Hung: A Review of Episode 1

Hung: A Review of Episode 1 - Thomas Jane is a formidable man. Whether you're watching him kick butt as Mickey Mantle in 61* or kick even more butt as The Punisher in 2004, there's just something about him that speaks to the audience, unlike most of his action hero counterparts who seem to be all muscle and no brain. But he has a spark, a small, private joke just behind his eyes that must be pretty damn funny for him to appear so very amused by his surroundings.

Oh, and he's also absolutely perfect as Ray Drecker, a desperate, burned-out high school basketball coach nursing a failed marriage, two socially unsettled kids, and a seriously bruised ego. In the first episode, aired on June 28, 2009 and directed by Alexander Payne, Ray spends several minutes outlining just how miserable his life has become - and then his house burns down. In fact, it seems as though the only thing he's got going for him is the one thing that most men dream of - a really big penis. But what good is that when you're sleeping in a tent in your backyard, when your son wears lipstick and your daughter stays out past curfew with a kid named "Hammer," when your gorgeous ex-beauty-queen/wife has remarried an obnoxiously rich dermatologist?

Maybe not much...unless you're Ray Drecker. He's earned just enough desperation and lost just enough of his pride to consider anything to get his life right again - and by anything, he does mean anything.

It sounds hilarious, doesn't it? But not so fast - in true HBO fashion, things don't immediately go the direction you think they'll go. The teaser trailers that started airing in December of 2008 led us all to believe that we were in for non-stop knee-slapping comedy, but in truth, it took a while for the comedy to kick in - and even then, it was more ironic, introspective humor than outright sidesplitting laughter. It's dark, to be sure, and even a little sad, and I was almost disappointed by the time the episode was halfway over. Things were advancing too rapidly, and too much tragedy was being covered in too short a time.

Enter Jane Adams.

Playing Tanya, the lonely and slightly zonky poet, whose rather forward history with Ray is outlined in a few short moments of in-your-face comic brilliance, Adams absolutely steals every scene. She exudes a very strange kind of sex appeal, one that you're a little disturbed by and not sure what to do with. Her enthusiasm for the role, coupled with the character's crazy ideas and fearlessness, makes her a strong contender for Star of the Show.

Jessica, the ex-wife, is played perfectly by Anne Heche, whose face and body appear to strikingly different than they did the last time I saw her in anything that it wasn't until I heard her speak that I knew it was her. Their kids, both heavy, and clearly influenced by today's fashion, are subtle and artistic actors, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing more of them.

I am of the opinion that HBO can do no wrong. Every time I sit down to watch the first episode of their latest series, I brace myself for what must be inevitable: that they will one day produce a flop. I have yet to see it, and Hung is well on its way to becoming the latest in HBO's greatest line of memorable stories.