How much do I love Flashpoint?
This great series isn’t getting the attention it deserves because it wasn’t made by a big US network. It’s made by CTV in Canada, and broadcast on CBS in the US.
Here you’ll find it on Universal Channel on Wednesday nights. I watched one episode then promptly ordered the box sets (series 1 + 2) and am now getting sucked deeper into the series.
It’s a really engaging cop drama series with a twist. We follow Team 1 of the Special Response Unit: think SWAT, but with negotiation and intuition as the first option and focus. (based on the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force)
What it does really well is up your adrenalin with dramatic action: running, guns, rapelling, threatened violence (the flashpoint being the critical moment) and then really gets interesting when the emotional spin, the negotiation, the tactics to take the subject down with minimal violence – all come together. It’s exciting yet I’ve also had tears in my eyes. That’s what I call good episodic television!
Enrico Colantoni as Sgt Greg Parker, Hugh Dillon as chief sniper Ed Lane
Enrico Colantoni as Sergeant Greg Parker is the chief negotiator. His job is to try to talk the situation out of a violent ending. Behind the scenes, the team is getting ready to execute a plan to end the situation with force. It’s Greg who calls it, who signals when there is no alternative but to kill the subject when negotiations have failed.
It’s tense, it’s exciting, and with really good storylines and a great ensemble cast: exceptions being Enrico Colantoni who is just fabulous in this role, and the few pretty actors who contribute little except decoration. It’s pretty hot already (they wear ‘cool pants’ and carry great gear. Plus they get to roar around in big black SUVs, big shiny guns and black kevlar vests)
But if it was a US production there’d be a lot more pretty and a lot less substance; if it was a UK production there’d be tons of substance and short on pretty ; )Â This is actually a great compromise!
One very memorable episode is no 2 in series 1: where a father whose daughter is waiting for a heart transplant flips out when the heart is assigned to someone else. He grabs a gun, and demands the heart go to his daughter. So: the clock is ticking as the heart is dying…can Greg talk him down? What’s the alternative plan to end the scenario should Greg fail? Who should get the heart? The young girl or the old guy?
There’s a third series being aired in Canada now, and Universal is airing series 2 currently.
Here’s the trailer: sorry, I couldn’t find a better quality vid:Â see what I mean about not enough buzz?
