I've posted in this space about the fascination Andrea and I have for the Canadian TV series Hudson & Rex.
The series is a buddy cop police procedural about detective Charlie Hudson who rather not have to work with people and his partner who is not people.
Charlie Hudson and Rex fight crime in the Canadian city of St. John's, Newfoundland.
We came to this show for the dog. Rex may be a German shepherd but his breed is actually "100% Good Boy!"
But we stayed because of John Reardon as Charlie Hudson with an curmudgeonly vibe coupled with a boyish charm and those deep piercing eyes.
No, I am NOT gay! Why do you keep asking that?
While we came to Hudson & Rex to gush over the dog, we became attached to the whole gang in the St. John's Police Dept. Major Crimes Unit: tech nerd Jesse Mills, tough but compassionate boss Joe Donovan, sexy smart forensics expert Sarah Troung. And of course Charlie.
The audience (and Rex) were pulling for Charlie and Sarah to become a thing. And they did!
Then John Reardon got cancer and had to take time off at the start of season 7. He went through treatment and got better. He was cleared to return to work.
But the show wrote out Charlie Hudson and replaced him with Mark (no relation) Hudson played by Luke Roberts.
We all do, Rocky! We all do.
Then wonder of wonders, we got some glorious news. As our son Dean put it, "You got your boy back!"
John Reardon was coming back to Hudson & Rex as of season 9.
Andrea and I were excited to hear the news.
We of course had questions.
- Where has Charlie been?
- What are the circumstances behind his return?
- How will Sarah react?
- How will Rex, having spent a year with a different partner in Mark Hudson....
...how will Rex react to having his old partner, Charlie Hudson, back once more?
We figured we would have to wait a year to find out before Hudson & Rex season 9 came to American television.
But I didn't want to wait!
The ninth season of Hudson & Rex premiered on the Canadian television network Citytv on October 5, 2026.
The day after I was scrolling through You Tube hoping someone might post some clips or a review or something.
What I found was...
Yes, I found something beautiful.
The full complete episode 1 of season 9 of Hudson & Rex.
Oh my God!
Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!
OH!
MY!
GOD!
I told Andrea and I thought she might give some morality lecture that this may be illegally downloaded or some shit like that so we shouldn't watch it.
Her reaction?
"We gotta watch that QUICK before You Tube takes it down!"
So we did!
Back story:
Charlie Hudson was written out of the rest of season, off on a mission to save his brother in South America. Or it may have been Mexico.
Season 7 ends with news that Charlie was shot and he fell in a river. His body was not recovered and was presumed dead.
Next, season 8. With Mark Hudson instead of Charlie. We didn't watch season 8. Why?
You know why.
Now, season 9.
A man in a hoodie is skulking around St.John's. The mystery man has a meet up with Joe Donovan and Rex. But someone tries to shoot Joe but Rex knocks him out of the path of the bullet (Yay!) into an oncoming car (whoops!)
Joe's in the hospital and the Major Crimes gang is trying to suss out what happened. Joe is keeping quiet on who he was supposed to meet. Joe has a secret but it's not his to reveal.
The man in the hoodie shows up at the hospital and Rex senses, I don't know, a disturbance in the force or something?
Rex tracks the hooded man to a stairwell and the man pulls back his hood and...
OMG! It's Charlie!
Rex is licking and sniffing at Charlie!
OMG! Rex remembers Charlie!!
I'm not crying! You're crying! No, you shut up!
Charlie is not ready to reveal himself to people and signals Rex to stay quiet and return to Mark and Sarah.
OK, there is a LOT going on so try to keep up. Or if you're satisfied with "A lot of shit is going on down", skip this next part.
- Charlie returns to a hotel room he's sharing with a woman and her son.
- The woman is Maria, Jack's wife and the boy is their son, Hako.
- The woman was a bookkeeper for a drug kingpin in Belize and was looking to get out from under the mob.
- Jack sent a USB chip in a picture frame to Charlie that contains evidence that will bust the kingpin and his cartel. The picture (of Jack and Charlie as kids) should be in Sarah's house. (She has moved out of the place she and Charlie moved into at the start of season 7.)
- Jack is the one who was shot and killed.
- The corrupt authorities in league with the cartel switched identities and threw Charlie into prison where he stayed for a year before breaking out and sneaking Jack's wife and kid out of Belize and into Canada.
- The cartel have killers in pursuit and one of them has already taken a shot at Joe Donovan so Charlie is very keen NOT to involve the Major Crimes team, especially Sarah.
Working solo, Rex tracks Charlie to the hotel. It's a circuitous route from the hospital that involves Rex taking the bus BY HIMSELF.
REX RIDES A BUS!!
And Mark Hudson has tracked Rex and now the two Hudsons meet up.
Charlie enlists Mark's help to get into Sarah's house without Sarah knowing to retrieve the picture frame.
Sarah is not easily fooled. She's too smart. Maybe smarter than Rex!
Sarah is surprised to find Charlie is in her house and NOT dead.
There's a big damn hug with a swell of romantic music. It's a sweet moment.
Here! Watch it yourself!
How many people knew Charlie was alive BEFORE she did?
- Joe Donovan knew?
- And Mark? Well, that was just in the last hour.
- "And Rex? You knew?" The dog avoids eye contact.
Charlie insists he was only trying to keep Sarah safe.
Sarah counters, "Since when am I a wilting flower??!"
We have seen Sarah kick all sorts of ass so yeah!
Oh boy! This is going on a bit. OK, long story made short:
Bad guy with the cartel abducts Maria and Hako and Charlie has to turn over the USB chip in exchange for their release.
Bad news: the bad guy gets the chip.
Good news: Major Crimes made a copy of it and Interpol is already on the case to bring down the kingpin and his cartel.
Mister "I gotta do this on my own" did need a little help from his friends after all.
Maria and Hako are safe but will need to stay under witness protection elsewhere in Canada.
Charlie Hudson thinks his long nightmare is behind him and he can go back to being a detective with the SJPD. The police chief says not so fast. There's a process to get Charlie up and running again to be a cop. Officially, Charlie Hudson is dead.
Meanwhile, when given a choice to go with Charlie or Mark, Rex chooses....
Sarah. Who is emotionally spent and not sure what to feel or think. And Rex knows when a human is going through some shit.
And the credits roll.
WOW! That was a lot!
Did it all make sense? No, I had a lot of questions about who knew what and when and the whole timeline for Charlie, Maria and Hako and it starts to unravel if you poke at it too much.
But I do not care!
The season premiere of season 9 of Hudson & Rex does a lot of damage control and the emotional beats when Charlie first reunites with Rex and Sarah are powerful and just what we needed.
The ending is not tidy and the status quo is far from being re-set. Both Charlie and Sarah have been through their respective corners of hell for a year and it will take time to sort that all out.
And Rex has had a whole year with another partner, Mark.
OK, having spent an episode with Mark in it, I have to say Mark Hudson does not seem like a bad person. He's a good guy and he's a staunch defender and partner of Rex and...
Fine! Fine! We still hate Mark.
Ubu is glad Charlie Hudson is back!
Don't ask Ubu to ride a bus by himself.
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