Cracked

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.

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 ;)

I don't need to be Miami Viced with flashy cars and stubbly studs, nor do I need to be blown away with mind boggling scientific 3D visualizations, nor do I need to be cajoled into mirth by quirky hipster references. And this show is none of that.

Appreciating acting is subjective for the most part, although 'bad acting' is obvious and painful to watch. I've seen complaints that the acting is bad, but I personally found myself rapt and engaged by these people, who I might add, I haven't been overexposed to and so I'm not distracted by previous characters they've played. This helps I suppose.

It doesn't even feel particularly Canadian to me, which is a testament since I can usually spot it instantly. Looks like they are finally braving some new attitudes in camera/lighting techniques up here.

Overall, I am looking forward to some more thorough fleshing of the main characters (and I don't mean gratuitous sex, save that for season two)

Perhaps they will dare to broach the mental health issues rampant in the Business/Corporate world (ie: sociopaths et al). I'd like to see that.

Detective Aidan Black (David Sutcliffe) suffers from PTSD after a clean fatal shooting of a child. He's assigned in the new Psych Crimes and Crisis Unit. He is forced to be partnered with psychiatrist Dr. Ridley (Stefanie von Pfetten) to investigate crime involving the mentally disturbed. It's a partnership without trust as Ridley is also asked if Aidan is cracked.

It's an intriguing new take on an old police procedural. I can certainly see an American show taking elements from this show. David Sutcliffe is a pretty good lead actor. Stefanie von Pfetten gives the show balance but sadly she doesn't return for the second season. The producers probably hoped to be picked up in America but that didn't take off. It was going downhill in the second season anyways.

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.