Round Two: Hung

Hung: Season 1, Episode 2 “Great Sausage or Can I Call You Dick?” (C)

I’m not sure I understand where this show is going. Its central focus is the developing career of Ray as a successful escort, and it’s doing that slowly but surely. Beyond that, it’s terribly unclear whether the rest of the show will follow. Ray’s scenes with Tanya’s wealthy colleague were amusing, and it’s evident that he’s going to have to put up with a lot throughout the beginning of his career. Those sequences will be entertaining and fun; it’s the rest of the show that concerns me. Ray’s second career is meant as a supplement to his preexisting job, not as his primary activity in life. Shows like “Weeds” and “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” have their characters create cover jobs and businesses, but that isn’t the case here. Ray works as a gym teacher, and his near-miss interactions with the principal are wearing thin already. If the show places Ray in an actual job that isn’t terribly interesting (I know he can’t possibly be as great as HBO’s last gym teacher, Danny McBride on “Eastbound & Down”), then focus should be on the character’s family, like in “Breaking Bad.” That’s not great here, either. Ray’s children aren’t interesting, with the exception of his daughter’s claim that the world shouldn’t have to hear her singing. Both Anne Heche and Eddie Jemison are wasted, which is even more of a pity since someone went through all the trouble to make them both series regulars. There doesn’t seem to be much for them to do, and I know for a fact that Anne Heche is capable of doing well in the midst of unspectacular material (“Men in Trees”). It’s a pity, because this show could be very good. I don’t know if I have the patience to put up with it since, to be honest, it’s rather boring.

One positive note which I neglected to mention last week: the opening credits are terrific. I’m very impressed. HBO has always been masterful about openings (for example: Big Love, Deadwood, True Blood, not to mention the truly incredible Six Feet Under and The Sopranos openers), and this one is simplistic but just as effective.