While fans of dramatic television are obsessively chronicling
literary references within HBO's "True Detective" and admiring the salacious
second season of Netflix's "House of Cards," other networks are preparing to
enter the TV drama pool in the next week, and two of the upcoming programs
demand your attention. A third is decent but more appropriate for a niche
audience while the fourth is a premiere so horrendous that it makes one feel sorry
for everybody involved. Let's start at the top of the pile.
"The Americans"
The first season of this FX spy thriller with Matthew Rhys
and Keri Russell, which was released last week on Blu-ray and DVD for those of
you looking to catch up, was a solid drama that sometimes spun
its wheels and was more interesting as a showcase for an incredibly strong
ensemble (that also included Noah Emmerich and Margo Martindale doing Emmy-worthy work) than it was a fully-rounded show on its own. Welcome to version 2.0 on 2/26.
This season the writers have improved the show in every way. It no longer feels
like a program more interested in reminding you of the decade in which it takes
place (season one was often dominated by '80s hits and hairdos) than in making
the dilemmas of its characters feel current. The horrible fashion and occasional music choices
are still there but everything about season two (and I've binged through five
great episodes) feels more tangible, relateable, dangerous. There's a sense of
dread that was missing last season.
One of the main narrative reasons that season two of "The
Americans" represents a leap in quality is a change in focus. Season one spent
a lot of time on the crumbling marriage between Philip (Rhys) and Elizabeth
Jennings (Russell), two seemingly normal suburbanites who happen to be Russian
spies. As their neighbor, an FBI agent named Stan Beeman (Emmerich), got
closer to breaking the case of the Russian spy couple, they learned that they
may have been great double agents but weren't the best life partners.
Season two shifts focus to the family, making clear in the
riveting first episode that the Jennings and their kids, Paige (Holly Taylor)
and Henry (Keidrich Sellati) are in extreme danger. The thematic shift places a
layer of dread on all action. It's not just a cover that can be blown but a
family that could be ripped apart. The tension is raised. And every other
element seems to be invigorated by that tonal shift. Rhys seems more confident,
Russell continues to deliver, and supporting turns across the board are elevated,
including now-regulars Annet Mahendru as Stan's Russian girlfriend Nina and
Alison Wright as Phil's "wife" Martha. These two characters have become
fascinating elements on the spectrum of lies within this show. Martha, an FBI
secretary, believes she's married to Phil. Nina and Stan have a relationship
built entirely on lies, especially now that she's turned the tables on him.
Everyone in "The Americans" has a secret or two that would destroy their partner.
And it feels like those secrets could be revealed at any minute. The writers
have found a way to telegraph that sense of dread that undercover agents must
feel all the time. The curtain can always be raised. It makes for intense
television.
It's not just the writing or Rhys' stronger work. The
direction is more confident, the tone is darker, the show feels more tactile.
There are fight scenes, especially a great one in episode 2.4, that feel dirty,
gritty, and almost unrehearsed. The program is physical, visceral, and
consistently intense. Even the dialogue sounds smarter. It's unlikely to get
the attention of "House of Cards" and "True Detective," but this is the third
major drama of 2014.
"The Red Road"
The Sundance Channel's newest offering, "The Red Road," premiering 2/27, is almost the fourth.
There are moments, and one particular performance, in which this show rises to
the bar set by Sundance greats "Top of the Lake", "Rectify", and "The Returned".
"Red Road" slips a few
times, especially in later episodes in which the focus shifts too heavily to a
violent part of the country that somehow gets less interesting as the series
progresses. However, there is a very strong sense of setting here and a few
great performances; enough to warrant a look.
The pilot, directed by James Gray ("Two Lovers"), is easily
the best of the four episodes sent for review. It introduces us to two distinct
families on either side of ancient tracks. Harold Jensen (Martin Henderson) is
a police officer in a woodsy community just outside of New York City that also
includes a large settlement of a federally unrecognized Native American tribe.
Harold has a history with the tribe's most charismatic member, the violent
Phillip Kopus (Jason Momoa). Both men get caught up in a web of lies after
someone goes missing and a car accident threatens to shatter lives.
One will notice a strong sense of setting almost immediately
as sweat drips from the back of a neck or crickets chirp loudly on the
soundtrack. This is a place where darkness hides around corners but also a place of white
picket fences. The best TV, and "True Detective" is offering a master class in
this, allows setting to be a character, and it certainly feels like one here.
Having said that, "The Red Road" belongs to Julianne Nicholson. The star of "August:
Osage County" plays Harold's wife Jean, a woman who starts on the edge of
insanity and goes downhill from there. Nicholson plays mentally ill with a
craftsman's delicate touch. It's in a hesitant breath, an inability to make eye
contact, the details of behavior that an actress this talented can mimic and
make feel real. The chemistry between Henderson and Momoa is great but
Nicholson is SO good that she steals focus from the rest of the narrative. I
like "The Red Road" as a character study and journey to a unique community but
I hope a potential second season tightens the narrative.
"Mind Games"
From the top to the bottom, what can I possibly say about
ABC's awful new drama "Mind Games" (starting 2/25) that will convince you to stay as far away from it as
possible? NBC's "Ironside" was probably the worst new show of the 2013-14
season but this is a very close second. And it's particularly loathsome because
one has to watch talented actors like Steve Zahn and Christian Slater suffer
through this manipulative nonsense. Zahn plays a "bipolar" man named Clark (and
I put that in quotes because this is "mental illness as plot device," the
opposite of Nicholson's genuine work on "Red Road"), a man who has a unique
ability—he is so well-researched in the human mind that he can influence
anyone. In the premiere, Clark and his team, which includes his brother Ross (Slater),
need to convince a health care executive to make the right decision and so they create an adrenalized
scenario and implant a self-opinion. The idea being that if you do something
noble, you think of yourself as noble.
Even that sentence might make this show sound more
interesting than it is. The scenario in the premiere of "Mind Games" relies on
an unpredictable form of human behavior. Again, I'm taking it too seriously.
What you should know is this is ANOTHER show that features a young person in
crisis to enhance its manipulative melodrama. The case of the week in the
premiere features a teen who can't get medical care. I'm simply exhausted by
this kind of heartstring-tugging, especially when it's a part of a show this
horrendous overall. It's just insulting. Don't let it insult you.
"Ripper Street"
One remaining show worth mentioning although it's a
bittersweet one. BBC America has imported the second, and final, season of "Ripper
Street," starting 2/22, an often clever period piece hybrid that often puts legendary
characters and locations into dramatic play. The first two episodes of
season two, for example, feature a well-designed Joseph Merrick a.k.a. The
Elephant Man as a part of its storytelling. Of course, the first season
featured Jack the Ripper. With an engaging lead performance by Matthew MacFadyen,
a breakneck pace, and strong production values, this is quality entertainment
for those interested in programs like "Ripper Street," even if it's not quite
smart enough to break out of that niche market.
