– D-É-C-È-S tragic on Radio-Canada…
– The DEATH of an important character in the STAT series…
– Will rock the ratings…
– The Indefensible series on TVA, already behind schedule, gives up …
Who dies in STAT, er, who is the character who goes to meet the psychiatrist François Éthier (Daniel Parent), the ex-spouse of Emmanuelle St-Cyr (Suzanne Clément), in the cemetery of missing people from the popular medical Soap from Radio-Canada? Opera? asks Hugo Dumas of La Presse, who had the privilege of previewing the episodes.
– AIE Aie Aie..
– The fact that the press gives Hugo Dumas the power and duty to promote STAT instead of Indefensible…
– While the Radio Canada series is already way ahead in terms of ratings, it has to drive Pierre-Karl Péladeau crazy.
– Especially because Dumas is careful not to reveal the BLOW of this DEATH that will shake Quebec.
The tension lasts barely a few seconds at the beginning of the first episode of STAT’s second season, as director Danièle Méthot uses her camera to scan the deceased’s tombstone, on which his name is freshly engraved.
“It wasn’t a surprise,” the surgeon Isabelle Granger (Geneviève Schmidt) will even whisper after the ceremony. The identity of this dead person will of course surprise you, but what’s most upsetting is the way he was removed from the credits.
“And the prolific author Marie-Andrée Labbé will not reveal the key to this other crime novel, of which there are several in the Saint-Vincent Hospital, to viewers any time soon. That’s what makes listening to STAT so catchy.”
– TVA screams injustice.
– Why is the press promoting STAT and not Indefensible this television season, even though TVA wanted to hit Radio-Canada in this golden time slot (7 p.m.)?
“La Presse and Radio-Canada have always slept together,” a TVA employee told us on condition of anonymity.
– Its a dog.
– Especially since STAT is already one step ahead.
In the ratings race, Radio-Canada’s STAT (1,607,000) is ahead of TVA’s Indefensible (1,516,000). In fact, according to Radio-Canada’s research service, STAT ranks first among the most-watched regular programs among 18- to 34-year-olds across all genres. confirms Dumas.
In summary: STAT performs better with young people than any reality show on the market.
– All of this is subsidized by your money… enough to drive Péladeau insane.
– In addition to state financial support, Radio-Caanda also receives all advertising support from the press.
– Quebecor’s BIG CHEF often gets angry for nothing.
– But this time… we are with him 1000 percent…
– All of Quebec is talking about STAT…
– We practically talk about it more than the Montreal Canadiens…
In our living rooms and among loyal fans, we speculate, build theories, and rewrite STAT history. For example: What was the young emergency doctor Jacob Faubert (Lou-Pascal Tremblay) doing in François’ apartment just a few seconds before the psychiatrist fell from his apartment balcony? (Hugo Dumas, La Presse)
Did Jacob push him to get revenge? Was there a third person in the apartment who threw François onto the asphalt?
And why did the brilliant and mysterious Jacob turn down a prestigious position at the University Hospital to stay with the ruthless head of the emergency room Emmanuelle in Saint-Vincent?
What special – or very suspicious – bond does Jacob and Emmanuelle have that makes him almost like her own son? The first four episodes I watched on Tuesday obviously don’t provide answers to all of these questions.
STAT action begins (Monday at 7 p.m.) three months after the spring finale with its clever mix of drama and humor sure to delight its fans.
It’s solid, effective and rhythmic. In the hallways, employees – and especially union leader Daniel Laramée (Bruno Marcil) – are worried about the impending arrival of a Ministry of Health inspector whose kamikaze mission is unspecified.
Since everyone at Saint-Vincent has already broken a rule or two, the paranoia rises to levels that require anxiolytics or alcohol, but not at the same time, you’ll quickly understand why.
In the intensive care unit, Gabriel Lemaire (Jean-Nicolas Verreault) wakes up from his coma with significant after-effects, particularly preventing him from remembering the names of his loved ones.
Not to mention, his brother Justin (Alexandre St-Martin), who has a crush on Isabelle (Geneviève Schmidt), brings less than encouraging news from Haiti, where Gabriel has recently opened a hospital. A direct connection to his brutal attack in the parking lot?
In the emergency room, Emmanuelle St-Cyr treats Alix Forgues (Karelle Tremblay), a young panicked diabetic who develops a bizarre, almost unhealthy obsession with her.
Additionally, two men seriously injured in car accidents require very complicated surgeries 15 minutes apart. One of the patients is popular comedian Louis-Jean Marchand (David Boutin), 49, who the entire hospital obviously knows.
And yes, Emmanuelle St-Cyr will continue her romance with emergency room doctor Tristan Rhéaume (Steve Gagnon), her equivalent at the Montreal University Hospital.
Emmanuelle finds in Tristan and vice versa the ambition and adrenaline that stimulate her. This second season of STAT deals, to say the least, with the strained relationship between nurse Éric Perron (Stéphane Rousseau) and his father Richard (Rémy Girard).
The screenwriter Marie-Andrée Labbé has not yet fully clarified the plot surrounding the patient Vincent Dalpé (Luc Bourgeois), who shot himself in front of his two psychiatrists Julie Faubert (Isabelle Brouillette) and François (Daniel Parent).
As a reminder, the enigmatic and volatile Julie Faubert, Jacob’s mother, treated Vincent Dalpé, then slept with him before passing him on to her colleague François. Investigator Alexis Fortin (Emmanuel Bédard) will not remain idle.
STAT’s great strength lies in its sophisticated, nuanced and complex characters. In STAT, no one is 100% good or evil. Everyone moves in their own gray areas, like Emmanuelle, who flirts with violent sex without ever losing her empathy and compassion. The same goes for his oncologist brother Pascal St-Cyr (Normand D’Amour), who in the same episode can punch a wall and gently care for his autistic son Siméon (Benjamin Gratton) without sounding fake.
It should also be added that STAT leaves stamps at the end of each of its half-hours, which gets us back to the station the next day and then the next day until Thursday evening without missing a single meeting.
So, a good story, well told, well acted and well packaged, works for all ages. And there are no night bubbles or “textoos” needed to make it work.