The Glades is a cop drama which features McLeod's Daughters star Matt Passmore as abrasive Cowboy Cop Jim Longworth, who has been relocated to Miami from Chicago and shot in the butt by his boss, who thought he was sleeping with his wife. Jim applies his keen insight and massive ego to the crimes that are committed – guess where? – in The Glades.
The show aired for four seasons (2010–13) on A&E before getting canceled, even though the Season 4 finale had an audience of 3.4 million total viewers, which was a season high, and an all-time high for a Glades season finale. Fans were... upset, especially since the show ended on a Cliffhanger.
Tropes:
- Always Murder: Well, he is a homicide cop, after all...
- Except that time it was a suicide with an attempted murder.
- Another time it is actually an accidental shooting but since the gun used was sold illegally a second death follows that is a murder.
- Amoral Attorney: The Victim of the Week in "Marriage Is Murder" is a slimy divorce attorney who is loathed by everyone who knows him. It actually turns out that multiple people had tried to kill him, and Jim has to figure out which one actually succeeded.
- Big Blackout: In "A Perfect Storm", a hurricane knocks out the power in Palm Glade, including the hospital where Carlos in working. He has to find some way to secure a generator to keep vital equipment at the hospital functioning.
- Big Storm Episode: In "A Perfect Storm", Longworth gets caught up in a murder investigation that appears to be a spree killing just as a hurricane hits Palm Glade.
- Bitter Almonds: In "Exposed", Carlos identifies that the victims have been poisoned with cyanide by the smell of almonds on their breath. Oddly, either the character or the actor says that he detects the smell of "burnt almonds" rather than "bitter".
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Jim Longworth is a brilliant cop, but he would rather work on his golf more than his cases. Even his old partner calls him out on how he treats his job as an inconvenience.
- Butt-Monkey: Daniel, at least in the first few episodes. Once he actually gets paid it's more between him and Carlos.
- Casino Episode: In "Honey", Jim Longworth's latest case sends him to the famed Native American-owned Blues Rock Casino, a high-end gambling establishment filled with millions of dollars of rock 'n' roll memorabilia. When the head of the casino, a tribal elder, crashes through a skylight and lands on a roulette table, Longworth must figure out who is behind her mysterious death. Was it suicide or foul play? Jim's first hurdle is getting the smart and sexy Josie Tigertail, a tribal police officer, to allow the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to run point on the investigation.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Jim started constantly flirting with Callie from the moment they met, even after he found out she was married...but doesn't pressure her into dumping her imprisoned scumbag husband. When he captures a sex offender who had been stalking her and was about to break in and assault her, he goes so far as not tell her so she wouldn't feel obligated to him.
- *Click* Hello: Happens in "Booty" when Jim is standing waist-deep in a hole with a shovel in his hands and the murder comes up behind him.
- Cliffhanger:
- Jim and Callie have given in to their passion... and right after that Ray, Callie's husband, calls to say he's being released and he's coming home. End season.
- Jim has just cracked a case, and goes to Atlanta to ask Callie to marry him. The series ends without us knowing if she said yes. She said maybe, but changes her mind to "yes" at the end of the following season's premiere.
- The season four finale (which is also the series finale) has a doozy: Jim is preparing the house he bought for Callie (her dream house) before the wedding. His phone starts ringing, and he hears a knock at the door. He answers, and is shot twice, collapsing to the floor and desperately trying to reach his phone.
- Cowboy Cop: Jim is both a Deconstructed Character Archetype and a straight version.
- Deadpan Snarker: Jim and Carlos.
- Dress Code: Apparently the FDLE has one, but Jim doesn't much care, and his boss doesn't bother.
- Dress Hits Floor: Or 'towel hits floor' in this case. In "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves", Callie steps out of the shower wrapped in a Modesty Towel and hears a knock at the door. Thinking it is Jim, she slips off the towel (which tumbles to the floor round her feet) and opens the door. It turns out to be Jim's dad, whom she just gave a Naked First Impression. Cue Naked Freak-Out.
- Electrified Bathtub: The Victim of the Week in "Second Chance" is murdered when the killer pushes a vacuum cleaner into the pool where he is swimming.
- External Combustion: In "Family Matters", someone attempts to murder Jim by planting a bomb in his car linked to his remote locking system. The plan fails because they lock the car door and Jim never locks his car at work. He backs off and beeps the car, which blows up.
- Fair Cop: Jim.
- Fair-Play Whodunnit
- First-Episode Twist: The reason Jim has no partner is he unknowingly drove the last one to uxoricide.
- Golf Clubbing: The Victim of the Week in "Breaking 80" was done in by a blow to the head with a nine iron.
- I Call It "Vera": In "Honey", Honey is the nickname of a legendary blues guitar stolen from a casino.
- Impairment Shot: In "Exposed", a state senator has been poisoned with cyanide. When he is being interviewed, his vision starts blurring just before he collapses.
- Jurisdiction Friction: Happens between the FDLE and the Seminole Tribal Police when Jim is called in to help investigate a murder on an Indian reservation in "Honey".
- Irony: Jim notes how it's funny his boss shot him under the assumption Jim was sleeping with the guy's wife when Jim was practically the only cop in the department not sleeping with the woman.
- Jerkass: Jim most of the time. He's a very perky, cheerful jerk, though.
- Lotsa People Try to Dun It: In "Marriage Is Murder", the Victim of the Week is an Amoral Attorney who has his drink spiked with antifreeze. However, someone else stabs him before the poison can take effect.
- No Hotels Were Harmed: The "Blues Rock Hotel" is a semi-disguised version of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, including the isolated location and the Seminole ownership.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: The hospital insurance administrator in "A Perfect Storm". She tries to stop Sanchez connecting up a generator to the blacked-out hospital during a hurricane. Later she is targeted by a spree killer because she was the one who cut of his meds when his insurance ran out, causing him to suffer a psychotic break.
- Official Kiss: Jim and Callie have theirs at the end of "Honey", about halfway through first season.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: While Passmore is really good at faking an American accent, every once in a while his native Australian pokes through, just a little bit.
- Phony Veteran: One Victim of the Week was a former Navy SEAL who discovered that a local politician faked being a war hero. Once Jim uncovers this, he has to determine if the politician is capable of murder.
- Pirate Booty: "Booty" centres around the search for lost pirate treasure, and the murder of one of the treasure hunters. Jim and Callie dig up the treasure just before being confronted by the murderer.
- Product Placement:
- Callie is giving Jim a ride in her SUV and he comments how roomy it is. She tells him that it is perfect for driving her son and his friends to soccer practice. The next shot is a blatant view of the car manufacturer's logo on the front of the car.
- In an episode, Colleen becomes a hostage and her captor forces her to drive her SUV and starts praising the car as if he was going to buy it. Can't get any more blatant than that.
- Lampshaded in "Food Fight." Carlos starts to talk about his wife's car, and Jim tells him he "sounds like a car commercial".
- Daniel's ever-obvious bag of Reese's Pieces.
- Really Gets Around: Jim's former boss' wife, according to him.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: After Olgetree finally confesses to killing his wife, he threatens to shoot Longworth, all the while telling him that he acts like a clown and that he doesn't take his job seriously. Jim even admits that being a cop is a nuisance. And when Olgetree asks why he should put up with him, Longworth just says that he's a better cop than him.
- Recycled IN SPACE!: Jim is basically House AS A DETECTIVE! And he manages to Out-House House! (Except for the lack of misanthropy.)
- Comparisons have also been drawn to Dexter (largely due to Hall and Passmore's similar looks) and Burn Notice. It doesn't help that all of them take place in Florida
- And lest we forget the bad pun plus donning sunglasses?
- He also scarfs down a lot of fruit like Detective Charlie Crewes.
- Comparisons have also been drawn to Dexter (largely due to Hall and Passmore's similar looks) and Burn Notice. It doesn't help that all of them take place in Florida
- Scenery Censor: Season 4 Episode 10 "Gallerinas" Jim is questioning a suspect, who is an artist painting nude. Several objects including Jim's hand are used to block certain parts of the woman's body.
- Sexy Shirt Switch:
- In the opening of "Marriage Is Murder", two lovers are meeting in a motel room. The woman slips on the man's shirt when she goes out to the vending machine, where she stumbles across the Body of the Week.
- After Jim and Callie spend the night together in "Breaking 80", Callie comes out to breakfast wearing Jim's shirt.
- Shot in the Ass: Jim by his former boss.
- Shout-Out:
- To fellow A&E series Duck Dynasty. Jim says he was eating with "Jace and Willie Robertson".
- The zombie episode was full of them. From "Bath salts are a hell of a drug!" to Dawn of the Dead (1978) quotes.
- Surgeons Can Do Autopsies If They Want: Carlos is always at pains to point out that he is the chief medical examiner for the FDLE. However, this does not stop him being posted to a hospital to perform emergency medicine during a hurricane in "A Perfect Storm".
- Tampering with Food and Drink: The Victim of the Week in "Marriage Is Murder" is an Amoral Attorney who had his drink spiked with antifreeze. However, someone else stabbed him before the poison could take effect.
- Tinfoil Hat: The Victim of the Week of the "Close Encounters" episode was a millionaire who believed that he was abducted by an UFO and had a few foil hats scattered through his mansion.
- Wacky Frat Boy Hijinks: In "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves", a pair of pledges are dumped in the swamp in their underwear as part of their hazing. While trudging their way out, they stumble on the Body of the Week.
- Wedding Ring Defense: When Jim's former Chicago partner and Old Flame, CPD detective Samantha Harper comes to Florida in the "Old Ghosts" episode, he is dismayed to see that she is wearing a wedding ring until she clarifies why she is wearing it.Jim: So how was it?
Sam: How was what?
Jim: The wedding.
Sam: It wasn't. I-I mean, I — it — it didn't — didn't happen.
Jim: Oh.
Sam: (looks at hand) They're my grandmother's. Um, I always loved them, and, well, it tends to keep the wolves at bay.
Jim: Yeah, well, got to keep those wolves at bay.
