Show Review - Waterloo Road

[episode 2, aired Sep. 10 on BBC Canada]

Wow. That's all I can say after watching this episode. I am so glad I decided to subscribe to the BBC Canada channel--Waterloo Road is proving to be one of the best-quality shows I've seen in a long time so the$ 2.50 I spend per month is definitely worth it.

The pilot episode I watched and reviewed earlier was awesome and so is episode 2, which I had the opportunity to watch today (courtesy of my VCR). This episode had a few great storylines but the major one dealt with the aftermath of a car accident, which happened over the weekend. The accident resulted in one student, Adam, dead, and another student, Holly, in a coma. Everyone, including the students and teachers, blame Donte, Adam's best friend, the student who was said to be driving drunk in the same car at the time. When Donte shows up at school, Headmaster Jack Rimmer wants to keep him out of school, but because Donte's father pleads with him to allow Donte keep attending, and no charges have been laid, Jack reluctantly allows Donte to stay at school. Complicating things is the fact that the dead Adam's sister, Yasmin, is also a student at the school. Yasmin's friends convince her to go for Donte's blood, and throughout the day at school, Donte is subjected to numerous forms of bullying, with the entire school against him in efforts to make him suffer. By the end of the school day, a few boys who Yasmin has asked to help her get revenge have Donte tied up in a storage room at school, a knife at his throat. They want Donte to pay for Adam's death. However, they fail to realize Donte is already paying--not only has he lost his best friend, but he wasn't actually the one who was driving the car.

I won't tell you what happens, in case you want to watch the episode yourself, but I will tell you the end is very very good.

Show Review - Waterloo Road

[pilot episode, aired Sep. 3 on BBC Canada]

I watched Waterloo Road tonight and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how good it is. It had rave reviews from British viewers but I was unsure if it would appeal to me, a Canadian. Sometimes British dramas and comedies are too quirky for me and I often don't understand the storylines or humour very well (it just doesn't translate) but occasionally, as is the case with shows like Distant Shores and My Family, there is a universal appeal that draws me in to the series. This was the case with Waterloo Road which I found fantastic. The show translates exceedingly well. The characters and storylines are appealing and within the first five minutes of the premiere episode I knew immediately that I will tune in regularly to this series.

Please, note, that as some of the accents were hard for me to decipher, I watched this show with close captioning so I could see what some people were saying. It didn't take away from the show at all though.