Note: Full spoilers for The Brink: Season 1 follow.
Political satire is a hard beast to pull off, especially when you cobble together a trio of heavy-hitting, recognizable actors and place them in some very real world situations. That was the problem The Brink faced when it debuted towards the end of June. Even those who tuned into the series knowing that it was in large part inspired by Dr. Strangelove had to familiarize themselves with the show's strange beat, while those who tuned in following the lighter toned Ballers on Sunday nights had to Google what they'd gotten themselves into.
So it was no real surprise that the inaugural few episodes of the show didn't quite live up to expectations. A whoring Secretary of State (Tim Robbins) who hurled insults around the White House wasn't quite the leading man we were expecting. Meanwhile, watching a bumbling diplomat (Jack Black) get himself captured by insurgents during a quest for weed, only to be subsequently released on a convenient ploy to involved that aforementioned Secretary of State, seemed absurd at best. In fact the only real reason to tune in during those first couple of episodes were for Pablo Schreiber and Eric Ladin's fighter pilots Tilson and Taylor. Their buddy-buddy banter and tendency to accidentally muck up their tasks despite their talent made up for the other two narratives.
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Political satire is a hard beast to pull off, especially when you cobble together a trio of heavy-hitting, recognizable actors and place them in some very real world situations. That was the problem The Brink faced when it debuted towards the end of June. Even those who tuned into the series knowing that it was in large part inspired by Dr. Strangelove had to familiarize themselves with the show's strange beat, while those who tuned in following the lighter toned Ballers on Sunday nights had to Google what they'd gotten themselves into.
So it was no real surprise that the inaugural few episodes of the show didn't quite live up to expectations. A whoring Secretary of State (Tim Robbins) who hurled insults around the White House wasn't quite the leading man we were expecting. Meanwhile, watching a bumbling diplomat (Jack Black) get himself captured by insurgents during a quest for weed, only to be subsequently released on a convenient ploy to involved that aforementioned Secretary of State, seemed absurd at best. In fact the only real reason to tune in during those first couple of episodes were for Pablo Schreiber and Eric Ladin's fighter pilots Tilson and Taylor. Their buddy-buddy banter and tendency to accidentally muck up their tasks despite their talent made up for the other two narratives.
Continue reading…
Continue reading...