Intelligence

I was amazed by the first season of Intelligence, and am looking forward to the second season in a few weeks.

The ambiguity of the characters has always been a big draw for me: a likable main character is a major drug dealer, a police informant, and a dad going through a messy divorce who occasionally remembers what he saw in his soon-to-be-ex-wife. His biggest business issue is that he can't launder money fast enough to keep up with his sales...

Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? Just what does it mean to be good, anyway? And what does it mean to be bad? If you like these sorts of questions, you will like Intelligence. If you like your drama clear-cut, you won't.

I demand an explanation. This show is a winner in every way. A veritable needle in the haystack. Superb character development, convincingly acted, and plausible story lines.I was stunned when I discovered it was cancelled. Such a waste of cinematic acumen. Maybe it got a little too close to the truth.

I will admit that I initially began to watch Intelligence because it starred Ian Tracey but even Tracey wouldn't be able to keep me watching if I didn't like the show. And I haven't missed an episode yet.

Jimmy Reardon (Tracey) is loyal to his family and long time friends while battling an ex-wife for custody of his daughter and business competitors for control of his business. He is hard working man and a loving father. He just happens to be in a different business.

The show is full of twists and turns. I like the way people have ulterior motives - just like in real life. You never who is going to do what next. Or where their actions are going to lead.

Chris Haddock has again served us with an intriguing drama. Even though I am Canadian, it matters less to me that this is Canadian and more that it is a great show.

From the literally up-in-the-air first scene to the rueful end-of-the-day drink between reluctant allies, smuggler Jimmy Reardon (Ian Tracey) and his top-cop handler Mary Spalding (Klea Scott), in the series opener, this show moves with startling speed. Those who found last year's Da Vinci City Hall and the Intelligence pilot off-putting in their complexity should enjoy the series anyway. The pilot juggled maybe too many balls and sometimes felt jagged as a result. The show does not have that problem. It goes down smooth as Irish whisky.

The look is cool and different, with a sinuous style--think Miami Vice in 21st century Vancouver. Tracey is fascinating as the conflicted, but ultimately good-hearted, Jimmy. Talk about a guy trapped in a pit full of snakes. Scott is similarly fine as the professionally and personally beleaguered Mary. If you've been missing Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect, you'll quickly get hooked on Mary's tough, no-nonsense style. The fact that she's not your usual little-girl-lost blonde we seem to get in every cop show these days certainly doesn't hurt. It's really nice to get a modern noir story with protagonists you actually like. Jimmy and Mary, at least so far, are the good guys. It's just that they're very unusual good guys.

This is the kind of show that could claim a wide range of audience if it can get half a chance against the heavy-hitters on Tuesday night. Let's hope.

I came across this old favourite of mine on late night TV today and once again found it a wonderful change from the usual drivel. The plots are well written and character driven; the writer Chris Haddock assumes that viewers have intelligence themselves and writes to entertain adults, not juveniles. I had not intended to stay up so late but could not help myself after just a few minutes into the episode. The acting is excellent and understated and it is that plus the brilliantly complex story lines which drive the show, not bombs, guns and fighting that are so common in most shows. Having said that, when there is action but it is used to drive the plot line, not hide the fact that there isn't one.

It has always puzzled me why this sort of show along with others such as The Border are cancelled prematurely while so much lesser crud survives. Maybe they are just too real and to the point ? Meanwhile Clint Eastwood seems to have found Haddock and uses him to make great movies, so maybe this is more of our Canadian inferiority complex once again asserting itself ? Like Joni Mitchell said "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til its gone....."