This show is getting predictably mixed reviews, but I am loving it. I’m not yr typical viewer: comfortable with ambiguity and mystery, and thirsty drama that rewards close attention. This definitely fits that description. The most recent episode (number six) reminds me of David Lynch at his best, but maybe better.
I’ll admit I’m partial to David Milch’s use of language, which is significantly more obtuse — my housemates call it Shakespearian — than anything you’d get on The Sopranos, so I can see why people are scratching their head about this. It’s somewhat weirder and more jarring placed in a contemporary setting without the period drama of Deadwood. This show is a lot less realistic, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. If you’re interested, don’t buy the negative reviews without watching the first two episodes for yourself.
It’s fun seeing actors from Deadwood turn up again, especially Dayton Callie (aka Charlie Utter), who plays Steady Freddie, the Hawaiian Drug kingpin. “I took more acid… than you ate fruit loops for breakfast… in… inside a volcano!“ Oh man. There are a bunch of others too.
It’s kind of cool how HBO has a little talent pool rolling. You get to see range. For instance, Paul Ben-Victor who plays Palaka, Steady Freddie’s stooge, has also been on The Wire and Entourage. Palaka is a real character, a shuffling simpleton thug, and a real contrast to the big studio exec Ben-Victor played on Entourage, and with the Greek gangster he did on The Wire.
And the acting is key. Anything as strange as this, with language this artistic, is going to rise or fall on the basis of the performances and direction. Luckily, the cast seems up to the job, and the direction and use of music are strong.
The times when the show starts to lose me I get the feeling it’s because the script itself goes too far. For instance, in the previous episode, I thought the extent of Rebecca De Mornay/Sissy’s anger became monotonous, but I still dig her performance, and in-context with the big turnaround for her character in this episode, it could also have been a choice to make the audience feel pushed away by her behavior.
It’s risky for TV to leave dramatic tension unresolved without a kind of “to be continued…” hook, and I think it’s one of the pluses of the emerging format — and the creative freedom HBO is showing — that Milch and his producers can do this. I have no doubt this show will be less popular than the one it replaced, but I actually like it a lot better. Hopefully they’ll keep it on.
