The deeper his cover, the bigger the rush.

Genre: Crime, Drama
Episode(s): Season 2, all 10 episodes
Role: FBI Agent Alex Rice (series regular)
Status: Season 2 aired August 4 – September 15 2010 (U.S.)
Series Creator(s): Danny Cannon, Doug Young
Cast: Dylan McDermott, Omari Hardwick, Logan Marshall-Green, Nicki Aycox
Network: TNT

• Overview
• Memorable Alex Quotations
• Said of Dark Blue
• Dark Blue Season 2 Trivia
• Reception: Awards & Personal Thoughts
• Dark Blue Online

More Dark Blue images of Tricia in our Dark Blue Photo Gallery

Series and season overview by Tricia Helfer Fan:

Dark Blue is a gritty undercover cop drama from TNT and executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer, which follows Lt. Carter Shaw (McDermott) and his undercover LAPD unit. The show depicts the dangers and harsh realities the four undercovers have to face on the job every day, including their own personal demons. Dark Blue ran for two seasons 2009-2010.

In Season 2, Shaw & co. come unexpectedly under new leadership in the shape of FBI Agent Alex Rice, assigned to the team by the FBI to head a new joint FBI-LAPD task force. As expected, the enforced new alliance does not go over smoothly with either Lt. Shaw or his unit, especially when Carter and Alex’s respective professional allegiances lie elsewhere, but their irresistible sexual chemistry eventually unites them on a personal level which is inevitably reflected in their professional cooperation, to both their benefit and trouble.

* * * *

Tricia Helfer portrays FBI Agent Alex Rice, a tough, smart, confident, experienced yet relatively uncomplicated career woman, with a clear sense of morals but also high career aspirations and undeniable leadership skills. As the show progresses, Alex is revealed to have a thirst for action and excitement which has harmed her in the past both professionally and personally, having culminated in both a broken jaw and a broken marriage before her LA assignment.

* * * *

List of Episodes

Tricia appears in the following episodes of Dark Blue:

Season 2 (Aug 4 – Sep 15 2010)
2.01 “Urban Garden”
2.02 “Liar’s Poker”
2.03 “Shelter of the Beast”
2.04 “High Rollers”
2.05 “Brother’s Keeper”
2.06 “Jane Wayne”
2.07 “Shell Game”
2.08 “Home Sweet Home”
2.09 “Dead Flowers”
2.10 “Personal Effects”

From episode 2.01 “Urban Garden”:

“I think we should work together.”
[Carter: "Is that a polite way of saying you're taking over our investigation?"]
[shrugs] “Wasn’t meant to be polite.”

From episode 2.03 “Shelter of the Beast”:

“I hate losing more than I like winning… which means I’m motivated more by the fear of rejection than the purity of success, which sadly is more self-destructive than it is self-empowering. That’s what my shrink says, anyway.”

From episode 2.05 “Brother’s Keeper”:

“Is there some kind of asshole-build they give you guys at the Academy?”

From episode 2.06 “Jane Wayne”:

“I don’t understand this overprotective father act you’re pulling.”

From episode 2.09 “Dead Flowers”:

“You flirt with the eyes, not the mouth.”

[ICE Agent: "You're a fast learner, Alex."]
“Thank you… What’s in it for me?”

From episode 2.10 “Personal Effects”:

“We’re not pointing fingers. We’re just barely out of the gate and we’re already dead in the water.”

“This is becoming a habit of yours.”

“Did you plant evidence on Bryce?”
[Carter: "It's not what it looks like."]
“Really? Coz it looks you planted evidence.”

“If you wanna hang yourself, go ahead, but I’m not going down with you.”

“You know, you didn’t really need to get shot to stop me from leaving.”
[Carter: "Did I do that?"]
“All you had to say was three words.”
[Carter: "Three words."]
“Yeah. ‘Please – don’t – go.’ “
[Carter: "Please... don't... go..."]
“Bet that hurt more than the bullet.”

Select quotations regarding the show from Tricia Helfer and her co-workers:

On how she got the role of FBI Agent Alex Rice:
“I auditioned. I didn’t have a script to go on. There were four pages that they had written just for the audition. I had about a week or two to prepare. While they were working on contracts and everything, I immediately went out and got books on the FBI. I watched the series, all 10 episodes practically in a row. I thought it was a different take, and I liked the character pieces the actors got to work with. But I didn’t know what my character was going to be. I had a call with Danny and a couple of the writers, and they told me what they were thinking of the character. It’s great to sign on because you want a job, but in the other way you’re thinking of the next five or six years of your life, and you don’t know what the character is. But they told me about their idea of the character, and I liked what they had to say. So I took them for their word, and they held up their end of the bargain.”
- Back Stage interview, August 18 2010

On why she decided to audition for Dark Blue:
“To me, Dark Blue was kind of a no-brainer. It’s got an amazing producer line up with Jerry Bruckheimer, and there’s Warner Horizon. I think cable is where it’s at with drama, so I was certainly excited to be joining a cable network and TNT. It was an easy decision to be part of it once I was offered the role. And, I always wanted to play a cop or FBI agent. It was a great opportunity.”
- UGO interview, August 3 2010

On the challenges of portraying Alex:
“What I find challenging is just trying to bring a truthfulness and a realism to it. Obviously not having been undercover FBI myself — you obviously want to bring a truth to it — it’s great to have a consultant on set. We have a consultant that was an undercover cop for many years. And aside from doing reading myself and reading on the role — the type of job you really obviously haven’t done the job yourself. So you just want to bring a truth to it and you kind of always challenge yourself that way. Physically, I guess it was fairly recent after I had gone through massive back surgery a couple of months before and so I was still in recovery. I had four discs replaced with artificial discs. So I could do some stunts, but luckily for me it just worked out that the ten episodes there wasn’t that much. I could pretty much do everything except for a fall down the stairs. I couldn’t do that but I wouldn’t have done that anyway even without back surgery. So physically I just had some challenges going in. But it’s been a fun character to play.”
- TV Tango interview, July 23 2010

Co-star Dylan McDermott (“Lt. Carter Shaw”) on Alex and working with Tricia:
“This is exactly what I thought this show should have — a love interest for Carter. I think it’s just much more dynamic to have him in a relationship. I think Tricia is a beautiful woman, and she’s really talented, and she can stand toe to toe with Carter, which is not an easy thing because he is brooding at times. He is difficult and you need someone who can come in and go toe to toe with him. So I think that she’s going to challenge him in ways that I don’t think he was actually prepared for. In season one, he was sort of closed down and not willing, and we find him in season two in a garden, which is really a metaphor for him that he is attempting to change, and he is attempting grow, and she is a big part of that. You know she is going to open him up. I think that something had died in him long ago and he had given up on himself somewhere, and I think that she brings all of that back to life.”
- TV Tango interview, July 23 2010

• When filming Season 2 began sometime in Spring 2010, Tricia Helfer was still recovering from extensive back surgery. Although she didn’t have many stunts in the season, there is a scene in episode 2.08 “Home Sweet Home” in which Alex tumbles down a flight of stairs. As Tricia was unable to do it herself, a stunt double was used in the scene.

• Dark Blue marks Tricia’s first regular TV role since Battlestar Galactica, which concluded in March 2009. All her other TV roles have been guest appearances.

• Dark Blue was canceled by TNT in mid-November 2010. The show only got to run for two seasons.

Awards & Nominations

Dark Blue Season 2 has not received any awards or nominations.

Personal Thoughts

Sandra: Despite the mixed reviews, I personally really enjoyed Dark Blue as a series. Every police drama has to cut corners here and there, and in that respect Dark Blue is no exception, but to someone who is just indescribably tired of second-rate police… dramedies, shall we say, like C.S.I. and NCIS: Los Angeles, Dark Blue is refreshingly tough and uncompromising. It’s a shame the show’s poor ratings botched its future.

Although Tricia is simply excellent as Alex Rice throughout Season 2, I have to say I’m not quite able to connect with Alex as a character. Except through her relationship with Carter, and particularly as the new leader of the undercover unit, Alex simply lacks any real relevance to the other key players to be genuinely interesting, having neither substance to say nor any real personal problems. In comparison to the other four main characters, all troubled in their own ways, being the strict but understanding boss and having a relatively safe secret affair with a co-worker just isn’t enough material for a full season. There is so much potential in Alex, and particularly Alex & Carter, that I just can’t help being disappointed at the unadventurous writing. Realistic? Maybe. Interesting? No.

Favorite Episode(s): 2.08 “Home Sweet Home”, by far the best episode of the season both story-, acting- and character-wise.

Below are some Dark Blue related links that may be of interest to you.

• Dark Blue official site
• Dark Blue TFL-approved fanlisting
• Dark Blue TFL-approved Alex character fanlisting
• Dark Blue on IMDb.com
• Dark Blue on MetaCritic.com
• Dark Blue on Wikipedia.org

• Dylan McDermott on Oh-Dylan.com
• Logan Marshall-Green on Logan Marshall-Green Online
• Nicki Aycox on Nicki Aycox Fan
• Omari Hardwick on OmariHardwick.com