Episode Commentary: “Strange Friends” or “The Truth is, You’re Sexy”

It finally happened.

“Hung” managed to deliver this week.

After two mediocre episodes, “Hung” is finally starting to show the promise many thought it had before the pilot aired a month ago.

Perhaps the biggest reason why is smaller parts for Ann Heche, Charlie Saxton and Sianoa Smit-McPhee, who appear for a few minutes in a scene that may serve as a foreshadowing to future events. While Ray, played of course by Thomas Jane, is beginning to stand up for himself at home and with his struggling pimp [played by Jane Adams], inducing his fair share of smiles and laughs along the way. Heche’s character is breaking down emotionally, caring for ailing and sickly-looking dogs in a search for a happiness that has eluded her in spite of her new and exciting life after leaving her husband.

Her children on the other hand, ironically miss their father after walking out on him in the pilot and are perturbed at the behavior of their mother, finding themselves in an increasingly uncomfortable situation.

Quite a contrast to say the very least.

However, it is this contrast that is beginning to make the show come together a bit more. The cockiness of Jane works well with the obsessive-compulsive and clingy Adams, it just took a few more episodes to develop. After a few weeks of hits an misses, it seems this team is starting to hit its stride.

The same thing goes for the relationship between Adams and the the fiery Lenore, played by Rebecca Creskoff, who shows in this episode that she may in fact be better suited to be Ray’s pimp than anyone else. Her role in the episode alone makes it much more fun, as she’s equally as maniacal as she is devious and sexy.

Also explored in this episode is the relationship between Ray and his annoying neighbor, who isn’t too happy about some of his antics in his backyard, which include urinating in his lake. This leads to some more intriguing developments during the show, setting up what could be the best episode of the series next week.

The episode is far from perfect though, as it lacks the sex appeal of the last episode, which climaxed with a lustful exchange of wills between Lenore and Ray. The question remains as to when Ray will become the whore America wants him to be.

For the sake of the series, it has to be soon.

Nevertheless, it’s a small step in the right direction for the middling series and a half hour that unlike the first couple of episodes, is worth your time.

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