Cracked

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.

I have just started watching the show today, and I have to say, it's a new thing. The show has the suspense and also the drama. I was literally holding on to my pillow as I watched this show, trying not to miss even the tinniest details. This show doesn't contain a lot of action, although enough action for a Wednesday night. The choice of the actors and actresses is amazing, and the cast does a great job following the role of each character. Although,I was just frustrated by the commercials, because I just couldn't wait to continue watching! Really, a must watch. This new series defiantly has me hooked. CBC @9:00 pm every Wednesday!

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 ;)

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.