"The Border" is one of the all-time worst TV series ever made. As a Canadian, I find so embarrassingly bad that it makes shows like "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" seem like Shakespeare.
First of all, the whole premise isn't original. It merely copies other shows, such as the BBC's "MI-5" (as it's called here in North America), complete with some supercomputers, big screen TVs, and superhuman good guys who never seem to get caught.
The series doesn't show Canada in a very good light. People who don't live here might get the impression that the country's lawless and little better than the wild west or a land of international intrigue. (One would almost expect Harry Lime, as portrayed in the movie "The Third Man" by Orson Welles, to pop up and discuss Swiss democracy and cuckoo clocks before disappearing down a city sewer.) Sorry, but Canada isn't like the Casablanca of Rick Blaine or Victor Laszlo, nor is it Dodge City or Cold War-era Berlin. Also, Canadians aren't all renegade drug lords nor political extremists and not all high-level government official speak English with a French accent.
The main Canadian characters are dreadful. They all seem to have a shady past or a skeleton in the closet, such as the former Mountie. I'd hate to think that national security depended on people like that. Also, since when do foreign agents from other NATO countries and, supposedly on our side, come and go as they please in and out of Canada, with no questions asked, unless they happen to be the agency chief's girlfriend? Are this country's boundaries so porous that this can happen without anyone in that security service knowing?
I found the character of the resident techno-nerd to be quite irritating. He's a buffoon who'd rather be at home playing video games in his parents' basement than doing his job for some super-secret government agency. I shudder to think that the fate of the nation might rest in the hands of someone like him. Also, Grace Park acts like she's still playing a Cylon on the re-booted "Battlestar Galactica", as her character of the American DHS agent is completely lacking in emotion.
Avoid this series. If, however, you want to see a good spy show, I highly recommend the British-made "The Sandbaggers" from about 40 years ago. It's quite realistic and shows how an intelligence service is actually run.
First of all, the whole premise isn't original. It merely copies other shows, such as the BBC's "MI-5" (as it's called here in North America), complete with some supercomputers, big screen TVs, and superhuman good guys who never seem to get caught.
The series doesn't show Canada in a very good light. People who don't live here might get the impression that the country's lawless and little better than the wild west or a land of international intrigue. (One would almost expect Harry Lime, as portrayed in the movie "The Third Man" by Orson Welles, to pop up and discuss Swiss democracy and cuckoo clocks before disappearing down a city sewer.) Sorry, but Canada isn't like the Casablanca of Rick Blaine or Victor Laszlo, nor is it Dodge City or Cold War-era Berlin. Also, Canadians aren't all renegade drug lords nor political extremists and not all high-level government official speak English with a French accent.
The main Canadian characters are dreadful. They all seem to have a shady past or a skeleton in the closet, such as the former Mountie. I'd hate to think that national security depended on people like that. Also, since when do foreign agents from other NATO countries and, supposedly on our side, come and go as they please in and out of Canada, with no questions asked, unless they happen to be the agency chief's girlfriend? Are this country's boundaries so porous that this can happen without anyone in that security service knowing?
I found the character of the resident techno-nerd to be quite irritating. He's a buffoon who'd rather be at home playing video games in his parents' basement than doing his job for some super-secret government agency. I shudder to think that the fate of the nation might rest in the hands of someone like him. Also, Grace Park acts like she's still playing a Cylon on the re-booted "Battlestar Galactica", as her character of the American DHS agent is completely lacking in emotion.
Avoid this series. If, however, you want to see a good spy show, I highly recommend the British-made "The Sandbaggers" from about 40 years ago. It's quite realistic and shows how an intelligence service is actually run.