Speaker 1: Kathleen Lawn ordered Toronto. That means did you go into
Toronto itself? Because when it comes to weather and things
like that, I mean, to me, I always think of rain,
cold Canadian weather. But yet at the same time, I mean,
it's got its own personality to all to itself.
Speaker 2: You know, you don't know what it feels like to
be in Toronto if you haven't been outdoors in.
Speaker 3: February, snow up to your knees, freezing gold. And we
get there.
Speaker 2: We actually had a conversation first in the first season
about whether or not we get to wear perkas and hats,
and we're like, this is Toronto, Like you can't anyone
who's here knows what it feels like to go through
that time and then to come out on the other side.
And it is not a place for the faint of heart,
but it's real and we get into it. Well.
Speaker 1: I think it's fantastic that CW has teamed up with
Law and ordered Toronto to put this on. And the
reason why is because Toronto has always been that city
of mystery. We've always heard about it because Drake is
from there and so is the Weekend. Yeah, and you
hear about all these great things. But now you're taking
us to the streets of Toronto, which really does excite me.
Speaker 3: Oh thanks for saying that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's so cool to hear because it
is a city that's so.
Speaker 3: Close to my heart.
Speaker 2: I grew up just outside of Toronto in a city
called Hamilton, moved to Toronto and my teams.
Speaker 3: I feel it's so interesting because I feel like I
know it so well. And then over the.
Speaker 2: Course of the shoot, we you know, I'm discovering things
that I never never existed. I'm getting into neighborhoods that
I know of but I haven't been able to experience
from the inside. So, you know, the way that law
and Order, the original law and Order to me when
I was a kid, gave me an idea of what
New York was like. I really I really felt like, oh, like,
that's that place. And I think we get to sort
of help construct an idea of what Toronto is outside
of our borders as well.
Speaker 3: And it's a fascinating place.
Speaker 2: It really really is, and it's it's got so many
distinct little corners of it and that's what makes it.
It's sort of like a like a tapestry or mosaic.
Speaker 3: It's not.
Speaker 2: There's nothing kind of uniform about it, and so we
get to show it in all of it's you know,
all of it's kind of diverse glory.
Speaker 3: So it's it's a real it's a real honor.
Speaker 1: Well, it's got to be a cool city. And the
reason why is because my church Elevation with Pastor Fredick,
they opened up a church in Toronto ten years ago
and it's been a major success up there. And it's like,
so it's all it wins so big in my heart
every single day.
Speaker 3: Oh cool, I mean I think people will fight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like having those connections, I think is really really
what's going to make this hit for people too. And
I think, you know, this is a moment where you know,
where were we talk a lot about differences right in
our cultural conversations, Canada being a different place, Like is
that going to translates to the States when people watch
the show? And I think there are you know, there
are things that are different about the way we do
things up here. But I think the real headline is
like there's a lot of stuff that bridges us. And
I think whatever it is about, whether it's like you know,
a certain cultural community or a way that we you know, that.
Speaker 3: We operate, or some of the architecture landscape, or some
you know.
Speaker 2: Whatever it is that people I think will feel familiar
about this place even if they've never been is exciting
to me because I think we, you know, bridging things
feels like an important and important thing these days.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, in watching Law and Order Toronto, the
one thing that I have done so much, especially lately,
is that you guys put focus on criminal intent. Just
those two words alone. I bet I could write several
books just on those two words, because it says criminal intent. Okay,
what was the intent? Let's start asking the questions and
questioning the answers, and let's build a story here that
we think we know, but let's get to know it.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: You're so smart to say that is that is exactly
the show. That's the heart of the show. And to me,
that's that's the fascinating thing about this. I mean, we
can get into forensic details, and we do, surely, but
you know what, really this is a show, much like
the Vincentinofria version in the States, that is really preoccupied
with motive.
Speaker 4: And I think what becomes the sort of interesting road
of that line of inquiry is like, who are the
humans behind these crimes?
Speaker 3: What do what makes people do this?
Speaker 2: And uh, and then when we get into things like, okay,
it's interpersonal, it's historical, what's their childhood life? Also, what's
the ecosystem they're living in? What are the what are
the challenges, what are the you know, what are the
things that people are up against in society that kind
of force them to do things that are outside of
you know, what they would ever think they could. So
that those questions are what really guide the show. And
I think for me anyway, that's that's that's the that's
the goal.
Speaker 3: That's why it's interesting.
Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Kathleen Monroe coming
up next. Hey, thanks for coming back to my conversation
with Kathleen Monroe from the TV show Law and Order
Toronto on c W.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 1: I love the way that you bring in the human
part of this, because you know, before the crime, they
were human. They may have done some odd things, but
because I am so tired of people looking at a
photograph saying, yeah, he's got a nose like a criminal.
Oh his eyes, it's him, it's him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, some of the really fun stuff.
The complex stuff of this is sometimes in this show
we get it wrong for a bit. We think, we know,
we're kind of pigeonholing someone based on whatever our assumptions
are or what the stuff looks like on the surface,
and then we really have to dig deeper and go, okay,
but what are we not seeing? And I think to
watch that happen does sort of challenge our notions.
Speaker 3: Of like who do we think is good? Who do
we think is bad?
Speaker 2: And what we talk about also sometimes on the show
is you know, who is the bad guy here?
Speaker 3: Is it the person who committed the crime? Sure? Is
it a killer? Sure?
Speaker 2: But is the bad guy actually the circumstance that this
person's found themselves in. And if you can imagine yourself,
because we do get into the psychology of these characters,
if you can imagine yourself in this scenario, yourself, you
know where it's choosing between you know, someone else's life
and the life of your mother, your life or you
know someone else's life.
Speaker 3: What are the lines that.
Speaker 2: We can kind of blur between criminal and non criminal?
And I think have that complexity, you know, it just
makes it for it makes for a dynamic, dynamic show
and you know, some thought afterwards.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's why I think that I applaud CW and
I think that they're the gutsy network they always have been.
And when they take a show like Law and Order Toronto,
I mean, we're going to get to see the raw
side of Toronto and once again, because I love Toronto
so much, to me, it's OZ. But then we're all
learning from Wicked that OZ isn't so perfect and so,
and I think that's what we're going to flow you
out about this as well.
Speaker 3: Totally, totally.
Speaker 2: I think whatever impression you have of Canada, whatever impression
you have of Toronto, you're going to get that challenged.
Whether it's oh, we think it's this like friendly utopia
where everybody's nice to each other, like I can tell
you it's not. And we also have beautiful people here
and we do have some really phenomenal things, so it's
not like there's no there's no one version of this city.
Speaker 3: There's no one version of this country.
Speaker 2: And I think to challenge the ideas of you know, again,
whether it's positive negative, somewhere in between, being able to
flesh out a version of a place and being able
to export a show that gets so deeply into the.
Speaker 3: Specific little pockets of this city.
Speaker 2: We just get to make a little bit more of
a robust impression of what we're like up here.
Speaker 3: And again, I think it's going to be I hope
it's going.
Speaker 2: To be interesting for people to see where they relate,
where they don't, where their expectations are challenged, or you know,
what they learn.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I'm part of that.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: I think you just described Sergeant Frankie. I mean, in
all honesty, I see Sergeant Frankie as you know, with
a nine year old girl who probably thinks that she's
already seventeen years old. I mean, I mean, you face
this every day, inside this, inside this storyline, and to me,
this is where Julia was when I was a kid,
this is this is my three sons. This is a
single parent taking care of a family, and that is
going on in real life. And I really do think
that people will levitate toward her story.
Speaker 3: It's a really lovely you know, attention to that detail
in the show. Thank you. I mean I think it
is that.
Speaker 2: I mean, I I because you know, these these procedurals
really really center some of themselves around the cases, but
it's not interesting if we don't have human beings behind
the work. So being able to kind of play with
that idea of like, she has a kid at home
all the time, So to what extent does she need
to be doing what she's doing on the job that
it's taking her away from dinner with her daughter. She's
a single mom to like to not be there for
some of those those moments because she's working.
Speaker 3: I think that that guides me, even if it's not
said out loud. Every episode, every episode, I'm thinking about that.
I have a little pinky.
Speaker 2: Ring with my my TV daughter's initial on it. And
you know, no matter what, there's a time every single
day when you know we're working and I look down
and I go, yeah, remember, you've got a kid at home,
And it just it adds to me a little bit
of a like current underneath, because it's like, this is
why I'm doing what I'm doing. Otherwise I'm just you know,
I'm a detective just saying lines, and I think that
it's it's a real, real, you know, smirting on the
part of the writers to incrouve things like that.
Speaker 1: Well, not just it, I mean your perspective is emotionally intuitive.
Oh that means I always say that you can predict
the future before it gets here.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think again, it's like we play
in this show detectives at the top of their game,
Like we're there when it's a high profile case or
something really complex or something that's really hard to figure out.
Speaker 3: And so we're supposed to be really good at our jobs.
We're supposed to be really smart.
Speaker 2: We're supposed to be able to look at a crime
scene and sort of figure out what happened from a
bunch of different perspectives. But you know, I think what
really sets sets these characters apart. I mean, and they
have a pretty you know, idiosyncratic odd couple dynamic, which
is really fun to play, But it is that emotional intuition.
It's the thing that goes, Okay, yeah, all the facts
line up to say this, but something doesn't.
Speaker 3: Sit right with me. So I'm going to go in
again and talk to these people.
Speaker 2: And it's always in that mode of the show that
we get the answers we really need.
Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about you?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 3: Next question?
Speaker 2: I mean, I am on the only social media I
do is Instagram and it's just my name, and that's.
Speaker 3: That's kind of the place where I pop in, and
you know, I really love to hear from people.
Speaker 2: It's such a nice thing to be able to interface
with with folks who watch the stuff that I get
to do, and it's just, uh, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm so glad that you're part of today's storytelling
because we are into this kind of stuff and it
just really makes it so much better when it comes
to you know, just basically running away from everyday life
so we can run into this storyline.
Speaker 3: Oh, I appreciate that so much. Thanks for talking to me.
Speaker 1: Well, please come back to this show any time in
the future. The door is always going to be open
for you.
Speaker 3: Would love to thank you.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 1: Be brilliant today.
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, you too,