Many Canadians wait impatiently for each new episode of Law and Order Toronto to drop and the reason I always hear is,"It's so Canadian." While watching it the other day, I wondered what makes it so Canadian and, although many have tried to break it down, I feel they miss the certain je ne sais quoi that makes it Canadian. Since je ne sais quoi literally means something that cannot be adequately described, it made me certain that trying to write about it was useless. Never one to shrug off a challenge, here's my attempt: the part that's so Canadian is that we talk it out.
Law and Order Toronto is a spinoff of the U.S. much loved Law and Order series, Many have pointed out that is has an all-Canadian cast, is set in Toronto, is produced by Canadian crews and the episodes are drawn from Toronto crime headlines and the landmarks of the city are recognizable to all. The executive producer Amy Cameron said, "it's been "liberating" for the crew to be able to portray Toronto as itself, after spending years pretending it's another city on other productions."
Tassie Cameron, the producer and sister of Amy, identifies two other crucial, very Canadian parts of the show: in Canada, you don’t get to have a lawyer present when you’re being questioned and there isn't a lot of gun violence so the show, being realistic, has few guns. I would add that in American shows, people are described as "Black" or "White" etc. I haven't heard this on the show and this is a very Canadian way to speak.
The episode I watched was the latest one called XOXO (referring to a clue on a card) and Claire Mathews, newly elected MP, is found dead on a car below her high rise apartment. Did she jump or was she murdered? The two investigating detectives, Graff and Bateman, are a study in contrast with Graff described as a Sherlock character, who knows a little something about everything using deduction skills to solve, whereas Bateman uses great human instincts and empathy to solve crimes, but this is far too simplified.
All of the characters, from the MP's son and husband to her secret lover, are complex and peeled back layer by layer. Graf notices two crucial clues: a bunch of roses and a camera on an apartment across the way attached to a bird feeder. The camera audio proves it was a murder and the roses end up being crucial to solving the case. Graf quickly finds and focuses on her lover who happens to be his father. If this isn't complicated enough, Graf blames his father for murdering his mother even though her death was officially classified as a suicide.
When Bateman points out Graf's conflict of interest and asks him to allow her to work the case alone and 'trust her instincts' Graf attacks her by growling, "What instincts?"
As expected, Graf works the case surreptitiously and Bateman investigates Graf's mother's death surreptitiously.
When Bateman discovers Graf's mother really did commit suicide, she shows enormous empathy and understanding of what he felt like as a young boy who lost his mother and asks him to be be empathetic with that child he once was and then to be the wonderful detective he is when looking at this. When they discover the roses were brought by the son who committed the murder – here the credit goes to Bateman - the questioning of the son is done, on Bateman's insistence, by Graf who gets a confession by using their shared experience of losing a mother.
What is very Canadian is the interactions. Bateman's response to Graf's attack on her - and it's a cutting attack on her entire career - is not to attack in return. Instead she reaches out to and appeals to his empathy for the child he was and appeals to his intelligence and logic until he finally admits his mother committed suicide. Graf reaches out to the son also appealing to his empathy and understanding of his mother to get him to admit to murdering his mother. This optimistic belief – that if people use their empathy and intelligence, understanding and even justice can be attained – is very Canadian. This isn't a theoretical belief but one that is enacted our whole lives as we discuss and debate on issues from politics to raisins or no raisins in butter tarts.
Our interactions always mark a Canadian. I have traveled widely and can recognize a Canadian by the way we talk, discuss and even argue. In fact, Canada was born as a country by talking. One common comment is that Canada was not born from the clashing of swords but from the stroke of a pen but, in fact, the creation of the Dominion of Canada was from talking; talking at the Charlottetown Conference (September 1864), the Quebec Conference (October 1864) and the London Conference (December 1866 to March 1867). We're still talking to fix problems: a police officer, part of the elite crises management team, when asked whether they use the large guns he brought to a writer's talk in hostage situations, he smiled and explained in hostage situations he'd rather talk it out till everyone was bored, hungry and gave up.
Talking built Canada and is still fixing it everyday.
