Faking It
Hustle Episode Review
In which there is singing and dancing. Hustle tries to find a balance between its breezy style and the substance underlying the fact that these are people operating in a criminal world.
What Happened
Albert is brutally beaten by Frank Gorley after being caught cheating at cards. All of a sudden, Mickey loses interest in mocking Danny for blowing their last scam and sends Ash to find out how they can nail Frank.
(In case you care, Mickey's Very Bad Week continues when his wife shows up to hand him the divorce papers so that she can marry someone else. As I don't care, that will be all we say on that matter.)
Learning that Frank is fanatic about the movies, Danny checks into his hotel as a big time movie mogul. They offer to cut Frank in on movie that will be big in Asia and Frank is ready to invest - until he hears that it might cost him two hundred thousand. Fortunately, Danny remembers Frank's love of "Yankee Doodle Dandy." One song and dance number later, he's handing over a check.
The gang gets ready to close shop and disappear, but Frank goes bat-shit when Danny and Mickey claim that another partner has taken off with the cash. Mickey shoots blanks, but Frank shoots Danny for real. While Stacie gets Frank out of the room, Mickey takes Danny to the hospital. Once he's recovered enough, they show off their tape of Frank running lines with Stacie, voicing a scripted "heartfelt" apology to Albert.
The Good
Not as polished as the premiere episode. There wasn't anything that really stood out beyond the tiny twist of getting Frank to perform his apology to Albert.
The Bad
I had to wince during the musical number. That was just a little out of place for the second episode.
The Cliche
The mobster who secretly wants to be in Show Business. Where did this idea come from? I see it all over the place on TV. You want in good with the goodfellas? Appeal to their sense of theatricality. It's just really odd.
It's a dangerous business, son. Mickey kept telling Danny to take things seriously, but would he listen? No. And now look what happened. I was, however, kind of surprised that they really really shot Danny. Usually TV show-offs get off with a scare and a stern lecture from their mentors.
Rules of Hustle
- There's a script because it has been perfected by generations of grifters over hundreds of years.
- Do it by the book.
- You're never too old to cheat.
- We all screw up, it's what you do next that counts.
What Did I Think?
This is an episode of a show that is still finding its tone, wondering how far they can push things. In my opinion, the over-the-top of the song and dance didn't really work. Hustle hadn't quite earned that much wacky.
As far as the violence went, Albert got beat up a time or two later on, as if to say that their business wasn't all great clothes and clever escapes, but there wasn't a lot of real bloodshed in the coming episodes. I think Hustle found that the gritty realism cards weren't winning.