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Review: Emotional fireworks highlight X Company’s second week

Last week’s first episode of X Company was exactly the edge-of-your-seat drama that fans of co-creators Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern are used to. The duo are able to mix action with engaging characters (and a mean music montage) into tension-filled moments that leave you wanting more.

So, did Wednesday’s second episode, “Trial by Fire,” keep up the pace of last week’s debut? Yes, but in a very different way. Whereas exploding bridges and gunfights were at the centre of the debut, Wednesday’s newest storylines focused more on emotional fireworks than physical (though literal fireworks were featured during Hitler’s birthday celebrations in German-occupied Chartres, France).

Alfred went on his first mission with team and everyone—including him—realized the huge gamble they made by adding him to the team. Sure, he was the man of the hour when it came to the team’s mission off the week—to gain access to codes that would help stop the German bombings of England—but when presented with the rigours of say, parachuting into France and facing a German officer face-to-face—he was woefully unprepared. His panic attack in front of the code officer was equal parts scary and frustrating because I just wanted Alfred to snap out of it and utter the German dialogue he’d been trained to say.

Luckily, Neil was there to save their butts, but it was a harrowing few moments before the officer was dispatched and the situation rigged to look like the man had gotten drunk and taken a fatal fall out of a window while watching the fireworks.

Tom, meanwhile, used his knowledge of propaganda and gift for words to not only avoid killing the French family that saw the team land in their field but to set the record straight on the Germans, who had convinced many of the French that they meant no one harm. Dustin Milligan—who is doing double duty on CBC on X Company and Schitt’s Creek—is pitch perfect as the charming ad man with expertise in the power of words.

“Trial by Fire” was another nail-biter of an episode and, with Alfred agreeing to more missions, is taking its first steps toward one heck of a Season 1 adventure.

Notes and quotes

  • Smart move by CBC to re-air the previous week’s instalment in the hour before a new episode. Not only does it give those who missed it the first time around a chance to tune in, but it really plays up the TV-movie feel the show boasts.
  • I’m hoping the producers continue to use the spinning globe segment to show the team going overseas. It was cool.
  • One little quibble: the team should have been wearing helmets during the parachute jump.
  • Having the piano keys and Aurora both emit the colour blue—the shade that reminds Alfred of home—was a nice touch.
  • Is Harry emerging as the Q of X Company? I sure hope so.

X Company airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

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History’s Yukon Gold mines for riches in Season 3

There’s still gold up in thar hills, and Karl Knutson is determined to find it. Turns out that, long after the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896-1899, the precious metal continues to be dug out of the earth. That adventure has been the focus of several TV projects, including Yukon Gold, which returns for its third season tonight.

The program is History’s No. 1 docu-series, and it’s no wonder; to watch these guys and gals turn precious ounces into a cash windfall is pretty addictive stuff. Even more so for someone like Knutson, who was born into the life under his father, Marty, and strives to succeed on his own.

“The hunt for gold and being able to pull your paycheque out of the ground just does it for me,” the 28-year-old says. “It doesn’t do it for some people. I love the fact that there’s gold in the ground and we’re able to pull it out.” It’s not easy. Weather is always and issue that far north. Toss in mosquitoes and black flies, aging bulldozers, diggers and sluice plants and remote sites, and you’ve got a recipe for extreme discomfort and even danger.

And while large machinery has taken the place of old timers panning for gold in a creek bed, the process of staking a claim hasn’t changed that much from the days of the gold rush. Knutson explains anyone can go up and spend $10 to stake ground on a creek. You then have two weeks to record that property and must do a certain amount of work on the land during the year to keep it. During that time licences are filed for permission to use water to sluice the earth away from gold; Knutson says environmental concerns regarding the use of water has to be carefully mapped out and regulated so as to conserve it and the land.

Re-joining Knutson on the Yukon Gold cast are Ken Foye, Guillaume Brodeur and Cam Johnson; newbies Chris St. Jean and Nika Guilbault struggle to make a living while taking care of their baby daughter. And while Knutson appreciates the popularity of the show and the spotlight it aims on the area of Canada he loves, it’s still a bit weird to have cameras pointed his way while he tries to work.

“We love telling this story because not a lot of people get to go to the Klondike and see this, let alone live it. But at the same time, they’re slowing me down a bit,” Knutson says with a chuckle. “I only have a certain amount of time to do this and sometimes it gets stressful explaining every waking moment to them.”

Yukon Gold airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on History.

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Interview: 19-2’s Maxim Roy celebrates la belle province

Maxim Roy is fiercely proud of her home province of Quebec. The native of Rigaud is thrilled Montreal and its surrounds serve as another cast member in 19-2 because it allows the series to show off its colour and character.

This second season of Bravo’s Monday night drama has been a tough one for Roy’s character, Isabelle Latendresse. The detective has her sights set on advancing her career in the force, but being married to Nick Barron (Adrian Holmes) seems to have labelled her defective among the higher-ups. Pair that with at-home issues with son Theo (Zackaryer Abdillahi), and things haven’t been easy for Isabelle.

Or, in a way, for Roy. As the veteran actress—and 2015 Canadian Screen Award nominee—tells us, being a French actress who dabbles in roles outside of Quebec has netted her some detractors.

What’s it like having your home province featured in 19-2?
Maxim Roy: It’s so refreshing to finally have our city showcased, and to feel that English Canada has embraced that is really fantastic.

This show is filled with complicated characters. Isabelle is very complicated. There were times in the first season where I shook my fist at the screen. Like when she slept with Nick and then broke things off again the next day.
Yeah … see … [Laughs.] I kind of feel for her, though. She’s in a very difficult position. Nick and Isabelle still love each other and have this amazing chemistry. They have the utmost respect for each other … they just can’t live together and that happens to a lot of couples. It seems so complicated, but the number of couples that I know that are exactly like that? I know a lot. So I thought it was really nice to play somebody that complex for once. She’s not just this superwoman cop who has no emotion. She’s a woman and she has feelings and desires and she is very passionate about her work and her son.

Have you watched the original, French version of 19-2?
I’ve only watched the first season, after we were done with Season 1. I watched it all in two days. I didn’t want to be influenced by performance. I know the girl that plays Isabelle in the French version—we played sisters in a movie—and she’s a fantastic actress. I didn’t want to go there. I wanted to do my own thing and build my own character.

Did you have questions about Isabelle heading into Season 2?
Yeah. Adrian and I had questions about the relationship between Nick and Isabelle and we thought it was important that it stay in there for Season 2. That whole tension thing is interesting and interesting to play. Isabelle is interested in her career and getting ahead this season.

Are you bummed Isabelle isn’t involved in foot chases and taking bad guys down?
[Laughs.] I’m hoping for more flashbacks! I want to wear blue. I want to wear those comfortable shoes, not those frigging high heels! [Laughs.] I am so envious of the other girls.

Quebec is a fascinating province with its own star system.
It’s crazy. You feel like everyone is there encouraging each other and their projects. But there is a lot of pressure in that if you go outside Quebec, like me—I work in both languages—there is some criticism. I have my Facebook page and if I post a picture of me with this crew, there are comments like, ‘Well, why aren’t you doing the French version?’ It’s like a betrayal, almost.

But at the same time it’s so admirable. We have the ratings. We watch our shows and we go and see our own movies, so it gives us jobs. That’s fantastic, but there is a sense of ‘belonging.’ If you belong to Quebec you should stay in Quebec.

19-2 airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on Bravo.

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TV Eh B Cs podcast 14 – On Patrol with Bruce Smith

BruceSmithBruce Smith is currently the showrunner for 19-2 (BRAVO). Most recently he was showrunner for CRACKED (CBC). He has worked as a writer/producer on numerous dramas, including DURHAM COUNTY (HBO CANADA).

Bruce has also penned multiple award-winning long-form Movie of the Weeks and Mini-Series including CBC’s JOHN A: BIRTH OF A NATION, THE SLEEP ROOM, PRAIRIE GIANT: THE TOMMY DOUGLAS STORY and THE INVESTIGATION for CTV.

He won a 2013 Canadian Screen Award for JOHN A: BIRTH OF A NATION and is a three-time Writer’s Guild of Canada award winner.

Listen or download below, or subscribe via iTunes or any other podcast catcher with the TV, eh? podcast feed.

Want to become a Patron of the Podcast? We’ve got a Patreon page where you can donate a small amount per podcast and get a sneak peek of each release.

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CBC, meet APTN

There are encouraging signs at CBC lately, in terms of the quality of what they’re putting on screen and how audiences are responding to it (let’s not talk about the rest).

With a vision that’s shifted toward distinguishing themselves from the private networks with more sophistication, more partnerships  and more international acquisitions, ratings have more or less followed with their new programming.

Less would be fall’s Strange Empire, which garnered an audience around the mid-200,000s. Not stellar for a not-cable network, though the quality isn’t in question.

More would be this winter’s The Book of Negroes co-production with BET, based on Lawrence Hill’s award-winning novel, with around 1.4 million watching each of the six episodes.

Somewhere in between would be Schitt’s Creek, which reunited Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy and premiered in January to a huge 1.4 million, but has plateaued at nearly half that audience.

Another mixed result would be X Company, which debuted last week to somewhere over 800,000. CBC must have hoped for more — the absence of a braggy ratings media release is a clue — but it’s a decent number with potential to grow.

They’ll air Young Drunk Punk sometime after its City run, and a highly credible rumour has it that Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays will come back, though CBC are taking their time confirming it. They apparently don’t care that I’m on the edge of my seat here.

But what of those killer budget cuts and the need to fill out a schedule with less money for original series and fewer episodes for the series they do make?

CBC, meet APTN: Canada’s other public broadcaster.

With every interview or review I do of an APTN series, I find myself thinking to myself — and to the interviewee, and to Twitter — that CBC would be a great home for a show like that.

Like Hard Rock Medical, the hugely entertaining half-hour Northern Exposure of the North that deserves a much, much bigger audience than it’s getting on TVO and APTN. And hey, it would make a great pairing for the equally cable-esque Michael, wouldn’t it?

Or like  Blackstone, which could be the closest Canada has come to The Wire, exploring social and political issues within a community.  And which could make a great pairing for a season two of Strange Empire.

I’m less sold on Mohawk Girls but it as well as some of APTN’s children’s and youth programming might benefit our actual public broadcaster, and be benefited in return with a wider fan base.

I used to wonder “why doesn’t CBC do the kind of distinct, uniquely Canadian programming APTN is doing,” but now it’s more “if CBC can air a City show in second-window, why not an APTN show?”

So CBC, meet APTN. Can I buy you guys a drink?

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