History Main / FlashPoint

* The CrisisCrossover comic ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint|DCComics}}''.

* The Hong Kong crime movie ''Film/FlashPoint'' starring Creator/DonnieYen.

* The CrisisCrossover comic ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}''.

* The American thriller movie ''Film/Flashpoint1984''

* The Hong Kong crime movie ''Film/FlashPoint'' starring DonnieYen.

* The CrisisCrossover comic ''Comicbook/{{Flashpoint}}''.

A Canadian show made by {{CTV}} about a police tactical response team in a [[CityWithNoName nondescript]] (but clearly {{Toronto}}) city. It is co-produced by and also airs on the American network {{CBS}}, one of several shows developed as a means of getting around [[TVStrikes the most recent writers' strike]] (Canada is outside WGA jurisdiction).

''Flashpoint'' is a show about an elite group of officers within a Canadian metropolitan police force, call the Strategic Response Unit or SRU. They're called in when the situation escalates beyond the ability of ordinary officers to handle, particularly hostage situations, armed criminals and bomb threats. Unlike a show like SWAT, the show isn't about the glamor and gunplay of the unit, but rather the personalities and conflict-resolution skills involved in running a group that has to deal with the tense situations they confront. Team leader Sergeant Parker, along with veteran officer Ed, lead their team in an attempt to make sure that ''everyone'' gets home alive - officers, victims, and perpetrators.

A show with a remarkable amount of emotional appeal, character development, and complex webs in each episode.

Not to be confused with the [[Comicbook/{{Flashpoint}} comicbook series]] involving TheFlash.

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!!This show features examples of:

* AbsenteeActor: Jules, due to Amy Jo Johnson's real-life pregnancy.
** Possibly also Olunike Adeliyi, who plays Leah Kerns. She seems to have abruptly disappeared as of the start of the third season.
*** PutOnABus, perhaps? A single throwaway line from Parker states that she's dealing with "family issues".
* ActionGirl: Jules, later joined by Leah Kerns.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: Invoked by [[spoiler: SRU veteran Rangford in "Haunting the Barn," who shows up at the SRU to get an old case file, but ends up barricading himself in the base when his request is refused]].
* AscendedExtra: The role of Kira, SRU's dispatcher, moves slowly from just the VoiceWithAnInternetConnection to a full-fledged character as the first season progresses.
** Has expanded to include a paramedic and a ''second'' dispatcher as minor/recurring characters in the early third season.
* AssholeVictim: Often used. In "Whatever It Takes", there was a basketball coach who ended up being taken hostage by one of his players. [[spoiler: He had verbally abused his team and had them physically assault the weaker and/or less-competent players. And he didn't help his case with the SRU team when he continually told them to shoot the player]].
** In another episode, "Asking For Flowers", the victim is an abusive husband who also had no problem attempting to kill his wife's sister who was trying to stop him from hurting her sister. He tried to get away with it (like how he could get away with abusing his wife). Unfortunately, for him, the SRU team [[WhatAnIdiot recorded him audibly choking his wife's sister and how he was going to kill her]].
* AxesAtSchool: "Perfect Storm"
* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: Deconstructed in "Backwards Day", where frustrations of not being able to have a baby broke the couple up, leading to the husband to cheat on his wife. And once the woman he cheated with is found to be pregnant, ItGotWorse.
* BaldOfAwesome: Ed Lane and Greg Parker.
* [[spoiler: BlackDudeDiesFirst]]: [[spoiler: Lewis Young was the first person of the team to die]].
* BonnieAndClyde: "Last Dance". Greg even refers to the fugitive couple as 'Bonnie and Clyde'.
* BreakTheCutie: Attempted on Tasha Redford, in the first-season episode "Attention Shoppers".
** [[spoiler: Fortunately, [[InterruptedSuicide Jules gets to Tasha before she can jump.]]]]
* CanadaEh / CityWithNoName / NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: As TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashpoint_%28TV_series%29#Setting explains]], the series' makers intentionally don't identify the show's setting even though it's pretty obvious it's {{Toronto}}. It's slowly broken down, with landmarks and uniforms being the most visible signs, but the city name is still only rarely mentioned.
** At this point, the CN Tower features prominently in most establishing shots of the city.
* CatchPhrase: Parker's reminder to "keep the peace" whenever the SRU starts a mission.
* ChannelHop: In the United States, ''{{Flashpoint}}'' will be moving from {{CBS}} to [[{{Ion}} ION Television.]] [[http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2011/09/12/ion-television-premieres-hit-police-drama-flashpoint-with-original-episodes-tuesday-october-18-at-10pm-et-pt-691200/20110912ion01/ New episodes will begin airing on October 18, 2011.]]
* TheChick: Jules, at least initially. Occasionally lampshaded by DeadpanSnarker Sam, as well as by a brief scene of changing the sign to the womens' washroom (from reading "Jules" to "Women's") after Leah's introduction to the series.
** May now be back to just Jules; see AbsenteeActor, above.
* ClearMyName: The young man in "Never Kissed A Girl" is wrongly accused of raping and killing his best friend and wants to be cleared on the crime he never committed. Unfortunately, after being denied to have an appeal, he decides that he had nothing else left to lose and stormed the courthouse with a gun, taking a security guard hostage, to find the lawyer who tarnished his name.
** "Collateral Damage" revolves around a man accused of murdering his infant daughter taking his wife and two doctors hostage. One of the doctor's findings seemed to convince his wife he ''was'' responsible, so he wants to get a second opinion so that she'll believe in him again.
* ColdSniper: All over the damn place, but Sam in particular.
** In a partial subversion, Ed's struggle to ''avoid'' falling into this trope too much causes him a great deal of angst.
** Also subverted by casting Amy Jo Johnson - best known as the Pink Ranger in PowerRangers - as a sympathetic character who also happens to be one of the team's snipers.
** In fact, the entire concept of the series is built around the team trying to avoid falling into the trope.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: In episode "Perfect Storm", the bullied teen [[spoiler: had no intention of killing his bullies. He only wanted to pretend that he did kill them, so they would be begging for mercy, so they would be humiliated just as he was earlier.]]
* CowboyCop: Sam Braddock, at least to start off. Donna as well, during her short run, seems to have retained some "whatever it takes" attitude from her undercover vice days, and frequently expresses frustration with the rules.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Remember when the show had a forensic psychologist? For about three-four episodes?
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Alluded to with Sam and his experiences in Afghanistan. ''He'' doesn't worry about it too much unless he's forced to think about it, but it gives Ed reason to doubt him in "Element of Surprise":
-->'''Sam''': You wanna know what happened in Afghanistan, is that it? I was sniping an enemy compound from 1500 meters. The recce was done, and I was cleared to fire. When we went to do the ID, one of them was my buddy Mac. He shouldn't have been there. [[LudicrousGibs I was sniping with a]] [[{{BFG}} .50 cal]]. All you had to do was ask.
* DeadpanSnarker: Sam.
** "Nice post-incident reflexes, guys."
* DeathGlare: Ed Lane once used this on a cop who was trying to stop him from warning Parker about the investigator interviewing them and appears to have a personal grudge against him.
* DrivenToSuicide: After being foiled by the SRU, a number of antagonists are driven to shoot themselves, including [[spoiler: Charles from "The Farm"]].
* FiveManBand:
** TheHero: Greg Parker, or Ed Lane
** TheLancer: Ed to Greg, Wordy to Ed
** TheSmartGuy: Spike and Lewis
** TheBigGuy: Sam
** TheChick: Jules and Leah
* GenreSavvy: Sometimes used by the hostage-takers. In a recent episode, two men were trapped in a room, with the SRU right outside the door and the house surrounded by police. Knowing they would back down if there was a hostage, one of them took the other hostage and was able to escape.
* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: In "Backwards Day", the husband did cheat on his wife, after frustrations of not able to have a baby. However, he realized his mistake and did genuinely loved his wife more afterwards. However, the woman he cheated with thought differently.
* GunAccessories: SRU units use a lot of modified guns, attaching flashlights, red dot sights and more to their weapons. Interestingly, though they attach foregrips to their submachine guns, they tend not to use them, instead using the clip as a grip.
* HeroicBSOD: Several, particularly:
** Donna Sabine, [[spoiler: Jules' temporary replacement, undergoes one after being forced to shoot and kill a customs official while safeguarding a serial killer. For bonus points, overlaps with a ShowerOfAngst.]]
** Spike, when [[spoiler: fellow team member and friend [[BlackDudeDiesFirst Lewis Young dies]] after [[LandMineGoesClick stepping on a land mine]].]]
*** By extension, ''everyone'' on the team breaks down at this point ([[spoiler: Ed and Greg are very good at hiding it, but watch Ed's jaw, and watch how Greg comforts Spike]]). Spike is just the most visible.
** Sam also, in the second season finale, when [[spoiler: a lone deranged ex-soldier inside the Godwin Coliseum (AKA Maple Leaf Gardens), with whom Sam had started to make a connection over their ex-military backgrounds, is shot and killed (likely [[SuicideByCop by his own design]]) while holding Spike at gunpoint. Sam subsequently states his desire to leave the team, but Ed and Greg both recommend a support group instead, stating that it's [[ShellShockedVeteran probably overdue]].]]
** Given that SRU is a life-saving organization, not a life-taking organization (just like real SWAT-like teams), any time a member of the team has to take a kill shot, it affects them badly. This includes Ed, the almost-gruff veteran, who, [[spoiler: during the pilot episode, after killing the hostage-taker, has to be talked down and visibly has difficulty for the rest of the season]].
* HostageSituation: And how!
* HumanShield: See above.
* HowWeGotHere / InMediasRes: Most episodes, start like this, showing the "flashpoint" of whatever situation the SRU is called in to deal with, rewinding to show how they got there, and then resolving the conflict. Started being phased out in Season 3.
* ICallItVera: Spike (the team's demolition's expert) and "Babycakes," his anti-bomb robot.
* INeverGotAnyLetters: In a season four episode, the estranged mother and grandmother of a hostage discover that they have both been writing letters to each other for years, which were intercepted by the hostage's grandfather.
* InterruptedSuicide: Happens quite often.
** In "Attention Shoppers", Jules talks down [[spoiler: Tasha before she could jump.]]
** In "Whatever It Takes", Parker manages to convince [[spoiler: the basketball player that life isn't all about sports and that the verbal and physical abuse his JerkAss coach did to him and his team was wrong]] before he tried to jump off the roof of his school.
** In "Collateral Damage", a flash bomb is used to [[spoiler: make Frank flinch, giving Ed time to tackle him and knock the gun away]].
* InTheBlood: Jules' father was a cop.
* ItsPersonal: The investigator in "Acceptable Risk" made the interrogation on the team so much more harder and demanding because [[spoiler: she had a personal grudge on Parker. Her partner was killed in action while in Parker's team and she wanted to get Parker arrested for poor judgement.]]
* JerkJock: "Perfect Storm" deals with a group of these bullying a classmate and said classmate snapping and bringing a gun to school.
** "Whatever It Takes" plays with this trope as well, [[spoiler: ultimately being traced back to [[JerkAss the team's coach]].]]
* MissionControl: The SRU's mobile command van.
* MoodWhiplash: After Ed was able to reconcile with his estranged brother and the team was able to crack down on a third of the city's gun supply, all is happy, right? As the episode ends, Ed is walking in an empty house after his wife and son left to stay at her mother's house and Parker cautioning Ed that things might stay that way.
* NewMeat: Sam.
** Later, Leah.
*** Maybe not any longer; see AbsenteeActor, above.
* {{Nakama}}: The whole SRU see each other like family.
* OneOfOurOwn: In many real-life cases, hostage-takers won't hesitate to use police as the HumanShield.
** In one case, Ed went out of his way to involve himself in a situation, even though he was off-duty at the time, in an attempt to get the hostage-taker to let the civilian hostage go.
* OverprotectiveDad: In "Jumping At Shadows", the father is shown to be ProperlyParanoid when [[spoiler: his daughter was a witness to a crime and was placed under witness protection. And despite that, the people after her still managed to find her.]]
* PapaWolf: Once Ed Lane had enough suspicion that an investigator was specifically targeting Parker in her investigations about the team, he immediately went to warn Parker, despite breaking rules to get to him, even [[DeathGlare death-glaring]] a cop who tried to stop him.
* PetTheDog: Despite having a vendetta against Ed Lane and coldly shooting down a police officer who happened to be there, the Russian sniper in "Between Heartbeats" owns a cat and makes sure to feed it before he leaves. He also doesn't choose to go the route of RevengeByProxy when he was easily able to find Lane's son.
** In "The Good Citizen", when the VigilanteMan was going after drug dealers and holding one of the main drug lords hostage, the drug lord's brother (also a drug lord himself) is offering money and anything, just as long as the vigilante [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes lets his brother go.]]
* PoliceAreUseless: Subverted and averted by the SRU team. But also played straight in certain cases, like in "Jumping At Shadows" where the team finds out the guys after a little girl found her house (which was [[spoiler: under Witness Protection]]) because they bribed a police officer.
** In "Perfect Storm", one of the targets of the bullied kid is the son of a cop. When the cop thinks that [[spoiler: the shooter killed his son]], he hunts the kid and guns him down as the situation is winding down. Parker then delivers an ''epic'' verbal beatdown, describing ''exactly'' how the cop failed in his duty.
* PregnantHostage
* PrecisionFStrike / [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch This Is For Emphasis, Bitch]]: Parker, after a tense moment where it looked like the hostage-taker might shoot Ed. [[spoiler: Fortunately, the team came in just in time and Ed got to safety.]] His exact words were "son of a bitch", with emphasis via smacking the table.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Invoked for [[AbsenteeActor Amy Jo Johnson]] when her character, Jules, is [[spoiler: caught in the line of fire]].
* RealMenWearPink: Wordy has no problem watching girl movies like "Lady in Waiting", because his wife and his daughters watch it all the time and he wants to take every opportunity he can to get to understand them better.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Several cases:
** Quite likely the fate of Irina, the Russian nanny in "The Fortress," who lets hey boyfriend and his gang into the house to rob her employers, then has a change of heart when the kids come early. After her boyfriend takes the kids hostage and threatens to kill them, she tries to fight him off, but he shoots her in the chest. We last see her being wheeled out of the house by paramedics.
** A later episode has two men working together to kidnap a girl to get her wealthy, estranged, and dementia affected grandmother to pay a ransom, but the mother intervenes and is taken too. The leader orders the other to take the mother and kill her, but he fires into the ground and sets her free. Later, he frees the teenager rather than use her as a hostage, and is killed for his efforts.
* RevengeByProxy: In [[spoiler: "Acceptable Risk"]], the killer in question was targeting people who [[spoiler: she felt betrayed her when she filed a lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company that made a drug that killed her husband, but accepted money from the company to hush up.]] The killer would then cross the MoralEventHorizon by shooting an innocent woman who was [[GoThroughMe shielding her husband.]] [[spoiler: The team shot her before she could.]]
* SacrificialLion / [[spoiler:LandMineGoesClick]]: [[spoiler: Lewis Young at the start of the back half of the second season. After [[OhCrap stepping on a landmine]] and [[BadAss keeping his foot held down firmly]] as [[TheStoic the rest of the team evacuates a college campus around him and tries every angle possible to save him]], he [[TearJerker calls his family to say goodbye]] and [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices himself by deliberately lifting his foot off of the trigger]]. Cue team-wide HeroicBSOD.]]
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: CBS, which broadcasts the show in the US, refuses to air each season at once for some reason like it is aired in Canada.
** And now word has it that CBS will stop airing the show altogether after "Shockwaves." Let's hope {{ION}} treats this show better now that they have rights to the remaining season 4 episodes.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: [[spoiler: Councilman Malone's father is revealed to have done this in "Coming To You Live"]], though for reasons that are not unsympathetic.
* ShoutOut: One of the robber's sign of perpetrating a robbery in the 4th season [[GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex resembles the one used by the Laughing Man.]]
* SoProudOfYou: Parker says to his team in [[spoiler: "Acceptable Targets", after a particular grueling and difficult mission.]]
* SuicideByCop: [[YourMileageMayVary Your interpretation may vary]], but multiple hostage-takers have or may have gone out by this method, with at least one doing so [[spoiler: to [[FridgeLogic secure his wife's financial future]] [[ThanatosGambit via the insurance payout after his death]].]]
** If the team is able to identify that a subject is attempting SuicideByCop and doesn't otherwise pose a danger, however, they will not shoot. Unfortunately, the circumstances rarely allow for that (though it has happened at least twice).
* TheProfiler: Doctor Luria, [[spoiler: until she was removed from the series]]. Parker also fulfills this trope with regularity, although pretty much any SRU member can contribute ''some''thing to a profile.
* TheSquad: But of course.
* TitleDrop: Never mentioned by the characters, but one of the show's producers, Anne Marie La Traverse, said that she hoped the show would take viewers to their "own personal flash point."
* TraumaticHaircut: Tasha Redford. (See BreakTheCutie above.)
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: In the pilot episode, Ed, in full police gear and carrying a sniper rifle, steps into a crowded elevator and casually asks someone to push the 10th floor button. The occupants look surprised, then ''amused''.
* {{UST}}: Between Sam and Jules so, so much. First they date. Then they break up. And despite remaining JustFriends, there is still plenty of UST between them.
* VigilanteMan: "The Good Citizen" deals with a man gunning down drug dealers because his brother had died because of a drug overdose from those people.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: This happens often.
** In "First in Line", the father of a girl in need of a heart transplant who had been pushed further down the list when she should have been first grabbed an security guard's gun so his daughter could get the heart transplant.
** A father who had just won custody rights for his children found out his children were missing from school. Hence him coming to his ex-wife's lawyer and threatening him with a gun.
** A sister of an abused woman wanted to stop the husband from [[MamaBear hurting her sister again.]]
** A widow who lost her husband to a rare drug reaction and losing support of people who were bribed by the pharmaceutical company to keep it quiet promptly goes to a company's party and began shooting those people.
** If you haven't figured it out yet, except in ''very'' rare cases, the people who SRU have to deal with are rarely clear-cut villains. Which is why the job is so hard on the members of the team.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Rarely do we see the effects of the incident on the people involved, unless those people are the SRU.
** The Russian nanny in "The Fortress" is taken off the scene by paramedics, but we never hear if she lives or dies.
** The cop that shoots a suspect in "Perfect Storm" is verbally berated by Parker, and then we never hear anything else.
* WhatTheHellHero: On his first mission with the SRU, Sam lets a paramedic with a live heart go ''alone'' into a live and dangerous hostage situation.
** Of course, one also wonders why some regular cops didn't go with the medic.
** Parker also gets one from Lane after exposing himself to an unnecessary level of risk while negotiating with an armed hostage-taker.
* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]. It is the team's job to ensure that each standoff ends with minimal-to-no casualties, which includes the life of the hostage taker. Lethal force is used ''only'' [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped as a last resort]]. This is what differentiates SRU from SWAT teams: SWAT is the "takedown" team, leaving negotiation, profiling and other aspects to other groups, while SRU is fully integrated.
** [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in "Acceptable Risk", when the investigator interrogating the team demanded to know why Parker didn't give the command to shoot the target when he had the chance. Parker, being the [[MagnificentBastard skilled crisis negotiator]] that he is, wanted to give the target a chance to surrender and prevent any further casualties.
** In the episode "Haunting The Barn", Ed and Parker point out Daniel Rangford's contributions to SRU, pointing out that his efforts to educate on hostage negotiation and psychology changed the team from "straight SWAT" to SRU, meaning they ''don't'' just shoot 'em, but rather try to talk down suspects and save lives. This is reflected in their name: They are the ''Strategic'' Response Unit, taking total control of a situation, rather than just a strictly ''tactical'' approach.

* [[HeyItsThatGuy Hey, It's That Guy/Girl]]: Admit it. You first heard about this show once you saw that [[PowerRangers Amy Jo Johnson]] would be in it.
*** [[YourMileageMayVary Not necessarily true.]] One might only realize this after first watching the show, going "Hey, where do I know ''[[AmyJoJohnson her]]'' from?" and then IMDb-ing accordingly.
*** It occasionally gets distracting when you're waiting for Jules to morph...
** Hugh Dillon has been the frontman for multiple Canadian bands and also stars in the series ''Durham County''.
*** Also a case of HeyItsThatVoice - he voiced Nick in ''[[Left4Dead Left 4 Dead 2]]''.
** Sam Braddock has been [[FinalDestination involved in a big pile-up]] once.
** Enrico Colantoni has [[VeronicaMars been to Mars]] as well as [[GalaxyQuest beyond the Klaatu Nebula]].
** Yes, AlexCarter has shown up. MarkSheppard must be right around the corner, now.
** Also [[{{NCIS}} Jenny Sheppard]] as an InternalAffairs investigator.

** In [[spoiler: "Attention Shoppers"]], Jules talks down [[spoiler: Tasha before she could jump.]]
** In [[spoiler: "Whatever It Takes"]], Parker manages to convince [[spoiler: the basketball player that life isn't all about sports and that the verbal and physical abuse his JerkAss coach did to him and his team was wrong]] before he tried to jump off the roof of his school.
** In [[spoiler: "Collateral Damage"]], a flash bomb is used to [[spoiler: make Frank flinch, giving Ed time to tackle him and knock the gun away]].

*** [[YourMileageMayVary Not necessarily true.]] One might only realize this after first watching the show, going "Hey, where do I know ''her'' from?" and then IMDb-ing accordingly.

*** Also a case of HeyItsThatVoice - he voiced Nick in [[Left4Dead Left 4 Dead 2]].