Intelligence season 2
I came across a nice fansite that covers Da Vinci's Inquest/City Hall and Intelligence. Mostly useful for plot synopses and reviews. There was the strange sight today of seeing the "Intelligence" dvds in the B&N filed in the British TV section. Um, no, they're Canadian. There is a difference. Maybe they're confused because they're published by Acorn Media? Acorn apparently is not releasing the rest of Da Vinci's Inquest on dvd due to poor sales, which is a shame. There's an online petition to get them to reconsider.
In a surprising twist, my local library has acquired both seasons of "Intelligence", so I borrowed both of the season two dvds and have been steadily getting through the episodes. The players shifted around a little this time around. Some people have new jobs, some people are shuffled off stage and others have appearing to take their place.
The series is rife with flawed as hell but fascinating characters. It's a nice change to see a woman in charge who isn't undercut at every juncture around her. Mary's gender (or race) really don't seem to matter so much. Oddly Matt Frewer's character is less creepy in this season with his new responsibilities. Eugene Lipinski, who played the shifty Da Vinci's City Hall guy I couldn't decide whether to trust or not, is infinitely more creepy, especially how he interacts with Katarina's new girl Juliana. When informed that he's just as bad as the people taking advantage of her, he retorts: "You should have thought of that before coming to us."
The back half of the season focuses strongly on the Americans vs Canadians, Us vs Them, both with the Blackmire storyline and the drug war. The Americans are very "Buckaroo" to quote "Hunt for Red October", which is annoying, but understandable. While the Canadians seems to prefer solving things with words and deals, Americans like guns and bloodshed to back them up. It's simplifying things a lot, but the writing definitely shows a difference in the way they approach things.
Knowing this was the end of the series ratcheted up the tension in those last episodes. Haddock did a very good job of showing something was coming and big time. The actual ending left me strangely cold. There is a tendency these days to do a "shocker" of a ending for series, whether tv or comics or whatever. It's become such a cliche I breathe a sigh of relief when a favorite character survives their series. I saw this so-called ending coming a mile away and even well done, I wound up feeling "eh" over the whole thing.
Alas my divine Russian madam Katarina only appears in a few episodes this season. She reminds me of an older Natasha Romanoff in a way, but maybe that's the red hair talking. Instead Juliana played Pascale Hutton takes center stage as the well placed call girl. She's very much the opportunist but also strangely vulnerable. She could be frustrating at times.
My new favorite is Darcy Laurie who plays Bob Tremblay. He's Jimmy's muscle/bodyguard/watcher. He gives off a very quiet competent style I love. He just gets it done. No showmanship, no bragging, just makes the right calls and the right decisions. I approve.
I also approve of Rose, the Chinese-Canadian CSIS agent. She most works in the wire room and does analysis work. Again not very flashy but she gets results.
Can you sense a theme with me? Competence porn is indeed a kink of mine. I love seeing people who do their jobs well. If they enjoy their jobs, hey, that's bonus. Remember my frustration with the ending? It hinges on that competence falling apart somewhat, which bugs me.
Other new characters don't fare nearly as well. As much as I loathed Camille Sullivan as the paranoid shrill ex-wife Francine (and Frankie really returns to form halfway through the season), she's nothing compared to new girl Lorna. The actress Leela Savasta has popped up in a bunch of genre shows, including Atlantis, Eureka and Battlestar Galactica. She gives off an off-putting vibe that reminds me of Summer Glau. It's another case where I've liked the actress in previous things and absolutely hated her in this. I don't get the sense Lorna is supposed to be terribly sympathetic either.
There are also a couple of old friends popping up from Stargate Atlantis/Da Vinci's Inquest days. Gerard Plunkett who played Da Vinci's boss Bob Kelly plays a charming Irish banker. Craig Veroni plays a police constable yet again. Dean Marshall popped up in a couple of episodes as a DEA contact in a nice suit and very very short hair. I think Dean had longer hair playing a Stargate marine. Patrick Gallagher, who played a Internal Affairs cop in the later seasons of Da Vinci, pops up as an American drug connection.
One thing I dislike though is the quality of the special features. The final dvd includes a bunch of talks with Chris Haddock, but they feel very disjointed, like someone turned on the camera and said talk. They sounded like they'd been filmed when the season was first starting to be filmed, so maybe they didn't want to reveal too much. But they didn't feel like they added anything to my knowledge of "Intelligence" and its world.
If nothing else, finishing off "Intelligence" will free up Netflix for other things, like a Project Runway rewatch. I never saw the first two seasons and the L.A. is frankly boring me in places (and irritating me in others), so I'm revisiting some of the other seasons. If I hear one more judge say being too wearable is a bad thing, I'm going to hurt someone. Marvel's "Models Inc" and Project Runway are combining to give me all kinds of DC/Marvel crossover ideas. Better that than some of the other alternatives...
In a surprising twist, my local library has acquired both seasons of "Intelligence", so I borrowed both of the season two dvds and have been steadily getting through the episodes. The players shifted around a little this time around. Some people have new jobs, some people are shuffled off stage and others have appearing to take their place.
The series is rife with flawed as hell but fascinating characters. It's a nice change to see a woman in charge who isn't undercut at every juncture around her. Mary's gender (or race) really don't seem to matter so much. Oddly Matt Frewer's character is less creepy in this season with his new responsibilities. Eugene Lipinski, who played the shifty Da Vinci's City Hall guy I couldn't decide whether to trust or not, is infinitely more creepy, especially how he interacts with Katarina's new girl Juliana. When informed that he's just as bad as the people taking advantage of her, he retorts: "You should have thought of that before coming to us."
The back half of the season focuses strongly on the Americans vs Canadians, Us vs Them, both with the Blackmire storyline and the drug war. The Americans are very "Buckaroo" to quote "Hunt for Red October", which is annoying, but understandable. While the Canadians seems to prefer solving things with words and deals, Americans like guns and bloodshed to back them up. It's simplifying things a lot, but the writing definitely shows a difference in the way they approach things.
Knowing this was the end of the series ratcheted up the tension in those last episodes. Haddock did a very good job of showing something was coming and big time. The actual ending left me strangely cold. There is a tendency these days to do a "shocker" of a ending for series, whether tv or comics or whatever. It's become such a cliche I breathe a sigh of relief when a favorite character survives their series. I saw this so-called ending coming a mile away and even well done, I wound up feeling "eh" over the whole thing.
Alas my divine Russian madam Katarina only appears in a few episodes this season. She reminds me of an older Natasha Romanoff in a way, but maybe that's the red hair talking. Instead Juliana played Pascale Hutton takes center stage as the well placed call girl. She's very much the opportunist but also strangely vulnerable. She could be frustrating at times.
My new favorite is Darcy Laurie who plays Bob Tremblay. He's Jimmy's muscle/bodyguard/watcher. He gives off a very quiet competent style I love. He just gets it done. No showmanship, no bragging, just makes the right calls and the right decisions. I approve.
I also approve of Rose, the Chinese-Canadian CSIS agent. She most works in the wire room and does analysis work. Again not very flashy but she gets results.
Can you sense a theme with me? Competence porn is indeed a kink of mine. I love seeing people who do their jobs well. If they enjoy their jobs, hey, that's bonus. Remember my frustration with the ending? It hinges on that competence falling apart somewhat, which bugs me.
Other new characters don't fare nearly as well. As much as I loathed Camille Sullivan as the paranoid shrill ex-wife Francine (and Frankie really returns to form halfway through the season), she's nothing compared to new girl Lorna. The actress Leela Savasta has popped up in a bunch of genre shows, including Atlantis, Eureka and Battlestar Galactica. She gives off an off-putting vibe that reminds me of Summer Glau. It's another case where I've liked the actress in previous things and absolutely hated her in this. I don't get the sense Lorna is supposed to be terribly sympathetic either.
There are also a couple of old friends popping up from Stargate Atlantis/Da Vinci's Inquest days. Gerard Plunkett who played Da Vinci's boss Bob Kelly plays a charming Irish banker. Craig Veroni plays a police constable yet again. Dean Marshall popped up in a couple of episodes as a DEA contact in a nice suit and very very short hair. I think Dean had longer hair playing a Stargate marine. Patrick Gallagher, who played a Internal Affairs cop in the later seasons of Da Vinci, pops up as an American drug connection.
One thing I dislike though is the quality of the special features. The final dvd includes a bunch of talks with Chris Haddock, but they feel very disjointed, like someone turned on the camera and said talk. They sounded like they'd been filmed when the season was first starting to be filmed, so maybe they didn't want to reveal too much. But they didn't feel like they added anything to my knowledge of "Intelligence" and its world.
If nothing else, finishing off "Intelligence" will free up Netflix for other things, like a Project Runway rewatch. I never saw the first two seasons and the L.A. is frankly boring me in places (and irritating me in others), so I'm revisiting some of the other seasons. If I hear one more judge say being too wearable is a bad thing, I'm going to hurt someone. Marvel's "Models Inc" and Project Runway are combining to give me all kinds of DC/Marvel crossover ideas. Better that than some of the other alternatives...