Tag Archives: Featured

Featured, Haven

Review: Haven closes out explosive midseason finale

1 Comment

When one door closes on Haven, at least one more if blown wide open. And true to form, Thursday’s midseason finale, “Chosen,” did just that, shutting down the Mara/Audrey storyline while jumping off in a somewhat new direction.

Directed by Shawn Piller, “Chosen” picked up from last week’s story with a rapid-fire delivery of some key facts: Charlotte is 1,100 years old and is Mara’s mother. Mara, who is 600, became super-bad after being split from Audrey and doesn’t realize what a truly evil girl she’s been. Also? The mysterious aether is from the void between the two worlds and Charlotte and Mara belong in that other world. As a die-hard Haven fan, even I had to chuckle at the main storyline after I’d typed it. Only in this genre can stuff like that happen and no one bats an eye.

Anyway, Charlotte wanted to meet up with Mara and–with help from Audrey–perhaps the two could show Mara the err of her ways. And, if things worked out like Charlotte hoped, Mara and Audrey would become one again and the Troubles would stop. After all, Mara had said she turned off Duke’s leaking Troubles. (Raise your hand if you loved that exploding husband off the top of the episode. “I told you not to touch anything!” Good old Duke.)

Speaking of, the lanky lad was once again the odd man out in the situation, leaking black eye goo while seeing the gal he’d grown to have feelings for disappear. Now there is just Audrey, and Nathan has his love back. Duke, meanwhile, lost Mara and is in a very bad way. By episode’s end we’d learned that not only had Mara not turned him off like she’d told Charlotte, but he was exploding Trouble leeches out of his eyes. Now, instead of just a few people having them, it looks like every Havenite is going to be Troubled.

Like I said, only on Haven.

Notes and quotes

  • “I’m about eleven-hundred in your years. Mara is six-hundred. Ish.”–Charlotte
  • Turns out Dwight is into super-old chicks
  • “Lady, I know problems and store-bought Kahlua is not a problem.”–Duke
  • “I have to go to The Great Gull to pick up a body. With a sponge.”–Gloria
  • Dave and Vince’s realization that the Croatoan massacre may have happened around Haven is an interesting twist, but there is still lots to cover in that storyline.

Haven returns in 2015 on Showcase.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Saving Hope

Review: Crash and burn on Saving Hope

3 Comments

Dana was spot on in this week’s Saving Hope when she asked if she’s seeing what’s really there, or what she wants to see. Between Alex’s prediction that Joel would get bored and leave like before, Dana’s own failure to see what was really going on with her patient and Charlie unable to recognize a ghost as a ghost outside the hospital, “The Other Side of Midnight” was all about perception.

I don’t know if Charlie was more thrown by seeing a ghost outside of the hospital, or that she seemed so real and alive. Usually the spirits he runs into through work know something is wrong, and Lauren Lee Smith’s character didn’t have that direct awareness I’m so used to. Still, as she repeatedly told Charlie to come up to her room I could feel the tone transitioning from flirtatious to urgent. Though perhaps unlike Charlie, I had the added benefit of realizing we were missing our weekly ghost—and that would be a strange thing for Saving Hope to leave out.

But even without all the usual warnings, I don’t think it’s necessarily the best idea for Charlie to go running to Dey. The abrasive, hallucinogenic-stashing psychiatrist still hasn’t won me over—in part because I’m still not over Gavin’s unceremonious departure, but also because nothing he’s done since showing up has convinced me he’s trustworthy enough for Charlie’s secret. Dey’s fascinations with hallucinations might, on the one hand, be pretty useful for this case, but it might also get in the way of getting Charlie what I’m confident he wants: no more ghosts.

Though that massive cliffhanger left me wondering if Charlie was at least about to get one thing he wanted. I’m not entirely clear on the timeline of Alex and Charlie’s break up and Alex and Joel’s new relationship (which has, apparently, escalated to Liberia). If it’s been about 10 weeks since Katz kissed Maggie then there’s a strong chance Alex’s look of concern had to do with her newfound belief that Joel hasn’t changed, though I’m leaving the door open for some paternity debate too.

As for Liberia—it came as out of the blue for me as it did Alex. While I know Joel has a history of wanderlust, he’s been pretty locked into Hope Zion of late and I was surprised to hear him sound so ready to ditch the clinic and the hospital to visit a country I’ve never heard him mention. It felt like yet another convenient foil for the couple. And unless hopping on a plane to go home for a bit triggered something, I can only assume that getting back together with the woman he was staying rooted for has him dreaming of a life they could have together. It’s just unfortunate that, as fun as Alex is, she’s never really struck me as the pick-up-and-go type. And she’s really not going to be that type with a baby on the way.

Then again, it’s not like this week’s main case was really going to fill anyone with confidence about a certain type of person. In hindsight, Alex’s extreme concern about Nathan’s family makes more sense when compared to her own worries about how much she can depend on Joel for. There was nothing reassuring about Tawny’s arrival, even if Nathan’s ex-wife did come with all the information they needed to treat him. The list of Nathan’s exploits, the damage they’ve done and Tawny’s desperate efforts to protect her daughter from any of the details of how precarious her father’s lifestyle is were overwhelming enough without being in the similar position Alex felt she was in.

Still, as last week established, Joel and Alex aren’t long for this world—two episodes into their relationship and there’s been an awful lot of fighting. Then again, maybe Alex is just freaking out over the prospect of a baby when her life is so transitional right now. Or that those Joel revelations triggered her very worst memories of him, and the suggestion of Liberia has her thinking her potential baby daddy is in even less of a firm place than she is. Or maybe it is Charlie’s, and there’s a whole other mess she’s bracing for. It all depends on how she looks at it.

Saving moments:

  • I’m sorry Maggie, but who puts a sweater in their top drawer?
  • “There are 17 steps to making a crepe. Try and get one of them right.”–Shahir
  • “If I eat them I’ll go into anaphylactic shock and die.” Katz’s flirting could use a bit of work.
  • “They’re making me feel like crepe.” Granted this should have been a big tip off to everyone. Who doesn’t like the smell of crepes?
  • “Aren’t we the Lord and Lady of Downer Abbey.” I would much prefer this show to the real Downton.
  • Also, Zach and Melanda? Hoping this isn’t going to be another Dawn/Reycraft.

Saving Hope airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Republic of Doyle

Review: Republic of Doyle says goodbye

“I wish this day would never end.” Those were Jake Doyle’s final words on Wednesday night. And while I’m sure fans across the country shared his thoughts, it was time to say goodbye.

This most likely isn’t the last that we’ve seen of those folks from St. John’s, Newfoundland–Allan Hawco is hopeful a feature film is in the cards–but this was certainly it for the television series. But rather than it being a final goodbye, this was more of a so long for now. The back-to-back “Judgement Day” and “Last Call” served as a suitable farewell, combining the car chases, catastrophic explosions, fisticuffs and heartfelt moments that have been the mainstay of the veteran drama.

The first 60 minutes, of course, dealt with Jake’s murder trial. After being found guilty of murdering Mayor Clarke, Jake was given 48 hours on the outside before sentencing (that was Republic of Doyle art director and Majumder Manor star Peter Blackie playing the crown prosecutor who wanted Jake kept in jail), and that was just enough time for he and Malachy to be hired by the judge to find out who was blackmailing him. Judge Tizzard suspected his wife, Miranda (Mary Walsh), but evidence seemed to point at a variety of suspects including Alisha, the Chevalier bike gang and a city planner. Alisha became prime suspect No. 1 after Miranda’s bar was blown to smithereens, until it was revealed the mysterious Damon Rhodes (The Border‘s James McGowan) was behind the whole thing and held the key to Jake’s freedom in his hands, literally: a flash drive showing Brogen killing Clarke.

Damon’s plan? Have Jake work for him in prison for three years and the drive’s contents would be revealed and Jake would be set free to work for Damon on the outside. That, of course, wasn’t going to happen, so Jake and his family became targets of the biker gang. The one to feel that the most was poor Des who, already heartbroken because Tinny broke up with him, had his skull cracked by Damon at The Duke. It was nice to see Malachy and Jake get involved in a good old-fashioned donnybrook at The Green Room, though it ended prematurely when Picard arrested Jake.

Leslie, meanwhile, had her hands full with the Inspector Pickard (John Kapelos), and was called to the carpet in front of Internal Affairs for her relationship with the Doyles. But rather than apologize to the panel as the Inspector advised, she was unrepentant and got fired.

The final blow? Leslie was pregnant, a story angle hinted at every time she dreamt of she and he being a family. After busting him out of the interrogation room (with help from Hood and somehow sneaking out of an entire precinct packed with coppers), Leslie and Jake were on the run.

So, what did the last hour, “Last Call,” hold? A manhunt for Jake and Leslie, an unconventional teaming with Alisha, Rhodes going to drastic measures to get Jake on board and an eventual clearing of Jake’s name in the death of Mayor Clarke. It wasn’t an easy task. Not only did Jake resort to swapping out the GTO in favour of a–gasp!–Mustang to keep a low profile, but he had to witness the beatings of Des and Malachy because he wouldn’t work for Rhodes.

After a series of twists, turns and a pants-less Des, Jake had located Clarke’s cell phone, an item which contained not only recordings of agreements the Chevalier gang would run St. John’s but at least one dirty cop who was in on it: Pickard. Leslie discovered the same information, though it was done face-to-face while she spoke to Pickard, leading to a short, bullet-filled foot chase that left him dead and her badly injured and the fate of the baby up in the air.

Rhodes’ final showdown with Jake and Malachy on a gravel road was interrupted by the cops, led by … Alisha. Turns out Vick Saul’s right-hand woman was a federal marshal all along and was more than happy to not only take out Rhodes but help Jake locate a backup flash drive proving his innocence.

Those hoping for a happy ending weren’t disappointed, though Doyle‘s writers came up with a sweet twist. Picking up two years later, Jake and Leslie were already married, had twins with a third on the way. The nuptials everyone had gathered to celebrate were for Tinny and Des. (Who else was glad to see the beloved GTO in the background, festooned with ribbon?) Midway through Wednesday’s finale, Jake mentioned that St. John’s is called The City of Legends. Jake Doyle is certainly that.

Notes and quotes

  • “It’s ironic. All the crap I’ve done over the years and I’m going to be sent to prison for a crime I didn’t even commit.”–Jake
  • “I need to get some air. For my lungs, which may or may not be punctured from a broken heart.”–Des
  • “You’re a good man. And a great son.”–Malachy
  • It was hoot to see Rick Mercer playing the new mayor of St. John’s, though I half expected him to launch into a rant
  • “It would suck to find out you were shagging some biker missus.”–Leslie
  • “What are you doing with my head? You know I can’t handle more than one layer of subtext at a time.”–Des

What did you think of the series finale of Republic of Doyle? Let me know at greg@tv-eh.com, post a comment below to head to @tv_eh on Twitter.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Strange Empire

Review: A divided Strange Empire

What does it do to a person to take a life? Strange Empire’s “The Resistance” shows the agonizing conflict – young Neill, who is celebrated for killing a Chinese man; Franklyn Caze, who meant to kill Ling but instead kills his hidden mother; and Chase Sloat, who refuses to kill Mary, the mother of Isabelle’s purchased son.

John Slotter is, shall we say, slightly less conflicted, though he outsources his murders — to other men or to unsafe mine conditions.

So what does it do to a town when life is expendable? It makes the Janestown Slotter presides over not exactly a paradise found.

The dispute over those unsafe conditions has led to a town more sharply divided between Chinese and white, scabs and striking workers, with Ling and Slotter vying for supremacy, intrigue and broken promises and tangled relationships on all sides.

Mrs. Briggs is in league and in bed with Caze, Isabelle with Slotter and Ling, and Sloat with Mary in a weird and sweet and weird budding romance.

Kat – who has been relegated to the edges of the show in the last couple of episodes — wants Slotter to negotiate with the minors and end the fracturing of the town. “There is no town,” says Slotter. “There is me.” And when a man who can order the murder of a young woman —the mother of his son, in fact – is the town … yikes.

I doubt his silent partner Ling would bring harmony to Janestown, but he vows to take all that is Slotter’s, including his wife: “It’s in your nature to belong to yourself,” he tells Isabelle, “to be free of anyone who would hold you. I would show you freedom.”

The women of this strange empire are not unstrange themselves, and that seems like a fair description of headstrong, ingenious Isabelle, who seems to be inventing a pregnancy – protection from her violent husband? She’s terrified at Cornelius Slotter arriving to collect the money they owe, money she secured with sex. Hmm, could Cornelius be the father of her non-existent baby? How deep does Isabelle’s intrigue go?

When Rebecca tends to the shot Chinese man without hesitation and demonstrates her facility with languages, Ling becomes yet another person entreating her to be more “proper.” “A proper life seems not to suit me,” she says. Expressing her desire for travel, her dreams are quashed by Ling until he adds: “Stay here, doctor — the world will come to you.”

The music seems especially fitting in this episode, dissonant in accordance with the on-screen dissonance. Kat forces a settlement on Slotter by threatening to blow up his mansion, but her victory is short-lived when the mine blows in with workers trapped below. “Your spirit turns the earth,” Ling whispers to his dead mother, though with all the safety concerns we hardly need to reach for a spiritual explanation. Life in the Strange Empire is worth far less than money and power.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Murdoch Mysteries

Interview: Murdoch Mysteries’ sealed with a kiss

Well, Murdoch Mysteries fans, what did you think of that kiss? Were  you upset that George and Edna have officially become and item? I have mixed feelings about the situation myself–I’d love nothing more than to have George and Emily reunite–but as writer Jordan Christianson pointed out, it could still happen. Eventually. Maybe.

We chatted with the Canadian Film Centre graduate about the importance of the institutions’ TV-writing course, and Monday’s vaudeville-inspired murder mystery that featured a gut-busting scene with Higgins and Crabtree impersonating Murdoch and Brackenreid.

Was W.C. Fields really in Toronto at this time, or was that just some fun on the part of you and the other writers?
Jordan Christianson: That’s a liberty we decided to take. There wasn’t anything to suggest that he had been in Toronto. We know he was working primarily in the New York area. We portrayed him as a struggling juggler in the episode which sort of helps set him up as a murder suspect although, of course, it wasn’t going to be W.C. Fields. In reality, W.C. Fields is considered to be the best juggler in the vaudeville circuit throughout the United States when he was only 21 or 22. He was fairly famous as a juggler before he made that shift and adopted the personality that we now know.

Let’s talk about Bert Grady and his stand-up act. Where did his jokes come from?
I wrote Bert Grady’s monologue. Some of them are mother-in-law jokes that go back decades and I re-wrote them so we could tailor his monologue to serve the plot of the story. The other monologues that we hear throughout the course of the episode I found doing some research at the Toronto Reference Library. Those are actual monologues of the period. They weren’t attributed to any particular performer but those are real monologues.

You mentioned the Toronto Reference Library. Had you been there before for work on Murdoch?
This is my second season on the show and I did spend some time there last season when I wrote the episode about the bicycle races that ended up dealing with human blood types. The Reference Library is great when you’re trying to get a sense of what people knew at the time. For this particular episode, I was able to find a book with the monologues that we hear and it also gave me a sense of vaudeville. To be honest, going into this episode I didn’t know much about vaudeville and had a certain amount of indifference towards it. [Laughs.] It was kind of like my grandparents’ thing. So I really needed to sort of dig in and the library was helpful in showing just how popular it was at the time. It was the entertainment for everyone.

Crabtree’s line about ‘too early’ rather than ‘too soon,’ was great.
All credit has to go to Jonny Harris on that one. It’s always amazing what Jonny in particular is able to come up with on the spot and it certainly makes us writers look good. I hope it was a fun episode not just for Jonny but for the whole cast. Yannick had a lot of fun with it, especially in that scene where he first talks to Ed Ward. They do a bit of a ‘Who’s on first?’ schtick. If there is one thing I don’t think Yannick gets enough credit for is that he plays humour really well. Really subtly. I was tickled with what he did.

Who came up with ‘flatulence sack’?
I would like to take credit for it, but when I decided the Whoopie Cushion would be part of the episode I did my due diligence and looked into the advent of the Whoopie Cushion to see if it could be used and if it existed. It did, and at one time was known as a flatulence sack.

Let’s get to the controversial part of last night’s episode, the kiss between George and Edna. Are you prepared for the backlash?
It’s so interesting. I think Edna is a very likeable character and she draws something out of George that is an inherent goodness. I think it’s a really sweet and appealing relationship and although we appreciate that George and Emily made a great couple and a lot of people want to see them together, we see them as being at a point in their lives where maybe they’re looking around at other options. I know there were some people on Twitter last week who seemed to perceive a moment between Emily and Lillian Moss. We hope that people like George and Edna as a couple because that’s the direction they’re heading in slowly and cautiously.

Higgins and Crabtree impersonating Murdoch and Brackenreid was hilarious. Lachlan Murdoch did a great job as William.
Lachlan did a great job and hair and makeup did a great job with the exaggerated eyebrows and sideburns. I was on set that day and it was surreal to see Lachlan as Murdoch beside Jonny as Brackenreid across from the real Murdoch and the real Brackenreid as they are trying to carry out a scene in all seriousness.

Your resumé includes time on Mr. D. How did you get from there to here?
About four years ago I had done the Canadian Film Centre TV writing program and myself, Simon McNabb and Michelle Ricci who are all on Murdoch were all in the program together and Peter Mitchell was our mentor in residence. Pete took the job on Murdoch shortly after the program and took Michelle with him. At that point in time Simon and I were both aspiring comedy writers. That class was sponsored by CBC and they had taken a liking to a script I had written and told me about this show they had called Mr. D. I knew who Gerry Dee was and thought he was hilarious and he was actually who I envisioned as the Bert Grady character. I wrote Bert Grady with Gerry Dee in mind.

CBC got me an interview and I was lucky enough to be hired on Mr. D as a script coordinator in the first year. It was a great, great experience and after my two years on Mr. D, Pete called Simon and I up and said he had a couple of openings at Murdoch. I can’t speak for Simon but for me it was a no-brainer. Murdoch allows for humour, so I didn’t feel like I was giving up comedy altogether and it meant I was working with Pete, who is widely regarded as one of the best showrunners in the country. It’s been a fantastic journey.

I can’t recommend the CFC enough for people who are interested in getting into TV writing, particularly in this country. I owe the very fact that I’ve had jobs over the last few years to the CFC. Not only do they take care of you while you’re there, but they really care about you afterwards and they keep tabs on you. They really helped me find an agent and get that first job on Mr. D. I highly recommend it to everybody and I do think that more people need to know about it.

Murdoch Mysteries returns Monday, January 12, at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail