the pilot of The Bridge

[pellucid]

I really am on hiatus. But...

A couple of weeks ago I commented that I felt incapable of watching Aaron Douglas's new show. But for whatever reason, I found myself sitting down in front of the television with my dinner right as the pilot began to air (in the Maritimes, the feed of which I get; here it's an hour later and should just be finishing

Comments

[pellucid]

I admit I've only seen about the first 3 or 4 episodes of Flashpoint. I quite liked the pilot, as I recall, but then was frustrated when the subsequent episodes felt very formulaic and not particularly character-focused (when what I loved about the pilot was the fact that the case was resolved early in the episode, and the rest was about the fallout). I never really intended to stop watching--it's not like I thought it was bad or anything--but it didn't hold my attention, so I sort of got out of the habit. But I think it was that falling back on formula, combined with what I remember as a lack of geographical specificity, combined with the fact that everyone was very white, that made it feel more American to me.

Despite my frustration with the end of The Bridge, I can report that CTV's promos didn't do it justice. I think the show is aiming for "gritty" rather than "melodramatic," and I won't say that it has hit that note completely successfully, but the balance is much more favourable than the promos make it out to be. At least in the pilot, the dramatic tension was fairly well-earned, though I hope as the show goes on (even though I'm not sure I'll watch it) that they flesh out and complicate the villains a bit more--that seemed to be the major weakness of the premise.