Flashpoint: The Element Of Surprise
By fred | July 25, 2008
(S01E03) It wasn’t the original plan, but due to last-minutes changes that’s the way it went down : A new episode of Flashpoint aired on Thursday, instead of a new Swingtown sent back to Friday nights. And this might be a good thing for CBS, because the show is actually pretty good. I wasn’t particularly impressed by the pilot, and every single episode - including this one - has its flaws, but it’s a very strong show.
Of course, it’s kind of yet another cop-drama, sure, but that doesn’t mean it has to be bad. Plus, unlike all the CSI’s out there, we’re not following cops trying to solve a murder, things are different here, every week there’s a new situation, and so far it’s always been handled very well and I do like it a lot.
Case in point, this was another very strong episode.
Seems that’s how the show will work all the time : we open right in the middle of the action, during a few seconds we get a quick idea of what’s going on, before heading back a few hours back or so, to see how we got there in the first place. The show was supposed to be open, as the team could handle every kind of situation, and Toronto or Canada in general isn’t really known for having lots of guns in the streets, yet so far we’ve always have to deal with some kind of hostage situation, and each time a gun was involved.
Not that it’s really a complaint, but in the press release rescuing hostages was only one of the many things they do, like bust gangs, defuse bombs, or talk down suicidal teens for instance. Yet, so far, it’s always been some guy pointing a gun at someone else, one way or another. Granted, here things started on a completely different foot, it wasn’t supposed to be such a thing : they were coming in to bust a dealer, who was meant to be alone at his place with the dope.
But, a young kid was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and got in the middle of everything. Next thing you know, there’s a gun to his head and a police officer under cover bleeding by his side. Also, they lost the element of surprise (and we move into another hostage situation). Once again, it’s not about kicking in the door and shooting at everything that moves, we’re shown how they have to be able not to rush into a situation, to take everything into account and to stay calm, because even when one of them is down, you don’t just act on impulse.
Well, except for the new kid, of course. Just as last week he’s all about shooting everyone, killing whoever is here, they shouldn’t be there anyways, let’s kill people. And just as last week, his introduction continues to go through all the usual ways : he’s thought not to be trustworthy, but if in fact he did kill one of his crew one time during the war, it wasn’t his fault, because really, he’s a good kid. Snores.
That part I could do without, but luckily it doesn’t take much time so it’s all good. I was a little troubled by the undercover cop and how late he went after the kid. Sure, maybe he didn’t recognized him right away, but given the neighborhood, who lived in that place, and what was going in happen, didn’t he really looked out of place anyway ? Shouldn’t he have talked to him just to waste a couple of minutes, aka the time he knew was going to be needed by the others to come in and arrest the dealer ?
But I guess it’s not really a big deal, plus we didn’t have a show then so… Again a strong episode, and I especially liked that in the end the kid died, because I’m just so sick of the usual crappy ending that one like this just feels right. The more I watch this new show and the more I like it. Might be helping that there isn’t much choice these days, but still, so far so good.
Posted in Reviews
Shows: Flashpoint
