Republic Of Doyle – Season 1

Now I’ve selected ‘Humour’ as one of the two categories for this blog post but it’s an action/detective/crime/drama/comedy kinda show. However what drives the show is the whole lot of humour and the chemistry between the fine cast. The show was co-created by Allan Hawco who also stars and is an executive producer & writer of the show. So it’s mainly his baby. Republic Of Doyle is about a detective agency run by the Doyle – father Malachy (Irish actor sean McGinley)- a retired respected cop of the St. John’s Police department & his son Jake (Allan Hawco)- a former cop himself and now running the agency in partnership with his father. Unlike his dad Jake is often in trouble, rubs some of the authorities the wrong way and has an eye for the ladies. Joining them in running the office is Rose (Lynda Boyd), Malachy’s second wife & stepmom to Jake and his 2 siblings – older brother Christian & sister Kathleen.

Jake lives with his dad & stepmom has he has been recently kicked out & divorced from his wife Dr. Nikki Renholds. In the Doyle house Tinny, Jake’s smart 16 year old niece (daughter of his older sister) also stays. Rounding out the agency is Des Courtney a former delinquent graffiti artist who painted Jakes prized GTO and would start working with the agency, using his computer skills to help solving cases. Des provides much of the humour for the show with his clumsiness, stupidity and attraction towards underage Tinny. And then we have Sgt. Leslie Bennett (Kristin Pellerin) who occasionally clashes with Jake but is attracted to him – and him to her. Season 1 starts off with the Doyles’ helping a close family friend beat a manslaughter charge despite the fact that he refuses to defend himself. Jake’s relationship with his ex-wife, Nikki, is heating up when it should be cooling down – and Leslie might be the perfect distraction. A young woman comes to the Doyles with one case – to find her unknown biological father – but they end up solving three; Jake is distracted by Leslie while trying to extract himself from Nikki. The Doyles take on a cold arson case for Mal’s old flame to find out the tragic truth of what really happened when a girl died in a bar fire; Jake and Leslie are finally starting to connect when Jake discovers he might be… a daddy?

A wrongfully convicted murderer gets out of prison and offers the Doyles a generous payday if they find the real killer; Jake finds out the truth about Nikki’s pregnancy. The Doyles start trailing a potentially cheating husband to find he deeply loves his wife but is in deep trouble with some menacing criminals and smugglers; as Nikki moves forward with her new beau, Jake and Leslie take it to the next level. The Doyles show their sentimental side as they help Jake’s high school girlfriend Stacey Layden (Joanne Kelly) run off into the sunset with her new husband, who’s running from both bad guys and good guys to just get away; Rose’s past comes back to haunt her in the form of her ex-con husband Martin Poole (Nicholas Campbell), while Leslie weighs whether or not she wants Jake in her future. Jake sets out to find the true identity of a beautiful amnesiac who stumbles across his path and ends up fighting off her two stalkers; Martin Poole refuses to leave town and wreaks havoc in Rose and Mal’s relationship; and Leslie gives Jake the cold shoulder. A grieving widow hires the Doyles to find out why her husband left a generous sum of money in his will to a woman she’s never heard of. Rose continues to battle with Martin over their divorce while Mal formulates a plan to get Poole out of their lives for good; and Leslie and Jake hit a comfortable stride as friends and colleagues – just as his divorce from Nikki becomes final.

When a dubious chip truck owner notices his truck is missing – along with his driver/best buddy – he cons Jake into taking the case; Martin really crosses a line with Rose and she takes matters into her own hands; and Jake’s divorce becomes final and he’s happy to tell Leslie that he’s now a free-agent. But Leslie’s just been bumped up the ladder with a promotion to Sergeant, and her eye is on the job, not Jake Doyle. When Mal suddenly leaves town and lends Jake out to be shadowed by a pompous crime novelist looking for inspiration, Jake’s entire life, including his constant relationship woes, is put under the authorial microscope; a simple cheating spouse domestic case turns out to be something far more devious than it first appears; and Jake, expecting the return of his father, gets an unwelcome surprise when it’s not Mal standing in the kitchen to greet him but his troubled older brother, Christian. Jake and Mal are pulled into a family favour case when Walter’s soon-to-be brother-in-law suddenly disappears on the day of his wedding; Leslie meets Christian for the first time and he certainly leaves an impression on her; and the tension between Jake and Christian escalates to a new level after Christian crosses one too many lines with his younger brother. When Jake receives a mysterious late night call from Christian, he’s not prepared for the scary crime scene he finds at the other end of the line; Mal is suddenly and seriously sidelined and Jake takes the reins to save his tormented brother from the Police, including Leslie; Nikki makes a significant step in moving on from Jake; and everyone’s trying to keep it together as their Republic falls apart.