Durham County: Season One

Durham County is a brilliant, yet dark and disturbing series
A few years ago I discovered this show called "Durham County" which is shown in Canada. Soon after I began watching it I realized this is a special type show. It was like nothing I had really watched before, as most shows, at least here in the US, tend to be "Safe". There are exceptions such as Sons of Anarchy or Dexter or The Shield, but by and large most shows have a "we won't cross this line" mentality that prevents it from seriously going in a direction that might be seen as offputting to a number of viewers.

Thankfully Durham County's network does not have that mentality, and so it has allowed this brilliant show to be crafted in a way that is unsettling and not at all "safe". The show is completely unpredictable and in fact the one thing that IS predictable is how you will feel afterwards. Kinda icky. And that's a great thing I think. Anytime a show can create these emotions inside you that make you question what you just watched is brilliant in my mind...

A Masterpiece
The box cover's description sounds a little cheesy, but these six episodes are a brilliant piece of storytelling. This is extremely intelligent, bleak, thrilling noir, with a great deal of subtext into dynamics between men and women, and male violence toward women. The writing is exemplary, as is the cinematography and performances. ... The best piece of television storytelling I've seen since The Wire.

Terrific; Bad Guy Ray Is Fabulous
I watched this because the "sort of good guy", the cop, is the really good guy on the Canadian series FLASHPOINT. He's part good and part bad as the cop in this small town where he relocates his family. Right across the street from him lives the big deal in town, a real bad guy, a complete psychopath. Naturally, he is such a good old boy in the town, lived there all his life, that everyone loves him. His name is Ray. Ray plays this between high camp and straight. He reminds me somewhat of Ian McShane in DEADWOOD but, of course, worse. This is great fun. "Ray" was so good that he won the Canadian version of the Emmy for this as lead actor.

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