From Sabrina Furminger of Westender:
Link: Drama queen: Camille Sullivan on the “heaviest” role of her career
Camille Sullivan doesn’t audition for a lot of comedies.
“People generally come to me for heavy drama,†the Vancouver actress observes matter-of-factly over tea in Kitsilano. Continue reading.
We’re over halfway through The Amazing Race Canada and at this juncture, any team could win. I know that seems obvious but there is usually a duo able to distance themselves from the rest of the group by this point. You could argue that siblings Adam and Andrea are that team, but the Fast Pass the week before really helped with that.
As for the weakest team? That goes to Andrea and Ebonie, who were saved from going home a second time after last week’s non-elimination Leg. This is the first time I can remember one team saved twice, and it really took some of the drama out of the Race for me. Lousy teams are supposed to be cut, not given the opportunity to stick around. Ebonie and Andrea were in tough on Tuesday, battling their way through a set of challenges in a unique and beautiful part of the country I’ve had the pleasure of visiting: Newfoundland and Labrador. I was hoping Labrador would figure into this week’s episode. Sadly, it was not meant to be.
Yes, the Race was here earlier this season but, clearly, the producers saw the area as being ripe for more tests of wits and physicality. And, would the confusion that wreaked havoc at the Double U-Turn board impact relationships between any teams? At first blush, Ebonie had nothing to say to Korey and Ivana when they explained the U-Turn move. That put a fire under Ivana’s butt to fight even harder. Meanwhile, Adam and Andrea apologized for not doing what they were supposed to, and things seemed to be OK between the squads; Ebonie and Andrea vowed to worry about themselves and not on alliances. A smart move.
Sam and Paul were first off the plane in Deer Lake, Nfld., and on the road to Corner Brook to find a—sponsor alert!—Bank of Montreal branch. Once there, producers played with the teams’ emotions by having family members and friends (and pets) deliver the next clue via video. The location? Gros Morne National Park. Kenneth and Ryan were the first to depart, followed by Sam and Paul. Sam, who had been waiting to hear whether or not he’d gotten into medical school, found out from his parents that he did, leading to a truly emotional moment for him and Paul.
The Detours hearkened back to moments in Canadian history, choosing between paddling a dory down the coastline to find a clue hidden in a lobster trap and then return to the beach, or reconstruct the tale of a Norse family tree after listening to tales told be recreators. No offense, but the recreators were horrible. Most teams chose to paddle (I would have too.) and chaos ensued … for some. Paul, who has boating experience, took charge and he and Sam were off. Kenneth and Ryan … not so much. (“Put it in the thingie … use the thingie.”) Andrea and Adam were the first to complete the family tree and departed in second place. (Call me immature, but I laughed out loud at Korey’s pee break and how Ivana handled it.)
Andrea and Ebonie, meanwhile, had to contend with a Speed Bump after their last-place finish last week. Their test, to score 25 points hitting an archery target, was difficult for Ebonie at first but Andrea was a natural. It didn’t take long for them to accumulate the points and depart the archery area.
The Face-Off made its first appearance of this season, pitting teams against one another head-to-head. In Newfoundland that meant five-pin bowling—a Canadian invention—with the winning team departing and the losers waiting to challenge the next pair to arrive. The Face-Off is brilliant, dramatic and a potential soul-crusher. It’s also very much a game of patience, as teams wait for others to arrive. It was Sam and Paul vs. Adam and Andrea in Game 1: Sam and Paul won and moved on. Game 2 was Adam and Andrea vs. Team Give’r: Andrea and Adam won. Game 3 put Team Give’r vs. Karen and Bert: Team Give’r triumphed after Bert guttered his final three balls. Game 4 saw Bert and Karen take on Korey and Ivana: Bert and Karen won. In Game 5, Korey and Ivana faced off against Ebonie and Andrea: Korey and Ivana won, leaving Ebonie and Andrea to stew and wait out a timer before they could advance.
At this Leg’s Road Block, one team member had to do perhaps the most difficult thing of all: perform pre-written jokes on-stage in front of an audience at Swirsky’s. (I would have taken the penalty.) Sam totally killed it in his first try and the dating couple departed in first place. Memorization proved to be difficult for the remaining teams, though Kenneth pulled it off and leapfrogged over Adam and Andrea into second place; the brother and sister placed third.
Sam and Paul were the first to arrive at the Pit Stop at the Bay of Islands lookout and landed a trip to Rio de Janeiro in addition to their top spot for the Leg. It went down to the wire for Korey and Ivana and Ebonie and Andrea, but the luck ran out for the business partners and they were eliminated from the Race.
What did you think? Which challenges would you have picked? Did you wish Labrador had been visited too? Let me know in the comments below.
Here’s how the teams finished this Leg of the Race:
The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.
Images courtesy of Bell Media.
One scene from last week’s episode of 19-2 stuck with me for days. It was a shot of J.M. standing alone in 19’s hallway. Already cast out from the team for the assaults on his wife, he’d sat in his car rather than chase down the shooters at the picnic. He’d been totally cut out from the rest of the squad and stood there, in the growing murk, by himself. So much can be said without any words and 19-2 does that consistently every week.
The same was certainly true of Monday’s new episode “Fishbowl,” which followed up on Ben’s decision to take drugs and guns from the men he was surveilling. Nick wondered what had happened to the straight-laced rookie he used to know, and I did too. Was there any way to pull Ben back from the brink? How dangerous could he make things for himself and others? That, and what would happen to J.M., haunted me going into Monday’s instalment.
The “previously on,” footage featured a ton of J.M. footage, meaning his storyline would figure prominently in the episode written by Nikolijne Troubetzkoy and directed by Sturla Gunnarsson. It did just that, catching up with the troubled cop as he, drunk, screamed at an unknown woman to leave his apartment. Reeling around the room, he drank deeply from a bottle and enraged, swept items off a dresser and, even more scary, brandished his gun. J.M. may have told Audrey two weeks ago that the job is just that, but it’s more than a job to J.M. despite his statements. Being a cop is all he is, and taking that away from him is taking a chunk of him.
And with that, J.M. did exactly what I was hoping he wouldn’t, pulling the trigger in an attempt to end his own life. He missed a bit—was that by accident or did part of him rebel at wanting to die—and the bullet went up through his jaw and exited his cheek rather than plowing straight up into his brain. He survived but told the Sarge his gun went off while he was cleaning it while drunk. Of course, that didn’t wash with Sgt. Suarez and J.M. confessed he needed help—was getting help—and wanted back on the job ASAP. The Sarge’s update on J.M. rocked the squad, and kudos to Troubetzkoy’s script for the impassioned speech by Suarez and for the touching, emotional scene between J.M. and Audrey. J.M. telling Audrey that shooting himself would make him a better cop was a stunning admission and cut right through her. These two are from the same cloth, not like the others.
Meanwhile, the city’s police force was on high alert. On instruction from Gendron, 19 was to get “up in everyone’s face” and show strength against the organized crime wars. Nick and Ben traded a look—how much has Ben helped with that escalation?—and new station member Roxanne (Aiza Ntibarikure) was introduced. Tyler and Dulac both had eyes for her and the latter made his move. It’s not pretty to watch but does provide some much-needed levity considering the scenes with J.M.
Dulac and Tyler’s seemingly easy collection of a father for parole violations turned serious when they dropped his children off at their mother’s and she was clearly not happy to see them. Tyler’s concern for their safety was justified when they were called back minutes later after an assault call to find the younger daughter beaten.
Ben and Nick found a short moment of relative boredom shattered by screams and broke into an apartment to find a young man being raped. That brought the pair to a crisis centre where they reported to social worker Farah Miller (Sagine Sémajuste), the mother of the boy Audrey ran down and Ben took the blame for. To say she was still smarting from her son’s death and the fact the police dismissed him as a drug user—a wasted life—was an understatement. Amazingly, she stayed professional, even after Ben apologized for his and the force’s actions. She stated the man who assaulted the prostitute would be set free and she was right, showing yet another instance where the police has let its citizens down. In a rare glimmer of hope, Ben and Nick’s persistence frequenting the rapist’s business paid off, as an order to search his clothing shop uncovered money and a bag full of pills.
(Quick aside: I love the fact 19-2 has worked the endless construction plaguing Montreal into its storylines. Rather than film around the roadwork, they use it. Of course, there is so much work going on they might have had to film in Laval to escape it.)
By the end of the episode, Nick was trying to prove to Farah the police could do good, Audrey and J.M. were bonding over booze and YouTube videos, and Bear and Roxanne were headed out for a drink together. A rare trio of happy moments in a series fraught with drama and danger.
19-2 airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on CTV.
With The Amazing Race Canada stopping in Ottawa this week, I half-expected the Prime Minister to be involved in some sort of challenge. That didn’t happen, but it did embrace the capital of Canada and everything that goes along with it.
This Leg featured the dreaded Double U-Turn, the ultimate in game play on The Amazing Race Canada and a real opportunity for folks to lay the groundwork for friction between squads. Would Andrea and Adam use last week’s first-place finish to gain momentum and take out other teams? Would Ivana’s bad back derail she and Korey for good? Sam and Paul stated from their cab ride to the airport that they were ready to use the Double U-Turn to their advantage, but would they really do it, or would another duo make a move on them?
Adam and Andrea sought teamwork from past buddies Ebonie and Andrea and Sam and Paul, hoping the trio of teams could work together but—more importantly—not U-Turn each other. It was a smart move, but would it work out?
All of the teams arrived in Ottawa on the same flight, negating any attempt at a head-start. Korey and Ivana sprinted into the lead, arriving at City Hall and then departing for Hog’s Back Falls to use a series of sponsorship vehicles to spell one letter in the word “Canada.” Listen, I get having to celebrate a sponsor—it helps pay the bills—but parking cars to spell a word is lame. Still, the challenge was enough to see some teams shift position, as Kenneth and Ryan completed it first, followed by Ebonie and Andrea and Korey and Ivans. Sam and Paul forgot to use their in-car cameras, which slowed them down.
Ryan, Andrea, Korey, Adam, Karen and Paul opted to do the Road Block, a patriotic test involving grooming an RCMP horse, dressing it up and then riding it alongside two officers. Yes, that involved some horse bum-wiping, and a lot was made of that task. It seems like Kenneth and Ryan and Ebonie and Andrea are always going head-to-head and that was the case here too, as the pairs completed the task No. 1 and 2.
The week’s Detours had squads either building a flower cart and filling it with tulips of certain colours in a specific order or seek out 20 pieces of art from a cavernous warehouse. Not surprisingly, all of the teams chose the tulips (as would I, if anyone is asking). That meant a log jam of teams at the same location and the chance for folks like Karen and Bert or Sam and Paul to move up the ranks. That’s exactly what happened to Sam and Paul, who took the time to ask for directions before leaving for Commissioner’s Park. The result? The last-place team coming out of the horse test arrived at the park first, followed by Bert and Karen. (I can confirm from personal experience that Ottawa is a tricky city to drive in.) Ivana and Korey parked last.
Bert and Karen departed the tulips first and headed for the famous ByWard Market in search of the equally famous BeaverTails stand and the dreaded Double U-Turn board. Karen and Bert, who haven’t been much of a threat so far this season, opted not to U-Turn anyone and drove to the Canadian Museum of History. Sam and Paul arrived at the U-Turn board next and stuck with their alliance, protecting Adam and Andrea and Andrea and Ebonie and forcing Team Give’r to embrace their arty side. Adam and Andrea arrived at the U-Turn board next and—thinking Andrea and Ebonie must have already come by and not U-Turned anyone—opted to leave without putting anyone’s picture up. First rule of The Amazing Race Canada? Never assume anything. That opened up the chance for Korey and Ivana to make a power move and they took full advantage by U-Turning Ebonie and Andrea. (Also, what are the chances that Ryan would see his brother, Johnny, in downtown Ottawa?) Kenneth and Ryan didn’t let being U-Turned get them down; the best buds zipped over to the art storage facility and blew through the 20 images and were leaving for the museum as Ebonie and Andrea arrived.
Meanwhile, Sam and Paul were the first to get a taste of what it takes to become a Canadian citizen when they had to complete a citizenship test packed with multiple-choice questions. Sam passed, but Paul failed. Karen passed, but Bert failed. Adam and Andrea both passed and they departed for the museum’s upper terrace to meet Jon at the Pit Stop, landing a cross-country trip for two in the process. They have quickly become the team to beat this season after winning back-to-back Legs. Thank goodness I’m a Canadian citizen from birth because the test was clearly too much for the teams. After eight tries Paul finally passed; Korey and Ivana were next, and Bert (after 14 attempts) and Karen followed. After Team Give’r nailed their tests, it was over for Ebonie and Andrea … until Jon informed them it was a non-elimination Leg. Clearly, the gals have luck on their side because they were saved a second time.
Here’s how the teams finished this Leg of the Race:
What did you think of this Leg of The Amazing Race Canada? How would you have done with the citizenship test? Let me know in the comments below.
The Amazing Race Canada airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.
Images courtesy of Bell Media.
It’s no secret to 19-2 fans that anything can happen to the fine men and ladies who patrol Montreal’s streets.
That was certainly the case in last Monday’s Season 4 return when a bombing connected to the city’s underworld ripped through a restaurant. That set off a chain of events—the suspected bomber drove through the streets to escape with Audrey and Ben in pursuit—that led to Audrey running over a university student and killing him. Cue an investigation and Ben taking blame for Audrey, literally saving her job while putting his in jeopardy. Would Ben lose his job in Episode 2?
During Monday’s newest “Driveby,” in a story by Greg Nelson, teleplay by Lynne Kamm and directed by Sturla Gunnarsson, that storyline did advance while others from last season were revisited. Nightmares seemed to be the theme of the instalment as our favourite characters dealt with them while asleep or awake.
Audrey, who was viciously assaulted in Season 1 and has been dealing with the PTSD and anger issues that emerged from the awful experience, is awakened by the nightmare of running over the 19-year-old. She’s desperate to shake the awful feeling and move on, but how can she? Killing someone, no matter if it’s an accident or not, changes you forever.
For Nick and Ben, the nightmare continued regarding Elise Roberge. She got off on the murder charges and turned state witness, reopening the wound involving Amelie’s death. Ben, who believes in fairness, was shattered by the information a drunk Nick gave him.
Ben was reeling following the news he’ll be cleared of any wrongdoing in the deadly accident. Turns out there were some drugs in the kid’s system, so the police dismissed it as a bad kid who made a wrong step. Trouble is, Ben and Nick know he was an honour student who never got into scrapes with the authorities. As much as I was happy to see Ben get off—remember, he was covering for Audrey—the decision to cover it up was wrong. His decision? Overtime surveillance on the mob where he took mental notes of everything going on. But not before he voiced his disgust at police services and told Nick, “We’re supposed to be better than this.” Ben’s flailing, trying to get his groove back, but things haven’t been right since Amelie’s death. And probably never will be.
Suffering from severe lack of sleep, Ben was visited by Amelie during his stakeout, admonishing him for just sitting there rather than taking photos. His question to her? How she was able to keep her experiences as a social worker from dragging her down. Her answer? It did, but she chose to focus on little victories rather than the big picture. I’m hoping Ben is able to do that. He’s a good cop and it would be a shame if the gig consumed him. But for now, Ben took action and broke into the car owned by the target and scooped a bag full of cocaine and weapons from the trunk. Ben should never have shown Audrey the guns and drugs he stole, even if it was to prove he doesn’t always have it together. She’s already confessed to J.M. that Ben wasn’t driving the car; I can’t help but think she’ll blab about this too. As for that quick, frenzied sex? Ill-advised. They may have agreed it was just an outlet, but it’s going to stay in the back of Ben’s mind. Thank goodness Ben dumped the drugs and guns off the bridge. (Did anyone catch Ben saying, “Hard no,” the classic response uttered by Jared Keeso’s Letterkenny alter ego, Wayne? I wonder if that was an Easter egg for fans of both shows?)
J.M., meanwhile, faced the nightmare of being shut out by his fellow police. The physical assaults against his wife, Justine, resulted in a suspension. Now, his usual spot at the 19 table is gone and he’s feeling left out. He and Nick traded jabs at the bar until Nick delivered a verbal uppercut: Justine has a new man in her life. You could see a veil drop down over J.M.’s eyes as he walked away from that comment.
I was waiting for “Driveby,” to live up to its episode title; that came in the closing minutes, as Tyler, Dulac, Bear and Audrey came under fire when a car bristling with bullets cruised by the mob picnic the four cops were watching. While everyone was assessing the situation or chasing the baddies, J.M. did the unthinkable: he turned off his radio and shut down. Ben and Nick saw him sitting in his car just before they collared a suspect; the ensuing verbal showdown at 19 completed J.M.’s fall. He may have been an a-hole for three seasons, but you could count on J.M. to have your back in the field.
Now they can’t count on that.
19-2 airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on CTV.
What did you think of “Driveby”? Will J.M. turn things around? Will Audrey keep Ben’s secret? Let me know in the comments below!
