TV: King

Season 2, 2 episodes in:

I like Amy Price-Francis. She was a stand-out in The Chicago Code and is thoroughly convincing as tough-as-nails (with plenty of sex appeal for the male viewership) Detective Sergeant Jessica King. She doesn’t blink when confronted, she sees situations in black and white, and, without actually ever saying it, she’s all about the victim. Every episode carries the title of the episode’s victim. Her relationship with her husband and everything that happens outside of her job humanises her as and does her passion for great shoes. She’s not a super cop or a super woman, she does not play nicely with others, but she’s very good at her job and she gets the job done. To say she carries the show is an understatement.

It’s a very quick hour as a procedural, it hums along nicely and the music between scenes supports it by being upbeat and peppy. Good supporting team in this show. There haven’t been many things I have actually liked Gabriel Hogan in, he was barely tolerable in Traders, he was atrocious in The Associates – so, traditionally he’s been a bit of a channel changer for me. He’s gotten much better over the years and as Danny Sless, King’s husband and a uniformed police officer, he does an okay job. He is the younger of the two in the relationship, he is the junior officer at the police station; between that and his gambling habit, it all makes for an interesting dynamic. Alan van Sprang as Det. Derek Speers was part nemesis and is now part closest ally. The crime-solving outfit functioning as this show's arm of the law is the Major Crimes Task Force of Toronto's Metropolitan Police Department. Speers used to run it and King’s heading it was a plot twist early in the first season and since then the two have had a bit of a love-hate relationship. So much so that by the 2nd season’s 2nd episode, Speers is demanding a paternity test on King’s unborn child. This kind of dichotomy is part and parcel of the show: the crime-solving is fairly straight-forward as far as procedurals go, it's outside of the job when things get messy.

Price-Francis is the face and the name of the show. In the opening credits, she is the only actor mentioned by name (and she's not an Executive Producer or anything). I think this subtly underscores the transience of all the other characters in the show. Out of the 4-person team King led in the first season, only she and Speers have remained. I don't know how that bodes for the rest of the season, but not getting attached to anyone seems like a good way to go. Jessica King might be all viewers really need.

King airs on Showcase several times a week, Wednesday's 11 am (PST) episode leads the week.

Photo from http://www.tvfull.com/show/144797124_/328_8/