In "Strange Friends, or The Truth Is You're Sexy", Ray locks horns with his irksome neighbour Howard (Loren Lester) over him peeing in a lake, after he calls the cops about his indecent behaviour. His pimp Tanya (Jane Adams) also starts to doubt her abilities when their first client Lenore (Rebecca Creskoff) refuses to pay and maxes out Ray's credit cards she stole from his wallet. We also visit Ray's ex-wife Jessica (Anne Heche) who buys an arthritic, sickly dog and through her compassion makes a connection with her kids.
I think my issue with Hung right now is that I'm not really sure the premise can go anywhere interesting. It's ready-made to amuse people, but can it really grip? I'm not particularly interested in Ray's estranged family, and the only relationship of interest is between Ray and Tanya as business partners navigating their way through this unusual enterprise. Theirs is a fun dynamic and both actors are great, but there's not much of a strong storyline linking everything together yet. It's all baby steps right now, and I need something a bit more compelling to keep me tuning in every week. It's quirky, it's neatly written, but it hasn't really grabbed me dramatically.
By the episode's end, Lenore has apparently taken pity on mousy Tanya and agrees to spread the word about Ray's services as a "happiness consultant" (claiming she only stole his cash as commission), and Ray appears to be plotting a way to get back at his shit-stirring neighbour, by flirting with his sexy wife Yael (Alanna Ubach) using a provocative message hidden in Tanya's lyric cookies he offers the Koontz's as a peace offering. Good job Howard didn't eat them, eh?
Overall, I'm going to stick with Hung for awhile longer. I really like Jane and Adams as performers and the premise is amusing enough to keep my interest for now, but I need a more definite sense of direction and drama. Quirkiness is fine in a show, but there's only so much I can take before I start looking for solid story and a real sense of purpose to the material. And I keep asking myself: it's certainly amusing, but how compelling can the life of an upstart man-whore be? Hung has yet to show me.
29 October 2009
More4, 10pm
written by: Dmitry Lipkin & Colette Burson directed by: Scott Ellis starring: Thomas Jane (Ray Drecker), Jane Adams (Tanya Skagle), Eddie Jemison (Ronnie Haxon), Charlie Saxton (Damon Drecker), Sianoa Smit-McPhee (Darby Drecker), Anne Heche (Jessica Haxon), Rebecca Creskoff (Lenore), Sonya A. Avakian (Officer Rowan), Steve Hytner (Floyd Gerber), Loren Lester (Howard Koontz) & Alanna Ubach (Yael Koontz)
