Tuesday, July 24, 2007 Rant Archive
BIG LOVE gives you some of that old time religion, as in Old Testament begetting, vengeance and violence. What couldeth be better?
I thought I had it tough being Jewish.
But apparently, guilt, fatty foods and Jewish mothers are nothing compared to the burdens of Mormonism — or at least that branch of Mormonism portrayed on HBO’s engrossing and enjoyable series, BIG LOVE.
In its second season, the show has established itself as the legitimate successor to THE SOPRANOS in the minds of everyone but HBO executives. They, inexplicably, placed their bets on JOHN FROM CINCINNATI. They lose.
Truth is, BIG LOVE is really very Mob-like. In Utah, the role of Tony Soprano is played by Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton, in a role of a lifetime). On the surface, he’s a moral, upstanding citizen. But, he’s also a polygamist not above expanding his family’s fortune by using stolen funds to bid for a gambling enterprise. He’s also expert at manipulating the two Mob families — excuse me, I meant religious leaders — battling for control of their segment of the Church Empire. Both Roman Grant (Harry Dean Stanton) and the Greene brothers willingly use coercion and violence to get their ways, and pitting one against the other is a dangerous game Bill plays with false assurance.
Who is left for us to root for?
I am 100% confident I am going to make the next elimination predictions completely right. This is my special way of saying I clearly have no idea who is going home, or when. I stole this line and sentiment from contestant Josh who was put on appetizers in this episode and said, “I am 100% confident that I will get us going!” Once he uttered those words, you just knew it was over.
After messing up spaghetti after spaghetti, then undercooking the risotto, Josh was kicked out of the kitchen by Chef Ramsay, who chased him down the hall and took away his jacket. Josh packed his bags and didn’t get to say goodbye. And, this was less than 30 minutes into the episode.
OK, so I did get that prediction right — about Josh going home — but frankly, that was like saying, “Next week the show will be on at 9 p.m.” Sure, a natural disaster could preempt it, but I’m probably going to be right. And, Josh was never the most piquant spice on the rack. The guy thought running around in padded faux-army gear was the best reward ever on the show. Last week, Chef told him point blank he couldn’t cook. I think Ramsay has wanted to throw somebody’s tail out in the middle of a service for weeks and kept Josh around for just such an event.
Imagine Denis Leary as a woman. Stay with me, here. Then, imagine this woman in TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL. And, there you have SAVING GRACE, the brilliant new series from TNT (Mondays at 10 p.m.).
Dennis Leary is played by Holly Hunter, who has never been better. She’s already won an Oscar and two Emmys; she may want to make some room on her mantle for additional trophies. She is brilliant as Grace Hanadarko, a cynical and tortured Oklahoma City detective who tries to escape her demons through promiscuity and booze.
The show starts with Grace in bed with her married partner, Ham Dewey (Kenneth Johnson); when he feels guilt and walks out contemplating an end to their affair, Grace is left talking to her dog, the only one who’ll listen. Because of a family problem, there are no relatives to whine to. Grace keeps avoiding them, anyway, despite a series of invitations to an upcoming gathering of the clan. All she has left is her friend, Jack Daniels.
Rusty, Rusty, Rusty. You silly little virgin. We need to have a talk. When faced with the opportunity to give your precious gift away to one of the hottest girls on campus, you need to grab the bull by the horns and … well, you know.
Yes, our poor pledge gets his first date ever (!) for the big Kappa Tau party, and the word on the street is Lucy Lawless (or is it Laura … or something that starts with an L) is as sure of a thing as you can get. But, Rusty lets his brain get in the way of his, um, boxers — a cardinal sin for any freshman guy.
Not only is he thinking twice about the first time, but everyone around him is making him think even more — always a bad idea when faced with an opportunity for some sultry sinning.
There’s the Bible-toting roommate and his band of merry virgins urging him to take a “purity pledge.” And, he has Casey trying to swoop in to save her little brother from “the Virgin Whisperer,” as she so eloquently puts it.
When is Sherlock Holmes most interesting? Is it when he’s effortlessly performing dazzling feats of deduction, or is when he’s jonesing for the 7% solution while trying to outthink Professor Moriarty? Is Superman at his most heroic when he’s using his awesome powers or when he’s got a faceful of kryptonite and trying to carry on? While a powerful protagonist is necessary to virtually all good stories, a weakened hero presents interesting dramatic tendencies, and THE CLOSER has gotten around to handing Deputy Chief Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) a hot dose of Achilles’ heel for an episode.
It’s WMD training day for Priority Homicide; the bureaucratic legerdemain that Sgt. Gabriel (Corey Reynolds) pulled off to keep the squad safe from budget cuts at season’s open has turned around on them. Since the squad is officially part of the LAPD counterterrorism unit, they now have to complete a day of training in order to keep their federal subsidy. This means everybody on the squad except for Provenza (G.W. Bailey), who’s too old for the duty, gets to dress up in Hazmat suits and drill all day. For Chief Johnson, the timing really blows. Not only is she trying to solve the garroting murder of a fitness trainer in a valet parking lot, she’s sick, running a fever and riding the stress train to boot. Throw in a cranky efficiency expert and a couple of really dumb individuals, and it’s just not Chief Johnson’s day … or week, for that matter.
Kyle gets the girl!
In this episode, Amanda (Kirsten Prout) has finally agreed to go on a date with the boy next door. But — as we all know by now — he is no ordinary teenager, and he must contend with a cryptic warning about his trainer, Tom Foss (Nicholas Lea) while preparing for the biggest night of his life. This leaves Kyle to wonder who — if anybody — he can truly trust with the complete truth about who he really is and the circumstances of his past. In the meantime, Jessi (Jaimie Alexander) begins to rebel against the restrictions Emily (Leah Cairns) is putting on her social life.
Jessi takes a monumentally terrifying step into her new life by attending her first day of high school (at least it was monumentally terrifying for me), and it is no coincidence that it is the same school the Trager kids attend. While Jessi is off unknowingly fulfilling her part in Mada Corp’s twisted plan, Emily has taken another step in infiltrating the family as well, by “accidentally” bumping into Stephen (Bruce Thomas) in the lunch line at work. So, it appears Project Disrupt Kyle’s Life is in full swing.