Have you noticed the elements of "The Godfather" wafting through this - the tomato plants - the brother who betrays - the statement that Jimmy's business will be legitimate in three years time. The beloved daughter. I have a nagging feeling that there is going to be a Shakespearian ending to this - with Ronnie ordering the killing of Michael and Francine because they are the greatest threat to the business- but to do that he must kill Jimmy also. Will the last shot be of him cradling a dying Jimmy in his arms with tears streaming down his face?

I wonder if they simply didn't get renewed or if they planned to end it after two. Probably the former. In that case probably nobody gets killed since they were planning on dragging it out as long as possible.

I hope that Ted Altman gets what is coming to him before the show is over. He told Mary Spalding 'there are no rules' and he constantly breaks the rules and plays dirty. Funny that he grew a conscience after the DEA fiasco in Seattle. You may not have seen that yet so I won't say more.

I usually like spy stories. I like that it is told from the Canadian perspective also. Allied countries do spy on each other. It angers people to think of that happening but the fact is that even close allies spy on each other. Nobody likes it, but everybody does it. We help the Israelis a lot, and they spy on us all the time. I am sure our countries spy on each other to some extent. Mostly we collaborate, but I don't doubt that we also spy on each other.
I am surprised that Francine and Michael have not caused more trouble than they have so far. I am into the 4th episode of the second season now.

You are way ahead of me - I am still on season 1 about episode 8. I think this didn't get picked up for a third series because it was just too involved and the characters were not charismatic enough. I don't like to make personal remarks but Ian Tracey is not really leading actor material - I am not saying you have to be tall and gorgeous - there are plenty of actors who are middle height - but who are charismatic - Al Pacino - Sylvester Stallone - Jean-Claude van Damme etc - but Ian Tracey - well - he just looks scruffy and ill-kempt and he wears clothes that do nothing for him. I have no doubt our countries - whilst allied - also spy on each other - it's a just in case philosophy more than anything - Prince Charles was recently bleating about our friendship with Germany - this guy with his Nazi forbears - seems to have forgotten about two world wars and countless millions killed by this arrogant nation - if we aren't spying on present day Germany then we are fools. Did I mention that the EEC precursor to the EU was set up in the dying days of the war by Hitler's finance advisor (Funk - I think his name was) to ensure Germany's economic power after the war? Sorry if I repeat myself - anyway all I am saying is that you never know which way the wind is blowing in some countries and spying is essential to protecting oneself.

@strangebedfellows said:

You are way ahead of me - I am still on season 1 about episode 8. I think this didn't get picked up for a third series because it was just too involved and the characters were not charismatic enough.

Yeah, the characters are all too low key to grab your attention. Reardon might be willing to kill people if he has to, but that is mostly implied. They show the softer side of him. He is rarely even angry. Viewers expect a bit more flash from the lead character. And as you mentioned, there are so many moving parts and the viewer has to piece them together on his own. That makes the show less attractive to most viewers. And the name of the game is ratings.

I do like the subject matter. I have not seen a plot like this one before. It gets more interesting in the second season, on the spy side of the story.

Also, I won't give it away now, but there is a gay character, but you would never know it, and I like the way they present it. There is none of that in-your-face stuff. It is implied that one of the players meets with men for sex, and he is in the closet about it. They don't push it as normal.

I think it is too bad the show was canceled

This show was made in 2006 - I don't remember tv series being so inundated with gay sex scenes then as they are today. Even adverts are on that bandwagon. I am hoping that - like all fashions - the depiction of gay sex scenes will eventually become boring and thence "uncool" (the worst offence in this silly day and age !!) - it is new at the moment - but it will soon lose it's novelty value and people will look elsewhere for their kicks. I think the mistake this show makes is that it doesn't give enough repeated dialogue to help people keep track of who the protagonists are and what is going on. I am still wondering what on earth the black female cops husband has to do with anything - pointless characters irritate me - there are too many characters in this series already. You have me guessing now !! Who is the closet gay !! I don't know how many episodes there are per series - I am guessing ten or less - so I shouldn't have to wait long.

Francine is such a psycho-bitch. Even when she is sober she is extremely unstable and belligerent. She acts like she wants James for herself, but she isn't worth having. And I don't know that she really loves James, she just wants to feel loved again. James acts like he still has some feelings for her sometimes, and I cannot understand why.
Francine goes through cycles of telling off James "I'm tired of your lies, we're through" and so on. Then she becomes insanely jealous if she thinks he is sleeping with some other girl.

If I were him I would thank God if she told me she was done with me.

I am on series 1 ep 13 so I have one more to go before series 2. They have just revealed who the closet gay is and I honestly guessed it was him - to be fair - there weren't that many other candidates. Francine? - they are making her character too changeable - one minute she is gas-lighting Jimmy and then walking away with a smirk on her face - the next minute she is chucking hot coffee over him - then she is begging Ronnie to intervene to get her back in the family - then she is threatening to betray him - then when she has what she thinks is the chance - she doesn't - what does the stupid psycho want? The only way to worm her way back in is to go to rehab - then counselling - then anger management - then maybe a lobotomy !! I think Jimmy knows her very well and realises that she will NEVER be through with him - he isn't violent usually - but one day he may realise that she has to go. I am at the point where Dante has visited Jimmy and Ronnie with the two Asians - obviously beaten up - in the back of his car - it would be good if we had an explanation of how he found out that they were the guilty ones - maybe in the next episode. I am getting very tired of the black female cops machinations regarding getting her job in CSIS and the way she is manipulating about three guys who seem to either want her current job - her next job - or are just intent on climbing the greasy pole. I am finding it hard to keep track of that plotline and it tends to make me lose interest when I don't understand what is going on.

@strangebedfellows said:

I am still wondering what on earth the black female cops husband has to do with anything - pointless characters irritate me -

He was only in three episodes. I think they just had him there to give her a more full backstory, and possibly to make her a sympathetic character, a lady whose husband cheats on her.

Later on I thought I saw him in other episodes but I think it was just someone else who looked similar to him. Since I had only seen him a few times I couldn't remember his face well enough. But I checked and the husband was only in three episodes. As you said, there were a lot of people in this thing.

Looks like I may have been wrong about the closet gay !! I jumped to a conclusion when that guy was looking at Altman in the bar - slap my own wrist - assume makes an ass of u and me !! I am on S 2 E 2 now and things have really livened up - Jimmy's on the run. I much prefer it when things go out of doors - it is too static for me when they are indoors all the time. And what is this about Jimmy telling Francine "I have always loved you " - that was a bit unexpected and will certainly make her glue even stickier. And Ted Altman - Mr Ruthless who says there are no rules - what happened to that - he is suddenly gone all squeamish on us. Characters need to be consistent and he isn't. Regarding the DEA sting - it is pretty obvious that the recovered bullets are going to show that they were fired from a DEA issued weapon. And the gun without the firing pin - wouldn't Jimmy have checked that the instant he knew he was being set up? Why take it back into an area he knew was saturated with armed DEA agents and then say "I'm giving up the gun" I mean as soon as they hear gun they are going to start shooting - I found that stupid - he should have put the gun back in the toilet and simply walked out the door. There would have been nothing they could have done. Even if he had been killed or arrested in possession of that gun it would have proved he was innocent of killing anybody so I don't understand where they were going with that? and it would have made it obvious that he was deliberately set up. I think heads would have rolled in that scenario - especially as an agent was killed. Another thing is that I cringe when they trust a guy who is a drug and sex addict with $50m - Are they nuts? And when did Mike become a criminal mastermind? He usually acts like a stupid idiot and now he is in the thick of rescuing Jimmy. Oh well - at least it is more exciting now.

Yeah, it's a pet peeve of mine how they always make characters do stupid things to contrive the crises they make for themselves. It was pretty dumb for Jimmy to walk out there armed if he planned to surrender.

The thing about Michael wasn't too surprising to me. His big problem is that he is a liar and schemer, but he has never been short on courage. He makes stupid decisions and lies about them, but he can be counted on to fight at least. I say that it didn't surprise me too much because I see the writers do this quite a bit. They like to throw us curve balls. They like to redeem the characters with huge foibles. So this was them letting Mike do something good for his brother. This time it worked out. But with Mike, I expect his schemes to fail as often as work. And Ted, yeah he suddenly cares whether something happens to Reardon. I didn't think that would have bothered him.

So you're not sure who the closet homo is. You will see. There will be a scene, I don't remember when, you will see the guy will pull his car over to the side of the road where there are two gay hookers looking for men. One of them is a black effeminate looking guy, and the other isn't quite as obvious. But before he has a chance to say anything to either of them a cop car pulls along side and asks if he is having car trouble. He quickly flashes his ID and says "I'm on the job. I'm looking for a witness." That is the only indication I saw that told me he is gay. Well, not the only one, but it was the definitive one. He was clearly lying to the cops.

I have finished the second, the last season. I will keep my mouth shut for now. The way the finale ended tells me they expected the show to be renewed. Things were getting interesting both on the crime front and the spy front.

Have you ever seen the show Continuum?

oooohh - I shall have to wait and see who the closet gay is then !!! Another thing I am not sure of is why the DEA agent George Williams was so obsessed with nailing Jimmy. I mean I know Jimmy is a criminal - but weed? It is a fairly low level drug isn't it? It's even legal in some countries. I don't see why he had what amounted to a vendetta against Jimmy - as if it was something personal - but that was never suggested. I also can't see him committing suicide - he didn't seem to have that kind of personality - he was hard and cruel and ruthless. I don't think losing his job would have bothered him that much. I hate it when a series ends and there is obviously room for much more - I guess the ratings weren't that great and I can understand why - it took too long to get going and it was too complex with too many characters to keep track of, plus, as I have already said, there were no really charismatic personalities in the cast. I see that Ian Tracey is in Continuum. I am pretty sure I watched a couple of episodes of that but then got side-tracked by something else - maybe "The Americans" - I am not sure. All I can remember is that there was a sort of good baddie who she found herself attracted to - I can't recall how that worked out. I guess I'll never know now because it is not on Netflix!! I may have watched a lot of stuff on Sky Box Sets and now I've changed companies to Virgin which has a pathetic selection.

Shucks. I wish we had the same selection at the same time. Yeah Ian Tracey had a very different role in Continuum. He played smart guy who whose mind was sort of messed up when he time traveled. He was a minor player in that story though.

I am going to search for more shows off and on today. I didn't sleep well last night so might not be online much today.

Sorry to hear you slept badly - we are in the midst of a heatwave over here and it is hard to get a good nights rest. I am surprised how much this series improved in the second season. Is it me or has Michael lost a lot of weight - his face looks thinner and he doesn't look so goofy now. There is also a plot to kidnap Jimmy and kill him en route to America - why ? It's not as if he is a serial killer or Public Enemy Number One - I can't see the reason for that. And I was right about Ted Altman - I should have trusted my instincts !! What DO those rent boys look like. I see Jimmy - the happily married man can resist anything except temptation. With a whacko wife like that he is going to end up minus a few essential body parts. There is a new show coming to Netflix with Jason Momoa - I think it is a thriller called "Sweet Girl". I hope you have a better night tonight.

I'm not surprised Jimmy hooks up with women like he does. At one point Francine screamed at him for sleeping with Lorna saying "Why Don't You Fuck ME?! THAT Used To Be Fun!" in her psycho-sarcastic, violent, edge-of-sanity, wild eyed manner. The real surprise is that he can still find any feeling for her at all. When I was in college I met a truly schizophrenic girl who should have been institutionalized. She told my neighbor she wanted to sleep with me. That scared the hell out of me. She shouted at someone who wasn't there, telling them to shut up. Then she turned to me and said 'don't listen to him'. I told her, oh no, I don't pay any attention to him. There was NO WAY I was letting that girl in my apartment. Francine scares me almost as much as her.

Yeah, Ted. For some reason I wasn't surprised Ted was a closeted gay. He is always hiding something, sneaking around, jealous of others, seeking revenge over imagined sleights, and he generally lacks morals. No rules Ted.

I won't say anything about the kidnap and kill team sent after Reardon. It doesn't sound like the kind of operation the FBI or DEA could really do, does it?

I will look for Sweet Girl.

Can you find "Colony"? It was three seasons and pretty interesting.

I just binged through the Churchill Secret Agent new recruits series. It was very interesting. It showed the process of selecting people from those who volunteered to become SOE agents, and then the various types of training they went through to prepare them to go work behind enemy lines. I have watched other shows which gave some information about the operators as well. The Germans became fairly good at find the wireless operators, so they could not spend much time transmitting their messages, 30 minutes was enough time for the Germans to find them. It was quite dangerous work.

Yes - hurrah - Colony is on Netflix !! I have watched the S.O.E. recruits. It was quite interesting - the recruits were a very mixed bunch - one guy only had one leg as I recall and that feisty little woman would have a go at anything. The ones you thought would make it failed - and I think one guy - blonde with a moustache was really arrogant - they terminated him. I can't recall all of it - but I do remember that about half a dozen of them passed. Personally I don't think they would have in a real situation - not one of them spoke fluent French or German and some of their responses under surprise questioning would have seen them being taken out and shot. There was one guy rabbiting on about his cover story - acting it out - when there was nobody there !! I found the little info sections interesting - about what the real agents accomplished and how the British navy refused to transport them at first - the British are mad - we were dealing with one of the most vicious and evil countries intent on world domination and we wanted to play fair? God knows how we won wars. You have sparked my curiosity now with Jimmy's kidnapping. I know I shouldn't but I had to chuckle at your encounter with the schizophrenic lady - not at her - but at your reaction to the situation. The trouble with schizophrenics is that they tend not to take their medication and the voices they hear always tell them to commit violence - never go out and save the world. We have just had a case of a schizophrenic over here stabbing a guy eighteen times on a train - we have had more than one schizophrenic attack people with swords. I sometimes wonder if schizophrenia is the go-to excuse for violent behaviour. I hear of far more black people suffering from schizophrenia than whites - I wonder if they are more prone to it for some reason.