Prior to becoming a television critic and owner of TV, Eh?, Greg David was a critic for TV Guide Canada, the country's most trusted source for TV news. He has interviewed television actors, actresses and behind-the-scenes folks from hundreds of television series from Canada, the U.S. and internationally. He is a podcaster, public speaker, weekly radio guest and educator, and past member of the Television Critics Association.
Happy New Year, Murdoch Mysteries fans! I hope you all enjoyed the holidays—and celebrated by rewatching all three Murdoch TV-movies—and are ready for an awesome 2018.
An all-new episode of Murdoch Mysteries airs this coming Monday, and we think you’re going to love it. Here’s what the CBC has revealed, story-wise about “F.L.A.S.H.,” written by Paul Aitken and directed by Eleanore Lindo:
Murdoch investigates a man’s bizarre death, which may have been caused by a high-speed travel device.
And, as always, here are some other non-spoilery notes after we watched the episode.
Guess who guest-stars?
Anytime a Murdoch Mysteries storyline involves the word “device,” it’s a pretty safe bet that a certain inventor friend of William’s will be called upon. And yes, that’s the case this week. Kudos to everyone involved in set decoration and set building; they go above and beyond with their creations this week.
A double-dose of Margaret
Clearly, enough of us were good girls and boys last year because Margaret Brackenreid shows up. That’s two weeks in a row if you count Home for the Holidays.
Mon Dieu George!
If you’ve been paying attention—and I know you have—George is on a road trip this week with gal pal Nina Bloom. Bon voyage mes amis!
Code word: Lemniscate
This plays a major part in William and Julia’s storyline this week and it’s fantastic. And yes, I had to Google the word for spelling and meaning. Speaking of meanings, what F.L.A.S.H. stands for is unveiled 10 minutes into the broadcast.
Forget about catching a murderer. The real killers during the filming of Season 2 of Cardinal were the insects. As the title suggests, Cardinal: Blackfly Season—returning Thursday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV—was filmed during the spring in North Bay, Ont., and boasted a horrific number of flying things that chomped on stars Billy Campbell, Karine Vanasse, and the rest of the cast and crew.
“Mosquitoes were first,” Campbell said during a break in filming last summer. “Then we had the blackflies, then the shadflies, horse flies, deer flies … a hands-worth of horrifying things. The thing about blackflies is that they have an anaesthetic they put into you first, so you don’t feel them biting and you only find out later when you get home and take off your shirt and it starts itching. And it itches for days.”
With Sarah Dodd (Motive) showrunning Blackfly Season, the Cardinal franchise once again embraces Giles Blunt’s book series to tell its twisted tale. Where Season 1 set the table for viewers by introducing Det. John Cardinal (Campbell) and Det. Lise Delorme (Vanasse) and the world they inhabit, Season 2 offers plenty for viewers to feast on. The Nordic noir theme returns with the star addition to the cast once again Northern Ontario, ruggedly beautiful and buggy as all hell. It’s against that backdrop we’re introduced to Red (Alex Paxton-Beesley) a young woman who stumbles out of the forest bug-bitten and suffering from amnesia on Thursday. Who she is and what crime she witnessed is the focus of Season 2’s six episodes.
Karine Vanasse as Lise Delorme
Along for the drama are returning characters in Det. Jerry Commanda (Glen Gould), Catherine Cardinal (Deborah Hay), Staff Sergeant Noelle Dyson (Kristen Thomson), Cpl. Malcolm Musgrave (David Richmond Peck) and Kelly Cardinal (Alanna Bale). New faces in the fictional Algonquin Bay include Ray Northwind (Bruce Ramsay), Kevin Tait (Jonathan Keltz), Det. Alan Clegg (Kevin Hanchard), Scott Lasalle (Kris Holden-Ried) and Leon Rutkowsky (Dan Petronijevic).
We spoke to Campbell and Vanasse, who gave us some Season 2 scoop.
Aubrey Nealon was the showrunner in Season 1 of Cardinal. This season it’s Sarah Dodd. What’s it been like working with her?
Billy Campbell: I’d never had the pleasure of working with Sarah before and I have now. It was as smooth a transition as you can imagine. It was different people involved but the same quality of everything. Aubrey, as you know, did the whole first season himself and it nearly broke him. [Laughs.] Sarah had a few people with her and I think it was a much easier thing all the way around for that reason.
The book this season is based on is called Blackfly season and you filmed during blackfly season. What were the bugs like?
BC: Horrifying. Horrifying. Mosquitoes were first, then we had the blackflies, then the shadflies, horse flies, deer flies … a hands-worth of horrifying things. The thing about blackflies is that they have an anaesthetic they put into you first, so you don’t feel them biting and you only find out later when you get home and take off your shirt and it starts itching. And it itches for days. I slathered myself with mosquito repellant, the DEET-free stuff, and it worked like a charm until I got home and realized they’d gotten under my shirt and had burrowed into my hair and eaten into my scalp. I saw a horse fly down by the river during one day of shooting out of the corner of my eye and I thought it was a hummingbird. I looked and it was a fricking horse fly.
Karine Vanasse: The bugs are really present. I was just really glad I wasn’t bitten around my eyes. There was one scene where they had to film me from one side of my face because the other side was all swollen. The seasons are so well-explored in the books—the beauty of the area and the atmosphere is very heavy—it’s perfect for the heaviness of the story; the weight that Cardinal is carrying compared and contrasting with how lush the landscape is.
Alex Paxton-Beesley as “Red”
Where are we at when we catch up with John Cardinal?
BC: To me, the spine of the show is what’s happening with Cardinal and Delorme. And then, of course, there are the things to support that. The crime itself is almost incidental. It’s almost symbolic of the tortured inner life in a way. Where Cardinal is when we start the second season is, what I’ve figured out, is he really wants to quit. The first time we see him this season he’s lounging in the back of a motorboat on a lake with Catherine and he takes her to see a little cabin on the lake and says, ‘I can fix it up and I can quit.’ She says, ‘Pfft, you’re never going to quit.’ He really wants to be done and, at the same time, he’s afraid of being done because he has a wife who is sick and isn’t sure what he would do if he wasn’t doing this. As far as he and Delorme are concerned, they already feel a certain way about each other.
As far as he and Delorme are concerned, they already feel a certain way about each other. For me, it’s there, it’s just that he can’t even admit it to himself. There is an intimacy between them and I’m convinced a respect for each other as detectives. There is that running under the surface and the things that happen in the second season … Sarah and the gang did a wonderful job of interweaving what will happen in the third season into Season 2.
In Season 1, Lise had a boyfriend in Josh, who was not a character in the books. What about in Season 2? No Josh, right?
KV: Oh no. We see that she’s not really sad about that. What we get from the books is that Lisa really doesn’t have much of a social life. And, by having a boyfriend and then having him leave is just a confirmation that she doesn’t have much of a social life.
What’s her journey in Season 2?
KV: She shared a secret with Cardinal in Season 1 and he didn’t want to talk about it. So, where do you go from there? She still has that feeling he’s keeping something from her and she’s confused about how she’s feeling at her job and working with him. This season we see what it means for Lise to be affected by a case when it hits home. Not because you’re closely related to that person but because you care. That’s new to her.
Link: Caroline Dhavernas says Mary Kills People role has been a gemÂ
“It’s such a cool part for an actress to play. The tone is quite unique with drama, comedy, and suspense. I was ready for a role like that. The six episodes to me were kind of perfect. Six episodes to me were just a perfect combination of how to tell a story in a condensed way.†Continue reading.
From Melissa Girimonte of The Televixen:
Link: Caroline Dhavernas on crossing the line in Mary Kills People Season 2
“She’s bull-headed, that’s for sure. You sometimes see characters on TV or in film that really learn a lesson. Are we like that in life? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Sometimes it’s even more interesting to see someone evolving, but not evolving as we would like them to. Mary remains flawed.” Continue reading.
When we last left Mary Harris (Caroline Dhavernas), her world was in disarray. She’d been investigated by undercover cop Ben Wesley (Jay Ryan), who sought to arrest her for performing illegal assisted suicides. Her daughter, Jess (Abigail Winter), suspected Mary was leading a double life, putting a strain on their relationship. And Des Bennett (Richard Short) had gone to prison after taking the fall for Mary. So, what’s in store for Mary in Season 2 of Mary Kills People?
“The stakes are even higher,” Dhavernas told us during a recent set visit. Created by Tara Armstrong and executive-produced by Armstrong, Tassie Cameron and Amy Cameron, Mary Kills People returns Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Global with Mary unable to stop killing and coming in contact with new characters. Mary is seeking a steady supply of pentobarbital while attempting to keep her day job as an ER doctor intact. Making that difficult is Olivia Bloom (Rachelle Lefevre), a mysterious woman tied to someone from Mary’s past.
We spoke to Caroline Dhavernas about what fans can expect in the series’ sophomore season.
I understand there is a bit of a time jump between Season 1 and Season 2. When we catch up with Des and Mary, he is getting out of prison. How much time has gone by?
Caroline Dhavernas: It’s eight or nine months. He’s been a good inmate, so he’s out early.
Des went to prison for Mary. Where does this leave their relationship?
It’s a big responsibility and for Mary, it’s a big weight on her shoulders. But, as you can imagine, she’s been doing her thing on her own while he was away and taking a liking to it. In the first season, we explored very grey zones, and that’s even more so in the second season. Mary has always been very open-minded about who deserves to die, but now she takes that to another level and Des and Mary will come into disagreements because of that.
I like it when Des and Mary don’t always see eye to eye.
It’s a great relationship. I don’t think that we see it often on TV; a man and a woman who are really great friends but there is no romance happening, ever. We’re very proud that it hasn’t gone that way.
At the end of Season 1, Nicole wanted in on Mary’s business. Does that occur in Season 2?
She does try for that to happen. Of course, they’re very bonded with what they did to their mother, so it’s an interesting avenue for them to take.
There is a lot of dark and light to Mary Kills People, but there is a lot of humour as well.
That’s why I think the tone is so unique. We go from very dramatic and compassionate moments with the deaths to them having a taco and letting the steam out. I like that balance. In Season 2, the stakes are even higher and the suspense is even stronger than it was in Season 1.
What can you tell me about Rachelle’s character, Olivia?
She is a very strong woman. She loves power. I think she and Mary have a lot in common but in polar opposite ways. There is something about power for Mary as well because of what she does, but Olivia is the dark side of the force. We explore a little bit of the criminal world more this season.
I did wonder where Mary could go in Season 2. I thought maybe she’d lay low for awhile. Clearly not.
Nope, she’s just not that kind of gal. [Laughs.] I think it speaks volumes to her addiction. In Season 1 we really saw the compassionate side of her and at the end, we started to see how she couldn’t help herself. She loves doing this. She’s not capable of stopping; she says that to her sister on the dock. We see that side evolve even more. She needs it.
I really enjoyed the scenes between Mary and her daughter, Jess, played by Abigail Winter, in Season 1. Where does that relationship go in Season 2?
There are moments, again, where they don’t understand each other. Mary cannot be exactly who she is in front of her family because she’s hiding it from them. This will always be a problem with her older daughter because she’s old enough to feel things are a little off. Mary is having a hard time keeping all of the lies together and Jess keeps feeling that. Jess will continue to explore her sexuality in Season 2 and who she is.
What I loved about her in Season 1, her sexuality and her mom is that we never talked about the fact that she was gay. It was just a given. It didn’t have to be the big coming out and all that. There is the scene on the dock where she says that she is in love with Naomi [Katie Douglas], and the way I saw it Mary always knew but she doesn’t have to say anything about it. She’s in love, period. I love that.
Mary Kills People airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Global.
Hard Rock Medical is the ultimate under-the-radar show. Ask folks if they’ve heard of it and I’m betting the majority will say no. Out of the minority that have heard of the series, I’m betting they’d say Hard Rock Medical was about rock ‘n’ roll. I certainly did. This was back during Season 2, and when I finally tuned in I was stunned. Hard Rock Medical is a damn fine medical drama that mixes in very funny moments set against the rugged backdrop of Sudbury, Ontario, a.k.a. The Canadian Shield, a.k.a. the hard rock in Hard Rock Medical. Inspired by the world-renowned Northern Ontario School of Medicine, the program spotlights and celebrates the distinct challenges of delivering quality healthcare in Northern Ontario.
Co-created by Smith Corindia and Derek Diorio, the last season of Hard Rock Medical returns for its final nine episodes on Tuesday at 9 and 9:30 p.m. ET on TVO. Thankfully, TVO has put the past three seasons on their website, so folks can not only catch up but those outside of Ontario can tune in to Season 4 episodes after each broadcast.Â
What amazed me about the show back in Season 2 is the high-profile Canadian talent in the cast. Andrea Menard (Blackstone), Tamara Duarte (Wynonna Earp), Angela Asher (Bad Blood), Jamie Spilchuk, Stephane Paquette and Pat McKenna (Traders) are just a sampling of the actors who’ve been part of Hard Rock Medical from the beginning. Throw in guest gigs from Jennifer Podemski, Marc Bendavid, Ron Lea, Michelle Thrush—and Corner Gas‘ Eric Peterson this year—and you’ve got one hell of a fine stable of talent participating in Corindia and Diorio’s taut, half-hour scripts.
When we pick up Tuesday’s return, “Dreaming the Life,” Eva is in the midst of an odd dream that reflects her First Nations heritage and ties to Nancy and Gary while under anaesthetic to donate bone marrow. Meanwhile, Louise and Fraser are facing the media over Sergio’s suicide and request that his brain be used for concussion research, and Tara and Charlie are juggling life with her chemotherapy schedule. Charlie’s considering quitting med school to be available to Tara full-time but she’s having none of it. This is his last year of school before becoming a doctor and she won’t let him give up now. As for Farida, a patient with a fishhook lodged in her cheek leads to a custody battle between a husband and wife. And Cameron? His day is an awful one.
Episode 2, “Quo Vadis,” follows Gary into reconciliation classes with the racist cop he punched and Cameron meets up with Gina, who is suffering from amnesia following her assault.
I’m going to miss following the medical students and their adventures; the last four seasons of Hard Rock Medical have been a joy to watch and cover for TV, Eh? I can only hope that, perhaps, Diorio and Corindia can create a new series about the lives of these newly-graduated doctors working in the community they were educated in.
Hard Rock Medical airs Tuesdays with back-to-back episodes at 9 and 9:30 p.m. ET on TVO. Episodes are available for streaming at tvo.org the day after each new broadcast.
