Reviews

While I really enjoyed binge-watching the entire series over the course of a few days, I have to note that it offers more in the way of entertainment than practical how-to or useful inspiration. Still-fun, silly, and dramatic. In other words, a fine, "unscripted" reality show.

Having worked with contractors, designers, and trades on my own renovations, I was surprised and disconcerted by the piecemeal format. While there's nothing wrong with dressing one room at a time, I can't think of anything more ridiculous than actually finishing one room - painting trim and arranging tchotchkes - before starting demo on the other rooms.

There seems to be very little attention given (by the competitors or the judges) to the distinction between design and decor. Or, for that matter, art and accessory. While the San Diego team seems to accessorize with the best of them, real sophistication demands balance and control - and all of the issues raised by the judges do speak to one or the other of these criteria. I can't see the winning team - or any of their competitors - as anything more than enthusiastic amateurs.

Still - squeaky Josh is such a caricature, it's hard not to smile.

I love any renovation that isn't my own.

Oddly enough, this episode's plot skated so close to the reality of the Pickton case in B.C. that it's where the writers deviated from real events with their own fictional flourishes (the paralysed doctor, the cognitively disabled brother, the distracting and otherwise unnecessary complication of the disabled vet, the - necessary for the show's premise - cross border involvement of the show's protagonists) that the real, dry-mouth horror of the murders in B.C. was watered down and sugar coated for the audience.

For the best, I think.

As much as I like this series, I'm not sure how I feel about raiding the headlines for story material when the headlines are this recent and families and communities who are still coming to terms with the shock of what happened to their children must also come to grips with the commodification of their personal tragedy for the purposes of making entertainment.

This isn't the first time CM has worked a high profile story from real life into its fictional world, and of course it won't be the last. I suspect what bugs me is that the Pickton murders happened so very recently that the newspaper ink is still wet and the real-time suffering of everyone involved is still pretty fresh and urgent.

I guess it wouldn't be fair to ask every sleuthing procedural to treat a topic like this the way that Da Vinci's Inquest did, but, as much as I do appreciate CM, I really hope it doesn't stray into this area very often.