Finding New Truth Through Lies

dpkaye818

With eager anticipation for FX's new show 'The Riches' I tuned in last night to watch the premiere episode. Mostly, as I am sure many did, because of Eddie Izzard. Having been a big fan of his stand-up I wasn't quite certain as what to expect from this strange show about thieves. Was it a comedy? Was it funny? If dramatic, well then, was it any good? What I found was a show I have not seen before. Something surprisingly refreshing and yet not all that unexpected. We love bad guys. In this country of supposed do-gooders, we love that conniving thief, the middle-aged mob boss, the suburban pot-dealing mother almost more than our John Waynes and Laura Crofts. In fact some of Wayne's best work was when he would play that gray area between vengeance and law, the Wayne of Red River. But that's where we are as a nation and a world right now. Stuck in the gray zone. The area between right and wrong, and why shouldn't we? There hasn't been a political administration in this country or on the world stage that hasn't been seeped in some kind of scandal for the last several decades, if ever. And out of this mire that has become our modern civilization comes a band of nomads to help us through the harder times,the darker times, led by an unlikely patriarch in Eddie Izzard and a struggling mother, Minnie Driver.

Now I won't give anything away, what I more want to express is that this show has great potential. A great cast. A great feel and tone that I haven't quite felt before (and I've watched a lot of television). Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver do some of the best work of their careers. Their connection and rep ore is palpable and their nose for telling the truth is particularly breath-taking. Now of course I'm speaking emotional and story truth here, these characters, after all, don't tell the truth often. Somehow though, this new television family seems more commonplace then the mysterious tribe of people they represent, the Travelers. Somehow "The Riches" are like all of us, just trying to keep alive and find some idea of family. After all, if you've been on the road your whole life, sometimes you want to get to where you're going.

score 10/10

dpkaye818 13 March 2007

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1625298/