WRITER: Dave Flebotte DIRECTOR: Chris Long
CAST: Courteney Cox (Lucy Spiller), Ian Hart (Don Konkey), Will McCormack (Leo Spiller), Laura Allen (Julia Mallory), Josh Stewart (Holt McLaren), Jeffrey Nordling (Brent Barrow), Ankur Bhatt (Kenny), Rick Fox (Prince Tyreese), Carly Pope (Garbo), Alex Breckenridge (Willa McPherson), Wayne Brady (Tweetie McDaniel), Timothy Bottoms (Gibson Horne), Julie Claire (Cheryl Steen) & Grant Show (Jack Dawson)
Don gets explicit photos of closet homosexual movie star Jack Dawson, Brent Barrow is terrorised into revealing Lucy's source about the murder of Aundre G, and Julia interrupts a photo shoot for Holt...If you're not watching Dirt, you're missing out. The show's a lot of fun and knows exactly what level it's operating on, without much pretension. Now the concept and characters are ingrained after five episodes, You Don't Know Jack has some dark delights up its sleeve. There's nothing new here, but it's becoming a pleasure just to see Dirt's cast go about their business, and the episode takes great pleasure in bringing the Prince Tyreese blackmail story to a head.
Courtney Cox doesn't dominate proceedings for once, with Lucy's involvement more supportive than usual. Still, she has some nice scenes, particularly one with film star Holt (Josh Stewart), a past manipulation she is developing feelings for. Cox is just great to watch and continues to prove just how much she was wasted on syrupy Friends. I also like her confrontations with magazine bigwigs, who continously threaten her position (despite her clear brilliance as editor), and find themselves on the wrong end of her tongue lashings.
Interestingly, the recent storyline about Lucy's gay brother Leo dating action-movie star Jack Dawson (Grant Show) takes an unexpected leap forward. In the opening scene, Leo (Will McCormack) discovers Jack's been two-timing him and enlists his sister's help to ruin Jack's tough-guy public image.
The ensuing plot is amusing, thanks to another entertaining escapade from committed photographer Don Konkey (Ian Hart), who again demonstrates ridiculous loyalty to Lucy. A throwaway line when Don realizes an angry manis real, and not a figment of the schitzophrenic's skrewy imagination, was also a neat touch.
You Don't Know Jack is most memorable for some tense scenes of torture, as two black heavies (one played by Whose Line Is It Anyway?'s Wayne Brady!) arrive in publisher Brent Barrow's office and demand to know the source for the Aundre G murder scoop. Their boss didn't take kindly to Dirt-Now splashing G's decapitated head all on a recent front cover!
Jeffrey Nordling, who's been an underactive presence so far on the show, finally gets something juicy to work with as Brent. The subsequent scene, when the villains break into his home, tie him to a chair and threaten to feed him his own (ahem) "appendage", is believably acted and nicely written. All men in the audience will have their legs crossed, that's for sure, while Brady gives a great performance. Who'd have thought a man famous for improvising funny songs could be so chilling?
Writer Dave Flebotte continues the same heart-pumping tension later, when basketballer Prince Tyreese (Rick Fox) faces retribution from the same gang over blabbing about Aundre G; involving an interrupted poker game, an iron bar... and his knee caps. Grisly stuff. But it's all a welcome injection of violence that reminds viewers that Dirt's knockaround tabloid world has genuine danger lurking in the shadows.
Less interesting is Julia Mallory (Laura Allen), who continues her slide into drug-addiction and embarasses boyfriend Holt at a photoshoot. Again. Her story has been a constant throughout the series, but I hope it reaches a conclusion soon as she's becoming irritating now.
Overall, You Don't Know Jack is the most riveting episode of Dirt, thanks to some fraught moments with Wayne Brady's goon and solid development for Tyreese and Holt's storylines. Above all, it's just fast-paced and slick entertainment, performed well and every bit as deliciously juicy as its fictional magazine...
