Crossing Lines: season 1 (2014)

DVD Wholesale Quick Overview:

I found this show by accident while surfing Amazon’s movie section. It had two rave reviews. For $20, I thought it was worth trying. We really enjoyed this series! It’s a different type of police procedural, which is a refreshing change from cookie cutter American shows that want to either mimic CSI or Law and Order. The locales are fun and stories interesting. Everything ties together, somehow, and yet, they keep viewers guessing on some plot points.

We watched a few of the episodes a few times. Each time, I caught something new.

I don’t have live TV anymore, but I do buy everything on DVD. I look forward to Season 2 on DVD next year! I can almost guarantee I’ll preorder here.

– A. Wilson

After spending a fair amount of my career as a reporter chasing stories in exotic places around the world I have to admit that I’m a very big fan of international thrillers.
That made “Crossing Lines” a must-see for me. The series revolves around a team of European cops from different countries working together to solve cross-border crimes. They are joined by a former NYPD detective with some serious emotional and physical issues played, I thought, very nicely by William Fichtner. The cases they investigate are interesting and so are the characters because, just as in real life, each member of the team comes with his or her own baggage. The team leader is, for example, looking down the barrel of a divorce; another team member has a serious gambling problem… it makes them seem more real than most cop shows.
There’s bound to be some criticism of the show based on the fact that no such team currently exists and that, if it did, it would not be under the command and control of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. I wasn’t troubled by that fact: This is fiction, after all, and not a documentary. I liked the fact that this first season focused its attention on some pretty serious social issues, including human trafficking, and presented them in such a way that reflects the difficulty law enforcement has in trying to curb crimes against defenseless people committed by determined criminals armed with the knowledge that by simply crossing a border they can often escape prosecution.
I thought the characters were well drawn and that the crimes the team investigates had a ring of authenticity about them. The series was well acted and the direction was solid. The shifting locales also added a bit of spice to the episodes.
All in all, a very enjoyable series.

– Mike Billington

This series had great potential, which was never fully explored. It was wonderful to see such a diverse cast moving around through Europe, investigating crimes that crossed international borders. The first season concentrated a lot on the development of Carl Hickman’s character and his personal journey, including how he – as the only American – interacted with his European counterparts. It’s too bad that the second season went downhill afterwards, with most of the main cast disappearing from the third season.

-Silver

DVD Wholesale Main Features:

Format: AC-3, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Number of discs: 3
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Release Date: January 21, 2014
Run Time: 480 minutes