The Brink (HBO) (1 Viewer)

Premieres tonight at 10:32 PM Eastern.


Of all of the new summer shows, this one is far and away the most exciting for me. It stars Jack Black as a low-level Foreign Service officer working out of the U.S. Embassy in Islamad and Aasif Mandvi as a Pakistani national assigned to work with him. The cast also features Tim Robbins as the sexually deviant Secretary of State, Jaimie Alexander as a mid-level military officer, Mimi Kennedy as the director of the CIA, and Esai Morales as the President of the United States. Jay Roach directed the pilot, and the head writer is former "Weeds" co-showrunner Roberto Benabib.


The concept behind the show is to basically take the Dr. Strangelove approach each season to a new global crisis.


The trailer had me 100 percent on board:



The review, though, have been decidedly mixed. USA Today liked the show, saying: "The show may err toward silliness, but the cast is uniformly good, and every so often a wry jab at American parochialism or some funny throwaway line will catch you by happy surprise. And while it's cynical at times, it isn't bleak: For all their faults, Alex and Walter are trying to do the right thing.


AV Club found it middling: "There's smart plotting at work, and keen observational skills when it comes to showing who's truly in power, but it takes a squishy stance on the issues at hand, a "nuclear warfare bad" perspective that makes for agreeable comedy but ineffectual satire."


And Variety was less impressed: "In terms of frittering around the edges of being worthwhile but not getting there, The Brink is aptly titled."


I look forward to making my own conclusions tonight.

Also on HBOgo. Love the cast. Interesting pilot.

Very funny pilot. I laughed out loud many times. Great cast.

Cautiously optimistic.
http://www.mademan.com/jack-black-loves-life-on-the-brink/

I thought the cast was much better than the material it had to work with, the pacing of Jay Roach's pilot was oddly languid for a show about a rapidly escalating global crisis. But the last five minutes were the best five minutes, and there was enough there to convince me to return next week.

The second episode played better for me than the first. I thought Tim Robbins's directing was sharper than Jay Roach's, the laugh count was higher, and the acting felt more natural.


Nice to see Carla Gugino as the Secretary of State's wife.

The second episode had a huge laugh. The guy says to Jack Black along the lines, "Don't worry we are just going to waterboard you. It's OK, your government doesn't consider it torture!"

Last night's episode was the best one yet. As thing continue to spiral into greater and greater absurdity, the show just gets better and better.


It was nice to see Michelle Gomez (Missy on "Doctor Who") and Rob Brydon ("Gavin and Stacey") pop up as the eccentric British artifact smugglers who first rescue Z-Pack and Jammer and then hold them hostage, surrounded as they are by 100 miles of "nothing" in every direction. Every bizarre moment was gold.


After Secretary of State Walter Larson's abject humiliation in Israel my guess is that Defense Secretary Pierce will have his comeuppance before the season is done.


Alex Talbot talking to the seven Pakistani girls like they're toddlers, and their running commentary in Punjabi was the highlight of the episode. And then John Larroquette's character interpreting them as, presumably, the seven trumpeters of the apocolypse was the icing on the cake.


“That boner guy is cool as fuck.”

I would agree that Sunday's episode was probably the best so far. Lots of laughs in the episode, including Alex and Walter's 'coded' phone conversation and every moment with the Brits interacting with Zeke and Jammer. Jammer had one great line / delivery after another in the episode including "The way the rice dances with the chicken! F*ckin' A!"


- Walter.

Renewed for Season 2

Most of the main cast will return, but the season will focus on a new global crisis that embroils the world.

This show has really hit its stride. Last night's episode didn't strike a single false note, from Tom Robbins's hallway rant about his nephew being too stupid to get into Georgetown, to the utterly captivatingly bizzarre British couple in the Pakistani desert, to John Laroquette's prophetic vision of the end of days that starts feeling eerily accurate, to seven teenage girls on social media deepening a international crisis. The cast is uniformly great from top to bottom.


“Can’t we just normal fuck her?”

Last night's episode was one of the best plotted half hours of television in recent memory. The way the pieces clicked into place for that final missile strike was just perfect.

"When did fucking Ronald Reagan enter this conversation?"

I'm going to miss that guy. Too bad they had to blow him up.

Another solid episode. Without getting (too much) into politics, I'm guessing that Robbins had some fun with the dialog.


Jammer continues to kill me... "How do you tell those motherf**kers apart?!"


Humans (on AMC) and The Brink are the two shows that I've been enjoying the most this summer.


- Walter.

Agreed, it hit its stride this episode. So many great reversals.

"Is that the Bible?"
"Nah, that's just me talking."

I gotta admit, at this point I'm half-expecting something to take out the president, the vice president, the speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate before Larson formally resigns, such that he ends up in the big chair.


What's remarkable at this point is how genuinely tense the show is, without a significant decline in the laugh quotient.

Back from vacation and still catching up on my shows.

"No women for Carl!"

Last Sunday's episode didn't quite reach the peaks of the prior few, but it was still a very entertaining half-hour of television. Looking forward to the season finale tomorrow.

I thought the season finale was pretty good! Overall it was a pretty decent season. In my opinion, which really means nothing I would say it was a 3.5 out of 5.

Pretty strong season finale with a good setup for next year. Enjoyed Larson taking charge. Zeke and Jammer continue to be comedy gold.


- Walter.

Walter Kittel said:

Pretty strong season finale with a good setup for next year. Enjoyed Larson taking charge. Zeke and Jammer continue to be comedy gold.

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I agree on all points. Was that the first ever cunnilingus scene in the White House situation room?

Loved the president, joint chiefs and top level staff riding down into the bunker with their Neiman Marcus bags.

"God, that Listerine is fucking my stomach in the ass right now."