PREMONITIONS – the first three episodes – (limited spoilers)

It is 2016, and Clara (Pascale Bussières), the clairvoyant matriarch of the Jakob family is playing poker, which is how she makes her living. Silently, and to no one in particular, she describes the unusual ability she was born with: “I cannot see my own future, nor that of my family members, but I can see anyone else’s when i look them in the eyes.” She further explains that acting on the knowledge obtained in this way has consequences: “This new future I created, and what it replaces, I’m now responsible for,” she continues. “It’s through my actions that it came to exist.”

Paranormal abilities manifest differently in each member of the Jakob family, and their variant powers might all be different versions of the same thing. Clara’s daughter Liliane (Sophie Desmarais) is succubus-like, and muses internally about her powers while using them on a fellow named Pascal. “One single look is sometimes enough to seduce someone,” she explains. “Most people can’t control how the other person reacts. I can. I just have to touch someone with my eyes and they listen to me, and they do everything I tell them to do. But when I bewitch them too long, they lose their minds.” Liliane also has a type of physical deformity often described in mythological accounts of succubi, but she clouds people’s minds so they can’t see it. She wears six rings (three on each hand) and the starburst pattern on one of them also appears on the door of the family’s Montreal home.

Liliane’s twin brother Arnaud (Mikhaïl Ahooja) lives in Beltane (the family’s fictional hometown, located near a hydro dam not far from Montreal). Arnaud is able to steal other people’s memories, absorbing them into his own mind. He has sworn never to use his powers but we see him break this oath several times to protect his family. His son Romain (Liam Patenaude) lives with him and regularly converses with an imaginary friend named Boubou (much to his father’s displeasure). This behaviour could be an indication of the boy’s (still undefined) supernatural power. Arnoud can read people’s minds without erasing their memories, but finds even that unethical.

When Pascal (Éric Bruneau) freaks out after a rendezvous with Liliane in Rimouski (a town about 550 kilometers northeast of Montreal) and follows her home, an altercation ensues and Pascal is accidentally wounded. Liliane’s teenage daughter Félicia (Jade Charbonneau) reveals her power when she lays hands on Pascal; transfers his wound to her own body; and then passes out. (Director Charles-Olivier Michaud shows this with a unique series of flashbacks, each of which reveals a bit more of the event.) Since Félicia’s wounds eventually disappear without need for medical assistance, her power brings to mind Gem‘s abilities in “The Empath” (Star Trek – Original Series Episode 3.12).

Clara decides that they should hide out in Beltane for a while, but before they depart, she has Arnaud erase the memory of the now-physically-healed Pascal. (He overdoes it and Pascal ends up unconscious and in hospital.) When Félicia finally wakes up, Pascal wakes up at the same time indicating that the girl can affect him remotely. (This is similar to her grandmother Clara’s ability to have premonitions while holding something belonging to the subject, even though the subject is not nearby.)

Before the incident with Pascal, Félicia broke the arm of the boy next door just by touching it. How that reconciles with her power to cure the injuries of others is unclear.

Clara’s ex-(husband?) Jules (played by Benoit Gouin) also lives in Beltane and works at the dam. Félicia says that Jules is not her father, and he may not be, but when Jules cuts his arm and Félicia touches it, the wound is not transferred to her, making it likely that the two are related.

Refusing to use his power gives Arnaud migraines as well as bouts of uncontrollable anger. Jules might also have powers because (like Arnaud) he has rages, and, like Félicia, he might be unaware of his abilities. (It seems possible that all of the Jakobs experience these symptoms if they fail to exercise their powers, which might be why Liliane continues to seek out bad romance.) When human bones are discovered near the dam, Jules goes out of his way to conceal them, and says not a word about them to his policewoman girlfriend Anouk (Lucie Laurier). He likely has some idea how they got in the lake.

The family is also being tracked by William Putman (Marc Messier), an obsessive man living in a cheap motel who has quite the collection of news clippings about them. He has photos as well, mostly of Liliane. One article talks about a “charred body found in France”, and another tells of a man who disappeared after finally remembering who he was. Putnam becomes a volunteer worker at the hospital where Pascal is being treated.

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All ten episodes of PREMONITIONS can be streamed on TV 5 Monde (Europe).