[Mark_Nguyen]

Dunno if this qualifies as a spoiler, so:

In the season opener, Ed is forced to shoot a teenager when a negotiation went bad, which Ed has to deal with for most of the season. Raf was on the team on that time, and at the end of the episode he reveals that the world he's in on Team One has far too many shades of grey, and resigns. I'm wondering what the production reason was behind his departure, as I thought he was a great character and was fitting in well with the team.

Anyway, Raf is replaced the following week by former fireman Leah, who had originally replaced Lou in Season 2 but then disappeared without reason (they said she was on personal leave or something) at the top of Season 3. We learn that Leah had been off helping her family in Haiti for two years following the earthquake there. It was odd since Team One was suddenly a man down and just stayed that way for the remainder of the series (Raf replaced Wordy, who'd been diagnosed with Parkinsons earlier) without explanation, much like how they used to consult with a civilian psychologist and then stopped as well.

And regarding the finale itself:

I quite liked it. It was a straight-up actioner with little of the negotiating or psychoanalyzing they normally do, which is a switch, but they stayed true to the show concept even though the primary plot was nothing special IMO (abused student blowing stuff up, whatever).

Cameos by most of the important secondaries with the notable exception of Raf. Wordy is always fun to see. I didn't expect them to kill Donna - I know it ups the stakes, and frankly in a finale ANYONE can get killed, but she was a great supporting character even after she left Team One. She was married too, and that wasn't mentioned.

I do like seeing how everyone ended up - Jules is off on mat leave and will not likely come back to SRU duty anytime soon; Sam is promoted to Team Three lead to presumably replace Donna. Ed's in charge of Team One with Spike and Leah. And Greg with his silver bullet gets promoted and assigned to training lead. It's a good ending showing the characters moving onwards and upwards, and I was happy to finish off this series in this manner.

Prior to the finale CTV aired a retrospective with the cast, and it was intriguing to see how personal this show was to them. They really were a family offscreen and on, and it showed. Enrico Colantoni mentions that the effect the show has had on police is immense - he'd be having coffee somewhere, and cops just walk up and flash their badge, simply saying "Thank you" - and that's great. Episodic as it is, this show does go a long way to show the consequences of police having to witness incredible acts of violence on a regular basis and how it affects them and their families. Bravo to 'em, Flashpoint will be missed.

Mark