Series / The Border

Following

The Border is a Canadian drama series produced by the CBC that aired from 2008 to 2010. It follows the agents of the fictional agency Immigration and Customs Security (ICS) pursuing trans-border crime as part of Canada's response to The War on Terror. The agency is headquartered in Toronto and its staff are recruited from various other agencies to promote cross-service cooperation. At the start of the series the core team consists of:

• Mike Kessler (James Mc Gowan), head of ICS and former major in the Canadian special forces.
• Maggie Norton (Catherine Disher), Kessler's Number Two and a former superintendent of Canada Customs.
• Gray Jackson (Graham Abbey), resident Cowboy Cop and a former customs agent.
• Layla Hourani (Nazneen Contractor), the team's Cunning Linguist and a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer.
• Al Lepinsky (Mark Wilson), a former detective with the Toronto Police who now serves as ICS' liaison to the local cops.
• Darnell Williams (Jim Codrington), former agent of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
• Heironymous Slade (Jonas Chernick), a Playful Hacker who is usually the team's Voice with an Internet Connection.
• Bianca LaGarda (Sofia Milos), a former FBI Agent who is appointed to serve as the US Department of Homeland Security's liaison to ICS.

Later additions to the cast include:

• Khalida Massi (Athena Karkanis), a former CSIS agent who joins ICS in season 3 as their new linguist after Layla is killed at the end of season 2.
• Liz Carver (Grace Park), an American DHS agent who replaces LaGarda as liaison in season 2.

According to Peter Raymont, one of the producers of the Border, the show had been conceptualized back in 2001 prior to 9/11 before and after they pitched work for the CBC a three hour documentary mini series, commissioned by TVOntario and other broadcasters entitled "The Undefended Border".

The third season ended on a cliffhanger and the series was cancelled by CBC in 2010.

The show's broadcasting rights had been sold to several countries, including the United States on ION Television. In Quebec, the show had been shown in French via Séries+. The Border had been nominated for five awards at the 2009 Monte Carlo Television Festival after it had a previous nomination for Best TV Drama at the 2008 Monte Carlo Television Festival. In addition, it had 9 Gemini Awards and 1 Young Artist Award.

Not to be confused with the 1982 Jack Nicholson film of the same name.

This TV series features examples of:

• A Day in the Limelight: To the other ICS agents in both the TV and DVD extras (the Psych Tests), aside from Mike.
• Action Duo:
  • Gray and Layla, later with Liz and sometimes with Darnell.
  • Al and Darnell.
  • Mike and Maggie, and sometimes with Bianca.
• Action Girlfriend: Liz Carver (played by Grace Park) is this to Gray Jackson.
• Anyone Can Die: Layla, in the second season finale.
• The Atoner: See He Who Fights Monsters.
• Big Brother Is Watching: An episode deals with a Canadian company selling facial recognition surveillance software to China.
• Bolivian Army Cliffhanger: The series' third-season finale, and de facto series finale, ended this way in the midst of a shootout between several trapped and pinned-down ICS agents and a besieging gang from a Mexican drug cartel somewhere in Toronto's Port Lands. Word of God on the outcome is still unknown.
• Character Death: See Anyone Can Die.
• Cowboy Cop: Gray Jackson, at least temporarily after the deaths of Layla and his father.
• Crusading Lawyer: Human rights lawyer Yvone Castle is a recurring character who challenges ICS in court over some of their actions, she is also one of Mike Kessler's lovers.
• Cunning Linguist: Layla Hourani can speak seven languages including Persian, Spanish, French, Cantonese, and Japanese
• The Cutie: Zoe Kessler, daughter of ICS chief Mike Kessler.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Kessler commanding ICS with the rank of Major. Shouldn't it all be familiar?
• Elites Are More Glamorous: ICS chief Mike Kessler is a former major in Joint Task Force 2, the Canadian military's most elite special forces unit.
• Embarrassing First Name: Heironymous Slade.
• Evil Brit: Recurring antagonist Andrew Mannering, who is played by English-born Canadian actor Nigel Bennett.
• Fictional Counterpart: Fictional agencies stand in for real ones at some points in the series. According to creator Denis McGrath, this was done due to legal concerns to get clearance for using the names of the real agencies. This is notably averted with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), even though some events in the series portray both those agencies in a negative light.
  • "Canada Customs", instead of the Canada Border Services Agency
  • "Département de Police du Québec", instead of Sûreté du Québec.
• Friend on the Force: Al with the Toronto Police Service, as he's a liaison officer with ICS. Promoting general cross-service cooperation is also the reason that ICS agents are recruited from a variety of customs, police, intelligence, and military backgrounds.
• Government Agency of Fiction: Immigration and Customs Security. In-universe the agency was created by the (real-life) federal Department of Public Safety to handle trans-border security matters as part of Canada's response to The War on Terror.
• Handsome Lech: Mike Kessler has become one of these since his divorce, as lampshaded by his daughter Zoe in conversation with his ex-wife.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Mike, near the end of the first season, after he learns that the Canadian government is harboring an ex-Croatian warlord to help them hunt down more infamous warlords from the Bosnian War by giving him facial surgery. He goes on his own to help the survivors hide from him by asking an ex-JTF-2 subordinate of his to provide protection, while he contemplates assassinating the ex-warlord before someone else took the shot for him.
• Iron Lady: ICS second-in-command Maggie Norton.
• Jitter Cam: Being a late-2000s to early-2010s TV series, the camera does not stay still for longer than about a nanosecond on this show. Shots are sweeping in every possible direction as well as snap-zooming in and out. The cameraman was probably weaving like a drunk to achieve the effect.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Many of Kessler's superiors in the Canadian government are portrayed as this.
• Playful Hacker: Slade, ICS' designated computer expert.
• Private Military Contractors: The domain of ICS nemesis Andrew Mannering's company, Trucott Solutions Inc., by the second and third seasons.
• Professional Killer: A few episodes have this as the plot. Daisy, aside from being a MI-6 agent deployed to Toronto, is a black ops assassin originally sent in to kill a Nigerian drug dealer to prevent a crisis from erupting back in Britain.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Mike Kessler.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: The building used as the fictional ICS headquarters was formerly the terminal for a short-lived international ferry service that connected Toronto to Rochester, New York. It was considered ideal thanks to the full-featured customs facilities left over from its original purpose, which could stand in for customs areas at an airport.
• Retired Badass: Kessler is a retired special forces commando.
• Shout-Out: Resident computer-hacking expert Slade is fond of these, Khalida to a lesser extent.
• Those Two Guys: Generally Al "Moose" Lepinsky and Darnell Williams, who are frequently partnered on assignments.
• Token Minority: There are several in ICS, given that Canada is a multinational country. You got Layla (South Asian), Darnell (African) and Khalida (Algerian). In DHS, you got Bianca (Cuban-American from Florida) and Liz (Asian-American from Idaho).
• "Ugly American" Stereotype: Bianca LaGarda is initially arrogant and dismissive of ICS and Canadian security agencies in general, although she warms up as she develops a mutual respect with the ICS team.
• Vasquez Always Dies: Layla, again, in the second season finale.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Occurs to Gray in spades after the deaths of Layla and his father, whereupon he goes temporarily rogue. Norton, in particular, can only tell him to get out of her sight. It all generally drives him into a Heroic BSoD.
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: Portrayed in some episodes concerning Afghanistan and Iraq.