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.