Acorn Media will be releasing Da Vinci's Inquest: Season 3, a four-disc, 13-episode collection from the Canadian crime thriller's 2000-2001 season. Still a gripping, entertaining series - when it's on point - a few missteps this season keep it from achieving the levels of success it reached in Seasons One and Two. As much a cop show now as a forensics mystery series, Da Vinci's Inquest: Season 3 spends a lot more time with the police officers on the beat this time around, while the lack of a central story arc and a further fading of focus on the lead characters' personal lives, gives this third season a more diffused, hodge-podge feel.

Thinking back on previous episodes of Da Vinci's Inquest, particularly from Season One, it's hard to find the Dominic Da Vinci of those shows here in Season Three. Almost nothing remains of Dom's personal backstory now (his alcoholism, his overt activism, he relationship with his daughter, work-related squabbles with his pathologist ex-wife Patricia); everything is focused on job-related issues (except for a very brief subplot involving getting a piano for his daughter - who's seen once - and a few fleeting attempts to establish Dom's new girlfriend). Even his head-butting with various authority figures has been toned down considerably, reduced mainly to bitching occasionally about budget constraints at the coroner's office. And that's fine - when the individual episodes are tight and procedure-based. We can get lost in the mechanics of the crime-investigation-solution dynamic, and Nicholas Campbell, as always, is inventive and quirky in his choices with the Da Vinci character.

But no matter how well done the police aspects of the show are brought off - and they indeed are accomplished - I can't help but feel that the forensics side of the series are increasingly getting pushed aside, along with then, the lead character Dominic. Dominic's ex-wife, Patricia (Gwynyth Walsh), as well as Sunny Raman (Sue Mathew), both pathologists at the coroner's office and both major characters in previous seasons, have a much reduced presence here, which cuts down on the time the show spends with the pathology aspects of the plots. Gone, too, is Dominic's boss, Chief Coroner James Flynn (Robert Wisden), who was dating Patricia, providing a double source of dramatic conflict for Dominic. His replacement, Chief Coroner Bob Kelley (Gerard Plunkett), at least in the few times he's seen here this season, is portrayed as a penny pincher that causes Dom some annoyance, but nothing more (and the dramatic possibilities of Dom not getting the promotion - briefly touched on in the first episode - are totally wasted here).

Instead, this season of Da Vinci's Inquest spends a considerable amount of time with Detectives Leo Shannon (Donnelly Rhodes) and Detective Mick Leary (Ian Tracey), which again is fine, if Da Vinci's Inquest was supposed to be a standard police meller and not a forensics detective series. Luckily, Rhodes and Leary are terrific together as the Mutt & Jeff duo. Rhodes, weary and gruff, and suffering guilt and anxiety from the stress he's under due to his wife's deteriorating mental condition, is nicely old-fashioned in comparison to the sharper, quick, yet coolly easy-going Leary. One of the reoccurring gimmicks in almost all of their scenes together is Rhodes coming up with some out-of-place remembrance from his childhood or early days as a cop, with Leary, who's probably heard it a dozen times already, nodding along while giving Rhodes a sidelong glance that suggests he's trying to figure out if Rhodes is finally starting to lose it like his wife. They're a good team together, playing well off each other's strengths.

However, these moments of banter (with Mick wondering at times about Leo's sharpness) just point out one of the many plot threads that are left unsatisfactorily hanging this season. Much is made right off the bat that Mick might have to be on guard with Leo, concerning his ability to perform his duties (even their superior, Sergeant Sheila Kurtz, played by Sarah-Jane Redmond, is suspicious of Leo and warns Mick that she won't allow him to cover for Leo in the future). It's a potentially big plot point for the team, and one that would suggest a central story arc for the entire season. But weirdly, that entire element is dropped, never to be mentioned again throughout the rest of the season. We keep waiting for it to crop up; we keep waiting for Leo to do something that proves he's slipping, but it doesn't happen. It's a nagging question that doesn't suggest complexity or layered storytelling, but rather bumpy exposition that's abandoned without reason or follow-through.

Other plot threads hang as well (the Morris Steadman character, played by Nathaniel Deveaux, keeps popping up, but without sufficient cause for his frequent reappearances - unless it's some kind of big set up for next year), while questionable set-ups mar other episodes (for instance, a cabbie chases down a probable killer with absolutely no motivation to do so; Dom cuts the head off a parking meter in another episode, a la Cool Hand Luke, when we know he'd probably never do such a thing). One of the best episodes this season, It's Backwards Day, told in real time where the detectives and Dom try and figure out how a fatal car accident links up with a deadly store robbery, is beautifully written and paced, until a really wacky ending (Dom goes and buys drugs at the park - with Mick's backup (!) - to calm down a holed-up junkie, asking him politely not to kill himself as he hands over the smack) utterly defeats the purpose of the episode. Too many moments like this hamper this wobbly season.

And whenever Da Vinci's Inquest gets preachy (as with Dom's impassioned idiocy to give junk to a junkie to make everybody happy), the wobble becomes more pronounced. Better Broke Than Naked (concerning the murder of an abortion doctor), You See How It Is (dealing with Guatemala extermination squads), and The Sparkle Tour (the suspicious death of a native peoples' activist) are probably the weakest episodes in this third season, and it's no coincidence that they're overtly "messagey." In past seasons, if a morality play was deemed necessary by the writer, it was at least integrated well into the main story framework, but these episodes wear their hearts on their sleeves, and it shows.

But procedure trumps message all the time, and when Da Vinci's Inquest is on point, it's unbeatable. Several episodes in this third season are stand-outs, including Bring Back the Dead, where a wily convict wants Dom to declare him dead so he can be released from prison; The Hottest Places in Hell, a harrowing episode about a fiery propane truck accident (which shows Dom unpleasantly forcing a horribly burned victim to testify at his inquest); This Shit is Evil, a frightening double story of child abduction and the dangers of meth (with a truly scary fight scene between Dom and a freaked out junkie); and I'm an Anomaly and an Anachronism, But I'm Not Alone, where our confidence in Dom's abilities as a coroner is shaken during a trial where his judgment is called into question. These episodes are strong enough to stand with the best of the entire series, and make Da Vinci's Inquest: Season 3, despite some setbacks, more than worthwhile.

Here are the 13, one hour episodes of the four-disc box set, Da Vinci's Inquest: Season 3, as described on the DVDs slim cases:

DISC ONE:

That's the Way the Story Goes
While Shannon and Leary delve into the robbery and double murder of a Russian couple, Da Vinci relentlessly investigates the death of a homeless man found in the doorway of a newly gentrified Eastside apartment. Kosmo probes a dog walker's bizarre death by chopstick.

Bring Back the Dead
Da Vinci struggles to close a legal loophole: can a convict serving a life sentence gain release after flatlining in custody but being resuscitated? Shannon and Leary search for a missing boy after his mother dies from a drug-related assault.

It's a Bad Corner
Second-guessed by a bereaved father and a private investigator at every step, Da Vinci examines the death of a young woman in a house fire. Meanwhile, Shannon and Leary locate a highly unreliable witness in the beating death of a 17-year-old squeegee kid.

Do You Wanna Dance?
A cabbie's death directs Shannon and Leary to a dance studio operated by the dead man's partner. Da Vinci and Kosmo unravel the complicated relationship shared by a young boxer, his mother, and her abusive boyfriend.

DISC TWO:

The Hottest Places in Hell
As Leary and Kosmo set up surveillance on a suspected wife-killer, Da Vinci deals with a very reluctant witness - a Good Samaritan tragically burned in a traffic accident involving the explosion of a propane truck.

This Shit is Evil
The body of an OD victim dumped outside a hospital with dirt around his mouth leads Da Vinci to a meth operation. Meanwhile, the entire homicide team scrambles to catch the killer of an 11-moth-old boy apparently abducted from his crib.

An Act of God
After a partially decomposed body turns up in a coffin in the back of a camper, Shannon and Leary follow the trail to a bounty hunter. Da Vinci attempts to determine whether a death at a construction site was an accident, negligence, or something else entirely.

DISC THREE:

All Tricked Up
Chick Savoy's forensic expertise proves crucial in two cases - Da Vinci's inquiry into a trunk shipped from the States carrying a woman's body, and Shannon and Leary's probe of a car fire that claimed the life of a pool hustler.

Better Broke Than Naked
Trying to investigate the suspicious drowning of a five-year-old boy, Da Vinci faces resistance from the new, budget-conscious chief coroner. Shannon and Leary track down the shooter in a doctor's death, and Kosmo follows up a tip on a missing and possibly murdered woman.

You See How it Begins
As Da Vinci scrutinizes a jockey's death, Leary takes on the case of a former police officer from Guatemala who claims he was stabbed and poisoned in a stealth attack at a bus stop. The investigation forces Leary to confront the man's dark past.

DISC FOUR:

It's Backwards Day
In a "real-time" episode, the pressure mounts on Da Vinci, busy with a fatal collision involving two apparently stolen cars on the east side, and on Shannon and Leary, who pursue the killer of a convenience store clerk.

The Sparkle Tour
When Native Peoples activist Tom Hill turns up shoeless and dead in the middle of a residential street, Da Vinci begins to suspect something more than a simple hit and run. Kosmo and Winston look into the death of a woman found in a dumpster.

I'm an Anomaly and an Anachronism, but I'm Not Alone
While preoccupied with the shooting death of an elderly cancer patient, Da Vinci endures hostile cross-examination in a hearing involving the possible murder of a young woman.

The DVD:

The Video:
The full screen, 1.33:1 video image for Da Vinci's Inquest: Season 2 is again, quite nice, with the slightly dark color palette accurately reflected, and no compression issues present. However, I did notice some larger-than-usual grain in a few episodes, which, while not distracting, was noticeable.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English 2.0 stereo audio mix is entirely adequate for this kind of dialogue-driven series. Close-captioning is available.

The Extras:
On disc one, there are several extras for the Da Vinci's Inquest fan. Behind the Scenes with Donnelly Rhodes, running 4:40, has the actor discussing his role in the series, with some fun behind-the-scenes looks at the production. Behind the Scenes in Vancouver, running 5:15, has the cast and crew discussing the extensive location work used for the series, and the special relationship that exists between Vancouver and Da Vinci's Inquest. There's also a nice photo gallery, cast filmographies, and a bio on series creator Chris Haddock.

Final Thoughts:
It's not as personal and conflicted and emotional as the first season, and it's not as tightly controlled and procedural and razor-sharp as the second, but Da Vinci's Inquest: Season 3 still has that terrific cast and a handful or more of standout episodes that rank with the series' best. Hopefully, the following fourth season will reign in the distractions, tighten the overall vision that follows through a season, and refocus on the forensics and the personalities. I recommend Da Vinci's Inquest: Season 3.