The Line - Ugliness in Toronto - The Globe and Mail

[The Line]

TELEVISION: TALES OF DESPAIR: THE LINE; DEATH OR CANADA
The ugliness of life in Toronto today - and 150 years ago
JOHN DOYLE
MARCH 16, 2009

Two big things airing tonight. Pay attention to both.

One is fiction, a tale of madness and brutality in modern, urban Canada. The other is true and a story of sadness and remembering. And note that in this case, fiction is much less disturbing than truth.

The Line (TMN, Movie Central, 10 p.m.) is a major Canadian TV event. Written by playwright George F. Walker, with writing partner Dani Romain, it's meant to be tough stuff. The ugliness of life in Toronto today. Cops, drugs, hookers. A lot of swearing. That kinda thing. It's not a cop show as you know cop shows. There's no "investigation," Walker has promised. Its aim is "to focus on characters and the flawed choices they make."

Right. Here goes. We're in ugly East End Toronna. A cheap motel. Inside, cop Max (Ron White, who is terrifically good) is having sex with a woman. Another cop, his partner Donny (Daniel Kash) calls Max from a strip club. The woman is annoyed. Bitterness abounds. She tells Max: "It was better when it was over. Looking at you now, I remember how much I hate your stinking guts." Then she tells him: "We are both people who have given up."