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Review: 19-2 closes out Season 2

“Where do you want to go?”

“Just drive.”

And with that Nick Barron and Ben Chartier drove off  in the season finale of 19-2. We’re still waiting to hear whether of not there will be a third season. If this is it for the series, it’s been one hell of a ride.

19-2 has the ability to make my stomach feel fluttery and throw-uppy at least once a week, but in the case of “Bridges,” it happened several times as stories surrounding Houle, Gendron and J.M. came to a close.

Houle takes the only way out
Bruce Smith and the rest of the writing team certainly could have dragged Sgt. Houle’s on-the-run storyline into Season 3 or beyond, but chose instead to wrap things up on Monday. Good move. I hate it when scenarios are left hanging and unresolved. We all knew that Houle wasn’t going to allow himself to be taken into custody alive—cops and pedophiles aren’t treated well in prison—but I pictured him going down in a hail of bullets. But 19-2 has never been about gunfights (other than the paintball competition earlier this season) so I wasn’t surprised when Nick left just one bullet in Houle’s gun and tossed the weapon back to him. You want out, Nick asked. Do it yourself. Houle did, down by the water, looking off at the lake before pulling the trigger.

Gendron loses it
Like Conrad Pla as Houle, Bruce Ramsay’s scenes as Commander Gendron have been few and far between. But like Pla, when he was given something to do he was masterful with it. The knowledge that he was handing his daughter over to Houle, a man he trusted, to be molested was too much for Gendron to bear. Pair that with J.M. being arrested for assaulting Justine and Gendron snapped on Nick and suspended him for beating the crap out of J.M. But as Isabelle warned, Gendron has got to keep it together and steady this listing ship.

J.M. goes back to old habits
I really hoped J.M. has stopped beating Justine. That storyline was never addressed in Season 2, and J.M. had warned Vince against getting involved with women on the job. It looked like he’d turned a corner and was going to be OK, perhaps even a mentor of sorts. But, of course, that was wishful thinking. With Audrey’s union meeting visit as the fuse, J.M. assaulted Justine again. She pressed charges and Nick doled out the frontier justice J.M. deserved, and asked for.

There are still many questions remaining to be answered. Will Tyler get caught handing over clean pee? Will Bear continue to be Sergeant? Will Gendron quit, allowing Isabelle to ascend to his office? Is Audrey ever going to be a cop again? Where the heck is Kaz?

Hopefully that will all be sorted out in Season 3, if one is greenlit. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. How about you?

Notes and quotes

  • Nick and Ben meeting outside the station and then walking in together? A show of partnership and solidarity.
  • Seeing Houle as one of the day’s “Beautiful Faces” was just awful.
  • “The one guy you think has got his shit together.” J.M. pretty much summed it up.

What was your favourite moment, scene or character from Season 2? Comment below of via @tv_eh.

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One thought on “Review: 19-2 closes out Season 2”

  1. My favourite scene oddly enough was in the first episode of season 2, right near the end when Nick and Ben finally corner the school shooter. I could watch that scene over and over and over…. Next fave scene was Kaz shooting Tremblay in the head. Then there was that scene of Bear on the stairs with her date. Awesome. Canadian TV has really stepped up a notch lately. I knew 19-2 was going to be really something worth watching way back in the pilot episode when Ben gets hit in the head with a chicken the kitchen of the Chinese restaurant. Here’s really hoping English Canada gets at least seasons 3 and 4 of 19-2!! (I think there were 4 seasons of the original Quebec series….) Canadian TV has been getting better since “Bomb Girls” (the moment when the women gets the hook in the forehead– yup– that was a really notch-step-upper, let me tell you!!) Murdoch Mysteries seems to be getting better and better with each episode this season, (I’ve never really liked the Terence Myers character– we almost made through a season without him!!!) Orphan Black has been a huge shot in the arm for the industry, overall, and although Strange Empire was truly weird, it was also good. I liked it. I think that series pushed the boundaries of Canadian TV a little more in the right, progressive direction, at least for the “mainstream” level of programming. Also good is Blackstone. I need to watch more of that series!!

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