how quickly things would devolve beyond their worst nightmares.

Not only are the people from the train subjected to inhumane treatment and near starvation, the Germans command the local police to round up any non-French Jewish person living in Villeneuve. Cremieux, on a mission with Bériot to move the printing press, is thus not there to protect his wife and daughter from the roundup, a ridiculous operation which increases in drama by the hour as the local officials must perform cold-blooded mathematical hijinks to make the German quota of 28 Jews. That’s 28, including…

La Resistance
Cremieux, now in hiding after his printing press stunt, has thrown himself into The Cause… until Marchetti finds him and twists him with lies about getting his family out of the camp. Cremieux must now go against his Resistance gang who have only just tied up an alliance with the Communists! DAMMIT, SIR. Do you know how long it takes just to get a meeting with those guys? Anyway, though Marie has made a series of smart moves, including recruiting a (handsome) radio operator who literally fell from the sky, it all goes to hell when her son, Raoul, blows his coverage and Cremieux must make the ultimate sacrifice to make things right. Meanwhile…

Love lost and found (and lost)
Larcher and Hortense, having finally come to a terse “arrangement,” seem to be warming slightly to each other again, for the sake of the household. In fact, Larcher is finally able to know a modicum of happiness as his joy at Sarah’s return blooms into love. When Sarah is threatened once again with arrest and transport, Hortense, for the sake of Daniel, even thinks of another person long enough to save Sarah’s life. There is hope for Hortense, yet! Wait. No, there isn’t. Because, guess who’s back? Müller. And it doesn’t take him long to get back to his favorite game: destroying people from the inside out. Hortense returns to his bed, leaving Larcher to once again pick up the pieces.