Tag Archives: Showcase

Featured, Haven

Review: Haven closes out explosive midseason finale

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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.

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Continuum, Featured

Continuum renewed for fourth – and final – season

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It’s the end of the road for time travelling cop Kiera Cameron. Showcase announced Monday night that Continuum has been renewed for a final six-episode season.

“All great stories deserve an end,” Nichols said in a press release. “I am excited and grateful to finish Continuum with the riveting conclusion it deserves. This series finale is dedicated to the devoted fans who have loyally supported us since Day 1.”

Production on Season 4 is set to begin in Vancouver in early 2015 with broadcast of the episodes later in the year. The renewal comes amid months of speculation regarding whether the sci-fi series would return or not. Now we have the answer.

Created by Simon Barry, Continuum stars Rachel Nichols as Kiera Cameron, a cop from 2077 Vancouver who is sent back to present-day stop a group the terrorist group Liber8 from affecting the future. Aiding Kiera in her mission is Vancouver cop Carlos Fonnegra (Victor Webster) and computer whiz Alec Sadler (Erik Knudsen). Opposing her were Liber8 members Matthew Kellog (Stephen Lobo), Sonya Valentine (Lexa Doig), Lucas Ingram (Omari Newton), Travis Verta (Roger Cross), Jasmine Garza (Luvia Petersen) and Julien Randol (Richard Harmon).

Season 3 of Continuum ended in a cliffhanger, with an special ops army troupe from 2077 arriving in Vancouver to lay waste after Kiera and Brad activated the beacon and the death of evil Alec at the hands of good Alec. The episode was the No. 1 program of the night in key demos for all of Canadian specialty programming.

Continuum has been lauded with numerous award wins, including a Canadian Screen Award for Best Visual Effects for a Program or Series and Leo Awards for Best Dramatic Series, Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series, Best Stunt Coordination in a Dramatic Series and Best Screenwriting for a Dramatic Series.

It airs in over 132 countries.

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Featured, Lost Girl

Review: Lost Girl visits Valhalla

While I’m all for movies wrapping up a series that came to an unexpected end, I’m happy to see Lost Girl joining the ranks of Canadian series that have known the end was nigh and been able to plan accordingly. And maybe especially for a show like Lost Girl, that has such a deep, complicated mythology that—at times—felt like it was getting murkier as the story went on. Knowing that the answers are (hopefully) all going to come out in the next 16 episodes is, in its own way, a relief.

Or at least, that’s the upshot I’m going with now that I have to say goodbye to yet another Canadian series this year.

Lost Girl didn’t waste any time getting to some of those answers—even if it technically has the extra time to play with—and Bo managed to find the missing Hell Shoe in the first minutes of the opening episode (and take out a trio of creepers along the way). Although, I don’t know that just letting herself drop from an eagle’s nest was the best idea unless she was already counting on sucking the life energy out of some hikers. And I would have liked an idea of how she found the mythical other shoe after such a big deal had been made about reuniting the pair to at least explain why this only happened now.

Though perhaps in the long run managing to locate the shoe (and re-find the other one) were minor details in an episode that had to explain the inner-workings of Valhalla to us, and with minimal help from Tamsin. Or rather, and far more to the point of any fan that’s been waiting in agony for Lost Girl to return ever since Season 4’s harrowing finale, the story of the shoe was really about getting Bo and Kenzi back together again—and once that happened I don’t think anyone cared if the devil (or mistress) wore Prada or hemp because the girls were eating Chunky Monkey.

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as Bo approached Kenzi’s room thanks to the ominous and not to hopeful comments the showrunner and producers have been making all summer that she was going to find something terrible there instead. But then it started to look like last season’s double death was going to end up being a fake out—or at least looked like a partial fake out when Kenzi was returned unceremoniously to her body, which happened to be inconveniently located in a coffin, underground. I was torn between wanting Kenzi and Hale to head off into the Bifröst together—as heartbreaking as that would be for the friends—if only to give the girl the happy ending Bo was right in saying she deserved, and having the friends live out this last season together on Earth. Since the series has been given its chance to say goodbye, it was good that Bo and Kenzi got that chance too, even if it looked like that might not have been necessary.

But with Ksenia Solo listed as a special guest in the end credits, I don’t know that the goodbyes were entirely pre-emptive. Now that Kenzi knows Hale is there and their marriage something Freyja (Michelle Nolden, Saving Hope) was more than happy to arrange, I can see her opting—now that she’s gotten out of her deal with Bo’s father—to return to Valhalla and the wedding (and, I assume, put the kibosh on Freyja’s plan to take another soul from someone close to Bo). I just can’t help but wonder if Bo is going to get out of wherever that elevator shaft is taking her before Kenzi makes that decision, or what would happen if Kenzi leaves for a second time without telling Bo.

And while it didn’t seem like Dyson and Lauren had too much going on in comparison to Bo heading off to meet her father, I feel like the episode did a great job raising the stakes for everyone. Whether it’s potential fallout from Dyson and Lauren trespassing in Valhalla as Freyja ordered Stacy to take another soul, or Tamsin’s bout of Valkyrie resting face leading to Bo doubting her again, or even Lauren turning to Tamsin and Trick to help Bo, there’s a sense they’re all ready to start making sacrifices to settle things once and for all. Which should mean plenty of answers and fun for us.

Lost items:

  • I’m not one to judge how someone snacks, but why did Tamsin have the world’s sharpest knife next to her while chowing on a sandwich?
  • Did anyone else get confused by all that white light and think for a second that Hale might be an angel?
  • “Please tell me that’s your resting Valhalla face.” This is why we need Kenzi for the final season.
  • And I’m calling it now: the answer to the Bo/Lauren/Dyson love triangle is her being with both of them. Digging Kenzi up is bonding time.

Lost Girl airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Showcase.

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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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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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