If you wanted some insight on the lawyer psyche, Richard is the ultimate case study. As a lawyer myself, I’ve definitely see some degree of Richard in many members of the legal community. He would be the type I and others fed up with the attorney stereotypes tend to heavily rail against and vow never to emulate.
Even Richard’s eternally optimistic and good spirited wife Ruth (Jodie Markell) straight up asks him “what is wrong with you?” One thought I had was “how in God’s name is she putting up with this guy?” We find out much later.
Richard’s son Bobby (Glen Feinstein), an aspiring screenwriter and his wife Darcy (Kai An Chee), a school teacher turned Only Fans star along with their disengaged son Junior (Wyatt Fenner) also live with Richard as their finances have dictated they live in his home. This is yet another source of irritation for Richard along with the inability to access his cryptocurrency fortune due to being unable to remember his password to access his wallet.
Rounding out the cast is Richard’s friend Howard (Chuck Montgomery), a more easygoing and mellow lawyer who’s found satisfaction working as counsel to a startup company. Yet, Howard has his own very dark side we learn about later. Howard also serves as an irritant to Richard but perhaps life in general is an irritant to Richard.
While Bobby and Darcy seem to be a happy content creating couple, things definitely aren’t all peaches and cream there with Darcy having a stalker that grows more and more creepy as the show proceeds. Junior manages to stay detached and never, ever breaks from his world even when chaos and trouble are emerging all around him. You wonder if he will ever break from it but eventually he does when the darkness in this story hits close to home, literally.
One thing actress me has to note is how Mr. Barnes while portraying Richard holds a phone correctly. My high school drama teacher hated when actors held their hands using their thumb as the ear piece and their pinky as the receiver. She loudly proclaimed that nobody holds a telephone that way and would deduct points from a student’s grade if they did a scene and used that particular hand gesture to symbolize being on the phone. A little detail but one that my high school drama teacher would notice and approve of.
I liked how the show explained what the meta verse is about. That explanation was accessible and made sense even to the non-techies and perhaps even to the older generation. There was a lot of profanity and things got very dark around intermission and later in the show so I wouldn’t take the kids to see it unless you want them to have nightmares.
The 60s modern retro décor is also cool though this show is as modern as it gets in its storyline. There are certainly twists and turns though Richard manages to remain a dick to the very end though he becomes more tech savvy thanks to Junior. The relationship between Richard and Junior as well as the relationship between Bobby and Ruth are touching and I felt the familial warmth in them.
Despite the cold subject of technology, this show blended horror with humor and warmth quite seamlessly.
In the end, I suppose the lesson to be gained here is don’t use virtual reality near open windows. So not only will technology cause psychological damage and distance in relationships, it can also literally kill you. Use it with caution.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment