Review of Senate Reform Episode 3

The familiar instrumental percussion track accompanies more still images of ScotiaBank Place. We’re shown footage of Sean Couturier, Mika Zibanejad and Ryan Strome as they enter the team’s individual prospect evaluation process.

Footage of Ottawa’s psychological testing is shown with Ryan Strome parked in front of lap top. In last week’s episode, Ty Rattie compared his hunched over skating style with that of Jason Spezza but it must pale in comparison to the Quasimodo posture that Strome’s displaying in front of that computer.

At this juncture, we’re introduced to a new character – strength and conditioning coordinator Chris Schwarz. Footage of the prospects stretching and doing basic exercise drills is shown. Thankfully, we’re spared from watching Sean Couturier doing bench press. According to Gord Wilson, Schwarz screens the players individually and reports back to Pierre Dorion and Randy Lee.

We’re then privy to some footage of the players on-ice workouts that looks like the kind of stock footage you would see on the CTV 6 o’clock news. Thus far, the episode has been pretty underwhelming and on cue, Gabriel Landeskog scores a remarkable breakaway goal.

Tim Murray’s interviewed and reaffirms that the combine and individual screening process is important and allows the organization to tweak their draft list.

For whatever reason, we’re given footage and information pertaining to Paul MacLean’s introductory press conference. Why is this being shown? I’m not entirely sure but when the highlight of the footage is a camera pan of Alfie and his growing hair, it seems like a waste of time/footage.

The worst part of the situation is that Ryan Strome tweeted that he had dinner at Alfredsson’s place while staying in town. In light of this information, where the hell was the footage of this? It could have been a fantastic opportunity to see how Ottawa’s captain relates to the young players and what kind of knowledge he imparts. In a best case scenario, we could have been treated to an MTV style Cribs episode of the Alfie household that showed off the couch in the basement where Erik Karlsson slept.

Episode Synopsis:

Disappointingly, the quality and depth of the episodes seems to be deteriorating with each passing week. Hell, even an article on the Senators website today and today’s Sens TV interviews featuring Tim Murray and Pierre Dorion demonstrated more “insider” information than what was captured during episode three. (Note: I’ve included the Dorion and Murray interviews below.)

If I had to make a suggestion to a prospective second season of Senate Reform, I’d strongly recommend that organization airs the episodes once the draft has concluded. With these episodes airing before the draft takes place, there’s this inherent pressure to not reveal too much and in consequence, the fans are left with short, bland videos that lack the substance to keep them interested.