TV Times - Flashpoint

Flashpoint, the terrific series about the members of a big city SWAT team ended it's five year run this week and it was a terrific two-parter that showed all the members doing what they do best - protecting and serving the fine citizens of Toronto. They proudly say it's Toronto and not just some unnamed American city.  Many of the city's most famous landmarks often are the setting of the stories. Despite all the violence in the series, the city itself comes off as a safe place to live and work.

This is also a Canadian production with Canadian actors and that always plays well in the countries it is shown in. Over 150 territories are licensed to air the program. It never really caught any traction in the US which surprised me. It's as good as any cop drama out there if you enjoy that kind of intense storytelling.

The very definition of Canadian identity is that it is still too insecure to be defined, the late, great cultural critic Jay Scott wrote in the mid-1980s. But Flashpoint transcended the notion of cultural definition. It told universal stories that could be understood anywhere, but it never strayed from its Canadian roots.

I started watching it because Amy-Jo Johnson, the much beloved one time Pink Power Ranger was one of the stars but I stayed every week because of how compelling the stories were. Like all the best cop shows, the lives of the members of the team were always front and center because there is no separating real life troubles from the job of policing. Everything and everyone is connected and that is often the only way that dangerous situations can be dealt with.

In its five seasons and 72 episodes to date, Flashpoint never went out of its way to wave the flag, and yet there was something uniquely Canadian about the way calm negotiation, empathy and intuition played a role in its more memorable episodes. Not every hostage standoff has to result in gunfire. An inconvenient truth for many TV crime producers is that a police officer can go through his or her entire career without once drawing their sidearm.

Smart writing, terrific action and acting all at up to a winner in my books. Enrico Colantoni (of Just Shoot Me and Veronica Mars fame) is very sympathetic as Greg the team leader who maybe feels too much with the always great Hugh Dillon as his 'Number One', who sometimes doesn't want to feel anything at all. You really grow to care about each character.

The age we live in allows us to watch television in ways we could never have even twenty years ago. Some shows like Lost and The Shield completely passed me by on their initial runs. I was very happy to catch up on them after all the seasons had completed or been nearly complete. For me it was a very satisfying way to enjoy some of the best stuff there has ever been on TV. Flashpoint has that same quality for me and I think you will enjoy the series also if you are looking for something fresh and exciting to add to your viewing schedule.

I am always glad to cheer for a cool Canadian program. We can rightfully be criticized for not always creating the best television in the world but on those rare occasions when we get it right, we hit the ball out of the park.

The unabashed genius of Flashpoint was in proving that Canadians could outdo the Americans in making purely pyrotechnic television.

There were enough explosions and quick edits combined with a hardcore soundtrack to seem — perhaps disconcertingly for some — a little more Michael Bay than any Canadian show had a right to be.

The Littlest Hobo it was not.

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/article/1298447--flashpoint-finale-out-with-a-bang