From the Writers Guild of Canada:
Writers Talking TV – Strange Empire
The WGC’s WTTV at the second annual Canadian International TV Festival (CITF) with creator and showrunner Laurie Finstad Knizhnik interviewed by Denis McGrath. Listen here.
When I began to watch Strange Empire, I naturally gravitated to Kat Loving. I recognized her as the female equal to Seth Bullock on Deadwood, a Western show I dearly loved. Like Seth, Kat is plunged into assuming the mantle of lawmaker in town and it’s a role she doesn’t yet embrace. Offsetting her is Slotter, who holds hints of Deadwood‘s Swearengen.
But as the weeks have gone on, I find myself drawn more and more to Rebecca and the actress who plays her. Melissa Farman’s interpretation of Rebecca is wonderful. Like Dr. Temperence Brennan on Bones, Rebecca is gifted with high intelligence but lacks a lot of human emotion. She, like Brennan, is learning to connect with her emotions. Monday’s newest instalment, “The Oath,” called on Rebecca to be in touch with both sides as she had to be cold and calculating in Thomas’ chances for survival while juggling her jittery feelings. He was going to die whether she operated on his infected leg or not and that would leave her alone.
Thomas has been a fascinating figure of late. I’ve felt badly for him because of the advancing infection, but then he’s said something dickish to make me hate him again. That continued last night when he alternated being tender with telling Rebecca to head back east once he was dead in the vain hope she’d listen and leave Finn behind. Kudos to Thomas for opting not to reveal to Rebecca that Finn was a woman; he could have done that with his dying breath and further compounded Rebecca’s difficult task of saying goodbye to him. Instead, he opted to pull her close and make her feel loved as he uttered his dying breath.
Now that Thomas is gone, the door is open for Rebecca to take on the gig as Janestown’s doctor. It’s a role I can’t wait to see her excel in.
Notes and quotes
Strange Empire airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on CBC.
Of course the week that Diane is off on vacation, Strange Empire‘s major storylines headed into a new direction.
“Electricity” was full of just that, literally and figuratively. Literally, a power line came down in Janestown, throwing its sparks hither and yon, and giving Slotter the chance to shift into a higher gear of crazy. The man has been on edge as of late and by Monday night was threatening not only the life of the pony but on the baby too. The former was dispatched off-camera and it looked like the same fate might befall the latter. (I didn’t really suspect that would happen; murdering a baby would make Slotter wholly unlikeable and we’re supposed to hope for his tortured soul.)
Meanwhile, Kat ascended to the role of Sheriff. After a couple of weeks of tension between the town’s ladies and Sheriff Little, everything came to an explosive head. Little made the mistake of fixing his rheumy gaze on Fiona and wanted to spend the night with her. Fiona decided she was up for it–she and her mother needed the money, she reckoned–but things went bad when Little tried to take what he’d previously said he’d pay for. Enter Kat, who promised to kill Little if he tried something like that again. Of course he did–pulling off a great impression of Jack Nicholson in The Shining by hacking his way into the Briggs’ home–before Kat shot him where he stood. (After instructing him to turn around so that she wasn’t a “back-shooter.”) The ladies may have been toasting Kat’s new job, but what will happen once Slotter finds out? He did say Kat would hang if she killed Little.
But perhaps the biggest moment of the episode was reserved for Rebecca and Finn, who finally kissed after weeks of sultry looks behind (and sometimes in front of) Thomas. Of course, no one knows Finn is actually a woman, so the lip-lock will be even more shocking when that comes to light. For now, though, things are already pretty messed up. Rebecca asked Isabelle for help in the bedroom so that she could be a better wife-to-be, but instead of directing it at Thomas she turned her growing affections to Finn instead. Perhaps Rebecca is hedging her bets; Thomas’ gangrenous leg means he’s going to need surgery soon and he may not come out of it alive.
Notable quotes
Strange Empire airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on CBC.
By far the story that got the most comments this week was Kate Taylor’s piece regarding whether Strange Empire could ever become as successful as its Monday night counterpart, Murdoch Mysteries. Here’s a sampling of what people said.
The first issue any supporter of the CBC and Canadian TV in general should have with this is that such comparisons always make one show look good at the other show’s expense: if we want both show’s to do well on CBC, what is constructive about this “comparison†approach?
Ever wonder why Murdoch Mysteries has a fairly substantial audience? By bringing together a bunch of genres, Murdoch Mysteries came up with something “quirky†and “hybrid†and “cultish.†People use a whole lot of compound terms to describe it. But the point is, there is something in Murdoch Mysteries that “crosses over†for many audience segments, so it’s a ridiculous exercise to try to reduce it to some over-simplified strawman just for the same of comparing Strange Empire. All of these articles just makes it look like the reviewers don’t know what they are talking about to the over 1 million viewers who actually do watch Murdoch Mysteries every week.–Snacky
After watching the first two episodes of Strange Empire and having the people I had talked into watching it drop like flies, I began watching the show with a much more critical eye, but an eye which viewed the show in terms of why the show failed to appeal to people, rather than an eye to artistry. After watching five episodes of Strange Empire, I still am not sure exactly where the characters are all going and at this point I`m not sure what I`m hoping for the characters.–Ally
And, as The Bachelor Canada heads into its season finale on Tuesday, readers are split 50-50 over whether Tim Warmels will choose Trish or April as his betrothed.
Unfortunately, I see April as a mentally and emotionally unstable individual. What does Tim know of her background? How will she cope when she begins to have her own children, when she is so easily overwhelmed? It will take a lot of trust and possibly a lot of time in the future to help her deal with life’s issues, it seems, not just for Tim but his family.–Evette
I wanted April, but what I saw last week, I have changed my mind. April still needs to mature and really think what she really wants. She is very pretty and nice, but what would happen in the real life with Tim? This relationship will not survive. With Trish, this might work, but Tim must set the rules with a beauty queen. No diva, no drama, just be yourself. Moving to Toronto will be a big step with Trish. But I still like Trish.–Luce
Got a comment or question about Canadian TV? Contact me at greg@tv-eh.com.
From D.K. Latta:
Strange Empire (airing Mondays) is arguably intended as the jewel in the crown of the CBC’s fall season. Yet its ratings were around 300,000 and, according to some reports, have actually dipped below 250,000.
Why is it struggling? And can something be done?
Those invested in a struggling series will blame everything except the show itself. Those who dislike it will blithely say: it sucks, man! Continue reading.
