Monday, December 5, 2011

Hung goes for "The Whole Beefalo"

     HBO's Hung brings season three to a close with an unusually short titled episode, "The Whole Beefalo."  Ray (Thomas Jane) learns that because Charlie (Lennie James) jumped bail, he and Tanya (Jane Adams) will be losing Happiness Consultants. That is, unless they can come up with $40,000. Lydia (Ana Ortiz, Ugly Betty) helps them track down the pimp, and Ray decides stealing Charlie's cattle is the best way to get their money. Impressed by Tanya standing up for herself, Charlie lets them do it.

     Tanya is the growing character. Slowly she has morphed from a timid, scared woman into a confident, brave fighter. Part of this can be attributed to her success in business, and her belief in the concept she is selling. Another part is because of Charlie, who teaches her how to be the best pimp that she can be. Thus, it's hard for him to get angry when she only demonstrates the things he instructs her to do. Tanya doesn't immediately think to confront and fight Charlie to get what is rightfully hers. But when pushed, she doesn't back down either. This is to her credit.

     Ray, on the other hand, is understandably angry that Tanya would risk their business for a guy. But he's also sympathetic to the pain she is feeling after Charlie runs out on her. So instead of lecturing and yelling, or at least not much, he steps up to help her solve the problem. At times, it feels like Happiness Consultants is really Tanya's business and Ray is just an employee, since her motivation and ideas fuel the practice. Whoever, in "The Whole Beefalo," Ray does his share as partner, and takes a vested interest in the company. It's nice to see, and the chemistry between these two leads is finally settling in nicely.

     The threat hanging over Hung since episode one is that Jessica (Anne Heche) will discover Ray's "side job." She does, in the episode before "The Whole Beefalo," and with little fanfare. It may help that she figures things out herself, in her own time, instead of being told and forced to deal with it. However it goes down, though, she takes it in stride. Is she proud of him for doing something so unexpectedly bold? Or is she over him so much that she no longer cares how many women he sleeps with? This is now the major question concerning Jessica going forward, and her confrontation with Matt could be fueled by frustration or inspired by Ray's braveness. It's hard to tell.

     Jason (Stephen Amell) makes a very important choice, deciding to go back to Lenore (Rebecca Creskoff), rather than staying with crazy Sandee (Analeigh Tipton). This might be a mistake, especially because Jason dumps her while her grief over losing her grandmother is fresh. It's terrible timing, and Sandee is already pretty unstable prior to this development. As such, she goes to Lenore's with a gun, looking for revenge. Hung allows the gun to go off, but doesn't show if anyone is shot or hurt. It's a tantalizing cliffhanger that must be resolved, and means that HBO has to renew Hung now!

     One question remains from season three of Hung. Why is Lenore working a suicide prevention hotline? Is this a hint of humanity, and a sign that her character is not destined to be the continuous villain?

    Hung airs on HBO.

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3 comments:

  1. I'm betting that the poor dog ends up dead.

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  2. Oh, and when we met Lenore she was working as a life coach. It's how she met Jessica, no?

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  3. I hope not!

    She was, indeed. But life coaching can pay well and tends to be for a richer class of people. Suicide hotlines reach across all spectrums of life and are much more altruistic.

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