Bantam

I was pleasantly surprised and rather taken with this one. It is a crime drama series based on the works of Canadian writer Giles Blunt, that circles around a troubled, yet apparently driven and brilliant John Cardinal.

Billy Campbell starring as the eponymous John Cardinal, and Karine Vanasse as Lise Delorme portray a pair of cops, who start out as unlikely partners and become the go-to guys for strange and bizarre cases.

I have to say that the makeup of Series 1 (as well as 2) does bear some resemblance to works like "True Detectives" and "Bosch", but what struck me most was the eerie absence of action. In its entirety it resembles more the fine art of crime drama I am used from the Scandinavian directors/writers. And it does serve the show really well.

The main protagonists are depicted as "normal people", with all their problems, demons and flaws, who just happen to be cops. I know that the recent overuse of 'broken' protagonists lead to some nasty blackouts recently (I point out the 2nd season of True Detectives), but here it lends some real credibility to the characters. You can really relate to what they are going through. This, paired with really interesting cases, which are still bizarre, but not too outlandish, gives the entire show a "je ne sais quoi" I have been missing in some other shows. Also, the fact that each season has more of a 'British' length, ie. 6 episodes, makes it more compact, without the need to paste in filler episodes, just to come up with a full season. (IMHO shows runners should be able to vary the length of a season. This would prevent boring or unnecessary filler episodes that can, in fact, ruin a whole season of an otherwise enjoyable watching).

In all fairness, Cardinal does not do everything right and can't compare to some Scandinavian thrillers, but it does qualify as well above average. And the 2nd season is a slight improvement over the 1st. So, not all hope is lost.

In conclusion I would say that is far better than the average north-american (including Canadian) crime drama and has a lot of potential. Its European flair (and format) makes it rather enjoyable, if you're into that kind of stuff. And if you want something similar, but way better give 'Hinterland' (a BBC production) a try. Or try Stieg Larsson's 'Millenium' either as the mini-series or the movies - do not watch the 2011 US-remake, it's bad.

The basic idea is that Big Data can be good as well as bad, it just depends on how it's being used. So far so good.

The movie however is the super-cliche version of this entire affair. The shallow portrayal of the characters made me cringe several times. And quite frankly, the message is essentially a fairy tale like version of the reality.

Facebook, Google and Apple were, to name a big few, the patron saints of "The Circle". And it could have been a decent movie, alas, it became a naive little story about 'virtually' nothing. (It's not even a parody.)

Let's face it, the real world works different, an no matter how many people try to change the status quo, most of us either do not care to face the reality, or choose to wilfully ignore it. I ask you this: how much impact did Snowden's revelations have on the Big Data gatherers? Little to none. As a matter of fact, it has gotten even worse. Yeah, let's send a 'frown' to those who cut privacy to shreds, that'll show 'em!

If you want to continue in the vein of "live you dream" and deny your brain the work it was made for: thinking for yourself, sure go ahead and watch this. IMO the movie was a total waste of money, talent of the actors and, last but not least, my time.