Every once in a while television surpasses itself and reminds me that there is actually some good stuff out in La La Land. Not a lot, but enough to keep me going back for more. This time out I’m wowed by “Your Honor:” two seasons on Showtime and now available on Netflix.
Like in “Breaking Bad,” Bryan Cranston plays an Everyman faced with losing his soul to save his family. The first few episodes are painful to watch as you witness him climbing up the slippery slope that comes with his covering up a hit- and-run accident. He keeps making decisions that get him deeper and deeper into the shit. I shouted at the tv, “Don’t do it. Don’t do it.” But alas, the writers of La La Land ignored me.
In “Your Honor,” Michael Desiato is a well-respected, honorable judge, who goes above and beyond the duty of the robes to get to the truth. In the first scene he has uncovered a lying police officer by visiting the scene of a so-called crime, and unearthing proof that the accused could not have done it. Desiato seems more detective than sitting judge here.
But after years on the bench, Desiato loses his way when it comes to his son, Adam (Hunter Doohan). Adam has hit a motorcyclist who subsequently dies from the injuries. Desiato is on his way to turning in his son to face the consequences, when he discover the boy who was killed was the son of a local mob boss. The die is cast. Desiato must evade the law to protect his son. It’s a horrific situation straight out of shock TV, but is told in a way that makes it more real than the sordid reality shows ever are.
The trick here is that the show is painfully 
. That’s “slow ” in all caps with a red background. Why is slow a good thing? Well, let me tell you:
I’ve just completed a binge-watch of all 10 years’-worth of “The Blacklist,” where there were two FBI shootouts per episode, fifteen senseless murders per season, countless creative torture scenes, and at least one jaw-dropping twist a day. It was Action with a capital A.
Why did I watch such a mindless show? Two reasons. First, James Spader was fantastic. His character was the complete opposite of that in “Sex, Lies, and Videotape,” where he was an uncomfortably sensitive young man with a single weird fetish who fell in love. In “Blacklist” he was glib, confident, and with countless weirdities. The dialog was delightful much of the time, and he got the best lines, delivering them with impeccable timing and verve.
The other reason I kept watching was that I believed Reddington somewhere along the line, had had a sex-change operation from when he was actually Elizabeth Keen’s mother. The show never fully copped to that and instead it went on and on and on for too long. The last few seasons were so excruciating that seeing Reddington gored at the end actually made me happy so I could return to the real world.
“Your Honor” was a welcome change from all that. It’s Slow with a capital S and that rhymes with “F” and that stands for “Fabulous!” There are only a few deaths in this series, and each one is profound and important to the story; not just some way to show off the work of the special effects lab. These passings affect the other characters, and in turn have an effect on the viewer. As the secrets unfold — as they always do in long-running series — things take turns for the worst, pulling you in and making you wonder in the words of Tom Waits, “how’s it all going to end?”
The cast alone makes this show worth viewing. In addition to Cranston, Isaiah Whitlock (The Wire) and Margo Martindale (August: Osage County) show up as they almost always do these days. I wish they both would get meatier roles; they deserve it. Hope Davis is an annoying stereotype: a wealthy bitch straight out of a soap opera. Lilli Kay is adequate as the daughter of a mob boss ignorant of her father’s dealings. Andrene Ward-Hammond and Keith Machekanyanga, as Big and Little Mo respectively, deserve special mention. Their understated performances as they dealt in the drug underbelly of New Orleans were great to watch. I hope there are more seasons with these two getting additional screen time.
The whole cast is great, but the standout actor is Michael Stuhlbarg as a conflicted criminal. He plays his cards close to the vest, and yet somehow you can read the torment in his glistening eyes and contorted smile/frown. Rarely does a mob guy have such a nuanced style. This is not Scorcese territory; it’s reality.
Carmen Ejogo gets a nod for her solid performance. She’s not just a pretty face with an attitude. She’s a complicated character: she harbors a pedantic devotion to the law, but nevertheless when desperate, asks a key witness to lie on the stand.
I love stories that take place in New Orleans. We don’t see a lot of them, but they invariably include great music. The final song of the season had me running to the Apple Music app to buy “Make it Rain,” by Jor el’ Quinn. Unfortunately the only version at the app is by Foy Vance, the originator of the tune. It’s a good version. I bought it. If anybody has an mp3 of Quinn’s though, I’ll give you five bucks for a copy.
In the meantime, take a look at the show on Netflix. The story involves a criminal empire, but refuses to serve up the usual excesses of that type of world. It’s about heart-wrenching decisions one must make concerning one’s child. And in the end it’s all to no avail. Just like real life.
–Sue Lange, author We, Robots
Discover more from Lange Unfocused
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Lange Unfocused 