I am usually skeptical of TV boxed sets that have the words “The Complete Series”, as it usually indicates a failed TV show. That is not the case with this Canadian based show, TERMINAL CITY. The show originally aired in 2005 as a 10 episode mini-series, each at an hour long. The DVD here is released by Koch Vision. As explained by the writer, Angus Fraser, this show was originally conceived as a feature length film, but he felt it could not flesh out the characters or plot well enough in a 90-minute period than on a platform like television.

The premise of this dramatic dark comedy is a good looking family, The Sampsons, all have a relatively good relationship with each other are each faced with the sudden crisis that the mother is diagnosed with breast cancer. In the midst of going to the hospital, mom bumps into a television crew, who is doing a failing reality show, that talk to real patients and what they are going through emotionally. When they meet Katie Sampson, played to perfection by Maria Del Mar, she spontaneously blurts out on TV that she has breast cancer, shows her breast to the world and plainly states, “It's simple, I either recover or I die.”

The crew is so ecstatic over her personality that they hire her to take over as the MC of the show, which changes over the name from ‘Post Op’ to ‘No Show’. From this she becomes a celebrity as they chronicle her life as a patient and as a celebrity who is slowly dying from cancer.

TERMINAL CITY examines the entire family and their hardships as well. The husband Ari, played by Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal), is a successful architect and supporting husband of three kids. He is afraid of losing his wife to, not only her cancer, but also to her new found celebrityness. So he too must confront her on her terms and accept her own sense of freedom and to be involved with her.

The three kids are Sarah, Nicki and Eli, each with their own dilemma. Sarah starts persuing her high school teacher, while Nicki finds an attractive older woman while riding his bus to school daily. Meanwhile, Eli, the youngest, is having a religious cross-roads experience and attempting to understand God. This stems from the family having Jewish roots which grampa, which every calls Saul (Paul Soles), wants to instill his rituals into the family while they are young. Saul’s own past in World War II is reminder enough of his convictions of his own heritage, and it remains an important part for him. That is, until he recognizes the family beginning to dissemble and he must reconsider which is more important.

I was really taken aback by this show as I never heard of it till I received this review copy. Here is a strong and emotional show that does not attempt to pull your heartstrings, nor does it contrive anything. All of the acting is superb in every way, with special notariety to Maria Del Mar as I found her, not only attractive, but a strong, intelligent and down to earth character that you can relate to as a person, mother, or TV personality. Or perhaps she is the mother we always dreamed of having. Either way, Del Mar’s performance stood out.

There are some moments during the show that I had questions about. Some of the sequences seem dreamy and surreal and, while at times I understood them as such, there were other times I felt they did not move the story or delve deeper into the characters. I also wondered how and why a TV reality show is able to set up shop in a hospital, and why the studio executive was able to camp out with his office on the upstairs floor of the hospital. It all seemed strange. I don’t think this is something indicative of Canadian life, I think it was a convenience to get the show moving. While it is not distracting for the storys sake, it did become a question at some point.

One thing I would have liked to see more is Katie’s TV personality. While she was famous, I did not know how famous she was, nor did I really know why she was famous. You catch glimpses of her show, but I did not feel they captured the essence of what her show was about. Further, there was not enough of an idea of how famous she was, albeit, we are just to agree she was famous. Again, these instances did not really ruin the course of the story, but they were nagging questions in my brain.

Overall, the story flowed nicely and evenly. The tension was real and unfolded as naturally as it could in the time given. All the characters worked well together and were believable in their own crisis.

Philosophically the series was also able to demonstrate television as a means that binds our community. While the internet connects us directly, TV can do something similar when everyone is watching and caring about the characters you see. And so the editing shows various people that we really don’t know, but we catch moments in their lives while watching the show. It might seem typical, but it serves its purpose here to thread the characters and how one person’s diagnosis can impact a society.

The other quality of the show that I really liked how it handled the issue of death. It’s not an easy subject to tackle and it could easily be overblown and overacted. Here is a well constructed story, written by Angus Fraser, which makes sure he does not to over do it. The series does not die in a hail of fire, nor does it suddenly become a cold and isolated event. Death in this show is really exalted to some degree and so there is dignity in how one chooses to die. I think this is a really important part of the show because it shows how well it was constructed, despite some of the strange conveniences mentioned. I don’t think I am giving away the show here, because you pretty much know what happens in episode one, but it’s the unfolding that is a surprise at every moment.

The show aired in 2005 on Canada's The Movie Network and won the Best Dramatic Series at the 2006 Leo Awards amongst 10 other technical awards. It's US debut was on the Sundance Channel in March of 2008 before the DVD release. Again, I am quite surprised at how good this show is, and so I highly recommend it!

The show was shot entirely in Victoria, Canada with a predominantly Canadian cast and Crew. The DVD set is 3-discs with about 45 minutes of interviews with the director, the major cast and producers and writers, presented in 16x9 Widescreen format. There is no insert and all the extras are on the first disc, leaving the rest barebones, in an otherwise great package at a great price. Currently Amazon has it for $21.99.