There's Something About Ray and Tanya that is both heartbreaking and inspiring. The first struggles to repair his house and the second desperately wants to make people happy. The solution they found to achieve their goals is absurd but they know it. That's why Lenore was an important addition because she helps remind us that what they do is just wrong. But the finale wasn't really about the morality, it was more about the compromises you have to make and priorities to set. They had to make a decision and their choices should intrigue you enough not to miss the upcoming season 2 premiere. The episode was also full of emotional moments that should make you care for the characters even more. From the phone call to his ex-wife to the children hugging at the theatres you shouldn't be disappointed. The only con was a useless sex scene even if it allowed some characters to strengthen their relationship. But the rest was excellent and I found a scene involving Ray's ex-wife husband quite crunchy. Now my only wish is that things get better for them because they deserve to be happy. Their consultant idea is good but the execution is inappropriate for the moment. So let's hope Hung will not become a neverending gigolo story. I don't it could considering how smart it has been so far. Fingers crossed.
3 Reviews
The American sexual dream!
jotix1007 December 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Tanya is horrified when she discovers flies in her house. Being neurotic, she comes to Ray for help who puts things in perspective for her. Trying to fix his house, Ray begins stripping the wood paneling only to discover bees had invaded the insides and left beehives that are now full of honey.
Lenore meets Ray for lunch at a fancy hotel. She points out different horny women that wouldn't bat an eyelash to have a session with him. Ray is somewhat taken aback by the possibilities, but being a loyal to his own pimp, he is not totally convinced about how Lenore can pull it off. Not content with seeing Ray, Lenore comes with Jessica to the gym and tries to sell her the idea that a meeting with a well endowed man is what she really needs as it appears that Ronnie is not that great in the sex department.
Ray takes Damon and Darby to a horror film. Damon brings Powell with him. At one point Powell kisses Damon, who asks for discretion and Powell walks out. Ray calls Tanya to try to explain the new arrangement that will have him more involved with Lenore's managing his dates, but doesn't come totally clean.
Ronnie has a new patient, a foot doctor, who happens to be a former school friend. She has come for a consultation about a mole she has discovered. Ronnie is put off when he finds out the location in her body. In the meantime, Mike, who is obviously distressed by the impending lay off, sees Ray in the hallway of the school. Ray offers to go see Rhonda to find out if it's true about the list of teachers being fired. She hints that while she can't come out and say it, yes, a good amount of teachers will lose their jobs, but they can reapply perhaps losing the benefits. That's something he wasn't counting on.
Ray begins getting the honey in jars when the next door neighbor comes in to talk. Of course, she has something else in mind. They end up in a hot session where Ray spreads some of the honey on her. When they are at their most passionate, Tanya comes in unannounced. She has been told by Lenore about the new arrangement he plans to follow, and she is not happy. Ray goes out to console her, leaving his neighbor hot and frustrated!
The ending brings Ray to the fancy hotel where he is scheduled to meet a hot blonde who wants his services. To his horror, he realizes it's Jessica, who Lenore convinced she deserved a stud. Ray follows her and calls her on the cell phone, as she is walking to the room where the tryst is to take place. Their conversation leaves them both sad. Ray decides to walk away when he listens to his former wife lying about she needing to stop talking because her mother is waiting for her to get off the phone.
As Ray sits at home contemplating his future he ponders about losing his job, his marriage, his home, but his only consolation is the treasure between his legs and he thanks his lucky stars for living his American sexual dream. Tanya, is also seen at home, reading a book. To her horror, she sees the flies have returned. Without batting an eyelash she swats the insect with her book, which title is appropriate to her situation.
The end of the first season of "Hung" ended with a high note. An excellent chapter in this amazing, but true to life series that examines how prevalent sex is among us, and what is its effect on what can be considered normal human beings. Directed with style by Dan Attias, the episode is one of the best of the ten shown. Congratulations to the writers, one and all for their brilliant take on the subject!
Thomas Jane, Jane Adams, and Anne Heche are at their best in this installment. So is Rebecca Creskoff, who makes an impression with her Lenore. Eddie Jamison has a great scene. One can only hope all of them come back for the next season. The cast is one of the best ensembles seen this year, or any other year, on television. Thanks to HBO and its creators this is television at its most credible in dealing with a sensitive issue we don't find in the other networks' sitcoms.
Lenore meets Ray for lunch at a fancy hotel. She points out different horny women that wouldn't bat an eyelash to have a session with him. Ray is somewhat taken aback by the possibilities, but being a loyal to his own pimp, he is not totally convinced about how Lenore can pull it off. Not content with seeing Ray, Lenore comes with Jessica to the gym and tries to sell her the idea that a meeting with a well endowed man is what she really needs as it appears that Ronnie is not that great in the sex department.
Ray takes Damon and Darby to a horror film. Damon brings Powell with him. At one point Powell kisses Damon, who asks for discretion and Powell walks out. Ray calls Tanya to try to explain the new arrangement that will have him more involved with Lenore's managing his dates, but doesn't come totally clean.
Ronnie has a new patient, a foot doctor, who happens to be a former school friend. She has come for a consultation about a mole she has discovered. Ronnie is put off when he finds out the location in her body. In the meantime, Mike, who is obviously distressed by the impending lay off, sees Ray in the hallway of the school. Ray offers to go see Rhonda to find out if it's true about the list of teachers being fired. She hints that while she can't come out and say it, yes, a good amount of teachers will lose their jobs, but they can reapply perhaps losing the benefits. That's something he wasn't counting on.
Ray begins getting the honey in jars when the next door neighbor comes in to talk. Of course, she has something else in mind. They end up in a hot session where Ray spreads some of the honey on her. When they are at their most passionate, Tanya comes in unannounced. She has been told by Lenore about the new arrangement he plans to follow, and she is not happy. Ray goes out to console her, leaving his neighbor hot and frustrated!
The ending brings Ray to the fancy hotel where he is scheduled to meet a hot blonde who wants his services. To his horror, he realizes it's Jessica, who Lenore convinced she deserved a stud. Ray follows her and calls her on the cell phone, as she is walking to the room where the tryst is to take place. Their conversation leaves them both sad. Ray decides to walk away when he listens to his former wife lying about she needing to stop talking because her mother is waiting for her to get off the phone.
As Ray sits at home contemplating his future he ponders about losing his job, his marriage, his home, but his only consolation is the treasure between his legs and he thanks his lucky stars for living his American sexual dream. Tanya, is also seen at home, reading a book. To her horror, she sees the flies have returned. Without batting an eyelash she swats the insect with her book, which title is appropriate to her situation.
The end of the first season of "Hung" ended with a high note. An excellent chapter in this amazing, but true to life series that examines how prevalent sex is among us, and what is its effect on what can be considered normal human beings. Directed with style by Dan Attias, the episode is one of the best of the ten shown. Congratulations to the writers, one and all for their brilliant take on the subject!
Thomas Jane, Jane Adams, and Anne Heche are at their best in this installment. So is Rebecca Creskoff, who makes an impression with her Lenore. Eddie Jamison has a great scene. One can only hope all of them come back for the next season. The cast is one of the best ensembles seen this year, or any other year, on television. Thanks to HBO and its creators this is television at its most credible in dealing with a sensitive issue we don't find in the other networks' sitcoms.
Season 1: Solid little show but it never escapes its pitch description/concept to do something cleverer, funnier or more engaging
bob the moo18 November 2010
Hung arrived in the UK with plenty of hype behind it from the US and the knowledge that it had done well enough to get a second season. The basic plot summary of it is that a high-school teacher gets down on his luck and decides to supplement his income by utilising his most obvious "talent" by working as a male escort with ladies lined up by his failed-poet acquaintance. Fans will tell you that to summarise it in such a base way is to do it a disservice and indeed I had hoped that this would be the case because it is HBO and it did appear from early on to be connected to the real world in terms of the characters, the economy and other themes.
Having finished the season I do have to say that I quite enjoyed it. It was mostly engaging, occasionally amusing and had solid characters that I had an interest in. I'll stress again that I liked it because the problems I had with it were not with what it "did" but rather with what I felt it "didn't" do. What I thought was missing was the obvious step to making comments on wider issues, either through the general plot or through the characters. It constantly alludes to the bigger picture and it has character interactions that are interesting and have potential as part of having engaging characters but it never seems to make these things stick and become part of the show so much as they are in the distant background. In short I never felt through the whole season that the potted one-line summary stopped applying. Contrast this with The Sopranos (and yes I am well aware they are very different shows); the "mobster sees shrink" potted summary is valid but very, very quickly the show become much more than that one sentence. With Hung I just couldn't get anywhere with it because it never seemed to push out of confines of the pitch.
Thing is though, is that on its own terms I did still quite enjoy it. It is broadly humorous and the narrative is engaging, it is just that it wasn't funny enough to make me love it as a comedy, not engaging enough for me to love it for the story and not clever enough for me to love it as both – it just "is". This isn't down to the cast though because they are mostly great. Thomas Jane in particular makes his character work and it is clear that a more intelligent and layered script would be easily delivered by him. Adams is a pain as a character but she delivers it really well while Creskoff's performance may be overblown but in turns works well to bring out more of Adams' character by way of conflict and contrast. I wasn't really feeling Heche but then Ray's family as a thread didn't work the best for me.
Hung is a strange show as it has the potential to be outrageously excessive and funny while also being able to operate as a microcosm for the wider problems in an America hit by recession. It does a little bit of both (which is why I liked it) but never enough or good enough to really make me love it. The cast are good and it is well enough put together to be entertaining but I just found myself waiting for it to be better than it was or do more than it did. I know a second season is coming but normally I would only follow a show is "more of the same" would be a good thing (obviously with the hope of improvements etc) but with Hung I have to say that it wouldn't be. A solid and engaging little show but one that failed to excite me or make me love it.
Having finished the season I do have to say that I quite enjoyed it. It was mostly engaging, occasionally amusing and had solid characters that I had an interest in. I'll stress again that I liked it because the problems I had with it were not with what it "did" but rather with what I felt it "didn't" do. What I thought was missing was the obvious step to making comments on wider issues, either through the general plot or through the characters. It constantly alludes to the bigger picture and it has character interactions that are interesting and have potential as part of having engaging characters but it never seems to make these things stick and become part of the show so much as they are in the distant background. In short I never felt through the whole season that the potted one-line summary stopped applying. Contrast this with The Sopranos (and yes I am well aware they are very different shows); the "mobster sees shrink" potted summary is valid but very, very quickly the show become much more than that one sentence. With Hung I just couldn't get anywhere with it because it never seemed to push out of confines of the pitch.
Thing is though, is that on its own terms I did still quite enjoy it. It is broadly humorous and the narrative is engaging, it is just that it wasn't funny enough to make me love it as a comedy, not engaging enough for me to love it for the story and not clever enough for me to love it as both – it just "is". This isn't down to the cast though because they are mostly great. Thomas Jane in particular makes his character work and it is clear that a more intelligent and layered script would be easily delivered by him. Adams is a pain as a character but she delivers it really well while Creskoff's performance may be overblown but in turns works well to bring out more of Adams' character by way of conflict and contrast. I wasn't really feeling Heche but then Ray's family as a thread didn't work the best for me.
Hung is a strange show as it has the potential to be outrageously excessive and funny while also being able to operate as a microcosm for the wider problems in an America hit by recession. It does a little bit of both (which is why I liked it) but never enough or good enough to really make me love it. The cast are good and it is well enough put together to be entertaining but I just found myself waiting for it to be better than it was or do more than it did. I know a second season is coming but normally I would only follow a show is "more of the same" would be a good thing (obviously with the hope of improvements etc) but with Hung I have to say that it wouldn't be. A solid and engaging little show but one that failed to excite me or make me love it.
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