Introducing Darrin Baker

We have arrived at Chapter 5 and it begins as we are used to at this point with a review of the relevant material of the past and a too bright look at the future for 30 seconds.

Our glimpse of the future shows Mitch trying to meet Andrew on a patio at Toronto St & Court St in downtown Toronto (posing as Washington DC). I found this location using the Mercatto that Andrew is sitting at and the Pizzaiolo that the thugs stalk past as they are trying to follow Boss Lady Tricia Helfer's instructions of "don't lose him again" (as reviewed in the 'previously on" segment).

Before our hero Mitch can meet up with Andrew, before the thugs can stalk Mitch down and potentially capture him for the unknown nefarious purposes of BLTH, Mitch is thrown to the ground and arrested by a kid dressed as a DC cop. Mitch has thrown someone off a balcony and is under arrest for murder. I have to ask myself, how would an arrest come so soon with no evidence? Last episode the detective wanted to find Mitch since he's their only suspect. But really? How quickly things can change from Suspect (which in my mind means: question him and find out what's up, locate evidence if the story doesn't add up) to Under Arrest face down on a public street so violently that his phone is a foot away from his face. Very dramatic.

Case of the Week


A guy who ran and illegal gambling establishment is accused of killing a very dangerous mob-ish guy. This is the CotW but for some reason it doesn't sit as well with me as some of the other elements this week.

Mitch goes after the prosecution's witness and lays down some very decent reasonable doubt. Mitch, his client and his client's friend Rollerboy are plotting their next attempt to poke holes in the prosecution's case when the ADA pops his head into the room. This ADA is played by Darrin Baker (whom I met at Starbucks a couple of weeks ago). My new fave ADA tells Mitch to prepare for the next witness. He smugly informs Mitch that his "client just got stabbed in the back".

This back stabbing witness is a friend of the defendant. When Mitch points out that he made a deal to testify and that since he went to law school he know just what the prosecutor needs him to say, the witness looks like a giant fraud. This guy looks like he's out to save himself and will throw the accused under the bus to do so.

Ray is sent to look at the hospital video. The entire event happened after Rollerboy got the tar kicked out of him by the dead guy and the ADA is trying to prove that the mob-ish guy was killed as retaliation for Rollerboy's being injured to the point of stuck in the chair. Mitch wants to see what the client's mental state was at the hospital while visiting with Rollerboy before the shooting.

Ray shows Mitch the nugget of awesome he found in the video footage and Mitch's eye do the super wide "OMG" thing I love so much (it'll get old eventually, but not yet). Mitch wants to talk to his client ASAP. When he shows the footage what do we see? Rollerboy not needing to roll. Walking like  a normally capable person down the stairs. That's gonna suck for Rollerboy since now Mitch knows the truth that his client was covering for Rollerboy who shot his bully in the back.

Mitch wants to prove his client innocent, he wants the judge to release him from the case so he can testify since his client doesn't want to prove himself innocent at the cost of his buddy. He's solidly sure that the jury will find in his favour with the self defense reasoning. Mitch reminds him for the 2nd or 3rd time (so it must be important) that you never know what a jury is thinking.

Ray tries to act as Rollerboy's conscience to no avail. The ADA makes his closing remarks. They would be brilliant except we know that it's all wrong but we can't do anything about it because the client doesn't want to. Mitch makes his remarks. He continues to weave the story of a scared man who was protecting himself (again, all BS).

The jury reaches it's verdict. The judge views it and gives the defense once last opportunity to make comments (my gut clenches as I think the guy who's name I can't remember is about to go to jail for his dumb ass friend), Mitch shakes his head and the paper is passed back to the jury foreperson. They find the defendant...... *gasp*......... Not Guilty!

Family Drama

The family has really taken a shine to the daughter of a comatose old lady (Althea Sanderson) while they try to get the medical equipment company to fork over a large sum of money because they gave the old lady a defective heart stent and now she's holding on by a thread.

The company offered $210K when Mitch brought in the big guns at K&C but he knows this case is worth so much more so he sends Abby to talk to Andrew to be sure they won't give up.

Andrew shows Abby the room where 10 intern drones are sifting through the boxes of random paperwork that the company sent over to find the key piece of info they need to win. Don't give up yet Abby, the drones will keep working or they won't make associate.

The daughter is distraught because she's 3 months behind on the rent, she has no money to live, is working 2 jobs and her mother is not getting better. The family tries to think of a way to give her money to help her out without breaking the rules about lawyers giving money to their clients (and yes, wife of lawyer who helped establish firm with massive financial backing does count).

Andrew calls Abby, there is shouting in the back ground. The drones have found the golden needle in the haystack of medical paperwork. Why didn't he call Mitch? He's the Lawyer after all. Abby is a school teacher who tried to appeal to the soft heartedness of the firm.

A conference room full of suits. Very intimidating. The guy from the medical company "Mr. Bolson" tries to imply that even though there are papers that can prove that they did something stupid as a company, their lawyers have already secured a large number of experts and K&C wouldn't be able to get anyone. This is when Mitch pulls out "did I forget to introduce everyone?" and shows the blowhard that he has international experts from Franch and Japan who trump his tiny sheet of paper. You can almost see Bolson crap himself.

"Whatever number you have in your head, make it bigger. Much bigger."

Althea's daughter gets her settlement that day and is able to go forward with her life. She cries.

Conspiracy Case

Since Mitch is busy with Rollerboy's friend (seriously I don't have the guy's name in my notes, he's that forgettable) he get's Ray to go visit Sarah Holt for an update on her case.

She's very surprised that Ray went after the dead woman's son. Ray notices that she makes her bed like she was in the military, she denies having served. This is something that should be remembered for later. It will probably come back.

Ray wants to search SH's apartment but Mitch says they need her permission which she hasn't given. He distracts Tammy with sex on her desk and steals and imprint of the apartment key so he can search it anyway. He finds a little shredder puzzle in the paper bin on the desk and dumps it into his pocket before running off to view hospital security tapes.

Ray starts having fun putting together the shredder puzzle and is sidelined by Tammy who finished the puzzle while he was out even though he tried to hide it from her.

The paper holds the names of the last 4 nurses the dead woman had. The nurses she fired before asking a 'random stranger' to come stay with her. Sarah supposedly didn't know this woman before that day, she agreed at the doctor's office, came home to get some things and then spent the rest of the night at the house before being arrested for killing her. When did she get the names? why did she have them and shred them? what does this mean?

Ray decides not to spoil the Sanderson Settlement celebration party so we'll have to wait for Chapter 6.

The episode closes with Mitch in the overexposed future in an interrogation room. He paces a bit and looks in the mirror. That's it until next time.

Music Fun

My upstairs neighbour (The Best Upstairs Neighbour Ever) left a present for me today. I got home and my husband had left it on the dining room table. What was it?

A 2 disc set of music from the Second Season of Lost Girl. 40 songs put together in a collect for promotional purposes and distributed in limited quantity with a charity donation to Covenant House.

The warning on the disc says "The following playlist may imply nudity, sexuality and course language. Listener discretion is advised." the same viewer advisory used by Showcase when they air the episodes.

I'm so thrilled. Now that I have this I should be able to identify any of the obscure music that is used in the episodes.

Question

I'm curious if I'm writing this for my own amusement or if anyone out there is actually reading my ramblings?

If you're a person and you've read anything on this blog and might possibly stop by someday in the future, please feel free to give a quick comment on what you've liked so far and what your favorite TV shows are (Filmed in Toronto or not).

Thanks, Janine

Lost Girl Winter Premier

I didn't get to watch it when it was on. I watched it on PVR but it was very good.

This episode had some amazing set locations. There was fabulous stained glass that my husband thinks is from the Elgin theater. It looked so familiar to me but I couldn't place it so I called him. He also confirmed for me that the Ash's compound interior shots are filmed on the University of Toronto campus in the Knox college building.

In this episode hottie Dyson looks into the truth he spoke in the fall finale. "I can't love Kiara." not "I don't", but "I can't". This bothers him because if there is anyone other than Bo that he should be able to love, it would be the one he held a flame for so long ago. He goes back to the Norn to find out why.

I suspected from the moment she took her payment in the season 1 finale saying something about always remembering what it felt like but never being able to feel it again, that this would be a bigger problem. I feared that Dyson, very hot without his shirt on Dyson, had given up not only his ability to love Bo, but to love anyone ever again.

I was right!!!!!!!

The Norn said in this episode that since the wolves mated for life, by giving away his love for Bo, it prevented him from every being able to love again. *sigh* so tragic, so romantic, so.... sucks for Kiara.

I really hope that there will be a story sometime in the future to help Dyson regain his ability to love and that he and Bo will be together again. Or Dyson will become real and not a fictional character, pledge his undying love for me and agree to live in my spare room so I can look at him anytime I want to. *drool*

Moving on, Bo had her own discovery trip this episode. She worked with a mystery man who gave her a bracelet at her birthday party. His name is Ryan, he's very attractive (who isn't when they're cast as Fae), and he's an inventor. The Ash sends Bo on a mission that involves picking up an object from Inventor/Fixer/Builder? Ryan and using it to trap a genie (the fabulous Lauren Holly in a guest roll - she also guested in an episode of my beloved Flashpoint). Ryan chooses to come along on the adventure and gets in Bo's way, is presumed dead at one point but then isn't because of one of his inventions.

In the end, the Ash gets his genie (who is completely under Bo's control) and Bo gets to have emotionally baggage free sex with inventor-boy. Turns out its really good sex too. Final revelation: Inventor Ryan is Dark Fae - oooops.

Maybe this will be the start of a new view of the Dark Fae. To this point the Dark have all been evil in some way. I'll admit, the Light Fae haven't always been the good guys. There are some mean Light Fae out there. But maybe we'll get to see that a Dark Fae can be a good guy for once.

I'll let you know what happens next week. I will again be unable to watch when it airs. Sucks too because @Faenonymous who gives me all kinds of fun facts on twitter about Lost Girl, is having a screening party at Shoeless Joe's. I have to work until midnight (Boo-urns!).

The Firm: Chapter 4

Sorry for the delay in posting this but a cold/flu has held my brain captive the last few days.

Here are my thoughts on last week's episode of The Firm before I entertain you with my thoughts on this week's episode.

The "previously on" features a lot of the future scape information. Things that still have no solid footing in the plot to date. Current time frame focus on the issue of Sarah Holt's laptop which is supposedly the "other problem" that Mr Sniffles brings to the attention of K&C boss-lady Tricia Helfer (I think that will be her new monicker - BLTH).

Once the recap catches up to the last thing we'd seen in the future scape we see our hero Mitch arriving at the "Code Red" meeting place. A boat. Family McDeere wants to pull anchor and run but our hero wants to find out more about K&C's involvement. Mentions that they represent both Mr Sniffles and the insurance company that Holt worked for. They must know something.

We also see a police station where a uniform is talking to a detective about the death of Mr Sniffles off the hotel balcony. Room reserved under Mitch's name and someone looking like him ran away shortly after the body hit the ground. No one reported the breaking in of the room door or Mitchy-boy swinging like a monkey between the balconies. I guess you had to be looking for it to see it.

The Present - 4 weeks before the climax - The Case of the Week is a therapist who is accused of killing a former patient turned stalker and making it look like suicide.

(At this rate, we should reach the culmination of the Mr. Sniffles/Sarah Holt situation in Chapter 7 or 8. hmmmmm I wonder how that will work since the show has a full 22 episode season.)


We meet the detective who handled her stalker case. A man she confided in, cried to, was vulnerable and maybe a little too emotionally angry around. He is all about protecting her and doesn't say anything to harm her case. He looks a little like the detective from 4 weeks in the future, but I can't be 100% sure yet.

Mitch does an excellent job of interjecting "reasonable doubt" into the forensic testimony about bullet trajectory angles for suicide cases. It's a good job all around until he needs to take a break to focus on a "pressing matter". He needs to deal with family drama.

Madam Therapist is a very demanding client. She's very "me" centric for a therapist. At least any that I have known. While Mitch is on his way back from dealing with his family drama plot, Tammy arrives to show Mitch that the police have released the Holt Laptop (more about that later). Tammy tries to get advise from Madame Therapist to help her with her family drama (yawn). Mitch arrives and when he tries to give his employee instructions and thereby send her away, Madame Therapist gets upity about splitting focus and distractions. Maybe if he wasn't 'distracted' he'd have seen the prosecution's curve ball coming.

Turns out Madame Therapist isn't as innocent as she'd like us to believe. Mitch easily shoots down one witness who talked about a green car with tinted windows driving slowly down the block, which because he focused on very carefully, allowed him to see Madame Therapist crossing the street to enter the building. Then the prosecutor brings up a pharmacist who filled a prescription for the victim, found in the victim's apartment, containing the drugs in his system. That's not so bad is it? oh wait, did I mention that it wasn't stalker boy that picked up the pills? It was Madame Therapist. Oooops, caught with pants down.

Madame Therapist goes on to tell Mitch, choked up on emotion, that she had tried avoiding stalker boy, she relocated her office, stayed at friend's places and other things to be hard to find. He always found her. That night she was at her sister's place and she saw the same dark windowed green car across the street (take note of this, it's important - I knew this when I was watching, it's the key to something). She felt she had to do something. She testifies that she filled the script, drugged the stalker and the medication took effect while she was fighting him off. She left him, alive, on the living room floor and ran out of the building disheveled with a ripped blouse.

Mitch has a lightbulb moment that night while talking about family drama with Abby and goes back to court to confront the potential owner of the green car who was really to blame for the death of stalker boy. The detective who was unable to save a previous stalking victim eventually killed by her stalked with a restraining order shoved in her mouth.

Jury finds "not guilty" and no one seems to be looking at the detective since there isn't any real evidence to prove he was anywhere near the scene. Mitch talked to him and he had a lot of "let's say" and "what if" theoretical ideas of what happened next in that apartment, but we'll never know for sure. 

As soon as Madame Therapist mentioned the green car, I knew it was the key to solving the case. I've watched enough "Murder She Wrote" to recognize the give away clues. Let's hope that there aren't too many of these moments in the future. I like to be surprised, not yell at the screen "Mitch you fool, look into the car!!!"

Family Drama - The mob is after us

As we know from the premier episode, a mob boss was taken down based on the information the FBI got out of the evil firm from Memphis. This is why the McDeere clan entered WitSec in the first place. Now, Sonny boy just turned 25 and has been named head of La Familia (Happy Birthday, you're a Mob Boss!! - Hallmark doesn't make cards for that).

I forget how, but Abby finds out about the conversation 2 weeks before with their WitSec contact and wants to talk to him herself because Mitch has seen some weird things.

Mitch takes a break from his current murder trial to take Abby to the WitSec office to talk to their guy. He hadn't heard from Mitch about the things he'd seen in the last 2 weeks, but he'll look into it.

At this point I'm fuzzy on the plot because I'm struck by how off the colouring looks. Mitch's eyes are brilliantly pale blue (which I find fabulous and would lose myself in them for hours if they were on my husband's face) but his skin is looking a bit orange. Like the spray tan gone bad on Ross in an episode of Friends.

It happens again when he meets with Madame Therapist and Tammy in the meeting room at the courthouse. I'm thoroughly distracted at this point and have lost the plot. Time to rewind and listen with my eyes closed to get the plot points for the case of the week.

Conspiracy Case - Sarah Holt

Andrew gets a bit of a dressing down by BLTH because he hasn't done anything about the laptop still in police custody. He has to move of suffer the wrath of the Cylons (oops wrong show).

Andrew proceeds to meet with a tech guy who has to be one of the best looking computer specialists I've ever known. Who tells him that Sarah's laptop has a special chip in it that will respond to a phone call and wipe the hard drive clean. Not only that, but this chip will tell him when the computer has been turned on so that he can then place the call, wipe the hard drive and save the day.

The laptop is almost turned on in Mitch's presence but thanks to Madame Therapist, Tammy takes it back to the office and almost absentmindedly turns it on. Tech-guy sees the flag, places the magic call and the wipe begins. Abby notices the pop-up window that is probably gibberish meant to look like tech code and Tammy begins to freak out hoping to save something to a flash drive before all is lost.

She got something but we don't know what yet. We can probably assume that it will be something key and be the golden ticket somewhere down the road.

Also, Ray is sent to look into the son of Sarah Holt's supposed victim a deputy sheriff somewhere that was too far for him to come home and spend the nights with his poor dying mother. Ray thinks the guy has anger issues and talks to the ex girlfriend. They're in a location that totally looks familiar to me but I don't have the time to stalk Google Streetview to find it so it will have to bother me until I can figure it out. The ex says she didn't want to break it off but the guy's mom was too much a part of his life and if he ever "grew a pair" to look her up again.

Ray thinks it's motive. We'll have to wait and see what happens next time.

In the closing scene, Mitch (4 weeks in the future) is heading to meet up with Andrew at an outdoor cafe somewhere near a Mercatto location. He's being followed by 2 MIB guys in an SUV who are on the phone with BLTH. Her orders "don't lose him again".

Till next time.

Coming This Week

I have an early morning tomorrow. I have to be up at 4am to start work at 5am. This means I have to be asleep sometime around 9pm tonight. Sometimes I really dislike my work schedule, because I'm going to miss the first new episode of Lost Girl for 2012.

My PVR is set and I will watch the episode tomorrow afternoon when I get home from work. Sometime before the end of Tuesday I will write up my review of The Firm - Chapter 3 and of the new episode of Lost Girl that will air tonight.

The cast and crew of Lost Girl have finished shooting season 2 and had their wrap party last night. I hope they all had fun. I can't wait to see what the rest of the season holds and look forward to hearing news when they return to the set in April to shoot Season 3.

For all watching the show tonight, have fun and enjoy.

Chapter 3

The Firm names it's episodes in chapters. Or so IMDB tells me.

Here is my review/discussion/thoughts on the second episode titled "Chapter 3". Chapter 2 was the second hour of the premier episode.

There are 2 time frames that this show exists in. The future or dramatic climax and the present/past depending on how you look at it. Just like the first episode, we only get to see the future at the very beginning and end of the episode. It gives us a glimpse of what is going to happen and how things will eventually unfold. It's the type of thing that made you palm smack your forehead at the end of the first episode and say "how can one man have so much bad luck?". Then again, Jack Bauer kept having monumentally bad days you wondered why he ever got out of bed.

In addition to the 2 different temporal settings for each episode, there is a plot based separation that is noticeable as a distinct pattern. There are 3 potential plot varieties to be woven into each episode:

1. The Conspiracy Case: This is the case that has The Firm (K&C) interested in our hero Mitch. This is the case that culminates in our "future" timescape. This is Sarah Holt's case.
2. The Case of the Week: This is something that comes up in the day to day practice of our hero Mitch and takes us on our weekly adventure.
3. Family Drama: This is exactly what it sounds like. Something to do with Mitch's family that makes the home life somewhat uncomfortable and needs fixing before the end of the episode.

So, now that we know what format the show will take, how does chapter 2 unfold? Let's take a look.

Case of the Week: The Dead School Girl

Mitch is asked to consult with the son of a member of The Firm. The kid is being looked at for the disappearance of his girlfriend after having a very public fight.

The kid, Brian, tells Mitch his story and based on that he's got nothing to worry about. Your girlfriend is missing, you were the last to see her. She took your car and you walked home. Looks bad, but could be worse. Let's go tell the cops and we'll deal with what happens next when it happens.

The kid doesn't know when to shut up. Mitch has some very good luck with people being honest with him and trusting him with information (think back to the first episode and the guy who comes to Mitch to tell him that he's been asked to kill a kid for money). Brian can't fight with his conscience any longer. It was an accident but he really did kill his girlfriend. Not only that, but he then hid the body and dumped the car into a lake. Then, after telling Mitch, the boy runs out of the office. Yeah, not looking too good for the kid now.

But wait, there's a twist. While working on the Conspiracy Case, Mitch finds out that the girl's killer has turned themselves into the police. Thinking that it's Brian, our hero rushes to the police station and talks his way into the interrogation room only to give us those OMG eyes that Josh Lucas does so well. It's not Brian, it's some nut job who rants about manners and politeness. Creepy!

Mitch is in a bind here, he knows nut job is innocent because the kid Brian did it. Also, Mr Nut Job confessed to killing 12 girls (6 of which are home with family alive and well). Mitch has a brilliant idea thanks to Abby and the Family Drama which allows him to prove the nut job didn't kill this specific girl.

After some family help, Mitch and Ray find a pile of bodies rotting away and have Tammy call in a tip to the cops who are then able to give Mr Nut Job the justice he's begging for.

But what about justice for Brian? Well all that's needed for that to happen is a well delivered inspirational talk from Mitch once Ray's network of 'associates' finds the kid at a hostel downtown. Brian agrees to turn himself in. It's nice when things wrap up so easily.

Family Drama

Claire sees a popular girl cheat on a test and is threatened with social banishment if she tells. The teacher of this class happens to be mom Abby, and in an emotional outburst the girl gushes "she cheated" and now Mom/Teacher needs to find a way to let there be justice for the cheater and for her to not ruin her daughter's barely there social life (you know it's so important when you're 10).

I'm not overly thrilled with this plot thread. I could have done without it. The whiny pre-teen girl angst is making me want to change the channel or pull up the handy feature my Roger's cable box has where I can play bubble-break, fruit mania or mahjong tile match games while my TV show is minimized to the corner of my screen (since my TV is a brand new 46" plasma, that's still quite a clear picture even if it's not getting all my attention).

The Conspiracy Case

We get to meet Sarah Holt in this episode and actually hear what her case is about. We get to see a flashback (ok so maybe there are 3 temporal settings if you want to get picky) as her story is told allowing us to see faces of people that might be important in the storyline but we don't know yet.

We get to see the K&C peeps working their side of the present timeline on Sarah's case. Scheming to steal a laptop with important info from the police evidence vault. And some banter about the client that eventually jumps over a balcony railing to a squishy death on the sidewalk outside a hotel.

I find it frustrating that we only get to see about 4-5 minutes of this plot in the present. Maybe as much as 10 minutes if you include the future scenes. How is it that Mitch can put in so much court time with first the school kid from the first episode (like 3 times in the courtroom) and our crazy nut job, but he's just now getting Sarah Holt's version of events? hmmmm.

I'm still interested and kind of hooked. I have this insatiable need to know what's up with K&C and how could a half dozen people around the table at the end of the first episode all go to jail over Mr Sniffles and Sarah Holt's laptop. How does the dead granny fit in? Accident, coincident, just a random fluke that F'd up the lives of Mr Sniffles and the K&C crew?

I'm going to have to keep watching. And if anyone out there is actually reading this, I'll let you know what I think when I do.

Encounters at Starbucks

I work at Starbucks and I meet people all day long. I've had the fun of ringing through an order for crew members of different productions as they fetch coffee for someone 'important' or just something for themselves.

I have also on occasion met people who act in things that I plan to review on this blog. I've served Sergio di Zio of my beloved Flashpoint on multiple occasions and even though I try to keep my cool in front of him, I probably looked like a crazy fan girl. One day while working at a location that isn't my home store, I served a crew member of The Firm who had a very large drink order for the location shoot nearby. 20 drinks and some fun deciphering the handwriting later, I really wished I could have helped him carry all the drinks over to the site. But alas, I was needed behind the cash.

This afternoon a lovely gentleman came up to my register holding a script in his hands as he chatted with one of my regular customers. Turns out he's a regular on The Firm. He hasn't shown up yet (we are only 2 episodes in at the moment), his debut will be in "chapter 5" which will air in 2 weeks. His name is Darrin Baker and he will be playing Gordon Shanley the ADA that will butt heads with our hero Mitch. I'm looking forward to watching and reviewing. Darrin Baker took down the address for this site (and my name) and said he'd check it out. He also said he'd come back to the store so we could chat about the show. I'm kind of excited.

Based on the lovely IMDB, Darrin Baker has been in several other shows that I enjoy including my beloved Flashpoint. He was in the Season 2  episode "Custody" where a lawyer (Baker) is taken hostage by a distraught father when his wife wins custody of his children planning to take them away forever (insert dramatic musical chords - dun dun dun style). I may just have to see if I can find this episode somewhere soon so I can remember it more clearly.

NOTE: I promise I will review episode 2 tonight. I'm taking a class and have to do some writing for it first. I don't think anyone is hanging on my words and thoughts of the show, but I'm dramatically overdue for my own preference.

The Firm: Verdict - Watch and See

As I mentioned on Sunday, the newest show to hit the airwaves filmed in my fair city is "The Firm". I wasn't sure what to expect and said I'd give my opinion after watching. I'm sorry it's taken so long to provide, but my other obligations (you know the job that pays the bills) has been a bit more demanding on my time this week. Before I talk about the show, let me tell you where my mind was on this show.

While working in November, I met a film/TV crew person and, as always, asked what they were working on. I've met people working on TV movies, commercials for fast food, commercials for TV competition shows and of course TV shows themselves. This guy said that it was a new show called The Firm based on the John Grisham book. I thought, "OK" and went on my day.

A couple of weeks later I was walking past a small Anglican church and saw guys unloading set pieces from trucks into the church. A few hours later were cables along the sidewalk and tech trucks parked curbside. I asked as I passed: What were they shooting? John Grisham's The Firm.

Alright, so I've happened across these guys twice in 2 weeks, but I've never heard of this show. I saw a short ad in December that told me nothing about the premise or plot, just the name. What would it be? A retelling? A similar situation faced by another lawyer in a completely different part of the US? What? I had to know, it was on my radar and now I had to watch.

So, now comes the show itself. It is the same characters from the book/Tom Cruise movie after the book/movie ends. The first part of the show is exposition showing how they got to this point, 10 years after they took down the crooked law firm and won their freedom.

The show looks to be a combination of mystery/conspiracy to be unraveled and individual legal case maneuvering. This premier started with a dramatic climax and what would normally be a cliffhanger moment. Instead, they go from that brief peek that tells you nothing into "6 weeks earlier" and their everyday lives. We get flashes of back story showing the in between, Memphis leads to Chicago, leads to witness protection, leads to 10 year gap, leads to today in the Washington DC area.

The story of this specific episode then rolls, Mitch gets a court appointed client, then is asked to take on another by a judge, Mitch accepts thrusting the other client into the shadows as we focus entirely on this 14-year-old kid who killed a classmate in the yard. This case unfolds with twists and turns that make you point back to other moments (he lied! who really lied? what really happened? huh?). Mitch is shown to be a very good lawyer as he defends his (most likely very guilty) client. But we never know the true story, just the bits and pieces so that there isn't really a "truth". Throw a shocker or two into the mix and you prove not only that Mitch is a great lawyer, but that he's got a conscience and a heart. Very cool combination I might say. This will make me want to see what he does with other clients and other obstacles.

Interwoven is the sub thread. The Firm. A small firm of 60 lawyers wants to bring in Mitch. He's been on the scene for 6 months and is making all the right waves and plays so why not bring him in to head a new criminal department in the firm? Mitch finds a way to make the deal in his way so that he gets to keep his independence and his own practice, but gains access to all the firms plethora of resources that are desperately needed to win a potentially lucrative case.

It all looks good on the surface, but we've seen the future. We know it goes wrong. The last scenes connect in the most abstract of ways, to the beginning. We now sort of know what the firm was looking for in the first place, be we still have absolutely no clue why.

Now on the location front: They are super sneaky. In this episode everything is shot in ways that I wasn't able to immediately pick up on any clues for the downtown area. I will be watching again with a closer eye now that I don't have to focus on plot. There was only one site that I was able to recognize on the first go-round. The entrance to the funeral. Limos, cars and the hearse are driven through a white lacy archway next to a church before entering the cemetery. That is the Toronto Necropolis and Crematorium. It is across the street from Riverdale Farm on Winchester Street in Cabbagetown.

Based on what I've seen of this show, I need to see more. There are some good points in this first venture out, but I need more info before I decide to take it on in full. My Thursdays nights are pretty full as it is with my own pleasure TV, none of which are filmed in Toronto (boo). Will I want to add to the full night and have a longer Friday playlist? For now I'll say yes, I'll give it a shot.

The Firm

There's a new show premiering tonight on Global called "The Firm" based on the John Grisham. The production has been filming around the city for the last few months and I've spoken the crew and walked by the location shoots on a few occasions in November and December.


I can usually tell after one episode if I'm going want to give a show a chance or if I don't think it's worth my time and PVR space. What does it take for you to choose to give a show a chance? I don't know yet what this show will be like, but I've set my PVR for tonight's 2 hour premier and will let you know what I think.

Not quite Toronto, but close enough

I was watching the newest episode of Nikita this afternoon (S2, E12 - Pale Fire) and spotted something distinctly Canadian in the Amsterdam scene. This had me taking notes and looking up locations on the internet and finding pictures to support. I spent about 3 hours having fun working on this so I could share it with the universe.

When Michael and Owen are first shown in Amsterdam they are walking down the street with "Amsterdam Ballet" signs behind them. There are some red awnings barely visible in the background. The shot is very carefully framed to remove anything that would give away the location as distinctly not Amsterdam. There is a brief flash on those red awnings that made me sit up straight and grab my notebook. The red was suddenly not only red, but had a swipe of yellow/gold on it as well. It was immediately triggered in my mind as the CIBC logo. I started searching for branch locations that would fit that image: Stone building, logo only on the awning to the far left and text on the building ending in "ntre". I had no luck.

I started working backward trying to find a starting point for this conversation walk. I mean how many stone stairways lead down to the water? It turns out that there aren't any in Toronto. I had to use the logo behind Michael to find the cafe which would lead me on my adventure through Google maps/street view to find the shots that happened in that sequence.

Step 1) The Logo - Find the logo, and you can find the locations.

I started with the logo and tried to find a cafe in Toronto with the name that looks to appear on the awning. It looked like "Mocha" but that didn't work so I had to zoom in closer and try to make out the blurry words. It appeared to be "Melville". I tried that and was successful. I found the stairway and the cafe location.

The cafe was at Melville and Main St in Cambridge, ON. Street view had it very similar but couldn't get in close enough to find the exact shot as seen in the show.

Step 2) The Branch - Once I had the logo, I looked for the closest CIBC branch.
Using the location of the cafe as my search parameters I looked up the branches on the bank website. Closest branch to the cafe was at Water & Main, just down the street.

Step 3) The Conversation - Follow the movement in the conversation and see if I could match it
From there I was using street view to follow the walking conversation as they went north on Water St.

When the movement stopped so the boys could talk the shots were going back and forth with Michael in front of a store type locale. This was 18 Water St N

Step 4) The Church - This one was hard.

Once I found the store front that Michael was in front of I couldn't match the background behind Owen. That's because it's across the river. I had to find the churches near the shooting location and find the angle that best fit the shot of Owen. I found the church over near the first intersection. It's the Central Presbyterian Church. We're looking at the east side of the church through a gap in between buildings.

The shots are framed so well that I thought it was across the street behind Owen and that they had changed locations entirely for his half of the conversation, turns out they just moved a few yards down the block and had Owen basically facing the same direction Michael was for his half of the conversation. A great little trick. Owen hides the tree and Michael hides the edge of the red brick building.

I tried to find some of the other locations and I'm sure that with more time and internet geekery I would be able to find all the little spots that were used to portray Amsterdam. Some were easy and some not so much. But it was a lot of fun to try.

I know that Cambridge isn't Toronto, but since I had so much fun I figured it was close enough.

Filming Location Spotted

I love spotting location shoots as I'm out in the city. I like to take note of what show was filming and whatever distinguishing landmarks I can use to remember the site for future reference when the specific episode is viewed. Sometimes it can take a long time to match up the two and sometimes not.

Today was a day like that. I was out running errands and I happened upon a few orange cones and an A-frame sign that made my inner TV geek jump up and down.

"LG2 Set", those few letters made me so happy. I had things to do so I gawked a little and moved along.

After my task nearby was complete, I needed to run along to another appointment and that made me sad. I wouldn't be able to camp outside the location and chat up the crew to find out if anyone knew my upstairs neighbor (the best guy ever since he got me some autographed stuff for Christmas). I couldn't hand around and see if any of the principle actors came through that door and let me talk to them or get pictures. I had to go and it made me pout inside.

I did however take the long way to the bus stop. The way that took me 2 stops in the other direction along the edge of the park where all the trailer trucks were parked. I got to see the names of the characters that were most likely on location that day. I snapped a shot of Dyson's door since he makes me smile:

I also tweeted about the non-event, since I didn't actually meet anyone.

What I can tell you based on what I saw today is this:
- In what remains of the second season there will be an episode in a night club
- This story will feature our favorite head of the dark fae: The Morrigan (Emmanuelle Vaugier)
- Also in the mix will be the mind controlling dark fae we love to hate Vex (Paul Amos)

This is, of course, just based on the names on trailer doors. I have no inside knowledge of the show or it's cast and as much as I wish I did, I'm just going to have to wait and see if I'm correct.

The next new episode will be airing on Showcase on Jan 22nd and is called "Midnight Lamp". I'm looking forward to telling you all what I think of the episode once it hits the air and will wait with baited breath for a scene in a nightclub involving the dark fae.