What I’m Watching: Lights Out

Lights Out: Season 1, Episode 6 “Combinations” (B+)

Lights just can’t catch a break, can he? Now he’s actually starting to experience double vision both in and out of the ring, and he had to have a prostitute in his car when he accidentally when off the road and hit a tree. Car accidents containing inopportune passengers been problematic for many powerful men, including Tony Soprano, and unfortunately Lights doesn’t have a mafia of support behind him to help him get out of something, just a brother willing to take a bullet for him. I like having Ben Shenkman’s Mike Fumosa as a recurring character on this show, and the relationship between him and Lights is perhaps one of the show’s most fascinating dynamics. Lights is trying so hard to do right by his family, and it’s a shame to see him get so brutally turned away by Theresa when he kisses her on the cheek and then have to bail when she finally decides to invite him in because he’s already prepared to train. It’s a shame that Lights seems so woefully out of control of his own life, with so many distinctly separate parties holding some stake in his success or failure, from Mike to Robert to Johnny to Theresa to Barry to the unseen Hal Brennan. Usually when a figure has to struggle to keep things out of the press, they are a public persona with a whole troop of people around them to watch their backs. Lights is about all he has, and so it’s an even tougher and more meaningful struggle for him than for most.