Detective Charlie Hudson, a cunning Major Crimes detective for the fictional St. John’s Police Department, teams up with an unusual partner – Rex, a former-K9 German Shepherd, whose heightened senses keep Charlie hot on the trail of his suspects. Together, they investigate puzzling crimes, from a kidnapping which reveals a much larger conspiracy at play to an art theft murder which runs deep into the world of high society. With Charlie’s deft detective work and Rex’s keen canine senses, this crime-fighting pair is unstoppable.
Hudson and Rex is a Canadian police procedural drama television series, based on the Austrian and Italian drama Inspector Rex, which premiered on Citytv on March 25, 2019. The show began filming in October 2018, with ongoing production in St. John's, Newfoundland.
The show is currently in its sixth season as of October 4, 2023.
Tropes Related to this series are:
- Bait-and-Switch: In one episode, Donovan believes his daughter Camilla may be on drugs and has Charlie and Rex investigate. Later, they, along with Sarah, find Camilla meeting another girl in secret and assume that the other girl is a drug dealer. However, it turns out that this is Camilla's girlfriend. Another bait-and-switch occurs right after; Charlie initially assumes that Camilla's secretive behaviour is because she hasn't come out to her father. Turns out, Donovan is aware of her sexuality; Camilla had previously agreed to avoid serious dating until she was done with high school and wanted to keep her relationship private.
- Blatant Lies: While infiltrating an art auction, Charlie writes off Rex's presence by claiming that Rex is his "emotional support dog".
- Cerebus Retcon: Donovan's paranoia about his daughter Camilla's possible drug use in the third episode is Played for Laughs, but in episode 12, it's revealed that Camilla's mother is a recovering addict, making Donovan's fears come off as a lot more justified and a lot more chilling.
- Da Chief: Inspector Joe Donovan is a subversion; while he fits the mould of a black, authoritative cop, he's a Reasonable Authority Figure and is quite easygoing, albeit as serious as his position demands.
- Deadpan Snarker: Hudson's primary form of humor.
- Detective Animal: Rex, who is a master at using his size, senses an species to do his job better than his human partner.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Rex's raison d'être. When something is going wrong anywhere near him you can bet he'll be on top of it.
- Free-Range Pets: Rex is explicitly not a pet, but he ranges wherever he feels he needs to go. And his humans know better than to worry over him as they know he can take care of himself.
- Government Agency of Fiction: There is no "St. John's Police Department" in real life; law enforcement in the city is primarily handled by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.
- The Heart: Rex, being a dog, is physically incapable of hating anyone even the most hardened criminals. Though he will case down and attack threats to his people, his first concern is always caring for those who need his help more than fighting and he feels most deeply when someone he's responsible for gets hurt.
- Heroic Dog: Rex is a heroic police dog that has helped solve crimes.
- Hitman with a Heart: The plot of the first episode revolves around one of these.
- Hollywood Law:
- While dogs have worked with police since their inception, it's questionable to say the least whether or not a dog would legally be allowed to be a detective's official partner.
- Addressed in universe during episode 2 when some other, more junior police officers make an official complaint about Rex working with the Major Crimes Division putting Rex's job (and potentially life) in jeopardy.
- Living Lie Detector: One of Hudson's interrogation techniques is telling people Rex can do this. It's complete baloney and Rex is simply smart enough to play along, but most people are willing to believe it so they do.
- Master of Delusion: The second half season 5 involves a subplot of Jessie suspecting Charlie and Sarah to be an item, only for him to find no conclusive evidence, and the guilty party to deny that anything serious is going on.
- Name and Name: The title alludes to its two protagonists: Hudson and Rex.
- Nearly Normal Animal: Rex, who leans more than a little into the Sapient Pet category. He takes initiative and seems to come up with complex plans which one would think beyond his species.
- Non-Action Guy: Jesse Mills, the SJPD's resident tech expert, is very good at his job, but he's very much not a field officer; Hudson and Rex handle all of the unit's legwork, and both times Jesse is placed undercover, he either ends up in mortal danger or bungles the assignment.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: In "The Rex Files", Charlie quotes "may the Force be with you" while making the Vulcan salute, oblivious to the difference. In "Under the Influencer", he shows that he knows very little about social media and had never heard of
shipping before. - Put on a Prison Bus: Most of the culprits get arrested at the end of each case, though a few occasionally make a return appearance while they're serving their prison sentence.
- Real Men Wear Pink: "Under the Influencer" reveals that Donovan is well-acquainted with social media influencers, including the episode's murder victim. He claims it's just a result of being around his 15-year-old daughter.
- Running Gag: Almost Once an Episode, someone will point out that Charlie either can't or shouldn't bring Rex into various areas. He always ignores them, usually justifying this by pointing out that Rex is a police animal. The only place where he actually follows this rule is the forensics lab (which is justified, since Rex could potentially contaminate evidence).
- Scenery Porn: The show is not at all shy about showing off the beauty of the city of St. John's or the Newfoundland landscape.
- Ship Tease: Charlie Hudson and Sarah Truong get quite a few pseudo-romantic moments, whether heart-to-heart chats, posing as a couple for a case, or agreeing to what might be considered a date before Jesse turns it into a group thing. Eventually subverted by the season 4 finale, in which they have officially hooked up.
- Shoo Out the New Guy: Season 5 introduces Dr. Karma Poole, Sarah's new assistant who previously kept getting transferred to a new department after a brief adjustment period, alleviating Sarah's handling of SJPD's forensics by herself. The narrative didn't do much with her, so she is jettisoned out of the series in Season 6, when it's briefly mentioned that she was transferred to Halifax.
- Shout-Out: "Bad Water Rising" has a suspect provide an alibi by claiming to have been at a midnight showing of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Both Charlie and Jesse are fans of the film; the former even laments that he can't pull off a fedora.
- Silent Snarker: Rex gets in a few licks too, even though he doesn't speak.
- Smart Animal, Average Human: Hudson is a very capable detective and law enforcement officer, but it's clear from episode 1 that Rex is the brains of the operation.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Rex, demonstrated when he talks a wolf into backing down.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Hudson is not a trained K9 Handler. Rex, being a dog, is tied in to the emotional responses of his human and reacts accordingly and sometimes aggressively even to non-dangerous threats. He and Hudson work well together, but that is only because Rex is abnormally intelligent. Hudson asks a fellow officer who is a trained K9 handler for advice on how to improve in this area.
- A human being, no matter how acrobatically gifted, cannot outrun a full grown German Shepherd. Especially not when said German Shepherd has police training.
- Rex is an abnormally capable police dog, but he's still a dog; a few problems crop up from his inability to verbally communicate and the fact that he can't open doors.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Rex is possibly the smartest dog alive. He cannot, however, open doors.
- Wunza Plot: Detective Charlie Hudson is partnered with Rex, a K9 German shepherd. And together they investigate crimes.
