Shows about unlikable characters behaving badly aren’t anything new, but they seemed to have been popping up on TV more steadily over the past few years. This leads to the same conversation, over and over again: when does it become OK to enjoy their antics? How unlikable is simply too unlikable? And, perhaps most importantly: is it possible to find good qualities amidst their less than desirable attributes?
Despite being advertised as a show about “outsiders taking down the system,” Black Monday is not exactly some sort of underdog story. Instead, it is the story of the wild, crude, politically incorrect men and women who took on the world of Wall Street, trying to get their foot in the door by any means necessary. They’re funny, sure, and played by charismatic actors — but your mileage on rooting for them will depend on how much you agree with the mantra for the era, “Greed is Good.”
Leading the bunch is Don Cheadle’s Maurice Monroe, a big-shot investor with a taste for cocaine, investigators on his tail, and a secret plan or two up his sleeves. Early in the episode he crosses paths with recent college graduate Blair (Andrew Rannells), who has made a name for himself by developing an algorithm that can, apparently, change the stock market game.
The two start butting heads, but it appears they both want the same thing: a chance to compete with the big, established players from old-money families. But the show begins with a warning: in one year’s time, the titular stock market crash of 1989 will take place — and some of the new characters we’re meeting might not make it out alive.
Historically speaking, Cheadle and Rannells are both charismatic actors, so it makes sense that they have a lot of screen presence here. The latter is giving a particularly interesting performance here, since he is cast so against type and offered the opportunity to play a buttoned-up character who, over the course of the first thirty minutes, completely explodes.
Cheadle, meanwhile, could probably play this part in his sleep — and he’s certainly played more interesting characters just like this — but he’s a pro, and the performance is solid. That being said: both characters, in the pilot, are hopelessly underwritten, and the show needs to be committed to fleshing them out further if it wants to remain interesting.
But the real pleasures in the Black Monday pilot come from the supporting cast. Namely, Regina Hall — enjoying something of a career peak in 2018 — kills every line delivery, and makes the most of a character who is given no defining features except for “potential love interest.” I don’t care about her will-they/won’t-they vibe with Cheadle, but I would gladly watch a full season of her work. Come for her joke about the homo-eroticism in Top Gun; stay for her hilariously deadpan coke order. Also giving fine work is Ken Marino, who pulls double duty as both Lehman Brothers (yes, those brothers). He manages to make the two characters feel distinct, and even a little creepy, resulting in one of the pilot’s best jokes.
That being said, this is the latest pilot from David Caspe — the creator of the criminally underrated masterpiece, Happy Endings. And, while it may be unfair to compare the two shows, his involvement can’t help but make Black Monday feel like a disappointment. That show felt so effortless in its humor, and created characters that, in true sitcom fashion, are defined by one trait, but still managed to feel like human beings. Everyone here feels flat, and like they’re meant to exist purely as a means of moving from joke to joke.
Even more disappointing is the way the progressive tendencies of Happy Endings are all but lost. It’s not that Black Monday is offensive or anything like that — but, why is Regina Hall stuck playing a potential love interest? Why is Endings alum Casey Wilson wasted as a horribly underwritten gold-digger? Why, exactly, are we expected to root for these characters? These answers may come out in future episodes — but the pilot does not offer a clear enough thesis statement to lock-in an audience for future episodes. That being said: there is potential here… hopefully everyone involved takes advantage of it.
Overall rating: 6 out of 10
Black Monday premieres tonight on Showtime, and airs Sunday nights.
https://youtu.be/G2u4nCtyBCo
