Tuesday, June 19, 2007 Rant Archive
The Doors’ Jim Morrison said, “I see myself as a huge, fiery comet, a shooting star … then — whoosh — and I’m gone.” He may have, in fact, been predicting the rise and fall of the most compelling contestant on HELL’S KITCHEN. Or, maybe he just had some spoiled spaghetti and crab.
Parting is such sweet sorrow. I don’t believe in giving away endings; too often they are tied to the beginning, and therefore, that knowledge obliterates the journey. Nonetheless, I am about to salute a departing chef from HELL’S KITCHEN, so look away if you must. In this episode, we say goodbye to one of the greatest reality TV stars to come along since Billy from TEMPTATION ISLAND. It pains me to say this, but Chef Aaron is no longer on the show. He sweated his way into my heart and fainted his way out, leaving me with an unfillable void. Where else can I find a Chinese cowboy who cries at the suggestion of pressure, delivers nothing, passes out and then promises next time it will be better? Nowhere, so it’s best if I just move on.
Kyra Sedgwick brings beauty, intelligence and street smarts to the third season of THE CLOSER. Then again, she also did that in seasons one and two, so what’s new? THE CLOSER is that much closer to being the perfect TV crime series.
For me, the success of a mystery or detective series has less to do with the crime or the criminal than with the cop. From
Sherlock Holmes to
“Harry” (Hieronymus) Bosch (the author Michael Connelly’s brilliant L.A.P.D. detective), it’s all about creating a character quirky enough be different from the hundreds of other crime-solvers who clog the television airways and bookstore aisles.
L.A.P.D. Deputy Chief (and head of the Priority Homicide Squad) Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) more than makes the cut. Sedgwick is not a conventional beauty — one of those all-too-perfect Hollywoodites who physically show no resemblance to mortals. Her mouth is too big and her face is a little off-kilter. Her body is … well, she and hubby Kevin Bacon have a couple of kids — enough said? But, at the same time, and at the risk of sounding like a pig, she is hot.
As the song says,
You gotta have heart. Miles and miles and miles of heart. But, in TV, you also need a good story. A dose of edginess wouldn’t hurt, either.
HEARTLAND, the new TNT series (Mondays at 10 p.m.) is a fine — though hardly spectacular — series. And, if you think that’s damning it with faint praise, well, you’re right.
At its heart is Dr. Nathanial Grant (Treat Williams), who is gruff and rough, though certainly not heartless. He’s passionate about his work, but has little time for anything that resembles a relationship. How do we all know this? For one thing, he smokes. How much more rough and gruff can you be?
For another, he apparently can’t be bothered to learn his associate’s name. Instead, he calls Dr. Simon Griffith (Chris William Martin) by his birthplace — Vancouver — rather than his name. (It could have been worse. He could have been from Cucamonga.)
Hard, shiny surfaces don’t absorb things easily. And, the bright façade of western American life doesn’t admit differences easily. That’s one of the lessons on BIG LOVE’s second episode of the season. It’s not a didactic lesson; the writers let the plot do the talking, which is nice. Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) believes he is a good and righteous man, and he is tired of living in the shadows. But, what he doesn’t realize is that to the rest of the world he is dead wrong. It’s a fascinating juxtaposition.
This episode of BIG LOVE raises another interesting question: to what lengths will people go to protect their families? Each character demonstrates to some extent what s/he will and won’t do. As a result, loyalties are tested.
Roman Grant (Harry Dean Stanton) tells his son, Alby (Matt Ross), who has recently recovered from being poisoned by Wanda Henrickson (Melora Walters), to drop it. And, Alby does drop it, like a bomb. Instead of letting the Pine Creek police handle the investigation, Alby goes to the state. Alby knows well that Roman would do anything to avoid unwanted attention; after all, they are all polygamists there. So, Alby demonstrates that he is willing to bring state scrutiny onto his family’s land, in order to seek his own personal justice. His father, on the other hand, would rather see his community safe and protected in the long run, than avenge his own son’s death. Is either right? Who knows, but Alby has certainly opened up an entertaining can of worms.