19-2

I LOVE 19-2 and I'm bummed that the fourth season is the final season. I wish it would go on forever. There is a special quality to this show that is rarer than rare, as if all concerned are concerned with just doing their jobs and keeping it real, because real is the operative element here. I am going to watch this series again, it's that good! The only series I've watched twice are The Sopranos, when I got a big screen TV, and Prime Suspect, which is amazing. Come to think of it, it may be time to re-watch a few more of Lynda LaPlante's series. Acorn TV has them, as they have 19-2. TV is ten times better than movies now. We're all very lucky.

Commencing season 4 via Crave TV, I've really been enjoying this series. I think the casting is superlative, acting excellent and most of the writing is very credible, I'm less inclined to nit-pick this series than many I've watched, especially Canadian ones. I've a Quebecois friend who tells me the French series on which this is based was much stronger. If true, the Francophone original must have been really special. I'm going to be watching for a change in tone in this final season with its switch to CTV from Bravo. Already, in the first episode I think I might be seeing a bit of a change in tone, perhaps less credible action on the part of at least one of the characters, and one improbable action event. That might reflect my prejudices about these networks, though. I miss Bravo network which we used to get before the cable service for our building was changed to a different provider. Another series that took a distinct nosedive switching to another network from its Bravo originator is Inspector Murdoch. Under CBC's watch the whole thing seemed to change emphasis to splashy production values and writing stereotypes. The main character Murdoch is awfully prettified.

This show seriously deserves the great reviews, a brilliant show with incredible actors who give outstanding performances all through the series. This show surprised me on a grand scale, with impeccable story lines and even better executed characters. The character development throughout the show keeps you second guessing everything you are ever told about the shows' protagonists and have you yearning for more. The portrayal of street life is what I imagine it to be like in the real world. 19-2 has amazing twists and turns, it shows that even the black and white cases have some grey areas. The cinematography within the episodes themselves is beautiful and seriously warrants recognition. Each and every episode tackles a fresh angle and perspective on a story which is both realistic and completely fictional, through the balance is not perfect, it does come close.

OK I have read the other reviews and agree that this show can be depressing. I'm not even sure why I started to watch this but I then discovered each of the characters had their own crosses to bear, whether self-inflicted or through a series of circumstances and events, they all fight the daily fight of life, and the fight to stay alive in their jobs, stay faithful to friends and just do the right thing. The storyline makes this really hard and that's what makes this show so compelling. The actors are good, the script more realistic than most other police shows because people in real life have personal problems and jobs to cope with at the same time. I know this is set in Monteal and was a show in french first but my french is so rusty I would have given up after a few minutes, so, thank you for letting us poor English speakers into the world of 19-2.

I've never seen the original french series, so I can't speak to how it compares to that, but I can say that it holds up on it's own as a great drama series.

The show is not action based in the way that you might expect from a show about a police squad. Sure there is a fair amount of action, fights and gun play, but that's not where the shows strength is. Instead the show is about the characters and the drama between them. This is not typical episodic TV where the characters face a new challenge at the beginning of every episode, and then resolve it by the end of the episode so everything is back to being the same. In 19-2 the storyline stretches across multiple episodes. If you start watching the series he middle of the season it will take you a few episodes to get up to speed, probably a good idea to watch the earlier episodes online first.

The cast of 19-2 is fantastic and the story unfolds more like a feature film than TV.

if you're looking for a shoot 'em up action show then there are other shows you might like better, but I can easily recommend 19-2 to anyone looking for a deeper drama series.