I’m not sure what it was about The Glades that failed to catch my eye last season. A&E did such a good job advertising it that posters were everywhere, and I believe that I even got a copy of the pilot script with a Barnes and Noble order that I placed sometime around the series premiere. But I didn’t even bother to check it out … I wonder why. Maybe it was the picture of the orange oozing blood with a knife sticking out of it; maybe it was the lack of detail to go with the ubiquitous presence of the ads. What was the show about? Did I care enough to find out?
Apparently not, because the season two premiere was the first time I gave the show a try. And I was a little wary of what I’d find — for some reason I assumed it was a supernatural or horror show, which is not exactly my style. But in that sense I was pleasantly surprised.
In case you don’t know — which is likely considering the show averages around three million viewers per week — the series follows Jim Longworth (Matt Passmore), ex-Chicago detective who’s forced to flee to South Florida and join the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after allegedly fooling around with the wife of one of the brass. And apparently that’s it … not to say that that’s not enough, but the show’s about Jim, his cases, and life in sunny Florida, not some super weird back story that threatens to swallow everyone, like The Gates (could that be why I feared The Glades?)
Unfortunately the simplicity of the conceit bleeds into the show itself. Was it bad? No. Was it good? No. It was boring, and I’m usually someone who’s always down for a mob-related story like the Cuban mafia tale that the premiere focused on. But the excitement wasn’t there for me, and the script swam way too much in cliches that shows like The Sopranos never touched. I loved watching Tony and FBI Agent Dwight Harris (Matt Servitto) dance their dance … did Eduardo Garcia (Francesco Quinn) really give Jim an ultimatum? I was sure one or both of them would burst out laughing at that. Instead Jim took it seriously, and apparently conducted his investigation with three days in mind as a hard deadline. You could argue that the “hard deadline” he had in mind was to avert a gang war, but what was with the ultimatum in the first place?
Who I did like very much was Callie Cargill (Kiele Sanchez). From the little I saw of them I imagine she and Jim were probably great together last season, but this season looks to have a lot of conflict in its future. Jim got warned off of cavorting with Callie, and Callie’s dealing with her husband Ray (Clayne Crawford), who’s newly returned from jail. I can see a season worth of angst and missed connections between the two; for that story’s sake I’m sorry that I missed watching their mating dance. How’d Callie’s son Jeff (Uriah Shelton) take to Jim?
I also think Joaquim de Almeida’s (Alvaro Saldivar) great, although I know he was just a guest star. In the darkness of his “social club” I thought it was Demián Bichir (Esteban) from Weeds, but then I realized it was Ramon Salazar from season three of 24; nice!
Alright, so super glad the show wasn’t the horror-fest that I feared it was, but I didn’t get it. My favorite part? The runaway chicken in the opening scene. Awesome!
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jun 14, 2011 @ 16:00 EST5EDT
From the parts you liked, I bet you really would have enjoyed the first season, and even this week’s episode. Jim and Callie are great together, and he had such a wonderful relationship with her son.
I agree with Debbie and I know you don’t like being told how a show was better at some particular point in its past. Like your impression of the first episode, so far this season I’ve found the show to be boring whereas last season it was fun. Granted, it was typical light summer fare, but it was interesting enough that I looked forward to each new episode. I had hoped that the first episode was just a fluke, but with two episodes down I’m not liking it as much as I did last year. Were this season my first experience with the show I likely wouldn’t be checking it out again, either. With a little luck, maybe it’ll get back on track.
The first episode of this season just plain wasn’t very good, the second just seemed rushed and time compressed to fit the story into one episode. Disappointed so far.
@ Aryeh
I’ve read quite a few of your “what’s this show called”-posts. And I know that they’re very subjective, but I always felt, that just picking the current episode of any given show, is neither here nor there. Yeah, sometimes it represents a show perfectly, but don’t you ever wonder if you would have loved a show, if you just had watched another one. You have to admit, for shows we love, we forgive a lot of filler episodes.
I have to admit, that the season beginning didn’t wow me either, but they’re so amny good ones. I liked the show from the get-go. The Pilot jsut perfectly sums up who Jim is.
*POST AUTHOR*
cgot2b – First of all, thanks for reading the column!
I’ve gotten questioned along this line in the past about how well one episode represents a series. And there are times that I’ve considered the possibility that a different episode from a different story from a different season would have served me better and given me a better (i.e. more positive) taste.
However, and here’s the point of the column – that’s not how new viewers watch new TV. Let’s say, for example, someone heard a lot of good things about The Glades over this past winter. They’re excited to check it out, and have staked out the season two premiere as a perfect time to jump in (although in truth people learn about and try new shows all season long). They try the show, and are bored to tears. Or they hate it. Or they’re indifferent but saw nothing to make them want to watch these people act for another hour. What are they to do?
It’s easy to say try it again as a fan, but for all the times that you’re in their shoes, you know your time is limited. Anything — TV, books, magazines/newspaper articles — has but a short span of time to do enough to make us want to continue watching/reading. And no one can be expected to keep up with every new show that they try for weeks at a time. My wife and I are rather liberal giving shows the benefit of the doubt, so if we choose not to try something a second time it really missed the mark with us. Shouldn’t we be able to expect a show to give us even a kernel of enjoyment in exchange for giving it another try?
Anyway, therefore that’s kind of the point here. I’m sitting in the chair of any new viewer to a show that they’ve never seen before. What’s good about it? What’s bad? Is it worth a second try? The networks would give you a big kiss if you told them that no matter what everyone would keep watching for a few weeks … but is that really how the viewing audience does it?
You are right, I guess I HAVE to take the time to read your reviews, but it is getting a little tough. Maybe you should watch one or two before your reviews. I was late getting to the first season, but as with most basic cable shows, they re-run the shows several times, so you can catch up. I am sure you are busy, but you might try it sometimes. This is one of many of the newer cable shows that are excellent in my humble opinion, but what do I know–I am just a viewer.
*POST AUTHOR*
I think you and I may have had this conversation before, but you can see what I said to cgot2b above, because I think it does speak to your point. The question is always going to be about what the point of the column is.
That said, like I also said above I’m going to look out for some season one episodes based on my enjoyment of Callie and Jim. We’ll see how that goes. Thanks! :)
*POST AUTHOR*
To all — because I did like the Jim and Callie dynamic, and didn’t dislike the episode so much as was bored, I’m putting one of those DVR notifier things up and will try to catch some season one episodes. Thanks!