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Featured, Heartland

Review: Heartland ends with double cliffhanger

The mark of a good cliffhanger episode leaves a viewer stunned, shocked–and in the best of cases–yelling “No!” at the television screen. Sunday’s episode of Heartland was certainly that in a couple of cases, especially when it came to Ty and Amy being arrested. I was a little surprised by the kiss they shared moments after liberating the wild horses from the corral Matt constructed, but I didn’t expect them to be collared by the local RCMP.

I think part of the reason for my surprise was that they were nabbed so quickly. It seemed like they’d only just minutes before stopped riding and suddenly the local police were there. I was glad to see the show’s fave couple reunited–there has been a great slow burn between Amy and Ty over the last several weeks–in the spot that meant so much to the couple: Pike River.

“The Pike River Cull,” written by Heather Conkie, brought back the show’s second-best curmudgeon–after Jack– in Will (Nicholas Campbell) and his daughter, Joanna (Hélène Joy). With business on the wane and wanting to move closer to her son, Joanna put the restaurant and hotel up for sale and was hoping Will would move closer to Calgary with her. No dice; he was staying put and close to the wild horses last seen in “A Heartland Christmas.” The fact that a local farmer named Matt was plotting to cull some of those wonderful beasts only cemented Will’s resolve.

Jack, Tim, Ty and Amy all headed to Pike River to try to talk some sense into Will, and it didn’t take long for the former lovebirds to recall their time in front of the hotel fireplace, snuggled under a blanket (and Ty’s shocking long mane of hair). Ty may have started out that first night sleeping in Tim’s truck to avoid Amy, but once he saw her in that tank top, his emotions had come rushing back. Good thing too, because they certainly made for a great team by calling out Matt on his evil plans to kill off some of the horses and then loosing the proud animals from his trap.

The cliffhanger, of course, is whether or not Amy and Ty are actually going to be arrested or whether they’re able to talk themselves out of it. I can see this going either way within the first few minutes of the first episode back in January. Will the RCMP officer stuff the two into the back seat of his truck? Will the two explain that Will is hurt and needs attention back at the corral? We’ll have to see.

The other cliffhanger on Sunday was the state of Lou and Peter’s marriage. He’d spent so much time away from the family on business that Lou finally blew her top when she found out he’d delayed his return to Heartland because he wanted one night to relax. (Raise your hand if you thought perhaps he’d had a dalliance.) Their bitter back and forth certainly put a damper on their staycation at the dude ranch, though there was a nice moment when Georgie caught that fish. But that wasn’t enough to solve the couple’s deep problems, and it appeared Peter was about to ask for a trial separation on the road to divorce when a lawyer showed up to present them with papers: Georgie’s aunt Crystal had made a complaint that her niece wasn’t growing up in a safe environment. I knew Crystal was up to no good when she left Heartland!

Heartland returns Sunday, Jan. 11, at 7 p.m. on CBC.

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Featured, Lost Girl

Set Visit: Lost Girl cast gears up to say goodbye

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Through many emotional deaths, a few showrunner changes, and one Doccubus later, it’s certainly been a wild ride for the fans of and actors on Showcase’s Lost Girl. The hit series has ridden a successful ratings wave—all fuelled by a devoted fan base—headed by the multiple creative hands of M.A. Lovretta, Peter Mohan, Jeremy Boxen, Grant Rosenberg, Emily Andras, and finally Michael Grassi, the showrunner most recently tasked with Lost Girl‘s fifth and final season.

If you’re feeling like the past four years of Lost Girl have flown by, you’re not alone. TV, Eh? had the chance to visit the show’s Toronto set, and although it hadn’t officially been announced that the show was ending at the time, stars Anna Silk (Bo), Kris Holden-Ried (Dyson) and Zoie Palmer (Lauren) still reflected on making it to the big five season mark–a not so easy feat for any television series.

“It’s weird because I feel like we started yesterday, and it feels like it’s become so engrained in our lives that it’s been here forever now too,” said Palmer.

“When you’re in it things are happening so fast that you actually lose sense of time,” added Holden-Ried. “But now that we’re coming towards the end of Season 5 as far as filming goes, we’re getting emotional about it. You know, you can really feel the sense of being involved in something special and there’s a lot of love in the air.”

The lovefest kicks off on Sunday with the two-part series premiere, virtually a “direct carry over” from Season 4’s jarring end that saw the death of Hale (K.C. Collins) and the speculative passing of fan favourite Kenzi (Ksenia Solo), according to Holden-Ried. Although the cast kept mum on any specific details about the new season, Silk said to expect more scenes with the core group together, as well as the theme of family to encompass her own character’s storyline.

“For Bo in particular, her actual roots will really come into play this season. And that’s been something she’s been searching for since she was a lost girl way back when,” she said, adding that the theme will include answers about Bo’s father. As for relationships, Palmer said to expect the series to explore the dynamic between Lauren and Bo, one of the show’s biggest romantic supporters by fans, as well as the dynamic with Bo and Dyson.

“It’s still tense and there’s still a huge connection between the two of them, as there is between her and Dyson,” Palmer said. “There’ll definitely be an exploration of that throughout the season as well.”

Holden-Ried also touched upon the recently-announced guest roles played by Eric Roberts (Suits, The Dark Knight) and Noam Jenkins (Rookie Blue, Longmire).

“It’s great. You know, the richer the cast the better the show,” he said. “They both bring a lot of experience and history and poise in their characters.”

As they gear up to say goodbye to the roles they’ve played for the past four years, the three actors did admit a few things they’d like to see from their characters before the series ultimately comes to an end.

“I’d like to see more of Dyson’s past. I really enjoy some of the flashback episodes we’ve done,” Holden-Ried mused. “[Dyson] and Trick have been together since the 1500s, so it would be great to explore some other eras.”

“They’re really covering a lot of bases this season,” added Palmer. “I don’t know, I’m always curious about what Lauren does when she’s not doing science, like when she’s not fixing a Fae or figuring out a cocktail in her lab, I always wonder what she does to chill out. So far we’ve seen her bake, but I feel like I’d like to see what else she does when she’s not baking and creating lab cocktails.”

As for Bo, it seems that the few things Silk was hoping to see have actually made their way into the season, a parting to her character due to a conversation between Silk and Grassi long before filming began.

“I sort of I mentioned a few things, like maybe three or four things, and some of them were kind of light-hearted—not a joke, but just in conversation–and they’ve all been in this season,” Silk said. “I can’t tell you what they are, but it’s really cool that he’s encompassed all these tiny snippets that I wanted or that I saw into the season and built episodes or scenes about it. I feel really grateful to him.”

The season premiere of Lost Girl airs Sunday, Dec. 7, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showcase.

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Comments and queries for the week of Dec. 5

This week our readers sound off on Duke and Mara on Haven, the latest instalment of Strange Empire and the roller coaster relationships on Saving Hope.

It sickens me that Duke and Mara did it. I am probably one of the biggest Duniffer lovers around, and he did betray their relationship. I don’t trust her, either. He is in for probably a sick and sad surprise. I love Gloria’s quote, “its like she was a real-life Mrs. Potato-Head.” She is usually pretty funny–love her!–Haven Momma

A very well-written and concise review [of Strange Empire], Diane. I appreciate that the show invites different takes from different angles and my own review of the latest episode focused specifically on the owner-work relations … if interested, here is the link.–Chad

This season [of Saving Hope] has been a roller coaster so far, but I’m enjoying it. I can’t make up my mind which couple I like best. It’s hard to re-watch the first season and a half, or the first two episodes of this season, and not root for Charlie and Alex. But as this season goes on I think I’m leaning more toward Charlie and Dawn. Shanks and Nolden have really good chemistry and I think the two characters really know and understand each other. Joel seems to really know the post-accident Alex as well; wish we had seen the aftermath of their hooking up from last episode. Enjoying the medical and ghost storylines too.–Hallie

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? greg@tv-eh.com

 

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Featured, Haven

Review: Edge and Christian’s Haven reunion upstaged by Mommy issues

Once again, I must tip my hat to Shawn Piller and the rest of the folks at Haven. Why? Because my assumptions about Duke and Mara–and a bunch of other things–were all wrong. Thursday’s newest episode “Chemistry,” one week before the season finale, revealed conclusions to a couple of stories while blowing the door wide open on one other. Let’s break it down, shall we?

Dwight and McHugh
A lot was made of the fact former WWE tag team champs Edge and Christian would reunite on Haven (me included), so I was a tad disappointed their meeting was A) short, and B) talk about girls. I know McHugh will be back with more to do next year, so I’m holding out hope he’ll do more than just dry glasses and sip beer. Also, McHugh successfully dethroned Nathan as the man with the lowest and most gravelly voice in Haven.

Duke and Mara
The controversial decision to have them sleep together ended up being what I had suspected was the case all along: Mara used sex to play Duke. Mara and William’s end-game was always to create a weapon of some sort, and now it appears she has one in Duke. Crying black tears (is it aether?) and able to absorb and pass along Troubles? Yeah, Duke just morphed into something equally cool and scary. What he does with these new powers will be very interesting. Will he punish Mara for what she did to him, or will he embrace the awesome powers he has been given? (How neat is it when Duke’s eyes turn grey?)

Charlotte and Dwight
It was super-cute to see Haven’s second most serious cop get jiggy with the town’s newest visitor. After alleviating some stress he was a lot more relaxed and–shocker–even joked with his cot-mate.

Charlotte’s real identity
After realizing she wasn’t from the CDC, Vince wondered if Charlotte was CIA, black ops or even a military contractor. Turns out he was wrong: she is Audrey/Mara’s mother. The repercussions of this reveal is stunning, the most significant of which is that Dwight slept with Audrey’s mother. Let that sit in your mind for a minute or two. Story-wise, it appears Charlotte (if that is even her real name) is intent on nothing but the best forAudrey and wants to take Mara down. Was it Charlotte who put Mara in the barn in the first place? Hopefully we’ll find out the answer to that, and more, next week.

Notes and quotes

  • “What did you think we were going to do? Have brunch? Do crosswords in bed?”–Duke
  • “You have an angry energy, and I like that in bed.”–Mara
  • “You’ve got the heart of a figure skating judge.”–Dwight

Haven airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on Showcase.

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Featured, Saving Hope

Review: Saving Hope checks back in

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It’s a credit to Saving Hope’s writers that fans of the series get so invested in the show’s relationships, with things even occasionally getting a bit nasty between Teams Joel and Charlie. Which is why it’s such a shame that Season 3 has rarely allowed viewers to enjoy those couples once they finally happen.

In between watching Dawn do an about-face on a boyfriend twice in seven episodes, having Gavin go on a bender and take off after he and Maggie derailed, and Alex waking up without any sense of her feelings for Charlie, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that things with Joel hit a rocky patch almost as soon as they started. We’ve barely had any screen time with the couple—which has been teased for over two seasons now—before another flashback triggered what I expect is the return of Alex’s feelings for Charlie.

Though to be fair, Charlie’s gracious acceptance of defeat went a long way toward making up for how I felt about him racing off to pick a fight over the issue at the beginning of the season. Seeing that side of Charlie, instead of the angry, jealous one might also have helped remind Alex of the time they were everything to each other before a series of comas, ghosts and other dramatics threw their relationship through the processer. And it’s hard to deny the heat between Selena and Joel, which was back for another round.

But again, after wondering for so long when the other half of the love triangle would get its day (as they always do), it’s a bit disappointing to have all that build up thrown out almost immediately. The payoff, even for fans of the obvious end game of Charlie and Alex, is always so small compared to the build up that it’s going to make it hard to let myself get too invested in the characters’ personal lives should the trend keep up.

Thankfully, for a series that’s making a thing of the three-day work relationship, Wednesday’s “The Heartbreak Kid” did a much better job of picking up the continuity with some returning guests and cases. As a fan of Lexa Doig from her work on Arctic Air, seeing her back as the brash and charismatic Selena was a pleasure and her clinic is proving to be a rich resource for a completely different kind of patient and practice. I’d settle for seeing Joel commit more time to it since it fits well with his character history, but I won’t deny it would be interesting to see the rest of Hope Zion’s doctors start helping out and getting a break from their usual clientele—and I’m wondering if that opening scene was enough to possibly lure Zach to its doors and give Benjamin Ayres something more meaty to chew on.

And even without Lara’s ghost to milk the birth of Ezra Zarb for all its devastating emotional potential, having Joris Jarsky back to show us how David has been holding up since deciding to keep his wife on life support for their son was another welcome return. It’s not often we get to see how Charlie’s patients and their families fare after their otherworldly intervention and this particular case was deserving of a follow up if only to see how far David’s come since from angry, wall-punching person he was when we first met him.

Which also tied neatly into the evolving relationship between Maggie and Katz as they revisited their first case together and Maggie tried to prove she could be the kind of doctor Katz wanted her to be. I feel like just about everyone knows Maggie is ready to move onto the next step and having Katz hold her back suddenly was as frustrating to watch as I’m sure it was for the character. I’m hoping that ending—as unexpected and random as it was—means Katz realized it too and might change her brusque black-and-white emotionless approach (which saw her encouraging David to punch a wall in the first place). As for what else that kiss could mean, I’d read into it but I’m sure they’ll break up soon enough.

Hope-ful moments:

  • Joel: “I guess a guy could pull a knife on me again.”
    Zach: “Again?”
  • “LaRouched” is now a thing.
  • “Hang up, and it’s lady not gentleman.” I was really impressed with how Saving Hope handled the issue of pronouns with Teddy and would love to see more shows be this direct and comfortable with it.
  • “I look like an exploded burrito.” Tatum’s sass, especially with Charlie, was surprisingly fun.
  • That being said, the opening scene of her screaming as they examined her legs was almost too real. I can’t say enough about the effects and make up team on this series.

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

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