User reviews

The First season of CRACKED had the promise of being something TRULY GREAT and the first of its kind on Canadian TV. The Second Season... not so much...

What I originally loved about the first season the most was how it dealt (almost) unflinchingly with issues of mental illness in an even-handed or even gentle way. Unlike "Law and Order" where the mentally ill are "hooped up" or "generically crazy" or in shows like "Criminal Minds" where mental illness is directly associated with being a super-villain, each of the guest characters is a fully-developed person off the street with a name, life, and profession who is then performed by a great guest-actor giving a frighteningly real depiction of what real mental illness looks like.

Its rare that ANY television show has made me care so much for ALL of its characters. Even the weekly antagonist. I use "antagonist" consciously because originally there were no "villains" in the show at all, just people with the sorts of medical problems that are sadly often found at or near the scene of a violent crime. And at the end of every episode as the dust settles the audience is left just hoping that EVERY character is going to be "okay" at the start of next week's episode. Especially the ones who wake up in hospital about to be told what they'd done...

As someone living with bipolar disorder myself, I can vouch for the accuracy of the portrayals what living with the condition is like in episodes 2 and 7 of the first season. I have been frighteningly near places at like that many times myself and I can hardly imagine being a lawyer or a famous musician on tour on top of it. My own experience with hospitalization, diagnosis, medications and the never-ending battle to realize when and how my thinking is being distorted from within...

...what you see on the screen is all true. That's the most frightening part. The show may be scripted but the diseases and disorders are portrayed true-to-life with honestly NO exaggeration for dramatic purposes I can detect. There are people with mental illness that extreme, and probably even worse.

There are people living with disorders and living through events like what you see in this show, and police and mental health professionals dealing with these exact situations EVERY DAY in cities around the world. With 1 in 6 people suffering from mental illness in Canada, this show represents a conversation we need to have in this country, and around the world, about mental illness.

...And then there was Season 2.

I had sincerely hoped that as the show wore on there would be increased mention of the shortage of beds, three-month wait times for intake appointments to outpatient programs, psychiatrists with literally hundreds of patients and more than a few relapses and returns of characters we'd seen before as the overburdened system revolving-doors patients who don't seek help on their own.

No such luck.

At least in part due to the departure of series co-creator Tracy Forbes and an inter-season power grab by series lead David Sutcliffe, the show watered down the groundbreaking aspects of the series in favour of a more "traditional" police procedural format that focused on the cops, and reduced the "ill" back into the "generically crazy" ghetto. The guest characters became rote and forgettable, the writing and acting (generally) became weaker and more clichéd over time. Essentially everything I happened to love about the show has fallen through the Cracks as of the end of Season 2.

That said, check out the show for yourself and see what you think. This series started out as something too good to miss. I hope it can be so again.

To be honest, I didn't think much of the pilot, but I wanted to give it a chance because of the topic matter. With there still being such a negative stigma attached to mental illness sufferers, it's good to see relatable, realistic characters that are either displaying signs of a mental illness or be seen to be compassionate and understanding towards those going through the symptoms.

If I were to nitpick at it, I guess some of the writing seemed a bit lazy in parts, but I find the characters likable despite (or maybe because of?) their flaws. I find myself being easily drawn into the plot and I guess this helps me overlook what I see as failures in the story line where luck seems to have them in the right place at the right time saying just the right things... not as realistic as I'd like, but I guess I'm watching this more for the entertainment factor.

It also helps having actors who double as eye candy ;)

Cracked is awesome!!

I love the crime show genre, and this one is different enough to stand out from the crowd and entice me to watch every episode. Too many crime shows are built from the same mold. This show contains plenty of storyline and plot development, but still has a certain amount of thrill to it...so its not just mindless guts and gore, its not just another Drama, not just another who-dun-it show. I think it dips its toes just enough into each.

Cracked is a well written, nicely developed crime show. I love the character development over time, the subtlety between characters one can pick up on if you watch every episode...

If you are looking for a more compassionate crime show, Cracked is for you. It focuses on Crimes involving the mentally ill in a manner in which I think we all wish real life police officers would.

All In all I give Cracked a full rating, because it gave me everything I look for in a new crime show.

I don't need to be Miami Viced with flashy cars and stubbly studs, nor do I need to be blown away with mind boggling scientific 3D visualizations, nor do I need to be cajoled into mirth by quirky hipster references. And this show is none of that.

Appreciating acting is subjective for the most part, although 'bad acting' is obvious and painful to watch. I've seen complaints that the acting is bad, but I personally found myself rapt and engaged by these people, who I might add, I haven't been overexposed to and so I'm not distracted by previous characters they've played. This helps I suppose.

It doesn't even feel particularly Canadian to me, which is a testament since I can usually spot it instantly. Looks like they are finally braving some new attitudes in camera/lighting techniques up here.

Overall, I am looking forward to some more thorough fleshing of the main characters (and I don't mean gratuitous sex, save that for season two)

Perhaps they will dare to broach the mental health issues rampant in the Business/Corporate world (ie: sociopaths et al). I'd like to see that.

Well being especially mental health is a difficult subject to build a TV show on - it relies on the main characters being liked enough by the viewer to be entertained. In this regard Cracked has done very well. The main character has to be cracked but competent and the characters around him have to be empathetic or there is no reason to keep main character. Also even though some of the subjects each week are not flattering we must empathise with their problems. Thus Cracked has done very well - this can only be accomplished by good acting and good storytelling. Overall the series has accomplished a lot but now the interplay between the characters has to drive the story and hopefully see the problems that materialize.

Detective Aidan Black (David Sutcliffe) suffers from PTSD after a clean fatal shooting of a child. He's assigned in the new Psych Crimes and Crisis Unit. He is forced to be partnered with psychiatrist Dr. Ridley (Stefanie von Pfetten) to investigate crime involving the mentally disturbed. It's a partnership without trust as Ridley is also asked if Aidan is cracked.

It's an intriguing new take on an old police procedural. I can certainly see an American show taking elements from this show. David Sutcliffe is a pretty good lead actor. Stefanie von Pfetten gives the show balance but sadly she doesn't return for the second season. The producers probably hoped to be picked up in America but that didn't take off. It was going downhill in the second season anyways.

I'll be short, Well structured fantasy play on what rescources cops have in real life! Although not a serious drama and escapist by design it has some messages worth viewing! I enjoyed this given it reflects what I'd like to be able to do in my RL job! The tension of Law enforcement vs Community problems ie. Mental health issues. (the lack of rescources for Mental Health Treatement Worldwide)

Rights for the Mentally Ill!

Although not strictly realistic this show reflects a common experience by both caring and law enforcement agencies. For many years there has been a ping pong of this responsibility and this is the first time I've seen this translated into a real working model although fictitious .

I'd recommend a viewing, even to support expanded utilization of mental health professionals within forensic deployments (my forensic byas)

OK, I gave it the benefit of the doubt for the first episode, but I had to switch episode 2 off after about 10 minutes. This show is really bad, mainly because the script writing is so lazy, and the actors just don't seem at all interested to be honest.

As a couple of examples, early in the second episode, there is a scene set on the front porch, there are a multitude of knife implements around the main character (a great Canadian actor by the way that has done himself no favours appearing in this!) and the lead detective who is the main focus of 'cracked' replies to a comment concerning the knives saying he can only use one at a time...errrr no, unless multitasking really is beyond the realms of men, he can use two given he has two arms/hands! As an actor why wouldn't you challenge that statement in the script?! It's lazy script writing and acting in my opinion. So OK, that seems petty, how about a few scenes later when they find a car and investigate all around it, then exclaim surprise at finding a blood trail, clearly visible on the ground, as if it had not been noticed before taking the two steps away from the vehicle and the vehicle having been cordoned off by uniformed officers?! Errr, really?! OK, I agree these little observations seem petty, but these two issues happened within the first ten minutes and were not the only things.

Overall, I disagree with other comments about the idea for the show, it's a stupid idea, but that is my personal opinion and I understand that writers need to be a bit more evolved around police TV series, because the gritty stuff like nypd blue and homicide:life on the street and the wire have set huge benchmarks that make it difficult to be just plain old police shows, but this is just plain lazy and the person that came up with this idea must be smiling from ear to ear, because he has probably been paid a fortune for five minutes of thought!! It's a bleak start to 2013 if this is the best that TV networks can sign up, especially after the tat that has preceded it like the mob doctor!! Can this show and put more effort in in the future!

When I first heard about Cracked and the idea of the new unit I was somewhat on the fence about how it would translate to the screen and how good it would actually be. But I was pleasantly surprised to see the show was excellent David Sutcliffe's portrayal of Aidan the somewhat "Cracked" Detective whose operational history makes him one of the best cops in the department, whose new partner is not a detective but a psychiatrist who doesn't carry a gun plays out brilliantly Stefanie con Pfettens portrayal of Dr Daniella Ridley is also excellent with their being good chemistry between the two quite opposite people. Although we don't see very much of the other partnership of Detectieve Poppy Wisnefski played by Luisa D'Oliveira and Psychiatric Nurse Leo Beckett played by Dayo Ade what we do see of them leaves me with high hopes of how they interact as a partnership and also of how the whole group will play off of each other with two trained officers and two mental health professionals will allow both sides to give us new perspectives on each individual crime and the criminals themselves with the first episode showing this as well. Overall a great start for a show with a lot of potential.

I was really looking forward to this one, I was so disappointing ... it was so painfully predicable ... with all the hype I was expecting some fresh, slick and gripping show instead ... well lets start with the predicable characters, really? a special unit rogue cop with 'issues' gets moved to another special unit ... wow who would have thought that could happen ... please ... why not get Mel Gibson to play the part with long hair thrown in for 80's nostalgia sake ... the predictable set up of male and female characters for 'romance interest' sake, ohhhh come on, there are enough of those shows out there ... and what is it with these 'special-unit-cop-csi' type shows that there has to be all the blood and dead people shots ... again if you want blood and guts there are tons of shows with that in, be original and DON'T show the gore ... we get it they got killed in a gruesome way ... do you honestly need to use up the 42 minutes with 6 minutes of blood and dead people pictures ... So disappointed.

Finally a new series thats innovating and doesn't walk the path of all the others. The concept is great: a cop who had a mental breakdown and recovered is being asked, together with a shrink, a RPN and another cop, to form a new kind of unit which deals with psych-crimes in order to prevent innocent victims (read: patients) from getting hurt unnecessary by other cops without the experience in psychiatry. As a health care worker (RPN) in the field of Schizophrenia I welcome such series since they have a good mix of the "Hollywood" series with realism and put the psychiatric patients back in the category HUMANS !! Although not all cases seem to be based on true stories, most of them come rather close to the truth. I can't speak for the situation in Canada and the USA of course since i haven't worked there as a RPN. The characters in this series are, in my eyes, plausible.

This episode was enjoyable and intriguing because it dealt both with a bizarre mental illness (prosopagnosia or the inability to identify or recognize faces, hence the title) and background world events (children soldiers in former Zaire). I was shocked, however, to learn that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has switched official languages from French to English, and nobody warned me! It must have happened when Zaire became DRC, I'm sure. Why else would two DRC immigrants speak with a blatant African accent from English-speaking Africa? More seriously, I find it hard to believe that the series' production team was unable to find actors who would be originally from French-speaking Africa especially in a country like Canada that prides itself on its bilingualism.

I have just started watching the show today, and I have to say, it's a new thing. The show has the suspense and also the drama. I was literally holding on to my pillow as I watched this show, trying not to miss even the tinniest details. This show doesn't contain a lot of action, although enough action for a Wednesday night. The choice of the actors and actresses is amazing, and the cast does a great job following the role of each character. Although,I was just frustrated by the commercials, because I just couldn't wait to continue watching! Really, a must watch. This new series defiantly has me hooked. CBC @9:00 pm every Wednesday!

I have now watched two episodes hoping the second would be an improvement on the first, opening night jitters I thought. Never like to judge on one episode alone. Sadly, the second wasn't much better. It's stale and has little new to it. A show can get by with a reliable formula but this particular show has 3 terribly bad points. It's very boring, the writing seems clichéd and lazy and the acting. There is no chemistry between the actors and the actress who portrays Danielle is particularly bad. They ensemble cast look like they are acting, nothing is natural. I struggle to find how this show found it's way to TV. At no point did CBC stop and say "This is awful, we have to change this". If this is the best that was on offer I really worry for the future of Canadian TV writing. The good points. It's polished(Although i do prefer gritty) and there is a good core idea there. It's been executed very badly though. And i won't be giving it a third chance to find out if it improves.

I watched a few episodes, but it's not worth the time. Story line is awful, acting is awful. The male character doesn't make sense at all, the female psychologist clearly missed half of her psychology classes. Even I as a coach, seem to have better understanding of the human psyche. As said by someone else, indeed weird that an actor like Colantoni accepted a role in the series (2nd episode). Guess this was arranged before it became clear how awfully bad the series would turn out to be. And speak of the devil, isn't this a rip-off of Flashpoint? Sort of similar concept, talk before you shoot, the psychological approach. Don't waste your time on it, there's plenty of good series around!

Top crime show must watch, definitely sad for 3 season.

honestly the only thing this show has going for it is Stefanie von Pfetten's face/body. The acting is horrible most of the time. The team gets thrown together in 2 minutes, with the only introduction to each other being their names. Then is immediately sent out on the street to assist other officers. The premise of the show is weirdly implemented. Why would pysch crimes take over a homicide investigation if they don't have a suspect that is crazy or more than a single clue that could possibly lead to that conclusion? There's no transition between scenes. Its a bad combination of Perception and Criminal Minds. Big disappointment in my opinion.

Readers,

I always see a pilot as a place to break new ground and suck in a new breed of viewer. This my TV lovers is not one of those shows and all the funky ass time lapse street driving shots are not ever going to make it one.

I just watched the first episode and have to say this show is as ordinary as it gets. Especially with what's out there nowadays. With in the first 5 pages we already know our Heros past and couldn't care less about it. I'm assuming, the flashbacks of the troubled characters past they will add in future episodes won't help kick start this snoozer either.

Is there really going to be a witless battle going on between our two newfound partners in every episode? And will it be as uncomfortably acted as this? Even the writers sprinkling in some sexual tension, followed by drunken one night stand will help get this beaver tail renewed.

Clichéd as it gets, it is average on every level, plot, characterization, dialogue, locations, music, featured talent, the list goes on.

Is Canadian Episodic Drama ever going to eclipse Degrassi or Catwalk?

With all the funding the government gives out you hope to think so.

Maybe in another twenty years, as thats how long as it's been.

Typical Canadian television. Actors are ok Premise of the show could be ok. But weak writing

I watched an episode of this show based on the name, assuming it would be a TV series spin off of the Cracked website. Instead, I was treated to an hour long near-parody of evening police dramas. The acting is laughably bad. The episode hinged around a series of high school bullying-related deaths. The weak acting takes second fiddle to the truly ridiculous cut-and-paste characters. Every single character we come across in the high school is some goofy stereotype, from the mean girl to the nerd to the car-culture burnout. But the main cast is even worse, with no personality whatsoever. This main cop, he's supposed to be all edgy, but the edgiest thing he says or does in the entire episode is take a teenage girl's phone away (this has nothing to do with the plot, just ham-fisted writing). This show had me laughing the whole time. It's unintentional camp.

Lazy formulaic writing combined with very lacklustre acting my the majority makes for a so-so police drama.

The premise is plausible but the instant dislike between the two schools of thought is almost embarrassing to watch.

You know already that respect will be grudging and hard to come by but love will conquer in the end.

I'm guessing about the eventual outcome as I couldn't bring my7self to watch more than 3 episodes.

Bland and what flavours there are are so cartoony predictable that it's more comedy than drama.

Unless there is literally NOTHING else to watch, don't waste your time with this loser.

No wonder they only made 2 seasons.