Join or Sign In
Sign in to customize your TV listings
By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
6 Episodes 2014 - 2014
Episode 1
44 mins
If the scuttlebutt is correct, the imminently announced Canadian federal election will be the fourth such in six years, each a minority government, each government which has not been able to function, triggering each subsequent election. Daniel Addison, who has a Ph.D. in Canadian literature, has been the head speech writer for perennial opposition leader George Quimby for five years. This was Daniel's dream job when he first started. At that time, he was committed to the party, as he was committed to his girlfriend, Rachel Bronwin, who also works tirelessly in the upper echelons of the party. But leading into this next election in the fall, Daniel, for a variety of reasons, decides to leave the job, the party, politics, and Rachel and their associated apartment, to accept a position as associate professor at his alma mater, the University of Ottawa, in the English Department. One of the primary reasons for the change is not being able to work under George's chief of staff, Bradley Stanton, whose sole job as he sees it is to get George elected Prime Minister at whatever cost. As Daniel moves into the Orléans neighborhood into the guest house of recently widowed and soon to be retired U of O Engineering professor Angus McLintock, Daniel is persuaded by Bradley to do one last job for the party, namely find a candidate to run in that riding of Cumberland-Prescott and manage the campaign in the next election, so that wildly popular incumbent, Eric Cameron, will not run uncontested for the governing party. Daniel agrees partly because he finds Eric is, in his own words, just a little "too good to be true" to be completely what he appears on the surface. But finding a candidate, leaving the party, and leaving Rachel aren't as easy as Daniel would like.
Episode 2
44 mins
Now that Daniel and Angus have made their deal for Angus to run as the "losing" candidate in Cumberland-Prescott with basically the bare minimum of campaign materials and Angus doing no direct campaigning at all while Daniel takes over teaching the English class to Engineering students who have no interest or aptitude in English, each now has to follow through with their end of the deal. However, they are more interested in getting their end of the bargain with little interest in the other's plight. Daniel demonstrates his lack of interest in the class by continually losing Angus' syllabus for the class, while Angus continually postpones signing the nomination papers, for which the one hundred required signatures were difficult enough to obtain. Angus' want to do no campaigning may be difficult as he is unaware that Norm Fontana with the Ottawa Tribune newspaper has been assigned to cover a candidate who has no chance of winning, he choosing Angus. Daniel begins to have pangs of regret about what he's doing in working to lose, not only because he truly believes in the political system, but because he basically lies to Muriel about what he's doing, she who has put her heart and soul into that riding for the party for the past several years. Daniel's feelings of guilt are mixed with lust when he meets Muriel's granddaughter, U of O Masters student in Kinesiology Lindsay Dewar, who does whatever she can to help Daniel and her grandmother with the campaign. Meanwhile, Rachel has temporarily taken over speech writing duties for George, which take their toll on both George's polish and Rachel and Bradley's nerves.
Episode 3
44 mins
Daniel has thus far been able to keep Angus' campaign virtually non-existent despite the enthusiasm of Muriel, her fellow residents, Lindsay and the Petes, none who has even yet met Angus. Keeping it low key may be increasingly difficult for Daniel not only due to this enthusiasm, but also because of a nosy Norm, who has his own agenda in wondering why Angus seems to be suppressed, and as Angus truly thinks about Eric Cameron as his political rival and aspiring Prime Minister. Despite stating outwardly that he is on a dating moratorium, Daniel rethinks this choice when Muriel seems to be pushing him and Lindsay together, and as Lindsay too seems interested in him. This part of his life may be difficult to manage as he slowly begins to get sucked back into political life at the national level, especially as George's campaign seems to be falling off the rails at every turn, especially at the very public photo ops. If Daniel does agree to help with George's campaign again, he may also be sucked back into everything that was part of that life including his relationships with Rachel and Bradley, Rachel and his personal relationship which was fueled by their shared political passion. If he does, he should ensure that he and Bradley are indeed on the same page in how George's campaign operates, about which George may also have some say, spoken or unspoken. Daniel's thoughts on these national matters may also influence how he views Angus as a politician.
Episode 4
44 mins
Daniel wants a second chance with Lindsay upon the fact that he totally forgot about their date. What makes the situation worse for him is that the reason for forgetting - working on Quimby's green policy speech - resulted in a total disaster. Daniel's heart may say one thing, but his actions always seem to say another. He tries to play hardball with Rachel and Bradley about his continuation with the national campaign, especially as Quimby is preparing for both the French and then English language one-on-one debates with the Prime Minister. Daniel may have more problems locally as the Petes' "Raise a Little Hell" video is an unqualified success, which spurs Muriel and her gang to act. Daniel is able to neutralize the video, but he may have greater difficulty mediating between Angus and Muriel's wants, especially as Angus tells Muriel what she wants to hear, while telling Daniel to get him out of whatever he's promised Muriel. And the determined Petes may have another ace up their collective sleeves. These contradictions in general may irreparably damage one or more of Daniel's relationships. But in politics, everything could change with one spark of a fire.
Episode 5
44 mins
Daniel and Angus' agreement quickly begins to disintegrate with the Prime Minister caught in a professional scandal, and "family values" candidate Eric Cameron caught with his pants down in what is considered sexually deviant behavior. Both those items in combination have led to both Angus now a leading candidate to win Cumberland-Prescott, and George Quimby possibly becoming Prime Minister. As such, Quimby's team wants to arrange a joint rally with Angus. All this news buoys not only Muriel, Jerry, the other residents, and the Petes, the latter who have come up with a new video using Angus' heartfelt eulogy at his wife Marin Lee's memorial service, but also the rest of Daniel's Engineering English class, who want to spend the last week before the election working on Angus' campaign. Daniel does whatever he can to quash all of their work behind the scenes, while not knowing exactly what to say to Lindsay, who is falling for him, and he for her. The other problem is that Angus has left town without telling Daniel where he was going, meaning that Daniel has either to find him or make up a plausible excuse as to his whereabouts. Where Angus has gone is the northern reservation of his friend George, where he wants to present his new water purification machine, which would solve all their potable water problems. And being where he is, Angus has yet no idea of the events happening in Ottawa.
Episode 6
44 mins
Daniel's life is falling apart. Muriel, Lindsay, Jerry, the Petes and the rest of the residents at the home have found out that he is the person that has been sabotaging the campaign. Lindsay won't return his telephone calls. Angus has a real shot at winning the seat, which he doesn't know about as he is away on the northern reserve and Daniel can't contact him to tell him to get back to Ottawa. Bradley and Rachel find out that he is the person who called in the bomb threat at the joint rally for Quimby and Angus. And Norm is still on his tail trying to find out the story behind why Angus is basically a ghost candidate. All Daniel can do is apologize, although the real reason for his actions is something he has to decide whether to divulge, especially as Angus isn't present to defend himself and as Angus may actually win the seat. Whether anyone accepts his apologies is up to them. Angus on the other hand, may have a bigger problem as he may have to decide what to do if he indeed does get elected. And both sides are gearing up for what looks to be potentially the closest race of the last several elections, but one where a majority is within reach.