If you haven’t yet watched CBC Television’s Bellevue, it’s not too late to get hooked. Five of eight episodes have already aired, so you’ve got a manageable binge ahead of you, and not long to wait until the season finale.
Bellevue – which stars Academy Award winner Anna Paquin (The Piano, True Blood) as Annie, a brilliant and hot mess of a detective investigating the disappearance of a teen girl in the fictional mining town of Bellevue – popped up on CBC last month with little fanfare. The serialized thriller ticks all the boxes of a winter-season sleeper hit: atmospheric and eerie, with nuanced characters, sex, religion, social commentary, and an overarching narrative driven by a couple of seemingly unrelated crimes.
While Annie investigates the disappearance of Jesse Sweetland (portrayed by newcomer Sadie O'Neil), captain of the Bellevue hockey team and a closeted trans girl, she’s also haunted by the murder of a teen girl from nearly two decades before. That particular homicide was the obsession of Annie’s father, a gifted cop who killed himself; following his suicide, a mysterious “Riddler” began leaving creepy riddles for Annie in a mailbox in the woods. The riddles stopped years ago, when Annie, still a child, failed to figure one out. In the wake of Jesse’s disappearance, they’ve returned.
Bellevue was co-created by Adrienne Mitchell (Durham County) and Jane Maggs. Its cast includes Shawn Doyle (House of Cards), Allen Leech (also known as Tom Branson on Downton Abbey), Billy MacLellan (Bomb Girls), and busy Vancouver actress Sharon Taylor.
In this competitive era of peak TV, Bellevue holds its own against its cable and Netflix peers because it leans into the differences between us, says Taylor, in a recent phone interview. “I think what makes it special is there is so much beauty in being different,” she says . “The show is different for CBC. We’re addressing a very current issue – a transgender teen goes missing – and that’s different. And Anna Paquin’s character, Annie, is a different kind of female protagonist. She’s a mess, as well as being super-passionate and driven.”
Taylor plays Virginia, a no-bullshit cop who works alongside Annie in the Bellevue PD. “Virginia is trying to build a case, and you can’t build a case unless you do it properly so that you can take it to trial, but Annie can potentially ruin the entire case by being so impulsive and going off the cuff,” says Taylor, whose lengthy filmography includes The 100, Continuum, Smallville, and Stargate: Atlantis. “There’s a nice juxtaposition between the two women.”
Bellevue isn’t the first time Taylor has played a cop; she’s worn a badge multiple times, like in A Mother’s Instinct, Asteroid: Final Impact, and Jason Bourque’s upcoming feature film, Drone, which stars Sean Bean and Patrick Sabongui and has its Vancouver premiere on April 17 as part of VIFF Vancity Theatre’s Canadian Film Week festivities. “When I was in grade 12, I was either going to be a police officer or an actor,” chuckles Taylor, whose Drone character is named Agent Jenkins – the third Agent Jenkins she’s played. “Now I’m an actor that pretty much only plays police officers.”
Taylor and her Bellevue compatriots shot the eight-episode debut season last fall. Filming occurred throughout the Montreal suburbs and in Thetford Mines, an old asbestos mining town in south-central Quebec. “It was quite overwhelming to film [in Thetford Mines] because it’s a real mining town,” recalls Taylor. “It was like filming in a real-life Bellevue.”
Of Paquin, who also serves as an executive producer on Bellevue, Taylor says there’s considerable overlap between the Oscar winner and her Bellevue alter ego. “Annie will put herself in harm’s way to get to the truth, and that’s how I see Anna, too,” she says. “She’s not only a powerhouse actor, but she’s a defender of tolerance and human rights. She’s a fierce and funny person.”
Bellevue airs Mondays at 9pm on CBC. Binge past episodes at cbc.ca/bellevue. Tweet your reactions to @BellevueonCBC, @SharonCTaylor, @AnnaPaquin, and Reel People (@sabrinarmf).
