So here we are, the Season Two premiere of one of the most universally criticized crime dramas maybe of all time, but not according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times (all the news that matters), and The Hollywood Reporter.
I paid particular attention to the premier episode of ‘The Killing’, since after all it is the catalyst for my previous ranting. The main detective, Sara Linden (played by Mireille Enos), reminds me of physically of nobody that I can pinpoint, however the way she plays the Linden is similar to how Natalie Portman played Queen Amidala in Phantom Menace: very stone-faced with a monotone delivery. She doesn’t care about anything but Rosie’s case, and that includes her child and pending move from Seattle to San Francisco. I don’t mind all that. I think the she is good enough in the role. She doesn’t have to carry the show since it is very much an ensemble show. Tonight’s episode offered some explanation of what went on in the finale last season. Darren Richmond, the mayoral candidate, has been rendered paralyzed due to Rosie’s angry ‘uncle’ shooting him in the spine at the very end of the previous season. He subsequently has all charges dropped against him and the case is re-opened. The thing is, it’s kind of hard to solve a murder when the police seem to be motivated to leave it unsolved or pin it on someone else. There are dirty cops and Rosie’s father attempting to take the law into his own hands. The lone thing that bothered me about season one was the fact that Linden and her partner, Holder (Joel Kinnamann, who is fantastic), had their suspect in 13 days. A mysterious murder with more layers than an onion is solved in 13 days? Let’s try to keep some of the realism in this story. (Note: that is my older brother’s attitude coming out of my mouth for reasons unknown.) The writers tell you who is dirty, but have not given their reasons for being dirty. This is a very brief summary, but I liked what I saw from the 2-hour premiere, and AMC has promised an ‘explosive’ season. I guess we’ll see.
Family Guy’s episode, ‘You Can’t Do That on Television, Peter’, started off with one of Peter’s best ideas, a coffee table book called ‘Lesbian Butts in 80’s Jeans’. Ok, I am hooked. The gag that made this particular episode awesome was the Saggy Maggie puppet that Peter uses to vent his frustrations about Lois’ constant nagging on his new kids television show on public access. This show continues to impress me with just how politically incorrect they can be. It’s like they are trying hard to piss off the FCC. This is one of those shows that I can totally understand why some like it and others don’t, and it definitely does not have universal appeal. But if you meet another passionate Family guy fan, that conversation can last hours. And there seems to be no middle ground. Nobody ever says they watch it casually. They either hate it or love it. There has been just one episode that I have seen and didn’t automatically love: ‘Brian and Stewie’. Originally an hour-long episode, it centers on the fact that Brian owns a gun (in spite of being pro-gun control) and keeps it in his bank vault. His reasoning? In case he gets terminally ill or cannot handle his daily life any longer, suicide will be an easily attainable option with the pistol handy. So Brian and Stewie go to the bank vault for other reasons, and they end up getting locked in the vault, so they talk it out, get mad at each other, make up, fight again, and eventually get drunk on Glenfiddich and pass out. Leave it to the comic genius that is Seth McFarlane to take a dark subject like suicidal thoughts and transform it into something to laugh at. It was definitely an entertaining episode though, as expected. And kudos to Wheat Thins, who took one of the iconic Family Guy scenes and turned it into a marketing campaign. ‘You can’t have some pie without Cool H-Whip.’
One show that I referenced previously is Damages, which ran on FX for three seasons and then switched over to Direct TV for the final two, due to, you guessed it, low ratings. Thank God Arrested Development is undergoing a Family Guy-like resurrection, in which the dedicated fan base has been clamoring for Ron Howard and Mitch Hurwitz to continue the show or deliver on the long-awaited feature film. It’s going to be fantastic! A detailed analysis of AD will arrive soon. Anyway, Damages centers on a brilliant, conceited, conniving, high-powered Manhattan attorney named Patty Hewes, played insanely amazingly by Glenn Close. I am not sure what it is about her, but I think I have hated her in every role I have ever seen her in, which is a good thing, because she plays the role of evil and conniving so well. Some of her selected credits, courtesy of IMDB: Damages (mostly evil attorney), Fatal Attraction (crazy and evil), Air Force One (evil vice president), Stepford Wives (evil Stepford Wife), and the ultimate evil role, as Cruella De Vil, in not just 101 Dalmations, but 102 Dalmations as well. Double evil!
Anyway, Patty is taking on a billionaire named Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), who has ripped off his former employees to the tune of $2 billion. Patty is representing all the former employees in a class action lawsuit, and she hires a fresh-out-of-law-school lawyer named Ellen Parsons (Australian beauty Rose Byrne). Parsons has a connection to someone who may serve Patty’s interests as a witness against Frobisher, so she hires her under false pretenses, fully intending to get rid of Ellen after the case is settled in court or otherwise. The show bounces from present to the future which sees Ellen covered in blood after being attacked, and then finding her fiancé dead in her own bathtub. This is not a spoiler, since it is actually one of the first scenes in the series. It is just a brilliant show and concept, and it was perfect for a network like FX. There is an appropriate amount of adult language that would probably be used in real life, unlike House of Lies, which abuses the F word like there is no tomorrow. It’s literally 25% of the dialog on the show. My crush on Kristen Bell keeps me coming back, though. Anyhow, Damages has all the key elements that I look for in a show: mystery, intrigue, murder, some comedy, a fantastic plot, and beautiful people. Every woman is hot, and every dude is handsome (I say that completely comfortable in my heterosexuality). But I guess it’s that way on most shows that make it to air. Nobody wants to watch Don Mossi on television every night. Don’t know who he is? Google image search his name. Or wait, I will do it for you. Mossi is considered (by somebody) to be the ugliest man ever to play Major League Baseball. As Jerry Seinfeld once said, you never see any handsome homeless. I am midway through season three and it’s the first show since I began watching 24 on DVD (I plowed through 4 seasons of 24 in about 3 weeks) that reels me in to the point that I can’t stop watching and have to force myself to stop. It is unhealthy, I think. Highly entertaining and great quality as well. This trailer is a bit on the cliched side, but it works.
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