Flashpoint #203: "Haunting the Barn"
Jan. 23rd, 2009 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wraithfodderWow, that episode of Flashpoint just... well, it rocked! Rest of review, 'cuz no doubt it will have some spoilers, under the cut.
Photo snurched from CBS' site..
Anyway, like I said before, this episode was great! While Stargate Atlantis is still my favorite show, despite its untimely demise. I'm just a sucker for scifi shows with a buddy theme. But now, Flashpoint is up there in the favorites. Hmm, in fact, this is really the only show that I go "gotta sit down and watch live." Oddly enough, it's in the same time slot SGA held untl a couple weeks ago.
What I particularly liked about this episode is the emotional depths that the writers dug into,especially when it came to Ed Lane who is, yeah, my favorite character This is the kind of stuff that I'd wanted to see on Stargate Atlantis. I mean you've got Sheppard, who went through some pretty hairy stuff, and there's no emotional fallout. Here, we get to see the fallout and Ed gets to see a ghost-of-Christmas-future type scenario of HIS future if he doesn't do something. It took me a little while to figure out, who is playing Danny, until it clicked that it was Ron Lea, who I remember more from his role on "War of the Worlds" way back when (the TV show, not the Tom Cruise flop) as the leader of some place called the Creche (I remember this, but not where I put the car keys)..
Ah, I'm once again in love with made-in-Canada products. The last one CBS picked up - Due South - was great, and this one looks like it will fall into the same vein (only grittier). I'm recognizing folks I'd seen on Due South on this series now in guest star roles, and because I hadn't really looked at publicity material on Flashpoint, it clicked that David Paetkau (who plays Sam) was the rocker type who was the first to die horribly in Final Destination 2 (which I think was the best of the bunch).
Just hoping this comes out on DVD one day. Virtually all the shows from Canada that I loved (Adderly, Night Heat) aren't available on DVD or tape.
Photo snurched from CBS' site..
Anyway, like I said before, this episode was great! While Stargate Atlantis is still my favorite show, despite its untimely demise. I'm just a sucker for scifi shows with a buddy theme. But now, Flashpoint is up there in the favorites. Hmm, in fact, this is really the only show that I go "gotta sit down and watch live." Oddly enough, it's in the same time slot SGA held untl a couple weeks ago.
What I particularly liked about this episode is the emotional depths that the writers dug into,especially when it came to Ed Lane who is, yeah, my favorite character This is the kind of stuff that I'd wanted to see on Stargate Atlantis. I mean you've got Sheppard, who went through some pretty hairy stuff, and there's no emotional fallout. Here, we get to see the fallout and Ed gets to see a ghost-of-Christmas-future type scenario of HIS future if he doesn't do something. It took me a little while to figure out, who is playing Danny, until it clicked that it was Ron Lea, who I remember more from his role on "War of the Worlds" way back when (the TV show, not the Tom Cruise flop) as the leader of some place called the Creche (I remember this, but not where I put the car keys)..
Ah, I'm once again in love with made-in-Canada products. The last one CBS picked up - Due South - was great, and this one looks like it will fall into the same vein (only grittier). I'm recognizing folks I'd seen on Due South on this series now in guest star roles, and because I hadn't really looked at publicity material on Flashpoint, it clicked that David Paetkau (who plays Sam) was the rocker type who was the first to die horribly in Final Destination 2 (which I think was the best of the bunch).
Just hoping this comes out on DVD one day. Virtually all the shows from Canada that I loved (Adderly, Night Heat) aren't available on DVD or tape.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 03:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 03:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 04:05 am (UTC)The only way to really draw the viewer in is to make them care about these guest characters. It's not enough to love the mains and know a lot about them. We have to be, at the very least, interested in the stories of the characters we've never seen before and will never see again.
Flashpoint does this really well, and I think it did it magnificently in this episode as well. Ed very nearly killed me at the end when he talked Daniel down by exposing his own inner turmoil. Great stuff.
And it's Canadian. So...you know...that's awesome!
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 04:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 04:21 am (UTC)I don't know if I'm expressing this in any understandable manner, but he's not just the moral center of the show, he's what the show comes back to stay grounded or to gain perspective. When a situation escalates or another character losing control, Greg brings it back. Which is why I find the times when his character is lost to be not necessarily the most dramatic, but definitely some of the most startling. What happens to everyone else if something happens to Greg?
Aaaaaaaaaaaand...I've officially thought too much about this.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 04:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 03:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 05:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 05:13 am (UTC)I hope we get to see other character-focused episodes later on. We've gotten some taste of that, but some of the characters still need some more love.
I don't really want the storylines to become oriented on their personal lives though. I'd rather the focus stay on the police storyline and keep the personal stuff on the side as the things that keep them grounded.
I like the personal details, don't get me wrong, but too many shows get hyperfocused on it and forget the big picture. Especially if there's ship involved. There are more shows than I can count that have fallen into that trap.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 04:56 pm (UTC)[zipping lips on next week's Sam/Jules stuff] Though I will say at least this time around with shipping co-workers, there's talk of what will happen if they're caught.
Jules seems to be more worried about it, because she knows she'll probably catch the most heat for it, while Sam seems oblivious to potential fall out.
He doesn't seem to think anything bad will come of it, but is that the truth/wishful thinking or just a bit of male priveledge because he's never had to face the obstacles that Jules has? That's more realistic than most shows would ever dare show.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 08:41 pm (UTC)Ah, poor Sam. He's a young male, so doesn't think quite as much as women, who do tend to think of the consequences more.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 06:07 pm (UTC)They are doing the emotional fall out right. I love how Ed will go to his wife and/or son at the end of a hard day.
As for the crossover guests, in the first ep of s2, the lady who gets the necklace bomb and the Latin American reporter were both on ReGenesis together, so I was like, "Hey, I know them!"
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 11:29 pm (UTC)Which, I was like, "This is a Canadian show. Shouldn't you go after your home market first?"
Because, ordering it from amazon.ca would mean it would still be in the right region coding for us US based bodies. :p
no subject
Date: 2009-01-25 12:18 am (UTC)Jessica Steen on Flashpoint
Date: 2009-01-28 04:21 pm (UTC)Re: Jessica Steen on Flashpoint
Date: 2009-01-29 01:27 am (UTC)watch Flash Point
Date: 2010-12-30 12:04 pm (UTC)