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Boss |OT| Kelsey Grammer being a badass

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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
F0Vkg.jpg
 
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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Season 2 starts this Friday. I decided against making a new thread, as the amount of people who watch this show on GAF can be counted on one hand. This can be the general discussion thread, I guess.
 
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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Sepinwall - Boss review

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Grammer is outstanding enough on his own to merit watching. It is a committed, unapologetic, at times spellbinding performance, and is every bit worthy of the cable anti-hero drama tradition that Starz boss Chris Albrecht helped start when he greenlit "The Sopranos" at HBO. "Boss" as a series, though, still doesn't seem like it's quite there.
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Maureen Ryan - Boss review

As was the case in the first season of this show, Kelsey Grammer provides a charismatic focus when his character, Chicago mayor Tom Kane, is on screen; but the rest of the show isn't nearly up to the standard he sets in the acting department.

There are fitful moments that work, but the show also manages to shoot itself in the foot regularly. In the first episode, there's a Hey, Boobs! moment even more gratuitous than the ones in "Magic City"; it's vaguely arty and pretentious; it's full of characters who either secretly dislike each other or openly dislike each other and all in all, make for a sour atmosphere.

Those elements would be potentially forgivable if the show had anything approaching reasonably decent pace and depth, but the random stabs at ambition on "Boss" don't disguise the fact that it appears to have nothing to say and few original ideas when it comes to the story of the implacable Kane's physical and mental degeneration. The addition of drearily symbolic hallucinations and the subtraction of Martin Donovan's advisor character don't bode well for the show's second season, all things considered.
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brucewaynegretzky

Member
So I know I made the OP and all.... but I'm actually just watching this now because I couldn't get Starz last year. So far I'm halfway into the first season and I'm loving it. Grammer is a badasss. I also REALLY like Ezra Stone. His character needs to get more development though. He always feels like the second baddest dude on the screen but barely has to say anything to achieve it. Can't wait to finish this! But it might take me a while to get season 2 for the same reason as last year :(
 
ElRenoRaven

ElRenoRaven

Member
Season 2 sure started off with a bang. I really can't wait to see what happens next week. It really is a shame this show doesn't have a bigger following. It's so damn good.
 
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brucewaynegretzky

Member
brucewaynegretzky said:
So I know I made the OP and all.... but I'm actually just watching this now because I couldn't get Starz last year. So far I'm halfway into the first season and I'm loving it. Grammer is a badasss. I also REALLY like Ezra Stone. His character needs to get more development though. He always feels like the second baddest dude on the screen but barely has to say anything to achieve it. Can't wait to finish this! But it might take me a while to get season 2 for the same reason as last year :(
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So I guessed who Rosebud was and I was right. I'm SO angry!

EDIT: O my god. So I guessed Stone and just looked it up to see whether or not I was right. I just finished the last episode and...... MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!

Ezra Stone is by far one of my favorite characters of all time. ALL TIME.
 
ElRenoRaven

ElRenoRaven

Member
Yea he really was a well done character. There hasn't been one I've really disliked yet. They all are pretty damn well done and interesting. It's rare to say that about a show.
 
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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Good premiere. I like the new characters, and the returning ones seem to have embraced their bitchy side. I really liked the voting scene near the end, where the fight conveniently erupted and voting had to be postponed. Clever.

Did Kane's wife get shot at the end?
 
ElRenoRaven

ElRenoRaven

Member
RatskyWatsky said:
Good premiere. I like the new characters, and the returning ones seem to have embraced their bitchy side. I really liked the voting scene near the end, where the fight conveniently erupted and voting had to be postponed. Clever.

Did Kane's wife get shot at the end?
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That's the big question. Nobody knows for sure. I'm guessing by the way they focused on her father that she probably did.
 
ElRenoRaven

ElRenoRaven

Member
brucewaynegretzky said:
Seems to be your first born daughter and your soul.
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That would be my guess. Another great episode though. Kane was somewhat actually showing some emotion. Granted he was still being himself but there were flashes of real love for his wife. I really can't wait to see how he responds to what she said.
 
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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
This was just an okay episode. Although I liked the stuff with Ezra, I found the rest of Kane's hallucinations to be very off putting. They weren't very engaging or meaningful, and I feel like they were there just to pad out the episode's length. They served to show Kane's furthering descent into darkness, sure, but I think that the hallucinations of Ezra were more than enough to highlight that fact.

I did like seeing Ian's true side, however, and I found the Mona developments to be very promising.

Also, was this the first episode without any nudity?
 
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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Zajac is such a scumbag. Ughhh. He's so disgusting. I'm glad Kitty resisted his vile charms.

I'm surprised that Kane has a surveillance camera set up in Mona's office and another in her home. How creepy...I wonder if he's also watching Ian? It would only make sense, since he still doesn't have very many reasons to trust him yet. He probably isn't though. Seeing as how Ian is plotting against Kane in some way, it would ruin all the suspense if Kane found out prematurely.

I sometimes wonder if the writers forget that they're making a piece of entertainment. Like, how much longer do we have to hear about voting and all the other housing development shit? I don't find any of the political machinations to be very interesting at all.
 
S

SpeedingUptoStop

will totally Facebook friend you! *giggle* *LOL*
I have such a terrible time objectively judging the plotting of the show because the visuals are so engaging. I love everything about the way it's shot and how the hallucinations are weaves into the narrative. Kind of a shame to see the disease moving so quickly, because I don't know how much runway the show has left if its taking off this soon.
 
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brucewaynegretzky

Member
RatskyWatsky said:
Zajac is such a scumbag. Ughhh. He's so disgusting. I'm glad Kitty resisted his vile charms.

I'm surprised that Kane has a surveillance camera set up in Mona's office and another in her home. How creepy...I wonder if he's also watching Ian? It would only make sense, since he still doesn't have very many reasons to trust him yet. He probably isn't though. Seeing as how Ian is plotting against Kane in some way, it would ruin all the suspense if Kane found out prematurely.

I sometimes wonder if the writers forget that they're making a piece of entertainment. Like, how much longer do we have to hear about voting and all the other housing development shit? I don't find any of the political machinations to be very interesting at all.
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Best part of the show....
 
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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
SpeedingUptoStop said:
I love everything about the way it's shot and how the hallucinations are weaves into the narrative.
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I really like the way the show is filmed. It really doesn't look like anything else on TV.

The hallucinations in episode 2 were very poorly executed, IMO, but episode 3 was much better in this regard. I prefer hallucinations of people that Kane can interact with, to the obtuse desert wandering of episode 2.

Kind of a shame to see the disease moving so quickly, because I don't know how much runway the show has left if its taking off this soon.
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To be honest, a short run might be for the best. The ratings are incredibly low and critical acclaim is quite low too. It'd be better for the show to end on its own terms than to be cancelled prematurely. 3 seasons seems just about right. (providing it gets another season, which it very well might not)

brucewaynegretzky said:
Best part of the show....
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You think so? It's so uninteresting to me. There's a way to make politics engaging and exciting, but the writers of this show clearly don't know how. I mean, don't get me wrong, I think the backstabbing and plotting is interesting. It's all the other shit that drags.
 
benjipwns

benjipwns

Banned
One of my favorite parts too.

Shows how much of it's a proxy war for their own personal conflicts. The political issue doesn't even really matter too much, last year it was the airport, now it's a housing development. Look at how Kane's using it to punish the developer guy for his relationship with his wife.
 
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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Kane is getting really creepy towards Mona. Watching her have dinner with her family is one thing, (one very creepy thing) but now he's watching her have sex with her husband? WTF and now he's developing a crush on her?

Did anyone get the vibe that Ian is Kane's son? He seemed drawn to the picture of Kane when he was younger (he even had it in his house) and seemed a little upset when Ryan said the two women in the picture were just random nobodies. Could one of the two women in the picture possibly be Ian's mother?
 
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jey_16

Banned
RatskyWatsky said:
Did anyone get the vibe that Ian is Kane's son? He seemed drawn to the picture of Kane when he was younger (he even had it in his house) and seemed a little upset when Ryan said the two women in the picture were just random nobodies. Could one of the two women in the picture possibly be Ian's mother?
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I think thats almost certain now
 
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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Holy shiiiit! Kitty completely decimated Zajac. That was such a great scene; so awkward and cringe inducing and horrifying and awesome. He was a scumbag who deserved to lose everything, but I couldn't help but feel bad for him. I'm amazed by how far Kitty has come season. I didn't much like her in season 1 (probably because she felt like nothing more than a sex object) but she's made such strides this season that I might even consider her my favorite character.

Kane's descent into madness it very well done, and I love how frequent his hallucinations are getting. Ezra is far more interesting as a hallucination than he ever was when he was alive.

Anyway, best episode of the season and maybe of the whole series. Hopefully this upswing in quality continues through the rest of the season.
 
C

CoffeeExpress

Member
Great ending this for ep, the preview for next week looks great! really loving this show. Reminds me of The Wire in some aspects, where you get to see the drug dealers to city officials all at work.. and they are all just as bad as one another.
 
G

GRIP

Member
Love this show, but I'm curious how far they can go with it. They really can't go anywhere once Kane is completely taken over with his illness (which is apparently a very fast progression).
 
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Jubs

Member
I'm guessing the experimental procedure he'll get will help clear or mask all symptoms for a period of time, which hopefully will give us a handful of episodes where we can see Kane come back with a vengeance and rule with an iron fist like the good ole' days.

But I'll give it until the season finale before his visions and tremors all come rushing back.
 
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bodyboarder

Member
The map of chicago was a nice touch.

Not sure how the mental illness will play out, they seem to have kicked it up a few gears since last season.
 
benjipwns

benjipwns

Banned
Kitty has claws.

Ezra is awesome as a hallucination.

Were they trying to imply something about Walsh and that aide?

Loved the framing of the broken Zajac in front of his poster.

Kane's son seems to have one primary skill...
 
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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
benjipwns said:
Were they trying to imply something about Walsh and that aide?
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It was heavily implied that the two of them are in a relationship. There was a scene near the beginning of the episode where Walsh is in the bathroom putting on her clothes and we hear that someone is in the shower. As Walsh gets ready to leave her house, she yells goodbye and leaves, without us seeing who it was.

And then at the debate, Walsh and her aide were very touchy feel-y and pull away very quickly when Kitty comes in.

That might be something that Kane exploits later on. He'll probably make it a lesbian sex scandal or something.
 
benjipwns

benjipwns

Banned
That's basically what I thought, especially when they immediately fled when Kitty walked in.

And that's the Zajac out eventually. Or at least something to test Kitty.
 
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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Wow, that was a very dense episode. A lot of things were cleared up regarding Kane's history: he caused Mayor Rutledge's stroke, Ian Todd was confirmed to be his secret son, and his obsession with the Gardens was given new meaning.

It looks like Kane has recovered, for now, though I'm assuming things will go south for him again near the end of the season. (unless the show is meant to end after this season, then anything could happen)
 
benjipwns

benjipwns

Banned
This season has just made things, to steal from Ratsky's post, so dense. I would really hate for it to end this year now. And I was initially resigned to things ending with this season.

I was wondering how they'd top Kane's warpath from last year, but they certainly set one up.

And Editor Sam Miller is not attractive, fewer sex scenes with him please. Kitty couldn't save that.

It's such a shame this show doesn't get more attention. Even if with its understandable quirks.
 
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