Cracked

When I first heard about Cracked and the idea of the new unit I was somewhat on the fence about how it would translate to the screen and how good it would actually be. But I was pleasantly surprised to see the show was excellent David Sutcliffe's portrayal of Aidan the somewhat "Cracked" Detective whose operational history makes him one of the best cops in the department, whose new partner is not a detective but a psychiatrist who doesn't carry a gun plays out brilliantly Stefanie con Pfettens portrayal of Dr Daniella Ridley is also excellent with their being good chemistry between the two quite opposite people. Although we don't see very much of the other partnership of Detectieve Poppy Wisnefski played by Luisa D'Oliveira and Psychiatric Nurse Leo Beckett played by Dayo Ade what we do see of them leaves me with high hopes of how they interact as a partnership and also of how the whole group will play off of each other with two trained officers and two mental health professionals will allow both sides to give us new perspectives on each individual crime and the criminals themselves with the first episode showing this as well. Overall a great start for a show with a lot of potential.

To be honest, I didn't think much of the pilot, but I wanted to give it a chance because of the topic matter. With there still being such a negative stigma attached to mental illness sufferers, it's good to see relatable, realistic characters that are either displaying signs of a mental illness or be seen to be compassionate and understanding towards those going through the symptoms.

If I were to nitpick at it, I guess some of the writing seemed a bit lazy in parts, but I find the characters likable despite (or maybe because of?) their flaws. I find myself being easily drawn into the plot and I guess this helps me overlook what I see as failures in the story line where luck seems to have them in the right place at the right time saying just the right things... not as realistic as I'd like, but I guess I'm watching this more for the entertainment factor.

It also helps having actors who double as eye candy ;)

Well being especially mental health is a difficult subject to build a TV show on - it relies on the main characters being liked enough by the viewer to be entertained. In this regard Cracked has done very well. The main character has to be cracked but competent and the characters around him have to be empathetic or there is no reason to keep main character. Also even though some of the subjects each week are not flattering we must empathise with their problems. Thus Cracked has done very well - this can only be accomplished by good acting and good storytelling. Overall the series has accomplished a lot but now the interplay between the characters has to drive the story and hopefully see the problems that materialize.

This episode was enjoyable and intriguing because it dealt both with a bizarre mental illness (prosopagnosia or the inability to identify or recognize faces, hence the title) and background world events (children soldiers in former Zaire). I was shocked, however, to learn that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has switched official languages from French to English, and nobody warned me! It must have happened when Zaire became DRC, I'm sure. Why else would two DRC immigrants speak with a blatant African accent from English-speaking Africa? More seriously, I find it hard to believe that the series' production team was unable to find actors who would be originally from French-speaking Africa especially in a country like Canada that prides itself on its bilingualism.

I'll be short, Well structured fantasy play on what rescources cops have in real life! Although not a serious drama and escapist by design it has some messages worth viewing! I enjoyed this given it reflects what I'd like to be able to do in my RL job! The tension of Law enforcement vs Community problems ie. Mental health issues. (the lack of rescources for Mental Health Treatement Worldwide)

Rights for the Mentally Ill!

Although not strictly realistic this show reflects a common experience by both caring and law enforcement agencies. For many years there has been a ping pong of this responsibility and this is the first time I've seen this translated into a real working model although fictitious .

I'd recommend a viewing, even to support expanded utilization of mental health professionals within forensic deployments (my forensic byas)