Unlike the first two seasons, there are no big crowd-pleasing serial killer storylines in this set. Instead, creator Chris Haddock and his writers work to cram each episode with several cases, resolving some and leaving others open. If at times it feels as if the writers are attempting to push the open-ended tactic as far as the audience's patience will allow (perhaps most frustratingly in a story involving a pregnant mother who might be responsible for the death of her first two children), in most cases, the approach adds to the series' naturalistic tone. In one of the season's more affecting plotlines, for instance, a grieving father who is unable to accept the verdict of accidental death posted on his cokehead daughter reappears briefly outside Da Vinci's office in two later episodes, still looking for different answers. To the families of loved ones who've passed suddenly and unexpectedly any explanations are going to be woefully insufficient.
Haddock and his writers are often content to raise the issues brought up by their stories than definitively answering them. In "The Sparkle Tour," a Native Peoples activist is found dead after two Vancouver cops drive him out of town and leave the guy out in the country to walk back without his shoes. (The title refers to the sight of stars that the victim sees as he hobbles back home.) Though Dom and we know what occurred, the two uniforms responsible prove to have covered their tracks too well to get punished for their deed. There are no last-minute C.S.I. styled forensic discoveries to tie it all up neatly.
Which is not to say that Dom and company don't get their share of heady forensic victories - they do, though the means by which they get there aren't always as tidy as we see on American forensic procedurals. Crime and death are messy, a point that's made repeatedly in "All Tricked Up," an episode that contrasts two mysterious deaths with the more explicable magic tricks of Harry Houdini. What matters is returning each day/season to do the job - even if doing it can turn you into "a bit of prick" like Dom.
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