Shattered

Shattered is a unique fusion of a thrilling detective procedural and a fascinating exploration of the mysteries of the human mind, told from a thought-provoking and relatively less charted territory perspective. Produced by eOne Entertainment Distribution and running for one tantalizing season in 2010-2011, the show was unique in its story treatment and emotional depth. The show's center point is the charismatic yet somewhat unusual detective, Ben Sullivan, brilliantly portrayed by Callum Keith Rennie.

Rennie, who's a beloved figure from celebrated productions like Battlestar Galactica and Californication, delivers a commanding performance in Shattered. His character, Detective Ben Sullivan, is a compelling personification of trauma and resilience - an individual living with an affliction known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).

Ben Sullivan isn't your regular detective. He's a seasoned, passionate, and dedicated crime solver with the Vancouver Police Department, who in the course of looking for the perpetrator also has to continually find and reconcile the disparate personalities inside him. The disorder, also known as multiple personality disorder, was a result of a traumatic event in his past. This complex condition incessantly challenges his professional resolve and personal relationships.

However, instead of portraying this as a setback, Shattered shows Detective Sullivan using his condition to advantage. His alternate personalities become something of a secret weapon, offering varied perspectives and insights to him in dealing with intense and often complicated cases. He uses his "population" of alters, each with their own skills, emotions, and memories, to view his cases from different angles, making him a unique asset to the police department.

The series pairs Sullivan with rookie partner and by-the-book cop, Amy Lynch, played by Camille Sullivan. Irrespective of their contrasting personalities and methodologies, their pair is an exciting one with the customary seasoned-cop-rookie dynamic but interlaced with the unprecedented challenges Ben's condition brings. The duo wades through a series of high-stakes crimes, solving cases while silently dealing with their personal demons.

The dichotomy of Ben's personal struggle with his disorder and his determined pursuit of justice forms a riveting narrative that keeps both the story and its characters unpredictable, enriching the rollercoaster emotional experience it delivers.

The excellent score and cinematography enrich Shattered's narrative efficacy. It efficiently manipulates visuals and music to distinguish between Ben's multiple personalities, add depth to the moods of the sequences, and paint the larger narrative sharper.

While primarily being a police procedural, Shattered is also an exploration of the human psyche, our ability to cope, and how our mind processes trauma. However, it doesn't romanticize or trivialize Ben's condition. Instead, it handles DID incredibly sensitively, maintaining Ben as an intelligent, functioning human being.

While on the outside, it may seem to be about solving crimes, at its core, Shattered is about a man fighting an ongoing battle, not just with external criminals but with his internal identities. Ultimately, it's about acceptance, personal resilience, and striving to function and live against all odds.

Shattered moves beyond the regular conventions of a typical procedural cop drama, blending incredibly sensitive issues of mental health along with intelligent and exciting thriller elements. It brings to the forefront an enlightened perspective of DID while balancing it with the spontaneity of case-solving, ensuring an intriguing progression of events that continuously push the viewer's engagement.

In overall interpretation, Shattered is a breath of fresh air in an admittedly overpopulated genre of cop dramas. It pairs sensitive portrayals of mental health with the thrilling pace of criminal investigations resulting in a package that's wholesome, profound, and lively all at once. Bridging the gap between frivolity and significance, Shattered manages to open new gates of fascination for crime-thriller enthusiasts and proves to be a valiant and wildly commendable effort from the eOne Entertainment Distribution.