I saw the first episodes ofIndefensible. I saw the first episodes of STAT. Verdict, diagnosis? In this epic war of the daily 7 p.m. series, which begins Monday evening, neither TVA nor Radio-Canada loses its case or abandons its patient.
Posted at 7:30 p.m.
Here are two well-paced and punchy series, each causing strong adrenaline rushes. It is clear that I will follow both. No choice, your honor. Because for the moment, there is no title that crushes another.
I would say, however, that the first four episodes ofIndefensible explode like dynamite on the screen. The editing is super jerky, effective and the plot tumbles at top speed.
Within 22 minutes of the first episode ofIndefensible, there’s a home invasion, a teenage rape, a shooting death, crazy twin brothers, a policeman accused of road rage and a very sleazy psychiatrist, not to mention the presentation of all the employees of the Lapointe-MacDonald law firm at the heart of the series, as well as their counterparts at the courthouse. Big feat from the team of screenwriters – there are eight of them – and no missteps in this complex television ballet.
And it seems that TVA has, for months, polished these four half-hours like a precious stone. Filming, almost all outdoors, was done in February, in heavy snow and Siberian cold. It is also confusing to see the character of Sébastien Delorme, the criminal lawyer Léo MacDonald, getting out of his car in front of an industrial building in the middle of winter, in the middle of nowhere.
It’s like being in the parking lot of the police station of (fire) District 31. Same long black coat, same car shots, same aerial images of Montreal, it’s stunning.
The team challengeIndefensible will be to maintain this unrestful pace. As in District 31, Indefensible slides small files into larger ones, which are spread over more than a week. The knitted story around the psychiatrist Martin Charbonneau (Christian Bégin) hooks us and abandons us on a big surprise in the Thursday episode, a classic District 31 to stir up speculation over the weekend.
STAT however, has the most powerful weapon to go to war, the actress Suzanne Clément, better than her rival Sébastien Delorme. She shines in the “scrubs” of Emmanuelle St-Cyr, a dedicated and committed emergency physician, borderline police investigator, who runs on adrenaline. Also, to deeply immerse viewers in this hospitable universe, the first four episodes of STAT will last an hour each, an idea proposed by Luc Dionne, revealed producer Fabienne Larouche. This is to show you how much TVA and Radio-Canada are betting big on their 7 p.m. foals.
STAT also opens with a big drama, the sudden death of the spouse of the DD Emmanuelle St-Cyr, who will experience her mourning very badly. In terms of storytelling, STAT comes closer to Grey’s Anatomy that of District 31. Unlike Luc Dionne, who focused on police cases, the author Marie-Andrée Labbée highlights the personal lives of the employees of Saint-Vincent Hospital in Montreal, who regularly organize well-watered dinners.
Besides the DD St-Cyr, the core of friends-colleagues brings together psychiatrist Philippe Dupéré (Patrick Labbé), surgeon Isabelle Granger (Geneviève Schmidt) and beneficiary attendant Éric Perron (Stéphane Rousseau). As you can imagine, there’s hospital romance and special medical cases, let’s say. The first episodes contain a psychotic patient who hears voices on the intercom, agitated people on the Ativan, teenagers shooting guns in broad daylight and an assault on a mandatory overtime nurse, the famous TSO.
Indefensible sticks more to the formula with twists of District 31. The defense lawyers, camped by Anne-Élisabeth Bossé, Nour Belkhiria and Michel Laperrière, are carrying out investigations in parallel, which propel the action in unexpected directions. I love the Crown prosecutor, M.e Sonia Cadet, played by Marilyse Bourke, who regularly fights with her eternal rival Léo MacDonald (Sébastien Delorme), a confident and upright criminal lawyer. Of course, any series of avocados come with a bad apple, Me Frédéric Legrand (Martin David Peters), who hangs out with the wrong people and who has a shitty character, let’s not be afraid of words. In the competing show, Isabelle Blais inherits the role of the ugly hospital director.
STAT is replete with well-defined secondary characters, including fiery emergency physician Jacob Faubert (Lou-Pascal Tremblay), dedicated nurse Sophia St-Jean (Ludivine Reding), gossipy physiotherapist (Pascale Renaud-Hébert), rigid director of professional services Pascal St Cyr (Normand D’Amour) and the out-of-balance social worker (Virginie Ranger-Beauregard).
WhileIndefensible dives into heavy subjects, STAT sprinkles his scenes more with lighter bubbles, which relax the atmosphere.
This perfect balance between banter and intense drama has pushed District 31 at the top. For now, and with its darker look, Indefensible bets more on electroshock, while STATwith a more luminous bill, is moving towards an in-depth exploration of the psychological flaws of its main characters.
And who will place on his head the precious golden crown of District 31 ? Hard to predict. The habit of listening to a daily newspaper at 7 p.m. has existed for 30 years at Radio-Canada. For its part, Quebecor has invested a lot of money in the cross-promotion ofIndefensiblewhich even got a headline on Pierre-Olivier Zappa’s 10 p.m. TVA Nouvelles.
Certainly, there will be curiosity and zapping in the first weeks. Then, viewers, for lack of time or interest, will opt for doctors, lawyers or both, why not, long live the recorders and catch-up!
For the curious, STAT means “immediately, immediately” in medical language. Like: intubate her STAT! Inject him with a STAT tranquilizer! Stop this columnist from writing questionable legal-hospital analogies STAT!
Message received. This section ends here STAT!