The release of season one of A&E’s The Glades on DVD nearly perfectly coincides with both the start of the second season as well as the start of summer. The advertisements have been plastered all over New York. You know the ones: the large, juicy orange” pierced with a straw that drips blood and the tagline “Sunny with a Chance of Homicide.” It’s a catchy description as well as a compelling image. However, the show itself is less than such, though it will provide a pleasant diversion for viewers in a summer programming slate barren of the usual suspects. It’s the television equivalent of those cheap paperback romance and mystery novels that you pick up for a few bucks, to read on the beach.
Executive producer Clifton Campbell, best known for USA’s White Collar as well as 21 Jump Street, created The Glades as a love letter to his home state of Florida. As he says in the special feature “A Location for Murder: Filming The Glades,” he felt that it was a unique area that lent itself to some very strange types of crimes that didn’t and couldn’t occur on procedurals set elsewhere in the United States. The location is indeed the main thing that makes The Glades stand out from its more urban, northern counterparts. Well, that and star Matt Passmore. Rugged, tan, and handsome in the way that all the best Australian actors seem to be, he brings life and spice to a character that isn’t terribly exciting, though the creators want us to think he is. Campbell and others keeps reiterating in the extras that Detective Jim Longworth is a rebel who doesn’t play by the rules, the black sheep of the Florida Police Department after being banished there from Chicago. They all chime in with various other descriptive phrases that all imply the same thing: he is not your stereotypical cop. And yet, isn’t every cop character on television put forth as being as such? That’s the network hook to get us to care about these characters, by telling us they are not like everyone else. Yet with his token obsession (golf), sassy comebacks, and a sexy crush to help him show off his softer side, Jim Longworth is just another cipher.
Fortunately, Passmore has the charisma to pull it off, despite occasionally struggling with the less-than-subtle dialogue. Also surprisingly likeable is Kiehle Sanchez, most notorious for playing the loathed Nikki on Lost. She portrays the aforementioned sexy crush, Callie, a medical student who remains out of reach to Jim due to her being married—to a man in prison. They have a bubbly chemistry and look fantastic together too. Their will-they-or-won’t-they relationship, despite being something we’ve all seen before, is definitely the best part of the show. Especially with Callie’s precocious son, Jeff (Uriah Shelton), thrown into the mix. The supporting characters are generally likeable, though without the acting chops that one has grown to expect from basic cable, now that breeding ground for television that pushes boundaries and takes chances that the networks are unwilling to do. The Glades, however, would be just as at home at Fox as it is on A&E, with maybe the exception of the gore quotient. People do die in very interesting ways in The Glades, whether it be beheaded and eaten by a crocodile or beaten to death with a golf club on a ritzy course. Drench these nasty images with the bright Floridian sun, and you have an intriguing set-up. I only wish it was better written, and that the stand-alone mysteries in each episode were more compelling.
For a frothy summer treat, The Glades is a fine way to spend your prime-time hours. However, once Breaking Bad starts July 17th, and the fall line-up kicks in after that, there will be plenty of better things to watch on television and in your DVD player.
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
There are the standard issue audio commentary, deleted scenes, and gag reel. More enlightening are the previously referenced “A Location for Murder: Filming The Glades” as well as “Sunshine State of Mind: Casting The Glades.” Chapman, the cast, and the rest of the production team speak with such cheer and eloquence that you can’t help but be won over. I especially enjoyed hearing them talk about what it was like to shoot in Florida, since so few television shows do. I recommend watching those two featurettes after a couple of episodes of the show, before continuing onwards after that. It will give you a different outlook as you progress towards the end of the season.
"The Glades: The Complete First Season" is on sale June 14, 2011 and is rated . Crime-Thriller, Television. Directed by Gary A Randall, Peter OFallon, Timothy Busfield, Tricia Brock. Written by Clifton Campbell, Alfonso H. Moreno, Tom Garrigus, et al. Starring Carlos Gomez, Kiehle Sanchez, Matt Passmore.
