One wonders now and then why the characters from various TV shows rarely seem to cross paths. For instance the characters in both VEGAS and LAS VEGAS never seem to run into the folks at CSI. I wondered this as I watched season one of THE GLADES. It would be interesting to witness the intensity of David Caruso as he came up against the smart aleck attitude of GLADES’ Jim Longworth (Matt Passmore).
Longworth is a transported Chicagoan who came to a town in Florida for health reasons: caught sleeping with someone he shouldn’t have been, he could have ended up dead had he stayed in the windy city. As a homicide detective he gets his chance to see enough dead bodies without having to worry one is his own.
The character of Longworth is an endearing one. He jokes and cracks wise at crime scenes while at the same time taking note of everything around him. Those finite pieces of information that others glance over are noted by him as he solves murders most would have difficulty with.
Along side Longworth are two police characters that provide a yin and yang for him. Carlos Sanchez (played by Carlos Gomez) is a coroner who helps Jim along not just in the field but as a friend as well. The two may give each other a hard time but they definitely work well together. The second is Colleen Manus (Michelle Hurd), a tough cop who is Jim’s supervisor intent on keeping a tight reign on him until he proves himself.
While Longworth is out fighting crime and searching for killers each week, we also get drawn into the story of his love life as it is. He meets a young nurse named Callie Cargill (Kiele Sanchez) and they seem to get along. His boyish charm and wise cracks break the frozen barrier she starts with and they become friends first. It seems that Callie has a husband who’s currently in jail but whom she wants to break with. The biggest reason she doesn’t is her son Jeff (Uriah Shelton). As the show moves forward, Jeff and Jim become close, but there’s still that fondness for his real father that keeps Jeff at bay.
Each episode features a new crime to solve, a new murder done by various criminals. Some are accidental, some well thought out in advance, all are solved before the final minutes of each show. The clues are laid out for viewers to try and guess the ending, as most murder mystery TV shows go. But the thing that makes this show different than most is the characters.
These are characters that you develop a liking towards. Each of them, even the hard as nails supervisor Longworth answers to. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses and that helps to make them more believable and more endearing. You want these two men to be close friends, you want Jim and Callie to get together. Now it’s just watching and waiting for those things to happen as well as to see how the crime is solved.
One thing I’ve noticed over the past few years. Some of the best TV series coming out are found on the cable networks as opposed to the big three. Which says a lot about how things have changed over the years. The three main networks are no longer the home for the best there is on TV. This show is proof of that.
With the new season already started, this DVD set is the perfect way to get caught up and find out how it all began. Forget about renting this one, it’s a series that’s worth investing in to keep. The acting is great, the cinematography is well done and each episode features some great writing and directing. In short, they’re doing it right and doing it well. Don’t miss this one, you’ll thoroughly enjoy it.
No comments:
Post a Comment