Endgame

My first review is made for purely selfish reasons.  The show is called Endgame, a Canadian offering, filmed and set in Vancouver, BC.  The show has been slated for cancellation, but there is a strong push to save it, an effort I’ve joined.  I’d hate to see this show go away, so I’ll review in an effort to drum up support.

Endgame stars Shawn Doyle (Big Love, Frequency) as Arkady Balagan, a Russian Grand Master and former chess champion.  In the first episode we discover that, while in Vancouver, his fiancée was killed just outside their hotel.  Because of this, Arkady has developed agoraphobia and cannot leave the hotel without experiencing severe panic attacks.  In order to pay his bills, he starts taking on cases to solve.  Because he can’t leave the hotel he gets help from a number of people.  Pippa Venturi (Melanie Papalia; Postal, Painkiller Jane), Arkady’s sister-in-law; Sam Besht (Torrance Coombs; Heartland, the Tudors), a chess enthusiast and grad student; Danni (Katharine Isabelle; Insomnia, Ginger Snaps), a bartender at the hotel and Alcina Albeniz (Carmen Aguirre; The Santa Claus II, Tin Man), a hotel housekeeper.  Trying to stymie him at every turn is Hugo Lum (Patrick Gallagher; Glee, Night at the Museum) the hotel’s lead detective.

At first glance, this is just one more entrant in the amateur detective genre.  There are a few things that make this a little different, however, all of which go back to the writing.  The characters are entertaining and not always at Arkady’s beck-and-call.  The humor is dry and biting, Arkady is arrogant and self-centered (and is called on it more than once), his phobia is consistent, never disappearing when it’s convenient.  And, having to rely on others to investigate for him, evidence is, sometimes, missed.

What truly separates Endgame from other shows of its type, though, is how Arkady solves the crimes.  He uses the same techniques that made him a chess champion; imagining victims, perpetrators and witnesses in various situations to test his theories and always moving two or three steps ahead of everyone else.  We get to watch this, seeing his imagined conversations with victims, seeing the different scenarios he plays out in his mind in an attempt to get to the truth, always with that biting sense of humor.  And always, in the background, are the effects of his fiancée’s murder on Arkady and Pippa.

Endgame is a well-written, well-directed show that deserves a second chance.  I highly encourage you to search it out and start watching.  And, if you like it as much as I do, go to www.saveendgame.com and sign the petition.