Round Two: Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll

Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll: Season 1, Episode 2 “Clean Rockin Daddy” (B)

I want to like this show a lot, and I’ll still plan to watch it, but I didn’t find this episode to be all that engaging. The show does still have a compelling tone and supremely entertaining dialogue, and that’s something to celebrate. Johnny’s constant references to rock and roll idols far more famous and successful than he don’t seem to be landing too well with his bandmates, and that was pretty much his main argument for why he should continue doing drugs, because so many great songs were written by icons under the influence. The hilarious logic of rehab being too expensive so his contract instead stipulated that he had to go clean and sober cold turkey for thirty days and churn out songs was quite entertaining, and Johnny doesn’t even seem to fight most of these on solid ground, just pushes back because he doesn’t want to do them even though he understands that he’s required to. Writing a song that didn’t impress everyone else in order to trick them into having him start getting high again was sly, and it seems like just the sort of behavior we can expect on a regular basis from Johnny. What I would like to see is more of the ensemble cast, particularly Gigi, who I think has much more to her than we’ve seen so far. This show feels a lot like “Californication,” with a central magnetic mess and a whole horde of interesting people around him just waiting to take the spotlight and shine.