I'm glad I stuck around to watch the entire first season of House of Lies.
I remember the two reasons why I wanted to give it a shot, which are still the same, albeit much more appreciated, two reasons why I ended up loving it.
The first reason is Don Cheadle.
The second reason is Kristen Bell.
I wasn't as familiar with Ben Schwartz and Josh Lawson, but I ended up loving them, too, and will be part of the reasons why I will be watching the second season of the TV series by Showtime. I just wouldn't ever want to be a single woman in the presence of their characters.
House of Lies is based on the non-fiction book by Martin Kihn titled House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You The Time, which chronicles his real life experience as a management consultant. The TV version introduces us to Marty Kaan (Cheadle) and the pod, which is made up of Jeannie Van der Hooven (Bell), Clyde Oberholt (Schwartz) and Doug Guggenheim (Lawson). They travel to different parts of the country four days out of the week to provide their management consulting services to companies that need help, whether it's to find out how to expand, how to save their reputation or to make sure that a project is fool proof. Marty is the best at what he does and he gets results for the company Galweather and Stearn. Marty approaches each project with cut-throat efficiency that is sometimes too extreme even in the world of deceptive management consultants, especially if it means that they can get big business out of the situation or to avoid liability.
The pod's success comes at a high cost, especially to Marty, who eventually has to deal with the fallout of his methods. Add in a history of emotional trauma caused by his mother's suicide, his crazy sex addict of an ex wife Monica Talbot (Dawn Olivieri), who works at the number one management consulting firm Kinsley and his main competition, and trying to raise his cross dressing son Roscoe (Donis Leonard Jr.), and things get crazy enough to send a regular man over the edge.
The show features a business related concept, which wouldn't normally figure in my list of must-watch TV series. And I mentioned about being thankful that I continued watching the show, because after the first episode I really wasn't sure if I would continue to watch the second one, much less the rest of the season. I had the impression that the focus was going to be the consultant managing component, with Marty explaining industry terms during flash frozen scenes.
Later on, these freeze frame moments were still used to explain consultant management terms, but also as a venue for Marty to go on a tirade or to give his various looks of incredulity, sarcasm or making the audience feel that they are privy to his inner thoughts. This was around the same time that it became clear that the focus are the characters, which made the show more compelling and the very reason to stick around until the end.
Much like how they would fast talk clients into agreeing with their proposals, Marty and the pod also exchange dialogue in a frenetic pace that involves talking business, making fun of each other and trying to come out as the wittier, more valuable member of the team.
The series is categorized as comedy, although there's nothing to laugh about when it comes to the personal lives and personalities of the characters, especially Marty and Jeannie. In the end, it is this element of drama that brought me back time and again. It's like watching an accident that you know is happening, but you can't take your eyes away from. Both make increasingly bad decisions in their personal and professional lives that you have to wonder if they can ever fast talk their way out of their individual and collective messes. Don Cheadle is both masterful and pitiable as Marty, while Kristen Bell is just so deliciously good as the approval seeking Jeannie. You empathize with both, but you would never want to be involved in their lives, because they are seriously screwed up.
Clyde and Doug are relegated to the supportive comedic foils, which Ben Schwartz and Josh Lawson pulls off with aplomb. Although you have to wonder how Clyde ended up becoming so sleazy. You want to root for Doug, both in his quest to get the others to recognize his worth in the team and in trying to get the girls, but you always end up watching the train wreck results of his questionable social skills.
House of Lies will never be for the casual viewer, because the lessons to be learned and the revelations aren't always pretty. Even the ferocity of the sex scenes between Marty and his ex wife Monica seem to evoke a sense of loathing, towards each other and their own selves. Once you find what you like about the series, however, it's hard not to tune in every week to see how Marty and the pod will get the money from their clients and how they deal with their personal lives.
I may never know how the consultant management theories discussed in House of Lies will be of any use in my life, but I'm still tuning in next season to see what will happen in the aftermath of the finale.
And to see what will happen with those drunken, yet meaningful looks that Marty and Jeannie gave each other as they celebrated the massive victory in their professional lives that cost them important people in their personal lives.
It's so wrong.
Yet, I can't help but watch.
Happy viewing!!Labels: Adaptation, Comedy, Drama, House of Lies, Must-Watch, Showtime, TV, TV Series
