It was a TV debate that really deserved the name. For almost three hours, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen fought a duel in front of millions of viewers, sometimes in a matter-of-fact and detailed manner, sometimes in an extremely heated manner. The incumbent Macron, who is leading in the polls, came across as extremely belligerent, at times even over-motivated: „Monsieur Macron, let her finish,“ the moderator admonished him. Le Pen acted more reservedly, in an effort to appear presidential. A lesson learned from the 2017 debate, when a pinched performance on the big TV stage sealed her defeat in the runoff.