Rookie Blue: Season 5 (DVD) – Series Review
While last year season six of Rookie Blue already aired in Canada, we finally have the DVD release of season five to present to you. Once again we follow the agents of fifteenth division in their daily life, both on and off the job, which proves to be quite interesting, certainly with rookie Duncan Moore joining the team, who puts Andy in a difficult position.
While Sam (Ben Bass) and Chloe (Priscilla Faia) are in the hospital due to the events that happened at the end of season four, Andy (Missy Peregrym) and Dov (Gregory Smith) have got a lot on their mind. Andy told Sam in the ambulance that she still loves him, and Dov found out that his girlfriend Chloe is married. Once they all get back to work at fifteenth division, rookie Duncan Moore (Matt Murray) joins the team. McNally offers to be his training officer, and Oliver (Matt Gordon), who is now Acting Staff Sergeant Shaw, agrees, be it a bit reluctantly. Nonetheless, Andy does the best she can, even though this proves to be a more challenging task than she could have foreseen. Duncan is the Police Commissioner’s step-son, but that doesn’t mean he is cut out for the job. He acts as if he already knows everything, but in reality it is only his first time on the job and he still has a lot to learn. His attitude often drives Andy crazy, but she lets his mistakes slide, arguing that they are just rookie mistakes and he’ll do better next time. That’s why she leaves many of his mistakes out of her reports, as she’s convinced that he has to be given a chance. Unfortunately it’s a decision she will regret greatly.
Meanwhile, Dov and Chloe try to sort things out after she told him the truth about her marriage, Gail is enjoying her relationship with Holly and Chris tries to sort his life out, which proves to be quite the challenge, when he meets his drug dealer while he is on duty. Sam and Andy are more or less back together, but they are both afraid of making the same mistakes again. While all of this is going on, of course there are still cases to be solved: a holdup, shootings and an undercover operation, amongst many other things, are what the team will have to deal with in this season.
Usually one episode covers one day at fifteenth division, which means that most of the time we see the officers at a different task each episode. This makes it easy to jump right in, even without having seen all previous ones. What makes this series different from what we usually see, is that we don’t see the real detective work so much, but rather what the cops in the streets do. This means that, instead of seeing all kinds of different ways to kill somebody and find the killer, there is more variety. These cops are often the first ones on scene in murder cases, but they also handle shootings, burglaries, seize illegally purchased items, go undercover and so on. Not all of this is as exciting as a murder investigation, but that also opens opportunities for the characters to develop. All in all, this show is very accessible and has a good mix between police work and character development, even though sometimes it feels as if both of them lack some depth here and there.
Because quite a lot of time goes into character development, the actors also got a chance to show a different side of their character. It’s mostly Charlotte Sullivan who got an interesting storyline, as her character Gail seems to become more concerned with others, and is still getting used to being with Holly. Sullivan succeeds quite well in showing these changes. Missy Peregrym had a lot on her plate too, with Andy sitting on an emotional rollercoaster with everything that is going on in her love life, as well as her not so smooth training of Duncan. Nonetheless, she keeps being fun to watch in all of these different situations.
There are only two extras on this DVD release, which is just too bad if you’re a fan, as there are only eleven episodes to this season. The first one is called ‘Life is not a fairytale’ and shows cast and crew talking about the story and character development. The rookies are no rookies any more, and life might not be the fairytale everyone hoped for. As a second extra feature, there are webisodes, which show two characters each time doing surveillance, meanwhile talking about more private things to each other. While this doesn’t change anything to the story it is a fun way of letting us know just that little bit more about certain characters.
Conclusion
Rookie Blue season 5 proves to be very entertaining television, as it has a bit of everything: lots of variation in the tasks of the team, as well as interesting developments in their personal lives. Although they are no rookies any more, the team still faces many challenges, including new rookie Duncan. This is just perfect to watch on a cold winter night when you just feel like being lazy and having some fun.
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