Cardinal

The town of Algonquin Bay has secrets. Bad things happen in the long winter darkness, filled with predators, drugs and violence. All this, and Campbell’s outstanding performance, add up to a drama that stands with the best of TV noir.

Let's just say it gets darker. Good, though, isn't it? Talk about revenge being a dish best served cold.

Screenwriter Aubrey Nealon is masterfully stingy with the script, carefully doling out information about Cardinal and other characters in very small but tantalizing doses. The performances are quite good, although Campbell speaks all of his lines is a somewhat loud whisper. It feels at times like an affectation, but otherwise, he invests the right about of credible angst to make the character compelling.

The jousting and bonding between the senior Anglo investigator and his younger French-Canadian partner gives Cardinal emotional depth.

Torture aside, it’s a consistently intriguing thriller, its appeal ensured by the bone-chilling glories of the scenery.

Cardinal often pulls from years of cop show clichés in ways that almost approach parody. Most of all, why does it always sound like John Cardinal is whispering? And yet there within the clichés and outside of the torture subplot, there are elements of Cardinal that hooked this mystery junkie.

The whole thing was so chilly that it left me craving a show that is the absolute opposite of this in every way.