Review: Republic of Doyle, Ep.3

Sorry this is a bit late. And, honestly, probably a touch more brief than I would like. With all of the travelling yesterday my brain was not working at peak efficiency to do a lengthy and proper review.

So the long and short of it, The Doyle's are called in to investigate a bar that burned down on George Street, a fire where a young woman's body was found afterwords. An old flame of Malachy's, who runs a neighbouring bar, is convinced that one of her George Street rivals had something to do with it. Meanwhile Jake's ex-wife is a little less crazy this week, the good Cst. Bennett apparently has trouble holding her liquor (and don't mess with her boots), Des gets a brief moment to shine and Tinny is pretty much just a brat.

So, first the good.

See, we need more Jake moments like that. When a client hires you to check and see if his wife is shagging around on him and you discover she is by sleeping with her and get caught, that's funny. There needs to be more of that side of Jake. On the other hand, Jake not sleeping with the constable was another good thing. It's nice to see those sides of the character. He's a rogue, but one with a sliver of a conscience. It'll also be interesting to see where they go with the notion of Nikki maybe being pregnant and Jake becoming a father. I think it's a bit early to be playing that card, but it could be good.

Also good to see the father and son dynamic developing. The frustrating thing in the early episodes was that you knew it was there, they just weren't nailing it. Well, they nailed it this time. The bit where Jake is nearly run over and Malachy saves him, but complains about it produced a marvelous bit of dialogue. Also, Jake is right, Malachy did take the time to get a picture of his assailant, but didn't do anything about actually capturing him.

Malachy loves his son, I'm just not certain he likes him all that much. Which is a wonderful dramatic relationship. Keep working on it and that gold mine will pay off for ages.

Also good to see that Krystin Pellerin continues to progress as an actress. I think the first episode was just an aberration. She was more fun this time, finally had some real chemistry with Jake and had the line of the night with, "if you tell anybody about last night I will gut you from stem to stern." And she said it in a way that I certainly would believe her.

The Bad?
Ah well, it was pretty much inevitable that Codco people were going to show up at some point. Although Mary Walsh wasn't too bad. She was more subdued and not trying to light up every scene. I liked that she appeared as a character who was deeply damaged, knew it, and seemed resigned to the fact that no matter what she tries she's fucked.

Robert Joy did nothing for me, honest, which is a touch surprising because he's a good actor. But he just wasn't the right level of skeevy for me, for some reason.

Then there's Joel Hynes. People from outside of Newfoundland probably don't know Hynes, so they don't realize that this is the only character he's capable of playing, apparently. A smart mouth looking for a fight, with a short temper, a drugs and alcohol problem who is always getting into trouble, but who is ultimately deeply sorry for what the consequences of his actions. I look forward to him taking it on the road and doing the same character with CSI, Law & Order and many other shows.

Edit Note: I've been told that wasn't Hynes, but Steve Cochrane. So my bad. I apologize to Joel and Steve and clearly need to be paying more attention to these things when looking at them. Sorry.

Sorry, he's a good writer and an interesting personality, but I'm just tired of that character.

However, at least he wasn't as bad as Greg Malone. The worse thing is, that character is probably going to be reoccurring. We had none of Sean Panting's slightly scummy lawyer (who could have easily provided the information Malone was used for) and instead we get this...nuisance. This scene chewing twitchy abomination. Hideous. Not at all entertaining and purely annoying. If the Doyles want to investigate his murder in a few weeks time, that would be awesome.

So, over all, a good episode, despite my gripes about some of the guest acting. As long as the core, week in, week out actors are hitting their paces and the stories are good, I'll put up with the occasional disastrous guest star.

Last Five
1. I guess that's why they call it the blues (live) - Elton John and Billy Joel
2. Polythene Pam - The Beatles
3. Whatever it takes - Ron Sexsmith*
4. Ever time we say goodbye - Diana Krall
5. Dead in the water - David Gray