Intelligence

I recently stumbled on this show by accident while doing an IMDb search on an actor. Being your typical insular American I had never heard of 'Intelligence' or even the CBC, but I have to say that after watching the first two seasons I am very impressed. Sadly, rumors are that the show has been canceled so I suppose some things about Americans and Canadians are the same; 'The Wire' was never appreciated by viewers here either. The show is an extremely smart (or intelligent; get it? hah hah hah) approach to the world of espionage and organized crime. Shows that I've seen in the past dealing with these topics were most often disappointing in their shallowness and over-simplification of a complex and difficult world. As an example, one of my pet peeves is that often when you watch a show about the CIA you would think that there are exactly 10 people working for the agency. 5 covert operatives and 5 analysts/technical operators. Studio execs will tell you they compress the number of characters so that audiences don't get confused, but to me the whole thing usually just comes off fake. "Meet Joe, he's our computer/linguistic/explosives expert who joined the Navy Seals after getting his Phd's from Harvard and is now a US senator." Fake.

Not so with 'Intelligence'. The show has a large and diverse cast, allowing the show to explore the facets of characters in a more organic way. Of course, a large cast also means some characters you would like to see more of just can't get the screen time you would like but that's the trade off and, in my opinion, it's well worth it.

I've always been fascinated with the spy world, all those secrets within secrets makes for fascinating mental games, and the back story of Canada attempting to create their own international spy ring provides great opportunities for story lines. Add to that the very realistic portrayal of life in a drug kingpin syndicate and there is always plenty of interesting plots developing, often independently, in each episode.

Ian Tracey plays Jimmy Reardon, a weed drug smuggler who has built quite the little empire in Canada. Jimmy has done quite well for his "family", but the difficulties of success are beginning to make his life difficult. His life plays out like that of any successful business exec; constant meetings all day, inept employees, and logistical nightmares of running an organization with hundreds of employees. Contrary to popular images of drug dealers Jimmy is quiet, reasoned, not prone to fits of anger, and prefers to make well informed decisions that avoid violence whenever possible. Eventually, circumstances conspire to bring Jimmy into contact with Mary Spalding, played by Klea Scott.

Mary is, in basic personality, much like Jimmy. Quiet, tough, and highly capable, she is currently running the Canadian Organized Crime Unit, but is being tapped for a leadership position in the newly forming (or organizing, I'm not really sure which) Canadian intelligence service CSIS. Working in an old-boys network along side some of the worst vipers you've ever seen, Mary is a human intelligence specialist. She recruits confidential informants and, soon, spies. Events unfold that allow Mary to recruit Jimmy as what may possibly be the agencies most valuable asset. Occasionally their interests merge and Jimmy and Mary can help one another, though they maintain a careful cat and mouse routine between the two of them, not really trusting the other.

The truly fascinating thing (for me) to watch is how the CSIS agency builds itself into a real force to be reckoned with, and the ethical dilemmas that begin to unfold as they succeed. At first many of Mary's recruits approach her, or are in situations where they can help one another, but as soon as her higher-ups realize she's making it happen specific requests start pouring in and the decisions get harder. The agency begins to resort to blackmail and extortion to accomplish it's tasks. It raises interesting points. The CIA has (often rightly) taken a lot of heat here in the states for its actions in the past, but those same critics want intelligence agencies to be affective in preventing the next domestic attack on our nation. There is a definite moral and ethical trade-off that takes place with effectiveness at some point, and the show does a great job of highlighting that.

I won't bother going into the other characters on the show. As I said, there are a lot of them, but I'll say that most are well created and interesting. The show has enough action to keep the pace up in most episodes and the filming quality is decent though a bit of a step down if you are used to American production values. Definitely worth watching if you get the opportunity.

Found on Netflix by accident. I'm on the 2nd series and don't want it to end.

From the literally up-in-the-air first scene to the rueful end-of-the-day drink between reluctant allies, smuggler Jimmy Reardon (Ian Tracey) and his top-cop handler Mary Spalding (Klea Scott), in the series opener, this show moves with startling speed. Those who found last year's Da Vinci City Hall and the Intelligence pilot off-putting in their complexity should enjoy the series anyway. The pilot juggled maybe too many balls and sometimes felt jagged as a result. The show does not have that problem. It goes down smooth as Irish whisky.

The look is cool and different, with a sinuous style--think Miami Vice in 21st century Vancouver. Tracey is fascinating as the conflicted, but ultimately good-hearted, Jimmy. Talk about a guy trapped in a pit full of snakes. Scott is similarly fine as the professionally and personally beleaguered Mary. If you've been missing Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect, you'll quickly get hooked on Mary's tough, no-nonsense style. The fact that she's not your usual little-girl-lost blonde we seem to get in every cop show these days certainly doesn't hurt. It's really nice to get a modern noir story with protagonists you actually like. Jimmy and Mary, at least so far, are the good guys. It's just that they're very unusual good guys.

This is the kind of show that could claim a wide range of audience if it can get half a chance against the heavy-hitters on Tuesday night. Let's hope.

I demand an explanation. This show is a winner in every way. A veritable needle in the haystack. Superb character development, convincingly acted, and plausible story lines.I was stunned when I discovered it was cancelled. Such a waste of cinematic acumen. Maybe it got a little too close to the truth.

I was amazed by the first season of Intelligence, and am looking forward to the second season in a few weeks.

The ambiguity of the characters has always been a big draw for me: a likable main character is a major drug dealer, a police informant, and a dad going through a messy divorce who occasionally remembers what he saw in his soon-to-be-ex-wife. His biggest business issue is that he can't launder money fast enough to keep up with his sales...

Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? Just what does it mean to be good, anyway? And what does it mean to be bad? If you like these sorts of questions, you will like Intelligence. If you like your drama clear-cut, you won't.