I still think it’s all working, but I don’t see the sense in getting excited about Lights Out at this point. Unfortunately it’s another FX failure. Two in a row, and that can’t be good. Even though it’s getting a higher percentage of the coveted adult ratings, there is no chance this show will have a second season. In case anyone is still interested, following are my thoughts and reactions on what went down in “The Shot.”
Lights’ 40th birthday is on the horizon, and his age and family life are closing in on him. He’s plugging his wares (bobblehead dolls!) on what seems like the Home Shopping Network. Makes me cringe to see him playing along; anything to get money flowing.
Unsure whether a rematch with Death Row Reynolds (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali) will ever happen, Reynolds shows up to Lights’ house to confront him. That seemed very weird to me. These aren’t punk ass fighters; they’re heavyweight champions. His car rumbling down the road like he’s casing the joint. One of my least favorite scenes so far. I can only hope that a real life heavyweight champion wouldn’t be acting in such a manner.
A boxer at their gym, meanwhile, might get his title shot due to another fighter’s injury. Omar Assarian (Pedro Pascal) is a smart-ass, low-rent kid with a posse of gang-bangers going for the middleweight championship. His cocky attitude leads you to believe his head will never be in the game to face a really focused opponent. To top it all off, in order to get there, meet weight, and train all night Omar is doing meth in the gym. Lights is pissed and says he wants no part of it, but Johnny points out that, when he’s already been hired muscle, they are in survival mode now and anything goes. Exactly what lines should and shouldn’t be crossed? It’s different when you make a decision to do something bad for yourself than it is to condone and support bad behavior in someone else. Especially when you know where that behavior will lead. Lights never even went the drugs route, and look at the mess he’s in.
The pressure is weighing so deep that he’s losing his grip on reality. While his family is whipping together a 40th birthday memory book, he is imagining secrets, loss of control, and a lack of respect. There’s a great scene when his eldest daughter pretty much tells him to piss off, and as he’s pounding on her locked door, with each beat he’s imagining his past fights. What has he become?
Some straight talk from Teresa reminds Lights that a champion at the gym would be good for everyone. If he thinks Omar is not ready and is going to fall on his face, then help him learn from his mistakes. Try to give him some inner strength to take into the ring. It gives him something else to focus on for a while, and Lights seems happy while training Omar; he’s being active in the sport, but not taking the hits himself. It could work.
The ending of the show is bittersweet. As Omar takes his shot at the title, Lights is where everything matters; at home, with his family, celebrating his birthday and walking through the most important moments of his life via the memory book they prepared. This birthday with his family represented everything he lives for, everything he’s been trying to hold together. It’s what makes his life worth living.
Unfortunately his happiness was short lived. His hope for the gym, a champion to take the pressure off of his own return to action, ended in a terrible knock-out. Omar was down and not getting up. I could feel Lights’ entire high come crashing down around him, all the progress he made that week turned to dust. At least he had one night of love, family, and hope.
Clacked by Carissa Pavlica 
on Jan 25, 2011 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
