Review: 'Boss' - 'Swallow': Old gray mayor
Tom has another message for his doctor, and the gubernatorial race turns ugly
Connie Nielsen in "Boss."
A quick review of tonight's "Boss" coming up just as soon as I compare myself to Hitchcock...
"Swallow" was the last of the three episodes of this show I watched before it premiered (I still have episode 4 on a DVD and will get to it soon), and when Tom was busy regaling the two hookers with horse stories, I made the following note: "This show is very interesting when it's not trying to be impressive."
To elaborate on that, I think there's a lot of meat here: Tom's position and condition, and the performance by Kelsey Grammer; the gubernatorial campaign and the slow peeling of the kinky onion that is Ben Zajac; Sam Miller's investigation into whatever is going on with both the mayor and the O'Hare dig; the chilly condition of the Kane marriage; etc. In terms of pure story, the only one that I don't think is working at all is the stuff with Tom's daughter Emma, and even that might be interesting with a stronger actress.
Where "Boss" runs into trouble is when it starts trying to serve you all that tasty meat with an overly elaborate presentation: with the monologues and eyeball close-ups and soft-core sex fantasy(*) scenes. Sometimes, all those pieces complement each other, as with Tom's brief aphasia during the meeting with Mac Cullen, and the way he then overcompensated by getting so ugly and vicious with Mac that no one would even remember that he was going on about breads and circuses. Other times, though, it has the whiff of desperation, like it's not enough for "Boss" to be recognized as good if it's not also acknowledged to be Important.
(*) And I do wonder how much of Kane's sex life is meant to be real and how much of it is a Lewy Body hallucination. Would his father-in-law's nurse really act out a Penthouse Forum story for him like that?
Still enjoying the hell out of Grammer and a lot of the rest, but I'm hoping the remaining five episodes of this brief first season will learn to trust the material a little more.
What did everybody else think?
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupMatt Linn
November 5, 2011 at 1:02AM EST Reply to CommentThis series conjures up thoughts of recent Dexter seasons -- a wholly mediocre series whose quality relies solely on the strength of the lead performance. Just as Michael C. Hall can carry an entire season (or the majority of the series depending on who you ask) on his acting chops alone, Grammer's transcendent portrayal of Tom Kane is one of the best characters on TV today, in a show that otherwise barely keeps my attention.
That said, many friends of mine enjoy this series much more than I do, and most disagree about my assessment of Grammer's performance, so maybe it's not the show. It may just be that my opinion is wrong, haha.
That said, I'll keep watching and waiting for the show to come around to me. It's still much better than 99% of the rest of TV as a whole. I just think that the show isn't firing on all cylinders and if the producers/writers pull everything together, it'll be one of the top dramas on TV.
chuchundra
November 5, 2011 at 1:43AM EST Reply to CommentI don't know. It all seems like it's a bit too much, doesn't it?
The Mayor is playing kingmaker in the Governor's election, covering up some toxic waste thing out by the airport, dealing with his illness, trying to hide that illness from everyone else, trying to figure out how to reconnect with heroin-addicted priest of a daughter, etcetera, etcerara.
Not to mention that the Mayor of Chicago apparently has some white-haired, dirty tricks, ninja assasin guy on retainer and can make a highly respected neurologist disappear into thin air with a snap of his fingers.
It's so over the that it's almost cartoony. It's fun to watch, but it's hard to engage with the story seriously.
tigger500
November 5, 2011 at 1:54AM EST Reply to CommentThe tone of this reminds me of Kings, but without the richness of the entire cast of characters there. This show puts all its eggs in the Grammer basket and really he's playing it just a tad too big for my tastes. This is supposed to be baroque and grand, but it's really just plodding and boring.
webdiva Oooh, I'm so glad you said that -- Kings used language so much more beautifully and effectively than Boss does, though Boss is no slouch. Other than Tom Kane and possibly his wife, the characters here are too two-dimensional compared to those in Kings. Richness indeed -- gawd, but I miss that show!!
November 7, 2011 at 1:39AM ESTGreg Grant
November 5, 2011 at 3:08AM EST Reply to CommentI like it.
There are enough things happening to move the story along, and enough moments to make me think there is a story here.
But there are two things that detract from the experience of watching this show. One is the monologuing. Which actually got toned down on this episode to just one character - Tom Kane. Yes, the terrible moments of terrible daughter saying things in a terrible way in a Church is a bit of a monologue, but compared to the pilot and the second episode, where every third character spoke like they're LARPing a Greek play, this was an improvement. Lets hope they continue in that direction.
Second point seems completely ridiculous for me to complain about, since I like naked women, but...
the "premium channel means t*tties!" thing is borderline hilarious, and borderline dumb. Tonight's boob quota was filled out by two random prostitutes, and the Old Mayor's nurse. I am strongly in favor of nudity, but only when I don't feel like it's somehow mandated. Watching this show, you get the stupid feeling that there is a guy, or gal, with a stop watch, going, "Erm, thirty minutes without boobs! Starz won't be happy! We need boobs in the next scene! Stat!"
virginia Let's not forget the seeming fixation with Kathleen Robinson's ass. Or her body double's. A very nice on it is but enough already. We get it ... she's into quick, dangerous, my job is so high-pressured I simply must have you right her and now sex. Oy vey ... unless of course your kids are around and then I draw the line.
November 5, 2011 at 12:49PM ESTJake
November 5, 2011 at 5:39AM EST Reply to CommentRevenge and Once Upon a Time on ABC is more exciting and interesting than this show. But, my favorites are Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Even Boardwalk Empire is more interesting.
Brett What do you mean "Even Boardwalk Empire."??
November 14, 2011 at 11:15PM ESTaaron_king
November 5, 2011 at 11:47AM EST Reply to CommentI think this episode, for the first time, had me interested in what is going on with the reporter and the O'hare site.
I agree, the daughter story kinda has me disinterested, but with all the stories, I am hoping for a well-planned out converging. I am my no means loving the show, there seem to be too many pointless long pauses, but I will keep up with it for the rest of the season to see how it turns out.
gigle
November 5, 2011 at 12:50PM EST Reply to CommentNot that this show is great, but it's much better than homeland. I don't understand why people like Homeland so much. This is less silly and more interesting - notwithstanding it's weak points.
virginia
November 5, 2011 at 12:59PM EST Reply to CommentWrite a comment...What the show lacks is what both The Sopranos and The Wire had in spades: a real feel for the locations in which the story is set. You could practically smell the world those two great shows were set in. (And both did a far better job of portraying corruption than "Boss" has thus far.)
Chicago is such a beautiful, vibrant, red-blooded mess of a city. For all the camera work and the explosions of the Mayor, there's something dead about the look and the feel of this one. I'll continue to watch.
Grammer is a fine actor -- he's already proven that many times over. Comedy is much more difficult to pull of than high drama. I'm glad that he's been given this opportunity to display a different side of himself as an actor but I find myself wanting to pull him aside and say, relax, a little. I'm sure you'll get nominated and you may even win another Emmy or two, but ease up just a tad. It's all just too much.
The daughter story is a snooze and unconvincing. On the plus side, the actor playing Kane's top assistant is nailing it.
Da Bulls I agree. As a Chicagoan, I can't help but feel the portrayal of the city is just...off. It feels like someone is portraying the city based on what they've heard rather than what they know first hand.
November 5, 2011 at 8:39PM ESTWhile Kelsey Grammer's performance is compelling and and commanding, I just can't see him as the Mayor. His character is too refined and too omnipotent.
Rob I think Mr. Sepinwall mentioned in his initial review and I agree that the directorial style is influenced by Van Sant, who, as far as I can tell, doesn't have a huge history with Chicago. While the style works very well in movies like Elephant and Last Days (Michael Pitt was great in that one), it's different from anything else on TV. I'm not sure if it works for a weekly show, but I'm willing to go along to watch KG chew up the scenery.
November 6, 2011 at 3:24PM ESTtroopermsu
November 5, 2011 at 2:13PM EST Reply to CommentIt seemed to me that during the scene with father-in-law's nurse, we saw her drop her clothes on the floor and walk away. When Tom got up to follow her, the clothes were not on the floor (that I could see). So, Alan may be right about that scene being real only in Tom's mind.
webdiva I'm not convinced that *any* of the nudity Tom is seeing is real -- because none of it has made any sense so far in context. And no, I don't think the nurse would be taking her clothes off. I can see men thinking/wishing she would, but not her actually doing it given that she had her hands full watching a patient. Any nurse worth keeping wouldn't be stripping with an Alzheimer's patient nearby: when they have mood swings, those swings can turn pretty aggressive and mean. No nurse who was any good at her job would take the chance.
November 7, 2011 at 1:36AM ESTKG Nurse, priest, political candidates... I'm, guessing that her vocation [her being a nurse] has nothing to do with whether or not she would remove her clothes. Just a thought.
November 8, 2011 at 1:58PM ESTKianna
November 5, 2011 at 3:32PM EST Reply to CommentI'm not as interested as I was last week; this week's episode was so chock full of breasts that I felt insulted as a viewer. I'd be okay with the full female nudity if we saw Kelsey Grammer's magnificent sagging ass just once. As it is, it's a countdown to how many women on the show have taken their clothes off. I'm waiting for them to have Dr. Harris sleep with the enforcer, just so they can up the quota. It's stupid and distracting and wholly unbelievable.
Kane's treatment of the doctor - having her whisked away by goons, threatening her life just because she had the bad luck to take him on as a patient - has killed a lot of my good will toward this show. Tony Soprano was a sociopathic bastard, but I didn't dislike him until the fourth or fifth season. There's not much point in watching "Boss" if I view Tom Kane's eventual death as a good thing by the end of the third hour.
mt_77
November 5, 2011 at 7:56PM EST Reply to CommentI'm enjoying the show but I'm beginning to wonder if they cast Hannah Ware as Kane's daughter just because she looked like a younger Connie Nielsen (Kane's wife).
Also, I thought her English accent was distracting when she was storming out of the church.
TRAV
November 5, 2011 at 10:10PM EST Reply to CommentCurios about Kitty and more importantly - her Glasses. Her frames going from distinctive black (and f***** Zagat) in the first two eps....to a neutral color, then to rejecting Zagat's....is she getting a conscious?
November 5, 2011 at 11:11PM ESTjeneva_jerron
November 5, 2011 at 11:09PM EST Reply to CommentI wonder if his treatment of the the doctor is part of his paranoia/disease or is this on par for the course?
geoff_rose
November 6, 2011 at 12:00AM EST Reply to CommentI was just shocked by going from Kane apologizing to the doc (in person) for the utter brutality of the "soft reminder" to the horrific thing happening now. And again, it seemed like Kane's number 2 was over-stepping his bounds, and this little thing Kane may not even be aware of.
There was a clear moment where he saw Kane had something bad happen, and started to put the pieces together of the neurologist, the drugs, etc. So now he might start making plays on his own, outside Kane's swiftly dwindling awareness.
We'll see what comes up.