Endgame

This show reminded me a little bit of House. I was first introduced to it when I read the general plot of the show on a weekly TV review magazine. It was intriguing, and I am always willing to give shows that attempt to imbue intellectual pursuits creatively a shot (like, Numb3rs or Big Bang Theory). When I first watched the pilot, I was hooked. Shawn Doyle portrays his character beautifully, and it almost reminded me a bit of Dr. House. The connections to chess (the game) are sometimes a bit contrived, but as the show goes on, you gain a deeper appreciation of the producers' visions. I like it the same reason way I was drawn to the original CSI. Its cast of characters and the exposure to new concepts and ideas have created a small revolution in my own way of thinking, and I greatly appreciate the show for accomplishing this.

I did not give this show a 10, because it is not "The Wire".

I have to admit beforehand that after being so disappointed with recent detective shows that I was reluctant to give Endgame a go. However, upon prompting by a house mate, I decided to give it a watch. I was a little confused at first, expecting it to be more serious than it was. Once past the first few minutes, I found that the comedy elements were a perfect fit. The acting and direction did justice to the amazing work of an awesome scriptwriting team. I hope to see this series continued past the first season, though there seems to be a trend of late wherein intelligent shows are canceled. Fingers crossed the viewers take a liking to this series.

I absolutely LOVE Endgame. The cast is phenomenal, the story is original, and it is one of the most intelligent shows today on ANY network- Canadian or otherwise! Shawn Doyle as Arkady Balagan is AMAZING and a true credit to Canadian talent! While his chess master may first come across as arrogant and ego-centric, Doyle has the ability to play Balagan with such depth and complexity that you cannot help but be astounded by his genius and saddened by his pain. Balagan can see beyond the obvious and notice the nuances of any problem he encounters, except the one case he has yet to solve- that of his murdered fiancée. I was first drawn to the series as a longtime fan of Patrick Gallagher (True Blood, Glee, Men of a Certain Age), but now I cannot wait to watch it every week to see all of these incredible actors portray this touching and brilliant story.

When I first so a commercial for this show I thought it looked like an interesting idea. Definitely worth checking out. But I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. The first episode was great and had some good performances. My favourite would obviously be the main character Arkady Balagan played by Shawn Doyle. He was funny and entertaining, but at the same time seemed pretty serious. Katharine Isabelle as Danni was something I looked forward too after hearing she was in the show, and like always I wasn't disappointed. The last notable was Brendan Fletcher as Merritt Singer, even though it was only one episode he was in and not the main cast, he still was entertaining to watch. The story itself although simple and basic had a small guessing games too it, and the way that Arkady solved the crime was humorous and creative. After the first episode I'm anticipating watching the next. Especially can't wait to find out Arkady's back story.

Looking at crimes from the point-of-view of a chess game and the players as chess pieces is fascinating. The chemistry of this ensemble cast led by damaged Russian Ex-pat Chess-master (played by Shawn Doyle) is a testament to the phrase "friends are the family you choose". Albeit a dysfunctional one, but then what family isn't a little bit? I was curious to see where the storyline was headed. I really would have liked to see the back story of the character of Sam (played by Torrance Coombs). Where does he go when he's not assisting Arkady solving mysteries in trade for chess matches? It's really nice to see a Vancouver, BC based show actually play as Vancouver, BC. Sadly it looks like we'll only see one season. A shame as the show was just hitting its stride.