Everything about Blood and Water, eh?

Preview: Omni’s Blood and Water returns for fantastic second season

Blood and Water is one of the best—and groundbreaking—series on Canadian television. And, sadly, it’s been one of the hardest to find.

The second block of Season 1’s half-hour episodes were broadcast on Omni Television back in November of 2016 at 10:30 p.m. ET. Now Season 2 is set to bow … on Sundays at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on Omni. It’s hard enough to gain traction as a television show in this country. But to throw in an almost two-year absence coupled with a 7:30 p.m. timeslot? It’s a shame, really, because Breakthrough Entertainment, creator and executive producer Diane Boehme and the cast and crew have created something really special and unique in this drama.

Blood and Water is the first trilingual series (English, Mandarin and Cantonese) produced by Canadian television and was celebrating diversity in its cast and storylines before Kim’s Convenience made such a splash. (Fun fact: Kim’s actor Simu Liu starred in Season 1. Listen to his 2015 podcast chat, along with then co-star Loretta Yu, with Anthony Marco.)

But enough of my bitching. Let’s get into Season 2.

Friday’s new adventure begins with a bloody, cold-blooded murder and a phone call from Teresa Fai (Loretta Yu) to Detective Jo Bradley (Steph Song). Teresa’s boyfriend, Jimmy (Andy Yu) witnessed the killing of his uncle and is now on the run. Can she look for Jimmy before he’s killed too? Jo and Detective Evan Ong (Byron Mann) help Teresa and, quickly, they’re pulled back into a case that involves a mysterious envelope and, once again, Ron Xie (Oscar Hu).

I continue to be amazed at how much evolving story and character development Boehme and her team can pack into just over 22 minutes of broadcast time. Once again, Song and Mann crackle on-screen; you can’t look away when they share scenes. New this season are cast members in Yu, Amanda Zhou and Selena Lee. Lee is a Hong Kong-born Canadian actress who has collected a bunch of awards and is a stalwart of TVB in Hong Kong. She’s wonderful here as Michelle Chang, a deadly and complicated character who factors into Jo and Evan’s investigation.

Add in a soundtrack that hints at dread around every turn and a  dark, spooky visual palette—via director of photography Fraser Brown and director Felipe Rodriguez—and Blood and Water is a feast for the senses. Please watch the second season. You’ll be glad you did.

Blood and Water airs Sundays at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on Omni Television.

Images courtesy of Rogers Media.

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Link: Original Chinese Canadian crime drama Blood and Water returns, beginning Sept. 9 on OMNI Television

From a media release:

Detective Josephine ‘Jo’ Bradley (Steph Song, Outsiders, War) is back on the case as Blood and Water, the Canadian Screen Award-nominee, returns for a compelling second season, beginning Sunday, Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on OMNI Television (check local listings). Starring Canadian Steph Song, the eight-part, 30-minute episode season sees another murder that spins Jo into a web of lies as she juggles family drama after returning home from China.

Season 2 rings in with a frantic phone call to Detective Jo Bradley from her friend, Teresa Fai (Loretta Yu, Save Me, Between), whose boyfriend Jimmy Lin (Andy Yu, Fargo, Bad Blood) is on the run after witnessing a brutal murder. But finding Jimmy will once again bring Jo and her partner Detective Evan Ong (Byron Mann, Skyscraper, Altered Carbon, The Big Short) into the orbit of Teresa’s father-in-law, ruthless billionaire Ron Xie (Oscar Hsu, The Recruit, Blindness) and the undertow of his dark secrets. The stakes escalate when Jo’s investigation forces Evan to make a fateful and, potentially, tragic decision.

The second season of Blood and Water features additional new cast members including Amanda Zhou (Fang Wang, Warrior) and award-winning Selena Lee (Michelle Chang, Spouse for House), winner of ‘Best Actress’ at the Los Angeles Film Awards, Los Angeles Movie Awards, and at the European Cinematography Awards. Selena Lee Sze-wa is a Hong Kong-born Canadian actress and former Miss Hong Kong 2003 contestant. Prior to entering the Miss Hong Kong pageant, Selena attended the University of Toronto, studying for a Bachelor of Business Commerce degree. She is now a popular actress with TVB (Television Broadcasts Limited) in Hong Kong. Additional returning performers include: Elfina Luk (Anna Xie, Skyscraper), Fiona Fu (Weiran Xie, Power Rangers), B.C. Lee (Victor Li, Almost Human, Fringe), Maria Ricossa (Professor Colleen Bradley), and Aidan Devine (Lt. Dan Barron).

Audiences can catch-up on previous episodes on the OMNI Television website and on Rogers on Demand.

Breakthrough Entertainment produces Blood and Water in association with OMNI Television, a division of Rogers Media. Creator and Executive Producer is Diane Boehme, followed by Executive Producers Ira Levy, Michael McGuigan, Nat Abraham, Peter Williamson, Al Kratina, and Steph Song.

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OMNI Regional Greenlights New Seasons of Critically Acclaimed Original Multicultural Series Blood and Water, Mangoes, and Second Jen

From a media release:

Following the successful launch of multilingual newscasts across the country, OMNI Regional is furthering its commitment to delivering premium multicultural Canadian content to communities across Canada by greenlighting brand-new seasons of original series Blood & Water, Mangoes, and Second Jen. Currently in various stages of development, the series are slated to air in 2018, with additional broadcast details to be announced at a later date.

With production scheduled to begin in November on eight new half-hour episodes, critically acclaimed and Canadian Screen Award-nominated OMNI original drama Blood & Water returns with a compelling new season. Jo Bradley (Steph Song) returns home from her dramatic departure to China at the end of Season 1 and, unable to face the reality of meeting her biological family, is back at work, living again with her former partner, and now estranged from her adopted mother, Colleen (Maria Ricossa). But it isn’t long before another murder brings Jo back into a web of lies and crime involving the Xie family dynasty.

Following an overwhelming response from South Asian audiences, the multilingual – featuring Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, and English – digital dramedy Mangoes joins the OMNI Regional programming lineup with six new half-hour episodes. From creators, stars, and brothers Adeel Suhrwardy and Khurram Suhrwardy, Mangoes is an invigorating tale of Canadian South Asian youth, capturing the optimism and potential of the younger generation living as ‘global citizens’ and intrepid individuals. New to Canada, Sami (Adeel Suhrwardy), Asha (Maha Warsi), and Rakey (Khurram Suhrwardy) are on a journey to explore, integrate, and contribute towards the building of their new home. Writing on the series is currently underway with production scheduled to begin in January.

And back with six all-new half-hour episodes is original comedy Second Jen, slated to air on both OMNI Regional and City in 2018. A diverse, female-driven comedy from creators and stars Amanda Joy and Samantha Wan, the series follows two second-generation Chinese and Filipino-Canadian millennials as they tackle even more “firsts” while branching out on their own in Toronto. Writing is currently underway with production scheduled to begin in January.

 

 

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Link: Fresh Blood

From Michael Pickard of Drama Quarterly:

Link: Fresh Blood
“We do have a very large Asian population in Canada. There’s quite a large Asian audience in British Columbia and Ontario where we have two major footholds and we wanted to cater to this audience. We have a lot of acquired international features and dramas for the Asian community but we have so much talent here in the country, we wanted to break new ground with a new multilingual drama.” Continue reading.

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Omni’s Blood and Water is back with new episodes … and brighter days?

Wait, what’s this we spot? Is that really Det. Jo Bradley (Steph Song) smiling in the above photo? She certainly didn’t have a lot to be jovial about by the end of Blood and Water‘s first block of eight episodes. After all, two dead Xie sons and a cancer scare isn’t the stuff of good times. So, why is Jo grinning when Blood and Water returns to Omni on Sunday?

“Jo is a lot freer in these episodes,” Song says during a break in filming. “We find Jo one year cancer-free, so she’s feeling good about life and has faced down that demon and is perhaps more liberated. She’s coming back to work and has a new partner and is maybe a little attracted to him. We get to see a different side to Jo Bradley.”

She’s still a razor-sharp detective, something Jo draws on during an all-new murder case involving the Xie’s. Gone is Peter Outerbridge’s Det. Al Gorski, replaced by Det. Evan Ong (Bryon Mann); he and Jo are drawn into Ron Zie’s (Oscar Hsu) world when a murdered woman tied to the late Charlie Xie turns the spotlight back on the beleaguered family, who are fighting to keep control of their business as interested buyers circle.

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Along for the adventure is returning cast Elfina Luk, Fiona Fu and Loretta Yu; Aidan Devine checks in not only as Jo’s boss but the third part of a love triangle. Awkward.

Once again presented in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, Blood and Water, executive producer Diane Boehme says the second block of episodes explores ghosts and what haunts you; regret and wrong decisions are experienced by the characters. For Ron Xie, it’s the family secret he tried to keep hidden that, ultimately, blew up in his face. Daughter Anna (Luk) has left town and, perhaps, found love. As for Jo? Boehme teases that she begins to receive mysterious letters written in Chinese. As they’re translated, Jo realizes they’re from her biological family, who want to connect with her. Jo, rightly so, is conflicted.

“All that stuff comes out for her,” Boehme says. “The regret of what she might have been.”

Blood and Water airs Sundays at 10:30 p.m. ET on Omni.

Images courtesy of Rogers Media.

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