“Some say I don’t play well with others. I was a damn good detective in Chicago until a disagreement with my boss encouraged me to pack it up and make a change. So I put The Windy City in my rearview and headed to the Sunshine State. Kick back. Play some golf. Work on my tan. Maybe write the occasional speeding ticket. Yeah… Well… that didn’t work out.”
That little disagreement was his boss shooting him in the butt for sleeping with his wife. Jim Longworth (Passmore) made out okay. He got a huge settlement and a fresh start in a warm climate. Oh, and you and I got ourselves another one of those smart-aleck detective shows. Not a bad deal, when all is said and done.
Jim is one of those detectives who thinks he’s got a lot of charm. He smiles a lot and appears to be very cavalier about his job, but really takes it very seriously. Unfortunately, he rubs most folks the wrong way. He says whatever comes to mind and doesn’t much care who he offends. He works for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), a state police agency. His partner is also the agency’s medical examiner Dr. Carlos Sanchez (Gomez). The two have one of those bickering friendship relationships. Jim often turns to Callie (Sanchez), an intern at the local hospital for someone to talk to. It’s one of those romantic-tension deals. She’s married with a son who gets along great with Jim, and the hubby is doing time in prison three hours away. Local Florida actor Jordan Wall makes a good showing for himself as the eager intern for Carlos. His energy is infectious, to say the least. He was a fortunate find for the show. Intended only as a throwaway character in the pilot, he earned a spot on the regular cast. That’s also how actress Michelle Hurd worked a bartender role from the pilot that ended up on the cutting room floor to a part as Jim’s boss.
“Sunny with a chance of homicide.”
The show takes place in the fictional Florida town of Palm Glade. Most of the show appears to be shot around the Hollywood, Florida area. While the title suggests a more rustic swamp location, the Everglades really don’t play any real role in the series. It’s strictly a title used for color and imagery that don’t reflect the actual series at all. The cases are typical with the slight eccentric element to keep the episodes from falling entirely into the procedural routine. Passmore has good chemistry with Gomez, and the two are really what keeps the show interesting. Honestly, Jim is such an arrogant character that would tire quite quickly if not for a good support cast.
Video
Each episode is presented in its original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The colors are pretty bright, and you don’t have to worry a lot about how the black levels look. It is the Sunshine State, after all, and the show takes full advantage of the sunny environs. There’s a little compression trouble, but it doesn’t take anything away from the complete video presentation.
Audio
The Dolby Digital 5.1 track doesn’t offer a lot of dazzle, but it does the job well enough. The dialog is always perfectly placed. The few musical cues come out just fine. About the best thing you can say for any soundtrack is that it disappears into the experience so that you don’t really think about it.
Special Features
Casting The Glades: (14:29) Cast and crew talk a lot about the characters and each other as actors. It’s quite a lovesfest. There is some audition footage to spice things up a bit.
A Location For Murder: (8:15) Here cast and crew talk about the Florida locations.
Gag Reel: (5:15)
Deleted Scenes on select episodes.
Final Thoughts:
Don’t look for anything groundbreaking and you’re likely to not be disappointed by this one. It plays on A&E but looks like something you’d expect from USA. I never caught the show on air; in fact I’ve heard very little about the series at all. I still found it harmless and entertaining enough. There are 13 episodes on 4 discs. It’s enough to give you a chance to get to know the characters, which is really what this show is all about. It’s a returning series, and we get a little bit of an emotional cliffhanger in the last episode here. “Don’t you just hate that?”
