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Reel Toronto: Beauty & the Beast—Season 3
Toronto unleashes its primal New York, again.
Toronto’s extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn’t always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city.
Beasties, delight! Your favourite canoodling couple are back for another round of, well, canoodling, adventure, going primal, and pretending Toronto is New York City.
So, right off the bat we find our two favourite detectives strolling down one of their preferred haunts…
A little while later we find Vincent chatting on his cell phone…
…and strolling through this little urban park, just around the corner.
Catherine also goes for a stroll in Central Park…
…which is actually St. James Park.
She’s secretly being watched by a sniper…
…who appears to be perched atop the podium of the Vu condo tower, across the street.
When he’s not “going primal,” Vincent works as a doctor in a hospital and the interiors are sets…
…and if the exterior looks familiar, it’s because it’s the courtyard of the Vu, which we just saw.
In the third episode, Catherine goes undercover as a call girl in this condo, with a view of St. Lawrence Hall out the window. That’s right it’s the condo that keeps on giving, the Vu again.
Some more cellphoning here.
This industrial area is on Fraser Avenue.
We always like it when cool Canadian actors show up on American TV. It’s Saul Rubinek!
And Stephen McHattie!
And Jayne Eastwood!
And Pat Mastroianni!
There’s lots of quicky, scene-setting “New York” images that flash by, like this one, of a cab going along University by City Hall.
This fancy party…
…was shot at Mildred’s Temple Kitchen.
Episode five is fun because murder most foul takes place in Greenwich Village, played by a dolled-up Ossington Avenue, complete with a fake subway station.
The characters hang out a lot in a local cafe, Il Cantuccio, which is just a set but the exterior here is at Ossington and Humbert.
This location is right nearby and is now The Pedal Stop.
…and kitty corner you see the Venezia Bakery.
Fancy resto Bohmer is here…
…and that’s actually where the murder is.
In episode seven we head down to Niagara Falls…
…though you can’t actually get a shotgun marriage at Table Rock House. We ain’t Vegas, yo.
Wedding bells are also ringing this season and we see a church exterior here, actually the Anglican St. Clement’s Church in midtown.
When Vincent and Catherine start prepping for their wedding…
…the exterior shots are of St Andrew’s, downtown.
But the interiors…
…are back at St. Clement’s.
And back downtown again, the wedding limo is parked at Pearl and Simcoe and that police station is really a Firkin pub.
And still in the same neighbourhood is this confrontation…
…on Emily, at King.
This fancy, shmancy gala…
…is obviously at our own Gardiner Ceramic Museum.
Vincent has a clandestine meeting on this rooftop, which we can tell is the Royal York…
…with a little help from this shot…
…of the adjacent Strathcona Hotel.
The final scene of the 11th episode..
…finds our happy couple strolling down this lovely street…
…which we can just make out as Bloor Street, thanks to the awnings at the Cartier store. And, hey, another fake subway entrance! Wouldn’t you like one of those for your front yard?
Then Episode 12 opens with a hit-and-run. It’s tightly framed and dark but you can juuuust make out the Exhibition Place fire station at the back there, putting us on Saskatchewan Road, in front of Muzik.
We already know that the good old old hockey game is the best game you can play…
…and now we know this one…
…takes place at the Ricoh Coliseum.
And a little more churchiness…
…this time at Metropolitan United.
We also see it from the outside…
…but producers take note, the effort to put yellow NYC cabs in the background is wasted when red Toronto cabs are right beside them.
We’ve previously established that Catherine’s residence…
…is in the Flatiron Building…
…and so she meets Vincent here, outside in Berczy Park.
Similarly, we’ve long established the exteriors of the local Homeland Security franchise are just Metro Hall.
These obviously-not-NYC skyline shots…
…of the interior, complete with Rogers Centre in the background…
…seem to place us in the towers at Maple Leaf Square.
We’ve previously seen the exterior of the Gentlemen’s Club hideout is the Latvian House, on College. This alley is supposed to be behind it but it’s actually across town, just off Colborne Street.
In the season finale, we find ourselves back at the hospital but this “West Lobby” entrance is also Metro Hall.
When Vincent runs out on the rooftop parking lot…
…we can see St. Michael’s Hospital in the back, making this the big Green P lot at Victoria and Queen.
Ouch!
In roughly the same neighbourhood….
…this police station is on Lombard Street. Random trivia: Precincts in Brooklyn actually go up to 94 and then start again at 100 in Queens. That means that as with the delightful “Nine-Nine,” the 95th Precinct does not actually exist.
This summer will see the airing of one last season of Beauty & the Beast before they leave us for good. Enjoy it while it lasts, and let’s keep an eye open in case they auction off those fake subway entrances when they’re done!