By Kofi Outlaw
This week’s episode found Alex (Jimmy Smits) dealing with both the perks and pitfalls of his new appointment as CEO of the Duque sugar and rum empire. On the business side of things, Alex met with an influential congressman to pitch his business plan for turning a profit by cultivating ethanol, the fuel of the future, from sugar cane. Alex’s hope is to secure government subsidies, which would halve the cost of initial ethanol production—an important factor, since the money needed for the venture would come at considerable cost to the Duque family.
On the seedy side of things, Manuel, (one of the thugs Alex hired to eliminate a rival’s enforcer in the pilot episode,) gets the brilliant idea to blackmail Alex about the murder. Alex refuses, and soon after his pregnant wife is stung by a gift-boxed scorpion. Alex loses it and beats Manuel down, threatening his life. Instead of relenting Manuel approaches the Samuels family (Alex’s rivals) and offers up information about the murdered man and the location of his body. It turns out to be a ploy; the police find nothing but a dead pig at the alleged burial site. Alex and loyal thug Santo (Oscar Torres,) abduct Manuel and drive him out to the Everglades with two options: go back to Cuba, or die in the swamp. Manuel chooses exile, and Santo ensures this kind of problem goes away for good by feeding the murdered enforcer’s corpse to the swamp crocs, eliminating all evidence of the crime.
The Duque household, meanwhile, had they’re own drama. Alex’s daughter Katie (Lina Esco) pops an ecstasy pill and goes to her Uncle Henry’s (Eddie Matos) club to see Regeaton star Daddy Yankee perform, only to be nearly busted by her mother, who pops up at the club to also see her favorite performer. Henry covers for Katie, and mother Isabel (Paola Turbay) is none the wiser. Frank (Nestor Carbonell) seems to have cooled his jets about Alex being appointed CEO; while he respects Alex, he is confident the family will ultimately side with his concerns over the cost of getting into the ethanol business. He is wrong, of course, and continues to leak pillow talk info to lover Ellis Samuels (Polly Walker). Finally, after much coercion from his wife, Alex sits down to talk with his eldest son Jamie (Michael Trevino) about his plans to join the military and fight in Iraq. Alex tells his son that he is proud of him and assures him that when push comes to shove, the boy will have what it takes to kill a man. Of course this confession comes just as crocodiles are snacking on the murdered enforcer’s body—one of the episode’s more brilliant sequences.
Unlike last week’s pilot episode, I found it much easier to keep track of all the Characters in Cane this week. I did still lose track of the convoluted plot whenever I turned my head or blinked for a second—but hey, that’s my fault for being human. Furthermore I found that I liked the fringe characters when they were sharing the screen with Alex, as it made them more relevant to the central story, which is Alex. Scenes where fringe characters do their thing independent of Alex felt as though they dragged and gave a very soapy feel to the show. Jimmy Smits is to be commended though—the way Alex changes gears from cool, concise businessman to warm, loving family man to ruthless and commanding man of power, just evidences Smits’ range and talent as an actor. None of these seemingly conflicting personas felt untrue, or even contradictory—just the makings of a complex man.
With its lavish scenery, beautiful people, acceptable storylines and passable acting by the secondary cast, Cane is shaping up to be ok—definitely one of the better options for its time slot. As I said last week, it is one of those shows that will only benefit from viewer opinion as the fat gets trimmed and the juicy bits are given more room to breath. So tune in, and then come back here to rant and let us know how you would make Cane the sweetest it could be. Hopefully the right people will get the message.