In my job I have subtitled 24 episodes of this show, and I can say that this series is really not much different than so many other shows: Cops chase criminals. Cops catch criminals – every time! Here it's a S.W.A.T. team/S.R.U. team (it's Canadian), but they have just replaced the usual detectives with a different division. The acting is decent, and the scripts are decent, but that's really all it is. This is really not much different than crime films/series from the last 80 years - except that the pace is faster. It's all glorification of the police and what they can do (and all their new high tech gadgets). Crime never pays is still the lesson. While we are on the subject of lessons, the show always want to draw out a lesson at the end. I'm perfectly fine with that – I mean, entertainment is nice, but what's the point in watching something if it doesn't stir something in us and makes us think about certain things? The way "Flashpoint" does it is simply too cheesy. Right after the cops rush in and catch the criminal, save the hostage or whatever (and they practically always talk the perpetrator out of killing anybody), the images switch to slow-motion, and "Dawson Creek" music comes in with acoustic guitars, piano, and very, very, very meaningful lyrics. If I'm not mistaken, the segment with songs and slow-motion pictures has featured in every single one of the 24 episodes I have subtitled (fans of the show even have a name for it, "the montage"), so it's simply becoming cheesy and predictable. It's almost like watching a soap opera. The main characters, of course, also always learn something from their cases about their own lives. If you want to watch predictable crime shows, there are many others much better than this one (for instance "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" or "The closer").
This show uses that trick of showing scenes that occurs three quarters into the story as a teaser/prelude to catch the viewer's attention. Afterwards, they rewind to the beginning. Honestly, in some programmes/films this is done when there's no good beginning to the story. I believe this trick has been used in every single one of the 24 episodes of "Flashpoint" that I have subtitled, so it does seem like this show lacks good beginnings. The show lasts 42 minutes, and the opening credits and title section usually starts after 7 to 14 minutes. That's quite a lot of action they have to put in to make sure the viewer doesn't switch the channel. This is, of course, also a symptom of our day and age. When people have eight different Youtube tabs open in their internet browser at the same time, we lose interest so quickly, so we have to have something hyper stimulating constantly. This is what "Flashpoint" has to work with.
One thing to notice: Hugh Dillon who plays Ed Lane wants to be the new, even tougher, Bruce Willis (especially after Willis shaved his head). His stare (which he has 70 % of the time) is the same, but meaner, and his way of talking (meaning giving out orders, etc.) is the same but meaner. It became a bit comical in the end to see this 110 % tough guy.
This show uses that trick of showing scenes that occurs three quarters into the story as a teaser/prelude to catch the viewer's attention. Afterwards, they rewind to the beginning. Honestly, in some programmes/films this is done when there's no good beginning to the story. I believe this trick has been used in every single one of the 24 episodes of "Flashpoint" that I have subtitled, so it does seem like this show lacks good beginnings. The show lasts 42 minutes, and the opening credits and title section usually starts after 7 to 14 minutes. That's quite a lot of action they have to put in to make sure the viewer doesn't switch the channel. This is, of course, also a symptom of our day and age. When people have eight different Youtube tabs open in their internet browser at the same time, we lose interest so quickly, so we have to have something hyper stimulating constantly. This is what "Flashpoint" has to work with.
One thing to notice: Hugh Dillon who plays Ed Lane wants to be the new, even tougher, Bruce Willis (especially after Willis shaved his head). His stare (which he has 70 % of the time) is the same, but meaner, and his way of talking (meaning giving out orders, etc.) is the same but meaner. It became a bit comical in the end to see this 110 % tough guy.