Intelligence is a Vancouver-based crime drama television series created and written by Chris Haddock starring Ian Tracey and Klea Scott that aired on the CBC. With its pilot first airing on November 28, 2005, the series began regular broadcasting on October 10, 2006. CBC reaired the pilot on June 7, 2007 and began broadcasting reruns of season one on Fridays starting on June 8, 2007. A second season then aired from October 2007, concluding in December that same year. The series was produced by Haddock Entertainment, which also produced Da Vinci's Inquest and Da Vinci's City Hall.
Intelligence centres on Jimmy Reardon (Tracey), one of Vancouver's top organized crime bosses, and Mary Spalding (Scott), the director of the Vancouver Organized Crime Unit (OCU), who has offered Reardon immunity from prosecution in exchange for his role as a police informant. The show also stars Matt Frewer as Ted Altman, the scheming assistant director of the OCU who seeks to replace Spalding, and John Cassini as Ronnie Delmonico, Reardon's business partner and confidant.
The show's cast also includes Tom McBeath, John Mann, and David Green as CSIS directors; Eugene Lipinski and Andrew Airlie as colleagues of Spalding; and Bernie Coulson and Camille Sullivan as Reardon's brother and ex-wife.
The show was cancelled in 2008. The cancellation led to allegations that fear of the Harper government played a role in the decision.
Contents
Plot
Season one
Reardon and Spalding are parallel characters working together on opposite sides of the law. Both have followed in the footsteps of their respective families, and both face threats from others trying to derail their careers. Reardon represents the 3rd generation of his west coast crime family that began with his Prohibition-era bootlegging grandfather. Spalding has her roots as the daughter of a former army intelligence officer. Spalding must constantly watch herself against the conniving Assistant Director Altman who is after her position, and the old school CSIS Regional Director Deakins, for whose job she is the leading candidate. For Reardon, it is the Disciples Motorcycle club, led by Dante Ribiso (Fulvio Cecere), whose aim is to control the whole of Vancouver's marijuana trade and ABM money laundering industry.
Season two
Season two begins with Jim Reardon trapped in a Seattle diner during a DEA setup. Jim attempts to surrender to the Americans, only to end up causing a shoot-out. He flees the scene and goes into hiding. DEA Agent Williams re-arranges the evidence in the diner to make it appear as if Jim is a cop killer. Meanwhile, Ronnie tries to orchestrate a rescue operation to get Jim safely back to Canada.
In Mary's world, the American mole Royden has been murdered in his hotel room and Mary scrambles to remain in control of the situation. With Royden out of the way, Mary is appointed head of the Asia Pacific Region of CSIS. Jim finally gets the bank deal set up and attempts to go legitimate but the constant violence of the Vancouver underworld and his affair with Lorna continually drag him further away from his ultimate goal of settling down and raising a family. The series ends with the newly arrived American competition starting a war which concludes with the shooting of Reardon in front of his club.
Cast and characters
Jimmy Reardon (Ian Tracey): Head of a third generation west coast crime syndicate, Jim Reardon is somewhat of an enigma. He has an unrelenting work ethic and a keen sense for business, which he has used to grow the family business substantially. His grandfather was a Prohibition-era rumrunner and his father was into the heroin trafficking business. Jim's business interests lie in "BC Bud," which is in high demand throughout North America. Jim owns several legitimate businesses, including a trucking company, shipping company and lumber mill. At heart, Jim is a family man and he is a very good father to Stella. His level-headed, calm and gentle yet ruthless personality make him an excellent leader. Being an informer, Jim sometimes questions his own morality.
Mary Spalding (Klea Scott): The Head of CSIS's Asia Pacific Region, Mary, the daughter of a former military intelligence officer, is by all appearances egotistical, ambitious and self-serving. She is also incredibly brilliant and driven. Mary's zeal to rise up the ladder in life can cause her to overstep her authority. In her personal life, she is less sure-footed. A lonely woman, she dumped her cheating husband and is hesitant to become involved in a romantic relationship, Mary is always the outsider. Despite this, Mary is fiercely charming and very witty, qualities which she uses to win over informants and superiors alike.
Ted Altman (Matt Frewer): Director of Vancouver's Organized Crime Unit (OCU), Ted Altman is a vicious, mean-spirited, borderline psychopath. An alcoholic, Ted spends much of his day drinking. The rest of the time he is looking for ways to take down Jim Reardon and Dante Ribiso. Highly ambitious and equally ruthless, Ted will stop at nothing to get what he wants, even if it means breaking the law. Outwardly, he appears charming, but underneath the facade, he is as ruthless as both Reardon and Dante.
Ronnie Delmonico (John Cassini): Owner of the Chick a Dee strip club and Jimmy's business partner, Ronnie is charming, intelligent, sophisticated, gregarious and pragmatic; however, he is also hot-headed and at times, indecisive. Ronnie's father owned the Chick a Dee and with it, he made a name for himself. Ronnie is operations manager of the Reardons' marijuana distribution ring. Ronnie isn't entirely supportive of Jim's decision to inform to Mary, as he believes that Jim is breaking the code of honour among thieves. A born womanizer, Ronnie has been married and divorced at least once; he is now with Sweet, the alpha stripper at the Chick a Dee, and the mother of his unborn child.
Episodes
DVD releases
Acorn Media has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1.
Cancellation
On March 7, 2008, the CBC announced that Intelligence would be cancelled.
There were various rumors surrounding the cancellation of the series. Kevin Baker from the National Post alleged:
There's a theory afloat that CBC Television cancelled the unusually good drama Intelligence in fear of upsetting Canada's New Government, which is thought to be slavering for an excuse to junk the nation's public broadcaster and sell off the parts. According to this theory, expounded in the Toronto Star, one story arc of Intelligence showed secret dealings to sell Canadian water to the United States in an unfavourable light. Thus, the plot implicitly criticized the government's secret dealings, under cover of the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership. Loopy? Bonkers? Stark raving? Yes, but wait: The truth is even more fantastic. The CBC was forced to drop Intelligence because of me.
Chris Haddock, the show's creator, commented in an interview one year before the cancellation on how the show received no promotion by the CBC, and on how mention of its awards nominations were left out of a pre-awards show:
I've been told with previous projects that the most effective time to promote is in the two weeks prior to the start of the season. Yet we went into the first two weeks before the show with zero promotion anywhere. That isn't accidental. That is a very well planned 'bury' by someone. It is somebody high up in the food chain who has the power to say, 'Do not mention this show. We were nominated for eleven Geminis. Prior to the Geminis, there was an episode of The Hour about the nominations but there was not one mention of Intelligence. The story became how Little Mosque on the Prairie had not been nominated.
When the show was brought to Netflix in 2017, John Doyle commented in The Globe and Mail:
At the time Intelligence was cancelled by CBC, there was a widespread belief that the theme of political corruption was what got the show killed. In those Harper-era days, the series was in dangerous territory for a beleaguered CBC. The fact that it was superb TV, widely praised, was less important than fear of government criticism.