Cast: Will McCormack (Leo Spiller), Laura Allen (Julia Mallory), Josh Stewart (Holt McLaren), Jeffrey Nordling (Brent Barrow), Ian Hart (Don Konkey), Courteney Cox (Lucy Spiller), Owiso Odera (Gareth Dasilva), Shannyn Sossamon (Kira Klay), Alex Breckenridge (Willa McPherson), Joy Walker (Other woman), Johnny Drocco (Paparazzi), Carly Pope (Garbo), Danielle Sapia (Danielle), Shauna Stoddart (Terry) & Jennifer Aniston (Tina Harrod)
Don grapples with his own psyche, Lucy meets an old "friend", Julia tries to salvage her career -- and the stalker is finally revealed...It was always going to be difficult, but pulling of a barnstorming season finale after 12 episodes of build-up was sadly beyond Dirt. The problems are obvious -- rushed storylines, disappointing reveals and stunt-casting.
Ita Missa Est starts on an interesting note, as Don's narrated recap goes haywire and he's later seen driving out into the desert to buy a knife from a Native American. All very ominous.
Unfortunately, there's a weak and unnecessary subplot for Willa (Alex Breckenridge) about drugs at a fashion show that's only there for padding. Willa herself ends the season without much further development, as her relationship with sleazy Brent (Jeffrey Nordling) isn't one of the strands writer Matthew Carnahan chooses to tie-up.
What's worse is that the late development of Don (Ian Hart) into a crazed potential murderer is wrapped up early, and is only interesting to watch the hallucinated people who try to persuade Don into doing the dirty deed: laconic Holt, a returning Kira (Shannyn Sossomon) and actor Ian Hart himself, as a British alter-ego of Don -- complete with a thick scouse accent and debauched attitude!
As Don's storyline fizzles to a close, the hope of a decent resolution to the ongoing stalker mystery begins to wane, too. Instead of being the expected emphasis of the season finale, it's pushed into the background too much, particularly when Jennifer Aniston arrives to boost ratings and steal the limelight...
Courteney Cox's former Friends co-star plays Tina Harrod, a magazine rival and former lover(!), who Lucy suspects is sniffing around for her job. Oh yes, despite every episode suggesting DirtNow magazine out-scoops the competition week after week, the tabloid's "numbers are down" for the fourth week running, so the sharks are circling...
To be fair, Aniston makes a good impression here, enjoying an obvious chemistry with Cox. Tina is a more nurturing hotshot, immediately showing an interest in a DirtNow employee's pregnancy and charming her way around everyone. Aniston's kooky fun, but her presence just reeks of stuntcasting -- particularly when a lesbian clinch with Cox is delivered with all the sexiness of a wet fish snogging a stone wall.
Holt (Josh Stewart) and Julia (Laura Allen) are the only characters are given decent resolution in the finale, as Holt dumps Julia because she leaked her own sex tape. The use of a heartbeat sound efefct during their break-up, gently slowing to a stop, was also neat touch.
Julia later tries to rectify the situation on the Tammi G chat show, but finds her lame excuses fall on deaf ears. Allen has been great throughout the season, so it's a pleasure to see her storyline end on a fitting note.
Josh Stewart has been less successful as limp Holt, but there's a nice moment when he's about to finally declare his love for Lucy in her car, only to be interrupted by a high-octane car chase through L.A as Lucy spots some photographers parked behind them! I particularly liked Holt's reaction: "Holy shit, Lucy -- it's not like they have guns!" to which she replies: "no, it's worse -- they have cameras!"
With Don safely hospitalized, no sign of anything interesting happening between Willa and Brent, Holt and Laura definitely over, and Jennifer Aniston intruding on the plot, Ita Missa Est then reveals the identity of Lucy's stalker, who is disappointingly captured off-screen. That's annoying enough, given the stalker's preternatural abilities to evade detection in the past, but when the villain is unmasked as Lucy's brother Leo... well, it's certainly plausible, but very disappointing.
We never got to know Leo (Will McCormack) well enough for his unmasking to be a big shock, meaning Lucy has to monologue the reasons behind why we should be astounded. But we're still not. It would have been better if the stalker had been someone totally unexpected, but instead it's the most likely suspect. I had my fingers crossed for a big sting in the tail with this storyline, but just got an itch.
Fortunately, Dirt manages to rescue itself from total failure in the last 15 minutes. Holt hits the red carpet with a glamorous girl on his arm, making you consider how much sacrifice it's taken the struggling actor of the Pilot to achieve this success... there's a throwaway moment with Brent preparing a "LUCY" sex tape, setting up a direction for season 2... but it's the final moments that provides the biggest reaction...
It's here that a bitter, vengeful, furious Julia has somehow avoided the high-tech (un)security of Lucy's home, after discovering her affair with Holt from snake-like Tina. Julia's armed with a knife and a cat-fight ensues, played out in a series of dreamy fades.
By the end, an injured Lucy staggers out onto her balcony and, in perhaps her dying moments, makes a phone call... to 911? No, don't be silly. She calls Don in his hospital bed, and tells him to get there fast to take the exclusive photos...
That about sums up Lucy's steely determination to get a story, and it also sums up Dirt's fascination with the lengths tabloids will go to for a good story.
Season 1 has been trashy, exaggerated, funny, sleazy and sometimes quite violent; a stylized trip into a warped view of the LA gossip press. The fact it's sometimes quite plausible speaks volumes about the increasingly desperate and scurrilous attitude of real gossip columns. While Dirt's not to be taken seriously, it's as frothy and enjoyable as the showbiz press it parodies. As for Lucy's fate: well, it will take more than a stabbing to put that bitch down...
1 October 2007
FiveUS, 9.00 pm
