Crossing Lines

I absolutely love this show. I love that it takes place in Europe with team members from different countries who speak languages other than English. I always love Donald Sutherland and hope that his presence in the series can be increased. I was a bit disappointed at hearing everything in English. As an American living in Europe I hear different languages all the time. However, for example, when a German person speaks with a German person, they do not speak in English. I know that Americans are not accustomed to reading sub-titles, but I would give this series a 10 if this had happened. It's an NBC production. Perhaps if it were a cable production, the extra time and expense for subtitling and speaking in like languages would have been permitted. Still, I love the show. Hoping for more of the same.

Crossing Lines is a smartly written, cleverly acted and well produced drama about an international crime fighting unit that investigates multi-national (hence the name: Crossing the "boundary" lines of EC countries) high end and highly sophisticated crimes. The characters are intriguing yet follow similar patterns found in shows like CSI and Criminal Minds: aloof male leader (king archetype), warrior, princess and magician (computer genius) archetype as well.

The show's writers and producers have created some interesting twists in the first several episodes in terms of the main character's back stories and developing relationships with in the ICC unit. In addition, the crimes themselves are fresh and do not follow typical "clean all wrapped up nicely endings" often associated with other high end crime dramas on television.

The dialog is smart and treats the audience as viewers with a brain and soul in that there is plenty of passion and cognitive material to digest in each episode.

The writer's plot twists are risky and make watching the show intense since you are never quit sure where the producers will take the characters and story lines.

I LOVED Crossing Lines, right up until season 3. Half the cast left, new writers were brought on and the show went from being intelligent, fascinating and intense to just another blase version of Law and Order. Elizabeth Mitchell brings the whole show down several levels. She looks ridiculous next to the better actors from seasons 1-2 who now play smaller rolls. The writers make the actors explain everything to the audience, and repeat everything multiple times which kills any flow or dynamic the characters might have. The original actors try so hard to keep the magic of the previous seasons, but the writers don't leave any room for that.

Overall, I'd highly recommend watching seasons 1-2, but do yourself a favor and stop there. Season 3 will only disappoint.

Crossing Lines follows the cases of a special crime solving task force of police officers from all over the EU on loan to the ICC who specialize in cross boarder crimes in the EU. The show not only follows the cases but also the personal lives and inner turmoil of our group of characters.

Crossing Lines at first glance may seem like "just another" police procedural, but thanks to some solid acting and writing it manages to elevate itself and stand out from the crowded field. Former NYPD officer Carl Hickman played character actor William Fictner serves as an anchor for the team with his concealed inner pain from a case left unresolved serving as a great springboard for character scenes. The show also has other well developed characters such as Marc Lavoine's Louis Daniel, Tom Wlaschiha's Sebastian Berger, and Donald Southerlands' Mikael Dorn. Every character serves a purpose and thanks to its longer running time in comparison to American police procedural we learn a lot more about the characters.

And then season 3 happened. Not that season 3 was bad by any stretch, but the fact it cast away much of the cast with the exception Wlaschiha and Sutherland left me personally with a lack of investment as 70% of the team was comprised of characters who I didn't know and had no investment in.

Crossing Lines is an above average police procedural with some intriguing cases and good characters, I only wish they'd had better retention for their cast.

The first two season of this show are amazing. Brilliant writing, fantastic acting and interesting story lines. The formula is similar to your Law and Order or NCIS type shows, but the European setting adds an extra element. Every episode is set in a different country, instead of your usual New York or LA story lines. The cast are truly diverse, with German, French, Dutch main characters. Several episodes have you on the edge of your seat, with some very exciting and dramatic events.

Then season three happened. Suddenly half the cast was gone...including the main character Hickman! There had been a few story arcs in the second season that are just forgotten. What happened with Ava's search for her father, did Hickman end up with Amanda (she was such a great character who deserved more screen time) and the story lines of the other major characters such as Tommy's ongoing family problems. Really disappointing to have such a good show turned into an entirely new series. 10/10 for the first two seasons, forget the third.