I'm pleasantly surprised that the show hasn't gone the easy route with Juliet. She could have been the annoying, Paris Hilton-esque spoilt daughter, but in just three episodes of this show so far, she's been allowed to develop a surprising amount of depth. She's naive about life but quietly open to knowledge, and there's a genuine vulnerability to her actions as she slowly begins to suspect that her brother is lying to her. The fact that she's a virgin is equally as adorable (on why she's happy to be labeled a slut: "It's easier that way").However, I don't know if Samaire Armstrong is a talented actress. Her performance here is perfect, but I'm not sure if the slurred speech, unique vocal rhythms and excitable body language are all actually intentional. It's the same with January Jones on Mad Men. Is it intentional that she's so great at playing cold, emotionless women? Whatever the answer, Samaire's great on this show and along with Natalie Zea and Glenn Fitzgerald manages to strike the right tone note-perfectly. Peter Krause, on the other hand, was a little manic in certain scenes this episode, especially when he's yelling and flailing his arms around. But maybe so many years of seeing him as the stoic, haunted Nate Fisher just makes this new character so jarring?
The Italian Banker follows a similar pattern to the previous two episodes, with Nick frantically stopping a whole bunch of Darling family issues from spiralling completely out of control. The sex tape storyline allowed for some great comedy (and, yeah, I did Google "Italian Banker" right after I finished watching), but Rebecca Colfax is a little too zany for this show, at least so soon into its conception. Brian's subplot with "Gustav" was a little underutilized, but is still ridiculously funny.
Another fun episode of this show. Nothing particularly amazing has happened so far, but the show has already found its voice, straddling that delicate balance between all-out soap (red carpet catfight!) and weighty drama (the entire Tripp character). B+
Credits
Guest stars Daniel Cosgrove (Freddy Mason); Laura Margolis (Daisy); Chloe Grace Moretz (Kiki George); Michelle Krusiec (Mei Ling Hwa Darling); Bellamy Young (Ellen Darling); Kristin Bauer (Rebecca Colfax); Tamara Feldman (Natalie Kimpton); Joseph Siravo (Detective Larabee); Kelvin Yu (Sam); Ursula Brooks (Rachel); Candis Cayne (Carmelita Rainer); Jennifer Costa (Lara Cumberland); Shawn Michael Patrick (Clark); Ray Proscia (Paulo Vova); Peter Siragusa (Policeman)
Writers Josh Reims, Tad Quill Director Michael Grossman
No comments:
Post a Comment