In the course of a regular season, this episode might have worked very well. Instead, it played as the return episode for a canceled series that had been off the air for more than four months. As such, with the details of the Darling family saga less than fresh in my mind, I think Clark may have just confused me more.

I appreciate the inventiveness of the script, the blatant nod to one of my favorite films of all time. Clark has been loyal to a fault to the Darling family, so I’ll admit that I was confused by his openness and candor to the reporter. And while the details of his story seemed a little odd, I found myself struggling with my memory of past events. Read the rest of this entry »

ABC

(Season 2, Episode 1 – Season Premiere)

I’m not usually the person who cares about shows dealing with the filthy, filthy rich. Maybe it was the presence of Peter Krause, or the always reliable Donald Sutherland, or maybe it was just that this show seemed to revel in just how disgustingly rich the Darlings were, but I found myself drawn-in last year. While the series only eked out ten episodes due to the writers strike, they managed to pack in so much drama and mystery about this sprawling cast in that time that it felt like a full season.

Truly, this is a high-class prime-time soap opera. It has all the classic elements of its daytime brethren including nefarious villains, lots of sex and opulence and secret siblings, lovers and children. When last we left the Darlings, Lisa was fired from her job, Brian’s been suspended from the church and forced into sex addiction counseling. Meanwhile, Carmelita is missing, Patrick is distraught and Tripp had his daughter Karen sleeping with Simon Elder for some unknown nefarious purpose. Now, Juliet’s off the show and Nick tries to have a low-key birthday party but the Darlings don’t do low-key.

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