Cardinal Episode 1 Review – An Investigation That’s Not Worth Your Time

<p><em>Cardinal<&sol;em> leaves you just as cold as the location that it is shot in and for the first episode of a series&comma; it fails to keep your attention&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s filled with dreadfully slow pacing&comma; scenes that overstay their welcome and characters that are as dry as cardboard&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a small Northern Ontario town shed in snow&comma; Detective John Cardinal &lpar;Billy Campbell&rpar; is investigating the death of 13-year-old Katie Pine&comma; alongside Detective Lise Delorme&comma; who suspects him for wrongdoing&period; It could have been an intriguing story about a detective who once was forced to leave due to focusing too much on one case and his partner suspecting him&period; But no&comma; <em>Cardinal<&sol;em> turns into a slog&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The characters are one note&period; There is no sense of personality from the supporting cast as each of these characters simply give information to Cardinal and have no substance&period; Take Delorme for example&semi; there&&num;8217&semi;s nothing to take from her as she says bland lines throughout the entire first episode&period; There are attempts at humor here and there like two people fighting despite getting a new television from the store and Cardinal noting that to Delorme&comma; but the joke falls flat&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Billy Campbell playing Cardinal is hit-and-miss&period; Without saying a word&comma; you can tell how his character is feeling and Campbell is so effective during these moments&period; For example&comma; as details are given about how the victim was treated&comma; you can see how tormented he feels about the case&period; The humanity within him throughout the episode is sapped away as he struggles with his demons&period; However&comma; his hushed voice is really distracting and contrived for a genre that is full of these caricatures&period; It lacks emotion and the writing behind the voice just makes the character so unappealing to follow&period; There is little reason to root for him&comma; especially towards the end&comma; and that is a major reason why this series will probably not be a hit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;117746" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-117746" style&equals;"width&colon; 1200px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"wp-image-117746 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;01&sol;31023913&sol;cardinal-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"cardinal &lpar;1&rpar;" width&equals;"1200" height&equals;"513" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-117746" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Cardinal&comma; Sienna Films&comma; CTV&comma; and Entertainment One Television&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The writing is dreadfully slow and despite how much time it gives to potential character development&comma; the script leaves little room&period; Try to remember one or two names from this show after watching it&comma; and that would be impressive&period; Like a non-playable character in a video game&comma; they’re just information carriers and that’s it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; this show does have a style to it&period; It’s slow&comma; but at the same time&comma; creates an atmosphere that is unmatched&period; It feels uncomfortable with its darker tones of editing and cinematography&comma; and it gives extra time to show the reactions of the townsfolk rather than simply cutting away into another shot&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you’re in the mood for a criminal drama&comma; go watch <em>Elementary<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Longmire&comma; <&sol;em>or even <em>NCIS<&sol;em>&period; The characters are further fleshed out in these shows and their plotlines pull you in far more than <em>Cardinal<&sol;em>’s&period; This is one investigation that’s not worthy of your time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;