CTV Canada

From Tears Of Joy, To Tears Of Heartbreak: ‘Flashpoint’ Finale Part 1 Was As Intense As They Get

by: Lindsay Zier-Vogel

Date: 12/7/2012

After doing countless interviews with the cast and producers, not to mention reading several spoilers and synopses, I thought I was ready for anything when it came to the “Flashpoint” finale.

But after watching last night’s episode, I realized nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see.

Warning: Spoilers ahead

“We get married!” says Amy Jo Johnson, referring to her character Jules and David Paetkau’s character, Sam.

“I’ve been yours since the first day,” Sam says to Jules at the altar. “I knew it was you or no one.”

“Jules can’t even talk, she’s crying so much,” Johnson says.

(Confession: I was bawling two minutes in!)

Not only was Wordy (Michael Cram) sitting in the pews with the rest of Team One (who were looking very sharp indeed!) but Sam’s parents were played by Paetkau’s actual parents.

“It was a thrill for me and them,” says Paetkau. “They got to spend some time with their grandkids and got to be in the show!”

“I had so much fun with David, but those brats in the pews were laughing and cracking each other up,” Johnson says with a laugh about the rest of the Team One actors. 

But as soon as Sam and Jules are officially hitched and reveal to all of their guests that Jules is three months pregnant, they head straight to work.

“Amy Jo and I were joking that we should have a line where we get to say, ‘Did you cancel the catering?’” says Paetkau with a laugh.

The first hot call of their married life sees  an explosive package planted at the 911 call centre – the “nerve centre of emergency services” and just as Spike is figuring out how to diffuse it, another bomb goes off at the Health and Welfare building, resulting in mass casualties.

Though Spike disables the bomb at the 911 call centre, the chaos and horror of the second bomb is gut-wrenching. It’s so disorienting to see the streets of Toronto in a state of such destruction.

And that’s not the last bomb. Another goes off at City Hall before Team One can even start figuring out who might be behind all of this. And this time, Ed’s son Clark is trapped under a collapsed parking garage.

(Cue more tears!)

And if that wasn’t enough, Team One is faced with even more high-risk rescues and multiple defusions. And just as they begin to grasp the chilling truth behind the bomber’s truly horrific mission, a defusion takes a shocking and tragic turn and Team One loses previous teammate and leader of Team Three, Donna Sabine(Jessica Steen).

(It’s sobbing time).

“We’re not in control anymore,” says Johnson about both Parts 1 and 2 of the finale. “The whole city’s being bombed and people are dying. As an actress, I get so much to do in these two final episodes.

“We get to go to places these characters have never been able to go to before.”

To be continued… (next week! Thursday at 10pm ET on CTV).

A venir ...