The Hunt Episode 1 Recap: Who Is Threatening Franck?

Tense, compact, and fast-paced, the first episode of Apple TV+’s latest French thriller drama, “The Hunt,” starring Benoit Magimel and Melanie Laurent, has all the right elements needed to draw viewers’ attention from the get-go. The premise focuses on a certain Franck and his group of friends who get involved in a shooting incident during a hunt with another hunting party, which later leads Franck to ponder the repercussions of his actions as he finds himself being threatened. The first episode sets the plot in motion, sets the stakes, and introduces viewers to the key characters; it has enough intrigue to keep the audience hooked for the length of the six-episode miniseries.

Spoilers Ahead

A departmental store owner by profession, Franck’s weekend routine involves going out on hunts with his longtime friends, Simon, Gilles, Xavier, and his pet dog, Snatch. Things go awry when, on one occasion, after venturing further into the wilderness, they spot another hunting party who inexplicably start shooting at them, injuring Xavier as his ear gets grazed by a passing bullet. This could have been considered an accidental incident had the other party not kept shooting at Franck and his friends, which prompts them to retaliate in kind. Franck and Simon simultaneously shoot one of the members of the opposing hunting party, whose fate remains unknown, but sustaining two rounds from a hunting rifle is generally considered a fatal affair. Franck and his mates quickly retreat as the opposing party continues to shoot at them and, packing up their supplies from their hunting cabin, drive back to town. Xavier shares his opinion they should call the cops on the hunters, but Franck reminds him the immediate need is to seek medical help for the injury. Wondering about what might have triggered the hunters to target them, Franck asks his friends about any recent troubles they have gotten themselves involved in that might have resulted in such a maddening incident.

Gilles, who turns out to be the paranoid one, is terrified upon speculating whether they will be charged with murder, as he is convinced that Franck has killed the hunter. Simon, who had shot the hunters as well, defends their action by mentioning it was done in self-defense. Except for Gilles, the rest of the friends are family men, and knowing that getting treatment from a hospital will initiate an investigation that might ruin their lives, they agree to ask their common doctor friend, Leo, for help instead. For the same reason, they choose not to go to the cops in fear of the whole incident being misinterpreted by the authorities. At Gilles’ place, Leo stitches up Xavier and learns about the situation from the group. It is evident that the friends are pretty shaken up and getting anxious by the moment in fear of getting apprehended by the authorities. Franck asks everyone to return to their families, keep the incident a secret even from their close ones, and not react even if something pops up in the news related to the incident. 

While dropping Xavier off at his place, Franck remembers that in their rush, they forgot to secure the bullet casings, which have their fingerprints on them and could lead the cops to them. He plans to return to the area the next morning before heading back to his home. he episode briefly highlights the family situations of each of the friends, and almost all of them are dealing with certain issues. Xavier, whose marriage is in a rough patch at present, lies to his wife about sustaining the injury from a fall. Back at home, Franck cozies up to his doctor wife, Krystel, who can sense something is different, given her husband’s shows of affection are not usually spontaneous. After Krystel shares how busy and eventful her day was, she mentions their youngest, Lucas, who is having issues in school due to his tendency of getting into fights. Franck decides to play the role of strict father by confiscating Lucas’ phone, and his decision doesn’t change even after Lucas mentions he aced the geography paper. Franck continues to check up on the news report and newspaper to find a report matching the incident, as with every passing hour, tension continues to escalate in his mind. 

Simon’s glaucoma-afflicted/weed-addicted father doesn’t see eye to eye with Simon’s wife, and while Simon tries to keep out of their regular bickering, she wants to show her some support from time to time. Simon has been in a rough mental shape since the incident, and the mere mention of his son, Theo’s school project of listing household water consumption greatly irritates him. However, to avoid questions from his wife, Simon quickly rectifies his mistake and pretends as if nothing has happened. The next morning, the friends regroup at Gilles’ place, and seeing no report related to the incident, they have become convinced that the hunter survived after all. However, Franck is certain that the situation is not going to be as easily resolved as they believe, and his suspicion about a larger ploy strengthens when he is unable to find the bullet casings after returning to the scene. A tense situation unfolds when two patrol cops interrogate Franck while he is leaving, and in his tensed state of mind, he puts himself in a difficult position. 

It is revealed that one of Franck’s former employees, Bardin, who was laid off work without severance due to stealing from the store account, holds a grudge against him. Visiting the store, Bardin tries to cause a scene and threatens Franck by saying he knows his address. Franck threatens him back while driving him away. Fabienne, one of the employees, expresses how Bardin’s recurring arrival has the store salesgirls concerned, and Franck promises her he’ll take action against him. While scouring through newspapers at his office, he noticed the obituary of a certain forty-one-year-old, Michael Meinthe, who passed away in a hunting incident on the same day, and calls his widow, Cathy, pretending to be Michael’s friend to learn his address. Franck is certain that Michael is the hunter he and Simon have shot to death, and he wants to visit his family to learn how much they know about the incident. However, his friends consider such a decision absolutely preposterous, mentioning that they are better off not being involved in the situation even if Michael is the dead hunter in question. Michael decides to visit Cathy nevertheless, taking a rental car to cover his tracks. It should be mentioned that Krystel’s patient from a girl’s shelter, who seems to be part of an urban group of some sort, is seen near Cathy’s place. 

Pretending to be Michael’s friend, Nicolas, Franck tries to comfort a grieving Cathy. Franck learns that Michael’s old friend/army buddy, Eddy, was with him when the incident happened. Eddy has mentioned that Michael died after being hit with a stray bullet, even though he doesn’t know who the shooter was. Obviously, if Michael were indeed the dead hunter in question, Eddy wouldn’t have mentioned the shootout incident to Cathy. It is revealed that Michael’s eldest son despised him for having such a crude hobby as hunting, and Cathy regrets that he is influenced by environmentalist ‘nonsense.’ Cathy believes these propaganda efforts are enforced to keep poor civilians unarmed; however, she is the kind who knows how to keep herself ‘safe,’ as her husband had handed her a Beretta and even trained her how to shoot. Franck’s instincts almost kick in when a drunk Cathy casually flings around her handgun, and he almost pulls out his own gun but controls himself in the end. 

Before dozing off, Cathy mentions one of Michael’s younger friends, Alois, who regularly visits the household, and moments later, Alois arrives and gets bewildered upon seeing Franck, a stranger, present. However, Alois doesn’t recognize Franck, much to his relief, and Franck exits the scene by pretending to be Michael’s friend. He also pays a visit to Eddy’s garage to verify whether or not he recognizes him from the incident; however, he isn’t able to get an audience with him. Before returning home, Franck visits Hersham, a club that Michael and his buddies often frequented, but having arrived too early, he doesn’t get to linger for long. While returning, Franck receives an anonymous call on the burner phone he used to call Cathy, and assuming that he too is probably being tracked by the hunters, Franck destroys the phone. All of a sudden, Franck spots a bunch of dogs who have been let loose in the wilderness and can’t make sense of the incident. It remains unknown what the appearance of the dogs conveys, probably a symbolic reference to the fact that Franck and his friends are being tracked and targeted by their opposition. 

The next day, while dropping Lucas at school, Franck notices someone tailing his car, and to evade his chaser, he starts driving frantically, frightening his son in the process. Upon returning home, Franck finds four rifle bullet casings in his mailbox, a message clearly conveyed by the sender(s) that they know what he did during the hunting incident and they are coming for Franck and his family. It goes beyond saying that in the upcoming episodes, Franck and his friends’ secrets will be revealed to their families, and they will have to find a way to protect their loved ones before all hell breaks loose.