The WORST episodes of The Border

Every episode of The Border ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Border!

In this post-9/11 world the once "undefended border" that divides Canada and the U.S. is no longer considered soft. This CBC program lifts stories from the headlines to fuel an action-packed, dramatic series about maintaining security in today's world. The series follows the Immigration and Customs Security (ICS) main team led by Major Mike Kessler.

Last Updated: 1/10/2024Network: CBC (CA)Status: Ended
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Floral Tribute
star
7.15
67 votes

#1 - Floral Tribute

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/13/2008

Shipments of poisoned African heroin are hitting the streets of Toronto. Junkies start dying from the toxic drugs and ICS must race to track down the smugglers. The investigation leads them to a Kenyan flower merchant, his troubled daughter, and a mysterious English woman named Abi Mitchell. As Kessler zeroes in on the African smugglers, Mitchell gives him much more that he bargained for.

Directors: Philip Earnshaw
Writer: Greg Nelson
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Dying Art
star
7.34
91 votes

#2 - Dying Art

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/3/2009

Kessler sends Khali and Darnell to Montreal to investigate claims that a celebrated golden Buddha was stolen and illegally imported to Canada. But the protestors – a Buddhist monk and an idealistic school teacher – turn out to be as mysterious as the Buddha's smile. Khali goes undercover to discover their true intentions.

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Prescriptive Measures
star
7.45
67 votes

#3 - Prescriptive Measures

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/3/2008

An American pop star collapses in New York City and her death is linked to a Canadian cancer medication, prescribed in Toronto and shipped across the border. An autopsy shows the medication to be a counterfeit. Kessler and LaGarda investigate the Canadian pharmaceutical company responsible, and its indignant CEO. Kessler discovers, LaGarda's interest in the phony drugs is much keener than she is letting on.

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Good Intentions
star
7.52
66 votes

#4 - Good Intentions

Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/24/2008

A former Canadian soldier, Tom Kelvin, freaks out in the customs hall at Pearson Airport. Moose tasers him, and Kelvin drops to the floor, dead. Amid the ensuing controversy, it's revealed that Kelvin was a drug mule, with a condom-full of heroin in his stomach, direct from Kandahar, Afghanistan. Kessler and Liz Carver investigate Kelvin's scheme. Is the Canadian military involved? Or the American private security firm that employed Kelvin? The answers come from a surprising source.

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Stop Loss
star
7.53
66 votes

#5 - Stop Loss

Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/29/2008

Three American soldiers plunge into the Niagara River and swim to Canada. Deserters, refusing to return to Iraq under the U.S.'s "stop loss"? policy, they seek refugee status in Canada. Major Mike Kessler and his Immigration and Customs Security (ICS) Squad are forced to deal with the fallout -- from Canadian anti-war protestors to an incensed American four-star general. One of the soldiers has a psychotic breakdown forcing Major Kessler to face his worst nightmare.

Directors: John Fawcett
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Spoils of War
star
7.54
66 votes

#6 - Spoils of War

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/10/2009

In a Toronto coffee-shop, an African refugee recognizes the brutal Congolese warlord who raped her and enslaved her son. As they struggle to keep the warlord behind bars, ICS uncovers a deadly conspiracy that links coltan smuggling in the Congo to a powerful multinational based in Canada. Hard-nosed politico Jack Hardacre takes over as Minister of Public Safety, and takes a strong dislike to Kessler. And rebuffed by Kessler, Charlotte takes solace elsewhere.

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Kiss and Cry
star
7.54
62 votes

#7 - Kiss and Cry

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/12/2009

Kessler's daughter Zoe helps Yuan Dao, China's star figure skater, escape from the Chinese Secret Service. Dao claims to be a freedom activist who will face torture and execution if returned to China. Having fallen for the skater and his story, Zoe takes Dao to ICS, where Kessler faces political pressure to hand him over to the Chinese. Zoe and Dao escape again, this time from Kessler.

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Nothing to Declare
star
7.54
68 votes

#8 - Nothing to Declare

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/20/2008

In a small village straddling the Quebec/Vermont border, a U.S. fire truck is held too long at customs, allowing a Canadian house to burn down. Long-simmering tensions erupt among the residents. Moose and Layla travel to the divided town, and are forced to deal with spurned lovers, historic feuds, and the surprising emergence of a 60s era FLQ bomb-maker.

Directors: Michael DeCarlo
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Articles of Faith
star
7.57
69 votes

#9 - Articles of Faith

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/10/2008

In southern BC, a fundamentalist Christian sect is moving teenaged girls across the border, to serve as wives for their polygamist leaders. When a young Canadian border guard disappears, Gray and Maggie dive into the complicated, passionate and highly political world of the extreme religious sect. In the process, Gray encounters Liz Carver, a stunning American DHS agent and finds her impossible to resist.

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No Refuge
star
7.57
64 votes

#10 - No Refuge

Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/14/2010

A kingpin in Mexico's Los Zetas drug cartel is en route to Toronto to meet his new distributors – the ultraviolent street gang, MS-13. Ramon Esteban – the new flame of Kessler's ex-wife Terri – is a Mexican journalist whose articles on Los Zetas have put him on the cartel's hit list. When Kessler, Carver, and Gray attempt to transfer Ramon from Terri's shelter into protective custody, MS-13 launches an all-out attack. Kessler must fight back with an unlikely team of warriors.

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Target of Opportunity
star
7.57
68 votes

#11 - Target of Opportunity

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/6/2008

An international assassin, Monita Persaud, turns up in downtown Toronto. Her target: a political cartoonist who has enraged the Muslim world. The ICS squad, with the help of US Homeland Security Special Agent Bianca LaGarda, tracks down Persaud, only to discover a more ominous conspiracy. It's what Monita Persaud doesn't know that poses the greatest threat -- to the life of one of the ICS squad.

Directors: Denis McGrath
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Credible Threat
star
7.58
65 votes

#12 - Credible Threat

Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/7/2010

The American President's upcoming visit to Canada has the ICS Squad on full alert. Working with DHS Agent Liz Carver and the Secret Service Advance Team, ICS sifts through hundreds of threats and uncovers an assassination plot by a Lebanese terrorist, working for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. But as Slade digs deeper, he discovers the trail they've been following is an elaborate electronic smokescreen created by a sophisticated hacker. To make matters worse, an internal security leak means the real assassin is always one step ahead of the Squad.

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Double Dealing
star
7.60
65 votes

#13 - Double Dealing

Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/1/2008

A Russian man is found frozen in a railway car. He turns out to be a former KGB agent with Russian mob connections. As ICS investigates, they travel from the high arctic, where African blood diamonds are being "laundered"? by Canadian mines, to an upscale New York City penthouse, where Layla encounters an old flame.

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Gray Zone
star
7.60
48 votes

#14 - Gray Zone

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/14/2008

Kessler and US Homeland Security Special Agent Bianca LaGarda intercept the smuggling of millions of dollars across the St. Lawrence River. Together, they must work with the Mohawk Police to uncover an Albanian money laundering operation at the reserve's new casino. ICS Agent Gray Jackson goes undercover as a gambler, but when a wild card from his past shows up, his luck runs out.

Directors: John Fawcett
Writer: Jeremy Hole
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Bodies on the Ground
star
7.70
44 votes

#15 - Bodies on the Ground

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/21/2008

A Rendition aircraft goes down in the town of St. Calais in Quebec with 3 Muslim terrorists attacking a local constable and seizing his vehicle with a Military police officer as a hostage after escaping from US Military custody, forcing Mike Kessler to hunt down the 3 men with Joint Task Force Two commandos sent in to capture them.

Directors: John Fawcett
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Pockets of Vulnerability
star
7.78
78 votes

#16 - Pockets of Vulnerability

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/7/2008

Major Mike Kessler and his Immigration and Customs Security (ICS) Squad arrest Tariq Haddad, a Syrian terrorist, at the Toronto airport. They also detain the man seated next to him, Nizar Karim. But is Karim really an accomplice or merely an innocent bystander? When CSIS sends Karim to Syria's infamous Tadmoor prison, Kessler vows to bring him home. (Note: This is the pilot episode, shot in October, 2006.)

Directors: John Fawcett
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Gross Deceptions
star
7.80
41 votes

#17 - Gross Deceptions

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/28/2008

A dangerous Belgian arms dealer arranges the theft of anti-tank weapons from a Canadian military base – and they seem to be headed stateside. As they track the weapons, Kessler and LaGarda must contend with disgruntled ex-Airborne soldiers, a criminal mastermind who's three steps ahead of them, and the young truck driver caught in the middle.

Directors: Kelly Makin
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Physical Assets
star
7.83
12 votes

#18 - Physical Assets

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/11/2008

Gray and Layla take down a human-trafficking operation in Vancouver, but the ring leader, Lo Hok-Yin, evades capture – with possible help from CSIS. As Slade struggles to stop a leak in ICS security, the team unearths the crime lord's grisly new business. And the bloody trail leads to an old adversary.

Directors: John Fawcett
Writer: Sarah Dodd
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Killer Debt
star
7.86
37 votes

#19 - Killer Debt

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/22/2009

When wealthy philanthropist Benjamin Herzog is murdered, the prime suspect is his financial advisor Cyrus Church. Church has engineered a massive Ponzi scheme to defraud his investors of billions. Foreign operatives determined to recover stolen funds are also looking for Church. And complicating matters, Church's new trophy wife is Svetlana Karpov, a dead-sexy Russian stripper from Kessler's past. ICS's newest agent, Khalida Massi, finally gets a chance to prove herself in the field.

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Unacceptable Risk
star
7.89
36 votes

#20 - Unacceptable Risk

Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/8/2008

MI-6 Agent Charlotte Bates escorts a Tamil gang member to Toronto for his son's life-saving surgery. In return, the man will testify, in a British court, against a leading terrorist. The neurosurgeon set to perform the boy's operation is killed and violence erupts in the city's Tamil community. Faced with an escalating gang war, Kessler must make an agonizing choice.

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Compromising Positions
star
7.89
9 votes

#21 - Compromising Positions

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/4/2008

Kessler bows to pressure from ex-lover and Cabinet Minister Suzanne Fleischer to arrange the release of three illegal Russian strippers. The story is leaked to the press, and the Squad is exposed to ridicule. When the strippers' Russian boss turns up with a bullet in his head, Kessler unearths a conspiracy that mingles sex, blackmail, and political intrigue at the highest level.

Directors: Kelly Makin
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Missing in Action
star
7.92
40 votes

#22 - Missing in Action

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/5/2009

In Afghanistan to consult on border security, Kessler and a young DHS agent, Henry Masoud, are kidnapped and held for ransom. Kessler must calm a fearful Henry as they face torture and intimidation. Darnell and Carver join NATO's search and discover that General Zaki, their prime suspect, is also their best hope of getting Kessler and Masoud out alive.

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Hate Metal
star
7.93
67 votes

#23 - Hate Metal

Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/29/2009

Now back on active duty, DHS Agent Liz Carver tracks a murder suspect, the notorious white-supremacist Cole Thorpe, to Canada. Kessler assigns Gray to infiltrate Thorpe's British Columbia-based neo-Nazi operation. Carver still blames Gray for the 'Ndrangheta debacle and her own injuries. When Gray learns the neo-Nazis are planning a devastating act of racial terrorism, Carver must work with him to stop it.

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Dark Ride
star
7.94
66 votes

#24 - Dark Ride

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/26/2009

A snuff film is confiscated at the Maine-New Brunswick border, and Carver finds the body of the film's victim Stateside. ICS traces the video back to the vicious biker gang, Satans Guard. Maggie goes to the east coast to see her estranged daughter Kim whose boyfriend, a former member of the gang, is eager to inform on his former associates. Meanwhile, ICS learns of a cross-border serial killer – who has just set his sights on Kim.

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The Sweep
star
7.94
67 votes

#25 - The Sweep

Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/17/2008

A media frenzy erupts when it's leaked that 41,000 illegal immigrants, all with deportation orders, have gone missing across Canada. As Minister Fleischer takes the heat, Kessler and his ICS squad swing into action, rounding up illegals: from Colombian drug lords to South Asian cyber-sweatshop workers. When Maggie encounters two young Filipino children, victims of human trafficking, she crosses the line, and becomes personally involved.

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