Flashpoint and Hey Rosetta!

Opening image for Flashpoint

There’s a new show on CBS called Flashpoint, about a SWAT like team of Toronto cops called the Strategic Response Unit (SRU), who are called in when the regular police need help. Things like a hostage situation, or a bomb threat, or even heavily armed criminals.

I watched the first episode a few weeks ago, and I must admit, it was interesting. I had some preconceptions about it being a new version of “Standoff”, which was a good show that was cancelled last year. That had Ron Livingston along with Rosemarie DeWitt as hostage negotiators in a similar unit. I did enjoy that series, and was disappointed when it was cancelled.

I had TVR’d the next few episodes, and managed to watch them yesterday – I am very, very glad that I recorded them – this series is really good!!! The depth of the characters is rather refreshing – we see, for example, that after lethal force is applied, the sniper is taken away by the police and interrogated – yup, interrogated. This is to make sure that all proper procedures were followed, and that the use of lethal force was warranted.

The series stars Enrico Colantoni, who you may remember played Elliot from NewsRadio (as well as Veronica Mars), Amy Jo Johnson, who was one of the original Power Rangers, and Hugh Dillon – who I don’t believe I have seen before. Oh – actually, I read his bio on Wikipedia, and it seems that he was in Assault on Precinct 13 (the Ethan Hawke remake) as well as a number of Canadian TV shows. Oh, and rounding out the regular cast is David Paetkau.

Colantoni plays Sgt Gregory Parker, the boss of the SRU. Dillon plays Ed Lane, the team leader and top sniper. Johnson plays the 2nd sniper, Jules Callahan, and Paetkau plays Sam Braddock, a brash Iraq vet who has just joined the team as another sniper.

Now, I’ve only seen 4 episodes, but I am hooked. You must be wondering why I mentioned Hey Rosetta! ?

Well, the 3rd episode is called “Element of Surprise”, and I watched it last night. In this episode, the team is ready to take down a dangerous drug dealer, with the help of an undercover police officer. The plan is that when the UC cop leaves the dealer’s apartment, the SRU will burst in and take him down. The idea is that there is no collateral damage, as no innocent bystanders would be around.

Unfortunately, this plan is thrown into disarray when an ex junkie, who is now clean, shows up to ask his old dealer for a loan. He’s been clean for 8 months, and the only reason why he needs the money is because his sister won’t let him back into the family home until he pays back the $700 that he stole when he was a junkie. That money had been set aside for his niece’s piano lessons, and now she can’t afford to go. As he had promised while he was a junkie – and then broken those promises, he tells his sister that he will get the money for her, to prove that this time, he is sincere.

So, the UC cop goes back into the apartment because this kid – whose name is Jackson – walks in. So the operation has to change, and the SRU can’t go in. Things get worse when the dealer gets a call from a guy on the street to tell him that cops and SWAT are all over the place. He thinks that Jackson sold him out to the cops, so he tries to shoot him. The UC cop tries to intervene, and then gets shot in the stomach.

While the dealer starts to flush his drugs down the toiler, Jackson calls for help, and tries to save the cops life. Ed realizes that the kid is innocent, and asks him to move the injured cop to the other room, so that they won’t be caught in the crossfire. All this because Jackson refuses to leave – he feels that it is his fault that the cop was shot in the first place.

However, the dealer gets agitated, so the SRU breach the apartment. Braddock breaks cover, and all hell breaks loose. The dealer surrenders, and the team goes to check on the UC cop, but find that Jackson has been shot in the chest.

Ed cradles the kid in his arms, and talks to him, telling him to hold on, that they have paramedics. Jackson is bleeding rather badly, but starts to smile and talks about Ella (his niece), and how she makes him smile. He dies in Ed’s arms.

The UC cop is whisked away, with the paramedics saying that he would make it.

Ed confronts Sam about him rushing in. Sam asks him why he doesn’t treat him like a member of the team. He knows that there are rumours floating around about something that happened in Iraq. As it turns out, he was given the green light to fire on an insurgent camp, and so he did. When they went in to check on the bodies, they found his best friend Matt. The intelligence was incorrect -there was a friendly in the camp when the green light was given. Sam killed his best friend.

So this is where Hey Rosetta come in.

The song “Psalm” starts to play, as they show each member of the team. Ed goes to Jackson’s sister, to tell her how Jackson died.

The montage is sad, and the song really does suit the end sequence.

Here’s the song from youtube:

Here are the lyrics:

But often it happens you know
That the things you don’t trust are the ones you need most
So it’s cautiously into the dark
But you see before long that your eyes will adjust
And under the night you can hear
The full moon rise like a psalm in the air
And the air goes into your lungs
And around in your heart and on through your blood
It goes cautiously into the dark
And you see before long that we all have a part
And under your skin you can feel
That the fear that you feel is what will set you free

And under the night you can hear
The full moon rise like a psalm in the air
And the air goes into your lungs

It’s a really sad song – very apt for what they were showing.

That’s it for now – peace!