The characters on Durham County:
(Click to enlarge)
Mike (Hugh Dillon), Pen (Michelle Forbes), Sadie (Laurence Leboeuf), Ray jr (Greyston Holt), Mark (Alex Cardillo), Jonathan (Geordi Johnson), Maddie (Cicely Austin), Audrey (Hélène Joy), Roxy (Claudia Ferri), Tom (Patrick Labbé), Glenn (Mike Dopud), Ray (Romano Orzari)
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Below I'm quoting two articles (translated by Randy) by Emilie Semiramoth, a journalist of the Paris based magazine 'Générique'.
About Durham County season 2:
Durham County S2 : Noir c'est noir
Our opinion. The same freezing grey screen and the sensation of suffocation, the signature of the series, returns to seize the audience and actors. In Durham, where everything is heavy and murky, everyone's life is like a burdensome rock. Mike and his dark past with Ray Prager. Audrey, his wife, has just recovered from breast cancer and has decided to divorce. And Sadie, their daughter, is still haunted by her frightening face-to-face encounter with Prager...The new season begins with an inventory of damage suffered by means of the journey into the human psyche where it is difficult to silence old daemons, especially those that bounce back after having hit rock-bottom.
Durham County has this rare talent on television to explore the worst nightmares to afflict a human being without complacency and with a 'cold in the back' realism. A simple look from Michelle Forbes is enough to set the scene, and assures the most harrowing performance. Behind her cool appearance of a brilliant legal psychologist, Dr Verrity is bitter after the drowning of her daughter and the dissolution of her marriage to the point that her mental balance can be seriously called into question. This is a little curse that hits the characters in the sad county in the Canadian province. Everything is always loose and threatens to collapse every second.
Black, dreary, horrific... but also gasping for breath and masterfully directed, Durham County is a black diamond in a raw state but it is better to be armoured before rubbing it.
French source: generique-mag.net
In addition a quote from Emilie's bio article about Michelle:
A slender figure, a dark and captivating look, Michelle Forbes is, first of all, a voice: deep, sensual, authoritarian and fascinating. In credits, like Zeljko Ivanek, she starts to become a fad where thisThank you, Emilie, for the permission to publish the translation.
portrait is a form of a declaration of love for, as yet, a little known actress.
[...]
[As Susan Metcalfe] she offers an, as yet, unheard-of breath of game, mixing combativeness with vulnerability.
[...]
In the collective consciousness, the face of Cain was crystallised as the sum of anger, fear, provocation and the resolution. She succeeds in conveying sympathy without saying a word.
[...]
Forbes is mixing the most interesting projects of the past two years. In True Blood, as a dangerous and fascinating entity, who pushes hedonism to its height/limit/max, a battered woman at In Treatment, and reveals herself as particularly troubled in Durham County. But even if her stature and gaze pierce the predestined sulphide roles, Forbes does nor remain less multifaceted. Unjustly ignored by the film industry, she has exploded onto television. Her being a workaholic explains itself in that she does not like to attach herself to any project for too long. "It can be a very frustrating and annoying thing to be labeled in any part of your life," she tells thestar.com for the launch of DC. "I always want to be out of my comfort zone. I have a propensity to get bored very easily." So when will be the advent of Michelle Forbes ?
French source: generique-mag.net
Update :: Screencaps in the gallery
»» Gallery :: Screencaps of episode 3
Article in LE MONDE, Paris, translated by my personal hero Randy:
Durham County (Season 2) - Hatred Under the Electrical Tower
"There are places upon this Earth that corrupt, break and everyone who
lives there. A curse seems to have imposed its reign and nothing, not
even the will and courage of men can drive it away. Is this because of
the electric towers supporting high voltage buzzing over the grey and
black fields? Is it the sky that is just too low and too heavy, to the
point where affects all things? In the middle of this desolate
horizon, men and women and children continue to live, linked by hatred
and yet trying to believe in love.
The atmosphere of the Canadian series which just premiered in its
second season, is al that. This suburb, where Mike Sweeney settled
down to establish a happy family, quiet and without history. Except
that there are those damned towers, these fields as far as the eye can
see and these clouds that refuse to let the sun shine through. Here,
hope has been dispelled, like in a crime novel by Arnaldur Indridason
or Henning Mankell.
Durham County is the kind of crime series that draws its inspiration
from literature and not in already cut-out models that have been
reproduced over and over again, many of which we are familiar with.
The first season consisted of six hour-long episodes and the second
season follows the same pattern, and picks up where its predecessor
has left off. Suffice to say that these are two parts of the same
story.
Mike Sweeney belongs to the category of cops that populate the shelves
of some good libraries. Superbly played by Hugh Dillon (also on the
cast of Flashpoint), Sweeney is a hard-boiled character whose crusade
against crime does not fare well with his family. Especially if his
old tormentor and childhood enemy, and a serial killer, Ray Prager,
has moved into the neighbourhood. The violence and hatred that he
tries to confine to the outside of his home.
The particularly slow style of photography is placed in harmony
with the perfect silences that fight over the dialogues. Falsehood and
half-confessions are unrivalled in the world of Mike Sweeney. This
duplicity reminds of that which gave life to the protagonists of the
great Jim Thompson. Durham County is a work of fiction that makes one
feel ill at ease and, at the same time, is full of tepid inspiration,
and it feels good."
Source: Le Monde Online
Durham County is bleeping fantastic. If you haven't watched it, you're
missing out and should immediately take steps to rectify the situation
Source: Toronto Star
samsned: Anyone going to watch Durham County tonight. Great show!!
Watched it last season.
theMediaChick: Durham County makes Monday so much easier to accept.
lizmarasse: Durham County is a scary show!
loather: watching the first season of durham county. these canadians are crazy!
Source: Twitter