Television series
HPI
A French procedural with heart: a chaotic, financially-strapped single mother with a 160 IQ becomes an unlikely police consultant. Equal parts crime-solving and domestic comedy, HPI finds genuine warmth in its central contradiction—a woman so brilliant at puzzles that she's terrible at living her own life. For fans of smart shows with actual stakes.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy a brainy detective lead whose sharp mind and prickly personality do the work, and you like crime plots that lean on banter more than bloodshed.
Skip it if you want a tight, serious procedural, since this is a comedy first and its cases often matter less than the household chaos around its heroine.
What it asks of you: Five seasons of roughly an hour each, with episodic turns and personal subplots to follow, so it rewards settling in over several evenings rather than a single sitting.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Veronica Mars2004
A young woman with a brilliant mind and terrible family circumstances uses her smarts to solve crimes while the world underestimates her. Same blend of sharp mystery-writing, humour, and emotional vulnerability that makes HPI click.
But The first season is excellent; what comes after is uneven. And the tone can whip between comedy and darkness without warning, which doesn't suit everyone.
Columbo1968
The template for the crime-solving weirdo who baffles conventional cops: a character so alive it makes the murders almost secondary. HPI owes everything to this.
But It's fifty years old and deliberately paced. If you need a show that moves quickly, this will test your patience.
Fleabag2016
A woman in chaos, brilliant and hopeless at the same time, breaking the fourth wall and breaking your heart in six-minute increments. The DNA of how a mess of a person becomes magnetic television.
But Only six episodes per season, and it ends. HPI will feel longer and more generous if that's what you want from a show.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from HPI
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Amélie2001
Both are French stories about women whose brilliance becomes a kind of isolation—the very thing that makes them special also separates them from ordinary life.
A woman of extraordinary perception and gentle intelligence trying to change the world around her while unable to change her own loneliness. Same spirit of a brilliant person tangled in the ordinary world, but told in Jeunet's surrealist visual language instead of crime beats.
But It's whimsical and stylised to the point where some viewers find it precious or exhausting. The emotional core is fragile.
More like this (6)
Monk2002
Another impossible cop-consultant with a condition that makes him brilliant and broken. Lighter than HPI but mining the exact same vein: the detective who sees everything except how to live.
But Eight seasons of formula TV. It repeats itself, and the humour ages poorly in places.
Rizzoli & Isles2010
Female leads in a crime procedural who are actually given inner lives, friendships that matter, and cases that require thinking. French television understood this before American crime TV did.
But It leans more towards procedural comfort than HPI's sharper edge. If you're watching for the cases, you'll find them satisfying but familiar.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel2017
A brilliant woman reinventing herself, fighting incompetent men, raising children while building a second life. Similar high-IQ energy but in a different era and with less crime.
But It's very American, very polished, and sometimes feels more in love with its own cleverness than its people.
Broadchurch2013
A small-town murder that tears a community apart, with detectives as complicated and damaged as their case. Darker, more serious, but sharing HPI's belief that character matters as much as mystery.
But It's relentlessly grim. There's barely a laugh, and the emotional toll is real. Not for watching when you want comfort.
Death in Paradise2011
A detective solving impossible murders in a beautiful place, with a ensemble cast who matter. Warm, funny, and genuinely clever about its mysteries.
But It's comfort television—very formula, very gentle. If you want HPI's edge, this has softened everything away.
The Lesson2020
Both understand that a 160 IQ in the wrong circumstances is not a gift—it's a problem. Both ask what brilliance costs you, and what it costs everyone around you.
A brilliant, angry woman and a foolish man in a confined space, words as weapons, intelligence as both shield and knife. In ninety minutes it builds tension purely from watching minds collide. French, audacious, and absolutely alive.
But It's bleak and uncomfortable and doesn't offer the comfort of a puzzle solved. The intelligence on screen is weaponised, not celebrated.
