Flashpoint: Redux

Despite half a dozen cups of coffee, my morning caffeine has yet penetrate the fog that has settled on to my thoughts. So instead of a post outlining the high and low points of my weekend, of which there are many, enjoy some mindless review-ery instead.

Here are some more thoughts on Flashpoint, then we can stick this sucker on ‘simmer’ for a few months before potentially re-visiting the show.

1. Hugh Dillon is still smiling too much! There’s something to be said for being an actor who handle a broad range of emotion. But at the same time, you’ve got to dance with the one that brung you.

2. Actually, overall, the show still needs more grit. Throw in some realism won’t you? The leading cast is far too balanced and normal to be cops. Where’s the alcoholism? The sexist asshole who doesn’t believe that women should be a part of the team? Where is the inter-squad tension? People are too nice and too polite here, yes their manners are too Canadian dammit.


3. The show has a bit of a case of the CSI’s, more focused on the procedural aspect of hostage negotiation and looking good while doing it. Hell we’ve even got the pre-requisite, montage of events over sappy music at the end. Not sure if this is a criticism, or just an observation.

4. There was a moment last night where Henry Czerny tried to fire his gun into the ceiling to make everyone back off and the safety happened to be on. That brief instant, and the character reactions it highlighted, defined the whole series for me.

5. Timmy’s name dropping.

6. All my information about how cops handle situations like this comes from American television. There were about a dozen instances during last night’s episode where the cops clearly had the drop on Czerny (lethal or otherwise) and didn’t take it. I caught myself noticing this and wondered, with the show’s heavy pre-occupation with procedural accuracy, which method do cops actually use?

Overall, a solidly written and acted second episode. I still think they need to refine the formula a little better. The show is good but with a little more focus giving on giving its production values a bit more of a realistic polish