Hung’s Story Picks Up a Few Inches in Newest Episode, But Still Misses the Spot

Hung-HBOEpisode Commentary: “Can I Call You Dick?”

The pilot of “Hung” set the scene for a fun, yet calmer ride than most expected. However, aside from a witty Thomas Jane [“61*,” “Punisher”] the show felt bogged down with annoying characters and a slowly-developing plot. Nevertheless, there was still enough to keep audiences in their seats and ready for another episode.

The second episode in the series however, while moving along at a brisker pace than the pilot, still lacks the elements needed for it to be a real hit.

The fact that this past week’s show was 30 minutes, rather than hour as well, hurts the development of the plot, making each episode feel stunted and flat.

“Eastbound and Down,” a show that thrives in a half hour spot, this is not. Nevertheless, this episode does pick up some of the slack from the pilot. The question remains however if it is enough to separate this show from the pack.

The relationship between Jane and Jane Adams [“Little Children,” “Last Holiday”] continues to develop and while it brings along some laughs, it is the inclusion of Lenore, played by Rebecca Creskoff that saves the episode. Her chemistry with Jane is fun and provides the show with it’s first real steamy scene, enough to keep both the guys and gals hooked for at least one more week.

However, like the first episode, the performances of Ann Heche, Charlie Saxton and Sianoa Smit-McPhee as Jane’s ex-wife and children leave something to be desired. While Heche’s performance works if you consider she’s supposed to be annoying, the work of Saxton and Smit-McPhee is a joke. These kids are supposed to be the reason why Jane is selling his body, but they aren’t the least bit sympathetic. Maybe that’s supposed to be the joke. Maybe it’s just poor writing and not the ability of these kids that is the problem.

The problem is, it isn’t funny. It’s intriguing, but not in the least bit funny.

Either way, it’s a case of the show not having a full-fledged niche, which is far worse than having characters you want to punch in the face, through the television set. If it doesn’t soon, there may be no audience around when it finally does find its identity.

The show is still intriguing enough to warrant a view of next week’s episode though. But one thing is for sure- this series needs an excellent episode this Sunday or else the possibility of the series lasting longer than a season will be minimal.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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