THE GLADES: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON
(not rated)
MOVIE: ** (out of 5)
DVD EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5)
STARRING
Matt Passmore as JIM LONGWORTH
Kiele Sanchez as CALLIE CARGILL
Carlos Gomez as CARLOS SANCHEZ
Jordan Wall as DANIEL GREEN
Michelle Hurd as COLLEEN MANUS
Uriah Shelton as JEFF CARGILL
BY KEVIN CARR
About a year ago, I had a chance to watch and review the basic cable series “The Glades.” It’s a show about a headstrong Chicago detective who relocates to Florida where he brings his special brand of cocky, brash law enforcement to the otherwise lower key world of the Everglades. I wasn’t a big fan of the first season, though I gave it some points for being a basic procedural with decent secondary characters.
My biggest beef with the show was that I just couldn’t stand the main character, Jim Longworth (Matt Passmore). He wasn’t a very good detective at all, eventually stumbling upon the solution to the crime but never actually solving it. In the first season, Longworth came across as a more arrogant version of Fred from the “Scooby Doo” cartoons.
But I figured I’d give season two a try. After all, there have been plenty of shows that I have enjoyed more in their follow-up season, after it’s had a chance to gel and for the characters to find their place. Of course, there have been as many – if not more – shows where the seasons have gotten progressively worse, so it was a crap shoot as to whether I’d like more episodes of “The Glades.”
Unfortunately, the show rolls snake eyes in its sophomore outing. We have more of the basic procedural show, and there’s be no attempt to make the characters any more likeable. This works for shows like “House,” where the acerbic nature of the lead can be fun in its own right. Unfortunately, Longworth isn’t nearly as entertaining, well-written, well-acted or compelling as Dr. Gregory House.
He continues to be a terrible detective, stumbling upon convenient plot points and using a scattershot “accuse everyone” approach. What makes this season worse is that the producers and writers brag about what an asshole he is in the special features. I suppose they’re not listening to me, and they really don’t need to since the series has decent numbers for a basic cable show. So what do I know?
At least in series like “The Closer,” when victims and families are questioned harshly by Major Crimes, there’s a level of regret for the emotional strife it causes. But not in “The Glades.” It’s a show in which the ends justify the terrible means.
Except, of course, when the show wants to make a political point. In one episode, Longworth investigates a school shooting, absolving the student who actually commits the murder in lieu of going after the people who sold the kid the gun. In another episode, he champions a twelve-year-old girl who steals a car and goes on a high speed chase from the police because he thinks more girls should be Nascar racers.
In the end, like the first season, “The Glades” is an okay procedural from week to week. Unfortunately, too much focus is given to Longworth, his technique of being an asshole and his painfully cliche teen romance sidestory with Kiele Sanchez’s character of a would-be single mom with a convict husband. Like the unfortunately popular series “Body of Proof” (another series that revels in the fact that its lead investigators are horrible people), it has too much smug cockiness and not enough likeability in the cast.
The second season DVD comes with an extended episode, deleted scenes, a gag reel and a commentary track on a select episode. There’s also two featurettes: “Jim Longworth’s Guide to Police Work” and “Love Triangles: Relationship Complexities and The Glades.”