Episode 3 did not disappoint. 

Question:  Can someone be hypnotised with that kind of recall

Interesting: the ability for people to view things in the same way

Scary:  cult leaders and followers

Sideline:  what is trust

That was an excellent show last night. I don't know enough about hypnotism to know how well it works. I imagine that in the case depicted, the person became relaxed enough to recall what needed to be recalled.

There is an interesting relationship developing between the two main characters.

It's early, I have to head off to work. That's all I have for now.

I haven't even heard about the show.  What's it about?  Maybe I'll catch a few sometime.

Watched the show for the first time last night.  Interesting that the cult theme is popular in TV series - one of the last episodes of Flashpoint dealt with a cult.  Similar in that the cult operated in a remote area of bush and farmland and the group was assembled in a barn to die, although methods of administering death were different.

The cops arrive just in the nick of time....

There have been some articles in local papers about cults in Ontario - wonder if this is motivating the theme.

I liked the show well enough that I will watch another episode, especially if NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles are showing repeats.

Wondered about hypnosis as well....is that for real?

It's a sort of police procedural show. Canadian made. Focuses on a ex swat cop who is 'cracked' as in the pressure got to him. So he's been reassigned to a new division that pairs police detectives with shrinks to solve crimes with a 'psychological' component.  It's a bit like that British show Wire In the Blood. I've watched the first 2 episodes and I really like it so far. Will be watching episode 3 sometime today.

Episode 2 did seem to somewhat confuse or mix the conditions / symptoms of Bipolar Disorder (Manic Depression) and Schizophrenia which seemed to me to be bad or lazy research. 

Thanks Rowan!

I opened this thread to see if it might be a show I might like. It may be.

Not having watched the show in question, I cannot comment on the storyline with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. I can attest to the fact that they can be quite similiar whether it is schizoaffective disorder that might remsemble a bipolar disorder or a bipolar disorder that might rememble a schizoaffective disorder. It depends on the level of mania and depression, how long the disease has been untreated, as well as whether it is Bipolar I or II.

Both can have delusions of grandeur, hallucination, disorganized speech, paranoia....
Both can have apathy, emotional withdrawl, low energy, social withdrawl...

The doctors told us that mom may be either/or. (She is bipolar, but when she was finally hospitalized she was in a complete phsycotic episode and seemed more like a schizophrenic). The two shared medications, so the diagnosis would be made when she was no longer psychotic and could communicate her illness.

You see, the differences are more obvious in the beginning. The beginning symptom in bipolar disorders is primarily either depression or mania. It is not pyschotic.

Yet,  the average bipolar has a decade between onset and diagnosis, and it is degenerative...so by then they can look very similiar.

I watched part of Episode 2 online. We don't have television and haven't for a long, long time.

I found 'Cracked' — the part I could be bothered watching — contrived, ugly, jarring, exploitative, loud, sensationalist, muddled, warped, fantastical and repugnant. It put me off looking at television again for the next 50 years too. Oh, and did I mention that I found the utter lack of character depth and development, insight, decent script, sensitive engagement, veracity and redeeming social value all to be totally in keeping with the medium that just wants to "entertain" but has helped, in fact, to reduce "entertainment" to dumb-sick-shock  noise. 

Mental health is a tremendously important issue in Canada — our prisons are are our mental health treatment facilities in many cases, or at least a place for the mentally ill to die, or commit suicide without too much bothersome intervention.

I suppose no-one would would want to watch a show that showed the realities of mental illness, care, treatment and prevention in Canada. We have some of the highest suicide rates in the World in our northern communities; we do not have rampant levels of cult-inspired gun crime or random violence … that zone is further to the south. So this, I guess, is helping to further educate Canadians-with-too-little-to-do even more deeply in American preoccupations. It could have been made in Hollywood. Long live international understanding… really?

Just watched the pilot episode. 

I'm not much of a TV watcher, and it takes a lot to get and keep me interested, but I have to admit, it was an intriguing pilot, particularly well done. Perhaps I'll keep watching to see how they do. I hope that they can avoid too much stereotyping of mental illness (knife-wielding schizophrenic notwithstanding, sigh). It's timely, because we're thinking, with sadness, of Ashley Smith, right now, and how very, very often the worlds of criminal justice and mental health care collide and conflict and conflate. 

I come from a family gene pool rather liberally littered with mental illness. I've watched a lot of people try to navigate society through their own strange filter, with varying degrees of success. If you've got someone on your side, to advocate and watch out for you, the world can be a tolerable place. If you think you are on your own, it can be pretty frightening.

The part that is interesting me most (so far anyway) is the dynamic between Aidan and Daniella. It's going to be interesting to see how the whole trust and partners thing works out between them. Especially with their boss, Inspector Claigra, pushing for Daniella to keep tabs on Aidan and essentially report his every move to her.  I have a feeling that that whole situation is going to come to head sooner rather than later.

I really liked Flashpoint, but one of the most disappointing and disturbing episodes was the shooting of a man who suffered with schizophrenia.  To be brief, this very talented man (gifted with music) kidnapped a baby from a neighbours apartment.  While on his meds he couldn't hear the music that soothed his soul, but when he was off the meds his behaviour was erratic.  He and baby were tracked to the Toronto Island Ferry where a confrontation ensued.  After some negotiatiing, the female agent managed to get the baby away from him.  The man was armed with a handgun but at this point, he posed a lesser threat, and disarming him with a shot to the shoulder was what I expected.  Instead one of the agents shot him in the head.

My response - is this how we deal with people who have a mental illness - we shoot them dead....problem goes away?

My mother suffered with bipolar disorder and life was difficult at times, but there was always hope.

While I enjoyed episodes of Flashpoint and other "cop/tactical squad" series, I find that too often teams resorted to extreme violence to solve problems or deal with a perpetrator.

Maybe that's why the gun culture thrives.....

If "Cracked" illustrates a similar treatment of people with mood disorders and mental health issues, I won't be watching it for long.

On a side note, and not to derail, but another nifty Canadian series some of you might enjoy is Arctic Air - just starting it's second season. 

I wonder if 'Cracked' gets around to representing this sort of information accurately:

It doesn’t take a lot of research, for example, to discover that people with mental illness are no more likely to commit violent acts than anyone else in Canadian society.

Says the Canadian Mental Health Foundation: “The majority of crimes are not committed by people with psychiatric illness, and multiple studies have proven that there is very little relationship between most of these diseases and violence. The real issue is the fact that people with mental illness are two and a half to four times more likely to be the victims of violence than any other group in our society.”

Overall, Canadians have a 20 per cent chance of experiencing mental illness at some point in their lives — mostly in adolescence or old age. Anxiety disorders and depression are the most common forms of mental illness.

There are around 4,000 suicides in Canada each year and suicide accounts for 24 per cent of all deaths among Canadians aged 15-24 and 16 per cent of all deaths among 25-44 year-olds.

The unemployment rate for people with serious mental illness is 70 – 90 per cent.

The incidence of mental illness among convicted offenders has doubled in the last decade or so, and 14 per cent of prison inmates were under psychiatric treatment before they were jailed.

Among prison inmates, 21 per cent of women have attempted suicide in the preceding five years, and 14 per cent of male inmates. No training on mental illness and addiction is available for front line correction staff.

The suicide rate among young aboriginal people is 5-6 times that of non-aboriginal youth.

Aboriginal people account for 3 per cent of the Canadian population but represent 18 per cent of federal prison inmates. A British Columbia study found that 98 per cent of residential school survivors suffered a mental illness: 64.2 per cent with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, 30.4 per cent with a major depression…

Here's a somewhat more coherent storyline synopsis for Cracked - from the IMDB page for the show

"After an embarrassing and public breakdown, Detective Aidan Black (David Sutcliffe) is reassigned from his beloved SWAT team to the newly created Psych Crimes and Crisis Unit. There, he's dismayed to find his partner is not another cop, but forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Daniella Ridley (Stefanie von Pfetten). The unit also includes Detective Poppy Wisnefski (Luisa d'Oliveira) and psychiatric nurse Leo Beckett (Dayo Ade), with Inspector Diane Caligra (Karen LeBlanc) keeping a close watch over the unique partnerships. Passionate and opposing viewpoints are an inherent part of the job in Psych Crimes, and the answers the teams seek never come easy. Aidan's deep insight and investigative skills combine brilliantly with Daniella's keen ability to decipher human behaviour. Learning to work cohesively, the Psych Crimes and Crisis Unit investigates city's most troubling and psychologically complex crimes. Whether or not the unit is still around in a few months... "

Mike -- maybe you didn't watch episode II to the end?

Gecko -- re the flashpoint show, agreed...and that is part of what I find intriguing here

SG -- thanks for your information on psychotic breaks/bipolar/schizophrenia

Reason being, the person was bipolar in manic with a psychotic break (if I have the language right) so appeared to be schizophrenic. 

The initial reaction, which would have been easily understood and done was to shoot him or consider him guiilty of the murder.

what ended up happening was far from that, and we travelled on a journey of discovery in the show...as we encountered those presumptions...

Gecko -- Episode I had a great opening scene where the victim was handcuffed to calm the person who was the "assailant".  Great turnabout and usage of words, etc.

Hi Pinga: no. I didn't. I really just felt sick with the sensationalising ugliness of it… I really didn't find it "entertaining", informing, enlightening or interesting. It's a more general response than to just this show — maybe by the standards of the day it's great.

But, as I have said here before, and as I have had to tell Bell Canada telemarketers repeatedly, we simply don't want the stereotyping crap that television would bring into our home. And you've reminded me why.

I'm glad you found the show edifying. Sorrry, I can't join you.

Again, comparing it to the treatment that the 'real' Ashley Smith received in the criminal justice system, this show is actually purporting to model a more compassionate system, at least at the street level. A quick Google suggests that while the Ottawa and Vancouver Police Departments have "mental health units" similar to this, Toronto (the erstwhile Good) does not appear to do so. If this show does any good at highlighting the very many cracks that the mentally ill have to not fall through, it may be worthwhile. If not, well, it looks to me like Canadian crap is at least superior to American crap. (Being a classic Canadian, my default identity is 'morally superior - and colder - than our neighbour to the south'.)

I guess after two episodes, the problem I'm having is the linking of psychosis with violence. That's not a valid relationship or even cause-and-effect. Just because one has broken ties with 'reality' (psychosis), doesn't mean one's 'new' reality is a violent one. It's just different. My mother was often in a sort of strange "If I Were Benevolent Dictator for LIfe" mode.

the funny part is Mike, the actual program addressed those stereotypes..they set it up to get the viewer to move into the stereotype, then get pulled back.

it reminds me of an author, Laurie R King, whose first book in the series of Kate Martinelli had a twist which was one of those..d'oh..yup, i fell into those presumptions.

It's a cop show, so odds are the reason it will be up front & centre is due to something that a cop will be called to.....rather than a paramedic.

At the same time, I recognize it is not a documentary or anything, it is what television does...a drama in 60 min....so I guess for the huge masses that do watch television, what are people's thoughts around people consuming this show -- 

Good job Pinga. It did look like schizophrenia to start. It was certainly easy to see how people could jump to conclusions and assume violence. It is also easy to see how he could have just as easily have been a victim of violence. 

thanks Northwind.

In the opening scene of  episode 3, there is a young girl who is clearly different, then invited to play a game, when other children responded negatively it seemed at first that the inviter was a good guy, defending her. 

Ultimatley, the girl was being bullied...isolated, then lashed out with a bat.

Question:  who was the bully

Question: who was at fault

It looked to me like the lad who invited her to play essentially was deliberately setting her up to be bullied.  Then there was the whole group of kids that went after her.  To me that whole group was at fault.  I do think having her going after them with the bat  to the extent of several of her tormenters landing up with broken bones was a tad extreme. But then, in this plot line, kid had been brainwashed by a cult so her reactions could perhaps be expected to run to the extreme.  After all Blessing as a character certainly did not qualify as a well balanced, normally socialized child.

It did, didn't it Rowan.  I thought at first he was a nice guy...but as it developed, it seemed he was a jerk.

Yes, the extreme was there,....but, say she had hit him or there had been a fight.

I reflect on those who lash out in society and how often they are provoked due to difference.  

Shucks, I remember cruel tricks played on kids in public school.  

I remember twin boys who in retrospect had to have home troubles either due to parents unable to cope or due to parents with bad parenting (I have no idea and don't wish to presume to know).  One example, I remember them coming to school after their Dad had shaved their head. They were in grade 7 and the general look was long hair for guys.  It was punishment for something they did -- ugh, talk about cruelty to ostracize a child from his peers.   I remember the one jumping up & down on his brother's bike destroying the wheel.  They were in the toughest class to be in, and I know they weren't welcome.  They now are adults who I see in town. The one has had a relationship but it fell apart due to their relationship with each other (or so I was told). The one would come and sit at the bar, alone, rarely talking or responding. They do not communicate, other than for necessary communication.    I wonder how much of their behaviour was environment, peers, struggles. What interpretations are made of who they were and what they do/did/could_do  Reflecting on the complexity of mental health.

I'm quite enjoying Cracked, despite its rather simple production feel.  I accept that simply because it's a CBC Canadian pilot series.  Manygreat series I know aren't much in their first stab at it (no pun intended), but once they've found their rhythm they can be wonderful entertainment.

And we shouldn't forget that this IS designed to be primarily for entertainment.  I don't think it was CBC's attempt to make it overly gritty or the next 'The Wire' or anything.  What I like the most is the subtle differences that make it stand out from allll the other cop shows out there (and let's face it, we are INUNDATED right now).

What I like is the fact that the cop got reprimanded in the second episode for unnecessarily (and unhelpfully) drawing his gun.  When did you see THAT happen on any other cop show?  I also like how they treat perpetrators like humans, not like they're some big bad that deserves to be shot.  I'm also quite liking the chemistry between the main leads and enjoyed very much the end of the third episode that showed trust on one side and mistrust on the other.  But I swear, if they try to make those two fall for each other... I might just stop watching.  (Castle is the only show I've seen that has done it well... and that took AGES to develop.)

I also know that the show consults with the Toronto Centre for Mental Health and Addiction on some of the finer mental illness details - details that I am not really at all familiar with.  So I find it encouraging that a cop show is taking more time to explain a person's mental state than motive or contrived plot twists.  (That said, I feel that the show's website is WAY to focused on the detective-side of things and less on the teaching about mental illness.)

In short, I'm looking forward to tonight's episode!

I'm out of town, so I will catch up when I get home or see if it is posted and available in the states.  A lot of the content is blocked down here.

Thanks you for this is how i feel.  We can ask too much of a show - it is a story that engages and at its best calls on us to participate. It is like the discussion on zero dark - best reveiws have raised the same question - how do we respond - our moral centers and not to ask the writter or director to do our work for us.

Yes all the comments about how most mentally afflicted persons do not do violence  It is still there.   I had to deal with a family where the son killed his mother during one of his mental breakdowns, so it happens.

Re the flashpoint, which I loved, one has to remember that such groups have to shot to stop the event, and a shoulder shot may not do that.  Again follow the trajectory of the story, no to bring our moralistic thoughts to it, but to check our ethical reflection, of what is possible in such situations, and that not all things work out,

I too like cracked.

I watched the show last week and wasn't overly impressed, but it grew on me.

Why? It presented three different versions of how we look at illness.

The person who was homeless, and had issues....who was the victim

The person who was professional, but temporarily crazy from illegal drugs.

The person who was seemingly sane, but, was the scariest of all in the end.

That was a good show Pinga. You never knew who was the good guy and who was the bad guy! And that bad guy was amazing!

You are right, Northwind.  Quite amazingly bad...and you got that sneeky feeling...

So, the question for me was...who was the most danger to the public if released or on the street

1.  the homeless "cracked" person--  seemed relatively harmless though people would stay clear of him

2.  the professional "cracked" person-- i dont' knwo long term implications of frying your brain but seemed unlikely to repeat his offence though he killed someone. My guess is he would also be stigmatized if people knew of his history

3.  the "looks normal" "cracked" person - was the one I would not want to work with or be around my family though through sheer luck had not killed anyone

thoughts?

I'm still trying to decide if I liked Episode 4 or not.  It felt too me like they were trying to pack too much into one episode. I agree with Northwind and Pinga that the really scary 'cracked' person in that episode was the one who initially was presented as an innocent bystander who got in one of the other 'bad guys' way.

 I think the title "Cracked" refers to the police office who is not broken but cracked/.

Well yes. But using the term 'cracked'  to describe the various individuals with issues is kind of a handy short hand for mentally ill, drug-crazed, etc in the context of discussing characters on the show.

agreed rowan, but i liked having to think about what their intent was.

and, i too think it is cracked, as in, we are all a wee bit cracked...and sometimes it is our own understnading and stereotypes we (I) so readily fall into.

looking forward to tonights

The term "cracked" for mentally ill people is quite derogatory. I agree Pinga, we are all a bit cracked.

Tonight's show was good. I like the man who played the mentally ill character.....can't remember his name....Carlo Rota?

I understand...and i think, in a way, it is like "gay", soeone can refer to themselves as it, but not others.....what do you think?  i didn't mean to be derogatory when I described the individuals in the show, rather, was using it as how we see them...hope it made sense.

For tonight, it was about trust, but also that concept of who and when we release someone.  When is there a probability of recommitting an offence, when is someone safe for there own behaviour.

A family friend's son was sent to prison for multiple sexual assaults on women that were getting increasingly risky for those tracking his pattern.  There were some that said he should never get out.  It was odd to hear both sides. My parents visited him in prison. I was worried when he got out, I don't think I would have trusted him ever. ...not that he would attack me, but that he would attack other women, due to what my parents said and my own feelings. they trusted him. i did not.

I have now watched it as well, Northwind.

I too liked him.

i cannot help but think of the man on the greyhound bus, and other terrible stories of violence.

Pretty sure I said "In the context of discussing the show". And keeping in mind that this show is no more meant to be representative of reality than, say, NCIS or Torchwood.

I'm caught up as well now, too. Liked this episode best so far because it dealt with rehabilitation and redemption. If we truly don't believe in these things, then why are we not just locking everyone up and throwing away the keys?

Agreed, bette. 

Glad you are followign along as well

yay!  another Canadian series!

notes:

i like the title of the pilot -- Leonard Cohen yo!

(and i keep expecting Nick Knight to make an appearance)

amazing production values -- the title sequence is so snappy

if i didn't know, i'd have said that this was made in the USA

(i'm so used to Canadian tv series to be like DaVinci's Inquest & the Beachcombers...)

interesting choice of opening scene -- i considered it to be quite violent.  do the writers assume your average Canadian is copacetic with guns to not find them jarring?  or is the attempt to jar your average Canadian?  who is the target audience?

the dialogue seems scripted to me, not naturalistic conversation and, bless them, i can hear everyone -- no 'mumbler's school of acting' here :3

psych crimes & crisis -- does such a cop program exist?  do their vests protect against mental illness? :3

not getting into the main character yet (too handsomely white), but i like his CO

why is everyone so clean?  why is their makeup so good?  why is their office SO clean?

ewwwwww on the light bulb

(was that MCjae, Kimmio & Chris riding a Segway I saw at one of the coffee shops?)

i look forward to having this show grow on me as time goes on

I really enjoyed this most recent episode. It more than made up for the somewhat rushed and padded feel of the 4th episode.  I too liked the redemption angle. I also found it a nice bit of character building for Daniella - the whole sticking to her guns in spite of it ticking off everyone she worked with to give her honest opinion that the man should be released.  Sadly, in real life, a lot of people do seem to think that individuals with mental illnesses who do violent things should be locked up never again to see the light of day as it were.  The general public often seems to be much more concerned with vengeance and punishment rather than justice and rehabilitation in these kind of cases. Which was also reflected in the episode. One of the characters was given a line to the effect of her not seeing why they couldn't charge the guy with murder once he was "cured".  I am really liking this show.

Second episode notes:

i finally recognize a canadian actor -- first saw him in X-files...

nice 'real life' moment -- kevlar vests are piss poor against knives (oh the trivia role-playing games have taught me)

(this series an opportunity for actresses to chew the scenery?)

can bipolars get that delusional?

talk aboot thriving in uncertainty :3

(what did the producers have to do to hire a royal for the cast?)

where are the slithy toves?

(i'm liking that all the women in the show are acting and looking like hermaphrodites -- Hermes worshippers?)

liking the man hug

main character starting to remind me of Columbo or Frank Black

damn brutal beating (expecting sie to learn combat training in future)

and the takedown -- clumsy (which is probably more realistic)

i love how the window shatters just before the trashcan goes through it :3

Yes, people with bi-polar can become that delusional. The mania gets so high, they move into psychosis. I was working with a woman who we all believed had bi-polar depression. She was dipping her toe into psychosis on her last mania that I saw.

Cracked made me sad tonight.

I can't imagine being alone and having a baby and then having it die.

We are all cracked.

Tongihts stories included the unexpected as well as multiple stories related to infants.

Spoiler alert:

1.  A child being protected by a "street kid"

2.  A mother in psychosis as post-partum

3.  A mother in distress due the loss of a child, takes another

4. A family realizes their baby taken isn't dead

5.  A mother reflects on the child she gave up and we see her relationship with the little one throughout the show.

Then there is the tourette's syndrome youth, attacked for being different, who saves the wee one and is put on the news as the "crazy homeless kid"

I am starting to get tired of the way that things are just a little bit too conveniently coincidental in this show.  Just like in "White Knight" where I had trouble with the premise that the woman Aidan saved just happened to have an instability that caused her to fixate on him. This time it was the whole having the Mom of the abandoned baby just happen to have been kidnapped as an infant herself that I found hard to swallow. 

It's like the makers of the show are trying too hard. Or that they are trying to stuff too many issues into some of the episodes.   It's not necessary to have basically every person that Aidan and Daniella interact with outside their team be either someone with some kind of mental illness or someone who has been impacted by someone's mental illness.

I think they did a good job of explaining the various forms or degrees of postpartum depression and I also think they did a good job with the reason someone might steal a baby. I just think the episode felt overdone again.  On the other hand there have been brilliant episodes like "No Traveller Returns", so I definitely plan to keep watching.

I wondered that too Rowan, but, I do appreciate the multiple facets of the same issue -- ie the complexities around infants, care, natural instinct.

ie, it was interesting they chose a young man to protect the baby and the way that was handled. I was kinda surprised in a way, as because he did not immediately contact hte police, i thought of him as having to have been charged.

Toward the end of the episode there is mention of Aidan trying to get the charges against the boy 'reduced or dropped', but it's not made clear what kind of charges were being brought against the character. 

In real life a person in a similar situation might find themselves facing some form of child endangerment charges for not going straight to the authorities to turn a found baby over.  And there would certainly be charges related to threatening a baby and / or the officers with a blade.  I have no idea what the law or specific charges actually would be in either type of situation though.