Starz’s freshman comedy impresses with a season full of bizarre antics and surprising tears.
Warning: Full spoilers for Blunt Talk: Season 1 follow.
After watching him dabble in comedy for years through special appearances and guest-spots, Patrick Stewart takes center stage as troubled but well-meaning political pundit Walter Blunt in Starz’s great new comedy, Blunt Talk. Developed by Bored to Death’s Jonathan Ames and produced by Family Guy’s Seth McFarlane, Blunt Talk is a character-centric comedy that carries over all of the best elements of Ames’ previous show. It frequently walks the line between pure absurdity and satire without forgetting that its characters think and feel like the rest of us.
This was an exceptionally strong debut season. Naturally, Walter was front and center. Though “I Seem to Be Running Out of Dreams for Myself” seemed to position the show as the story of Walter falling from the public’s grace after an embarrassing scandal, Blunt Talk more or less moved on from this very quickly. Instead of focusing on the damage done to Walter’s career (which appeared to be minimal), it instead explored how these events force him to reevaluate his personal relationships. We see him strive to be a better father, a better boss, a better friend, and a better lover. He succeeds in some and fails in many, but the desire for change is real and is what makes him so endearing as a character.
We want to hear it.
Walter’s arc isn’t about himself and his career – the route that could have been expected from the first episode – and is more about how he can be better to those around him. For all of his misguided antics, self-loathing, and downright bad decisions, rarely does it ever come from a selfish place. This is perhaps most surprising when it comes to his best friend/manservant Harry, who spends a bulk of the season shuffling Walter around in the back of a Mustang and attending to his every need. This includes tucking him in at night, whipping him violently with wet towels, and cooking his meals. At first, it feels like the only relationship where there is a very lopsided give and take. And yet, when “I Brought a Petting Goat!” reveals why Harry is so loyal, we realize that’s not true at all: Walter saved Harry’s life in the Falklands War and has since devoted that life to helping his Major.
Over the course of the ten episodes, Blunt Talk does a stellar job of managing their unique bromance; we never get the sense that Walter is taking advantage of Harry despite the ridiculous lengths Harry goes to help him. In fact, Harry prefers it this way; as we see in the masterful “Meth or No Meth, You Still Gotta Floss,” Harry immediately takes to waiting on Jim hand and foot simply because Walter leaves him in charge. Harry does get a small arc involving his sexual insecurities, first introduced in the episode fittingly titled “I Experience Shame and Anticipate Punishment,” but the conclusion to this isn’t really a focal point of the season. Still, I was glad to see it acknowledged in the penultimate episode nonetheless.
We want to hear it.
Aside from Walter, Rosalie has the best arc in the show even though it’s somewhat unresolved by the season’s end. Rosalie’s struggle with her husband Teddy’s deteriorating mind is the show’s primary source of heartbreak, offering two stunning episodes that center around it: “All My Relationships End in Pain” and the aforementioned “Meth or No Meth, You Still Gotta Floss.” As far as the latter goes, the masterstroke is how the show depicts Walter swooping in to help his longtime friend (and perpetual big spoon) Rosalie at the detriment of his own career. It’s a key turning point for Walter and one of Rosalie’s most touching moments. This is probably the best example of the show’s commitment to character-first storytelling; it very rarely manufactures a situation to get a laugh. Instead, nearly all of the happenings throughout the season feel organic to the characters we’ve come to know.
The only real exception to this comes from Season 1’s largely problematic Shelly. She feels like the wall that the writers are throwing things against to see what sticks, except nothing does. She has a few funny lines here and there, but she’s just kind of a free roaming utility player with no identifiable characteristics of her own. She’s always trying to reinvent herself in ways that might get her ahead – which could in itself be something to explore with her – but the show never gives her the chance. Martin is in a similar position; he’s an occasionally amusing supporting player with some fine moments but none that really pay off in an emotional or humorous way.
We want to hear it.
As a tradeoff, the rest of the Blunt Talk staff (not counting the always fun bit players like Romany Malco or Richard Lewis) get their just due. Jim and Celia have very strong arcs that are the most fully realized of the season aside from Walter. Though there’s an obvious attraction between them early on, Blunt Talk doesn’t start dealing with their flirtatious relationship with any real seriousness until more than halfway through. Instead, they let Celia fall in and out of love with various men that are bad for her and force Jim to stop being a creepy recluse and get his hoarding under control. It’s a nice relationship that the show builds, forcing each character to overcome their own challenges as individuals before they can tackle them as a team. The chemistry between Timm Sharp and Dolly Wells is palpable, which helps to sell the relatively quick-forming romance between their characters.
The only major disappointment of the season was the finale, “Let’s Save Central Florida! Let’s Save Midtown!” It’s not a bad episode by any means, but as the concluding chapter of a ten-episode season it feels more like an odd epilogue than anything. I mentioned it in my review of the episode itself, but if the finale and its predecessor “I Brought a Petting Goat!” had been switched, I could argue that the pacing of the season was near perfect.
Blunt Talk is undoubtedly one of the best new comedies to premiere in 2015. I hesitate to call it a “vehicle” for Patrick Stewart because of its admirable commitment to its supporting cast and their characters – not to mention amazing guest-stars like Jason Schwartzman, Ed Begley Jr., Moby, and John Hodgman – but it is indeed a fine comedic showcase for the once-and-future sci-fi icon.
Though there a couple of characters that could use a tune up and the finale was a bit disappointing in the context of an otherwise fantastic season, Blunt Talk retains the patented Jonathan Ames quirk, charm, and sentimentality that was so endearing on Bored to Death. Blunt Talk: Season 1 is a confident, hilarious debut for a show that will hopefully deliver many more laughs (and tears) in the years to come.
