What I’m Watching: The Brink (Season Finale)

The Brink: Season 1, Episode 10 “There Will Be Consequences” (B+)

All in all, this was a fun finale and a proper resolution to a wild first season that’s sure to be outdone by subsequent years of zaniness. The best scene was Walter videoconferencing with a number of different governments and then running around the room ending each conversation on an emphatic and definitive note, cutting off each foreign dignitary as they tried to protest. This was all a big win for Walter, even if he didn’t get any credit from Navarro or Pierce. He also managed to win his wife back completely, with more than one round of sex in the conference room and a pledge from her not to be sent into the underground bunker without him. Israel joking that it was too late to stop their missile was entertaining, and it’s a good thing that the only negative result of everything that happened was that a nuclear missile is now in Eritrea and may eventually find its way into the hands of someone powerful enough to do something with it. Walter’s realization about a second plane as mentioned by Zaman in his last words was brilliant, and Z-Pak did quite well in shooting backwards to take out the first plane and then ensuring that the fuel tanker managed to blow itself up. Who knows where those two will end up next, and something tells me that Alex’s new post, which may or may not end up being in Paris, is going to be where the next crisis begins as season two gets its start. What a weird, wacky show this is – I’m glad I stuck around and I look forward to season two next year.

Season grade: B+
Season MVP: Tim Robbins as Walter Larson

What I’m Watching: The Brink

The Brink: Season 1, Episode 9 “Just a Little Crazy Talk” (B-)

Walter getting fired didn’t do much to deter him from coming up with another hair-brained scheme, and this one also seemed like it worked, although unfortunately there were other factors that he failed to consider that transpired during the time that Zaman remained in power. I very much enjoy the absurd demands that all of these Pakistani leaders make and Walter’s reaction to all of them, and it’s also fun to see the whole thing play out with Rafiq translating for Alex. Walter managed to get exactly the proof he needed to convince even Pierce that he knew what he was doing, with his wife caught somewhere in the middle, seemingly out of a job simply for associating with Walter. The news that Zaman managed to launch an attack headed towards Tel Aviv that can’t be recalled is certainly devastating, and now all of Walter’s hard work will once again backfire as Alex has to make a deal to ensure that a third world war isn’t started and Israel isn’t annihilated. Luckily, Z-Pak and Glenn were grounded and now, for the umpteenth time, are the last hope of the American military to defend the world from certain doom. Being hopped up on alcohol, drugs, and chemicals didn’t serve them too well last time, but right now, they’re all that’s left, and I don’t think we could ask for two more reliably ridiculous pilots who somehow will probably manage to get the job done while doing something truly risky and lamentable along the way.

What I’m Watching: The Brink

The Brink: Season 1, Episode 8 “Who’s Grover Cleveland” (B)

Things are really happening on this show in the wake of Walter’s successful coup being cut immensely short by the immediate bombing of the presidential palace with the wrong ruler inside. The ensuing chaos was far from positive, and back in Washington, Walter has managed to get others angry enough at him to prompt the president to demand his letter of resignation, hardly a positive sign for his political future. Thanks to a pep talk from the impossibly loyal Kendra, Walter is actually using what little time he has left to try to effect something productive and save the world from imploding thanks to the imperialistic blindness of the government around him. Luckily, Zaman’s eagerness to launch a nuclear missile at Israel in the wake of the United States’ militaristic action was met with definitive impotence on the part of the rockets, and now it seems like they’re just going to have to deal with the likes of Alex and Rafiq as bargaining chips. Alex’s selflessness and desire to be forgiven by Rafiq was out of character and kindhearted, and maybe he’ll manage to save the world as a result of his getting left behind. Z-Pak’s return home was far from a celebratory one as he was greeted by two furious women, and I think he managed to talk his way out of that one as best as he could, and now he’s just going to have to brace for the wrath of having given a good deal of product away for free.

What I’m Watching: The Brink

The Brink: Season 1, Episode 7 “Sticky Wicket” (B)

No matter how stupid this show may get, there’s no denying the brilliant epicness of what happened at the end of this episode. Everything looked like it wasn’t going his way, but thanks to a faked bloody urine incident, Walter was able to get his plane landed in Switzerland and pull off a tremendous coup which had Zaman removed from power and Raja put in his place. That would have been tremendous had it not been immediately followed by Walter walking in to an operation seconds away from happening that had the presidential palace bombed, taking out Raja while Zaman laughed in the car that was safely away from the blast zone. I’m not sure who’s going to take the most blame for that, but they’ve undone just about everything Walter did and started back at a place far behind square one. It also doesn’t mean good things for the seven Pakistani girls inside the embassy, who could have gotten out thanks to Alex’s drug tunnel but were kept there for the sake of the political press Walter thought he could get for Raja. Alex actually did pretty well impressing Fareeda, with even Rafiq agreeing, but he may have blown that with his latest stunt. I guess the moral of the story of this episode is that the Taliban might actually be America’s saving grace, which makes little sense, but the highlight of that whole plotline was Glenn theorizing that if you threw a bullet really fast it could still have the same impact as if it had been fired from a gun. And Z-Pak has no idea that this is the least of his problems following Gail’s accidental reveal of her pregnancy to an unappreciative third party.

What I’m Watching: The Brink

The Brink: Season 1, Episode 6 “Tweet Tweet Tweet” (C+)

Walter’s stint at the top didn’t last long, as his wife Joanne showed up in Israel to undermine him and he got personally recalled by the president back to the United States, an order I’m sure he’ll do his very best not to follow. Without Walter taking up most of the plotline, this show didn’t waste any time in refocusing its absurdity. I love the fact that Alex managed to cause an international crisis merely by giving the Pakistani girls he brought into the embassy the wi-fi password, giving them a platform to tell the world that they’re loving all the freedoms America has given them. I would have thought that Ambassador Kittredge’s delusional dream would have been their undoing, but there wasn’t even time for that since Alex sabotaged the whole operation right away. Z-Pak and Glenn’s situation only got weirder as they discovered that this lonely couple who may or may not occasionally eat people also have some intense sex fantasies that involve adultery and unfortunately some irreversible violence that forces them to go into the village. If only the world was a bit bigger and Z-Pak didn’t come face to face with one of the men who tried to capture them earlier, putting them right back into the middle of a very bad and dangerous place. Who knows what can go wrong next and how Z-Pak and Glenn will somehow again be the crucial players in an international game that they don’t even really have a clue is being played.

What I’m Watching: The Brink

The Brink: Season 1, Episode 5 “Swim, Shmuley, Swim” (C+)

I’m not sure why I’m expecting anything but ludicrousness from this show, but it’s definitely getting even crazier with every episode. There are some definite strong moments of humor, and though it’s highly uneven, it never misses a beat with either its more serious moments that quickly devolve into silliness or its outright comedic developments. Z-Pak and Glenn breaking free from their captors and then ending up in an entirely different form of strange captivity was one such instance, and I think that Pablo Schreiber and Eric Ladin are extremely well-suited for their roles, committed to just how far out of the regular plotline they will exist as the most worrisome representatives of American military diplomacy in action. The actual face of such things, Walter, isn’t much better, talking his way into a meeting with Israel, giving Alex a run for his money in terms of immaturity and pushiness. Getting cast aside by Pierce was a blow, especially considering how far he had come, but I’m sure he’ll swim his way back to the top. I think the most worthwhile part of Alex ending up with a trail of Pakistani schoolchildren behind him at the embassy was the image of him sitting on Fareeda’s lap in the front seat since Rafiq was not okay with the idea of Fareeda being on Alex’s lap. Worldwide war may be imminent, but good news for this show – the shenanigans will continue for plenty of time to come, as it has been renewed for a second season by HBO.

What I'm Watching: The Brink

The Brink: Season 1, Episode 4 “I'll Never Be Batman” (B-)

I'm not sure that this show can get devolve any more, and I'm glad to see that some of its humor, however outlandish, is actually working. The sight of Walter having a political conversation with a foreign leader while peeing into a bag held by an all-too-compliant Kendra was hilarious, as was his lack of apology for the matter. Walter is certainly a force to be reckoned with, accomplishing the delay of international war while nearly combusting from his kidney stone and dismissing Alex's unamused boss who didn't want him to speak directly to the secretary of state. It's a good thing that Kendra didn't tell him about his wife accepting the job since he's sure to explode once he hears that information. Alex didn't have much trouble setting up the major meeting thanks to a convenient wiretap, and my favorite moment of his Shakira-assisted getaway was when a motorcycle owner mistook his shouting of “Is real” about the $1000 bills to be a reference to the country he detests so much. I love that most of Z-Pak and Glenn's conversations happen while they are flying and while they really should be paying more attention to where they're going and who they're accidentally shooting. Z-Pak's logic about his two-family situation was magnificently laid out, and it's too bad that Glenn had to poke a hole in his perfect solution at the exact time that they were experiencing critical flight failure due to a wing being on fire. What absurdity can come next?

Take Three: The Brink

The Brink: Season 1, Episode 3 “Baghdad My Ass” (B-)

This show is firmly dedicated to its absurdity, and I did enjoy the episode despite its consistent stupidity. The behavior of almost all characters is uniformly childish, and that makes for a fun if questionably intelligent setup. The only two people who are actually sensible are loyal assistant Kendra and Walter’s wife Joanne, who seemed much more embarrassed than her husband when he caught her having wild sex with another man and then got furious with him for trying to tell her what to do. The fact that he passed out in the middle of a phone call was certainly worrisome, and heading to India rather than home to D.C. for doctors is predictably ill-advised behavior. I like how he was able to identify Alex as a dependable ally, and that he immediately demanded to speak with him again after the phone call was ended and Alex was threatened with a transfer to Baghdad. The Secretary of Defense’s rivalry with Walter is thoroughly amusing, particularly because the President seems to ignore it, and it’s definitely not good that they’re being played by their supposed Pakistani ally, who is in cahoots with his imperialistic brother-in-law. Z-Pak and Glenn managed to get off easy despite his intended confessing on their parts, all in the name of plausible deniability and what passes for diplomacy on this show. Z-Pak really does deserve the Father of the Year award, too obsessed with the flushing of his stash to even acknowledge the impending birth of his love child.

Round Two: The Brink

The Brink: Season 1, Episode 2 “Half-Cocked” (C+)

In its second outing, I would definitely emphasize this show’s idiotic qualities over its political cleverness, but that’s not too surprising given the way the pilot went. It’s hard to know how to react to Jack Black’s Alex being taken in to be tortured, with water, towel, and all, and then seemingly shown sympathy once he identified his connection to Walter Larson. This show is a farce, plain and simple, and recognizing it as a legitimate successor to “Veep” was highly inaccurate. It certainly hasn’t reached that status yet, and at this rate I don’t expect it to. As if Alex weren’t absurd enough, Walter is a completely ridiculous character, telling his assistant that he wants to keep tabs on an attractive woman he just met only to be reassured that she has already been added to his contacts. It was a pleasure to meet Walter’s wife, if only for a moment, mainly because it turns out that she’s being portrayed by none other than the fantastic Carla Gugino, and she seems to be enjoying some extramarital privileges of her own. Z-Pak and Glenn’s mission did not go well in large part due to the vomiting and intense tripping going on in the cockpit, but it seems that they managed to avoid too much damage. I didn’t identify him last week, but I now realize that the new supreme leader of Pakistan is Iqbal Theba, who was Principal Figgins on “Glee.” Theba is actually Pakistani – I’m sure he’s making his country very proud.

Pilot Review: The Brink

The Brink (HBO)
Premieres June 21 at 10:30pm

It’s no surprise that HBO has picked up a show that’s laced with satire. The two comedy series that aired most recently on Sunday nights are both parodies of sorts, “Silicon Valley” a send-up of the tech industry and “Veep” an outright mockery of politics, and therefore “The Brink” is a logical choice to end up on their slate. It’s hardly as polished, however, and whatever this show wants to be isn’t quite clear because of its highly uneven tone. It feels most like a modern-day version of “Dr. Strangelove,” though that’s too much of a compliment, getting serious occasionally but only in the service of extending its comedy, like when Tim Robbins’ secretary of state interrupts a grave meeting to get his dinner order straight. As if Robbins’ Walter Larson wasn’t ridiculous enough, Jack Black is technically the lead of the show as the bumbling Alex Talbot, who makes the entire country of Pakistan look like a joke because of the way he treats it. When Pablo Schreiber, who played Pornstache on “Orange is the New Black,” is cast as what passes for a straight man, a drug-dealing pilot, you know you have a zany show. There’s no denying that here, and while I’m interested to see where it may go, this first episode was far from solid enough to really recommend it. I’d be up for giving it at least one more chance, but I keep wishing that it would feel more like the biting humor of “Veep” and less like something alternatively too outlandish and not outlandish enough.

How will it work as a series? Well, war has nearly been started between multiple countries, but I guess that’s the point of the show’s title, so things can only go belly up from here. This show needs to choose a direction and head in it, and this first episode was too scattered to suggest that it will be able to keep a firm handle on where it wants to go in the future.
How long will it last? The pilot did decently in terms of ratings, and it could be just the semi-intellectual counterpiece to time slot companion “Ballers,” which was watched by far more viewers. Despite iffy reviews, I think that this show is going to get picked up as an investment by HBO in more political comedy.

Pilot grade: C+