Flashpoint: We Take Care of Our Own

Posted by: S.P. Young • November 10, 2012 @ 6:09pm

"Call it a humanitarian mission."

The most polished script of the series was found in the latest episode, "We Take Care of Our Own." It had the perfect timing of the upcoming Remembrance Day, and of the new Canadian twenty dollar bills coming out. Take those, and add n the element of Jules and Sam now becoming expecting parents, and the primary antagonist dealing with leaving the military and having lost out at becoming a father, and the script writes itself.The issue of Jules and Sam being a couple has been of concern to the team. It was one of the reasons why Team One was put on probation, and it caused further problems when Greg had accidentally found out that Jules and Sam hid the relationship from him. The police higher ups had thought that if Jules and Sam were together, that it would affect their performance on the team. Now that they are expecting a child, Jules and Sam have become increasingly fearful in how they do their job.

Enter the bad guys. They are all ex-military, making them professionals at committing crimes. Despite their previous extensive training, and their heist on the armored truck carrying the old twenties, they were still all portrayed as victims. No disrespect to Canadian veterans, but the villains on the show were nothing more than military flunkies that just could not cut it in real life, so they resorted to crime for money. If there was one thing the writers failed to acknowledge, it is that after twenty years of service, military personnel are entitled to a pension. Sooner if the soldier is honourably discharged due to medical reasons. Hence, why the villains had that much less of an excuse to turn towards crime. If money was an issue, they should have just stuck it out, as opposed to joining some criminal cult. But that is what it comes down to -- making the right decision.

Take the cripple with a cane. Now this guy is an idiot. As a general rule, if you have a physical disability, you need to be smart. And pulling a heist is not smart. The disability is a constant and tangible reminder to not do anything stupid. When the consequences catch up to that person with a disability, they are going to be far worse than for an abled bodied person. Therefore, the guy with the cane is an idiot.

But to be fair, he did show some hesitation in being involved in the heist, but that did not stand up to the "you can do it" speech. This is Flashpoint after all. The writers want the viewers to feel bad for criminals, despite the fact that the criminals are capable of pulling an incredibly difficult heist, know how to use assault weapons, and shoot at police vehicles. Maybe with the exception of the guy in the wheelchair, there is nothing stopping any of these ex-military characters from getting an entry level job. They just chose not to.

The main antagonist turned out to be yet another bad guy with the likely possibility of killing himself, and needing to be talked down. As Sam himself is also ex-military, it gave him some common ground with the antagonist. Sam was fed the information about the antagonist having been an expecting father (but lost out), created even more in common between the two men. As Sam talked him down, Jules looked on wondering how the dangers of the job could affect them.

The episode was very well done, and set out to do everything it intended to do. There was a lot of thought put into the heist, and it was good to see the criminals come off as competent, and as an indivisable unit. The timing of Remembrance Day being this weekend was also a nice touch. Unfortunately, the episode's downfall came in insisting that the criminals are really not bad people, and the main antagonist resorting to threatening to commit suicide. By now, seeing the Strategic Response Unit having to convince people that want to kill themselves to live, has just happened way too many times to be interesting. Besides, seeing the guy blow himself up would have been way more fun to watch.

Tags: Flashpoint, Hugh Dillon, Amy Jo Johnson, David Paetkau, Enrico Colantoni, Sergio Di Zio, We Take Care of Our Own, Olunike Adeliyi, Headstones, Power Rangers