"Hung" This Is America or Fifty Bucks (TV Episode 2009) Poster

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8/10
Price hike
jotix1001 December 2009
Warning: Spoilers
We find Ray at the start of this chapter discussing with Tanya the need to get money. After all, the house needs repairs that carry a cost. The only way he feels he'll be able to do it is by upping the price for his future sexual encounters. Jemma's two thousand dollars can only go so far. Tanya decides to interest Patty into a repeat session with Ray. Patty feels he is too addictive.

Ray is horrified when Damon comes into his class from detention. He has brought a friend that can only be described as an enigma in the way he is dressed. Ray confronts Damon outside the classroom and asks him point blank whether he is gay, but Damon doesn't acknowledge whether he is, or not. Later, while at a sports center, he is seen hiking a wall with his twin sister, who also wants to know if he had sex with his new friend Powell.

Tanya meets with Lenore at a restaurant. Lenore criticizes Tanya for her lack of business acumen by practically 'giving away the merchandise' because she feels with Ray's talent they can jack up the price of a session. Lenore puts down money and tells Tanya she wants another date with her client. When Ray arrives at the department store where Lenore is a consultant, she wants him to change his image by getting a suit that makes him look 'hot'. With that, as they are about to start the encounter, she asks Ray she wants to try another way which involves being satisfied orally.

Ronnie is sore that Jessica and her mother had gone through his things. At the same time, he insists that Jessica should go buy some clothes. She is surprised when Lenore goes by her and suggests she buys a more expensive and current wardrobe. Ronnie is taken aback by the amount of clothes she had come home with, and at Lenore's insistence, she is getting rid of some of her old things.

Tanya has no luck in getting new customers for Ray. She is surprised when she finds Patty at the bathroom, who makes no bones about the way Tanya has been telling some people she is into drugs. To her amazement another co-worker has heard the exchange. Tanya tries to interest her in a session with Ray, but she only has fifty dollars.

Ray, meanwhile, is walking in the hallway and hears a music teacher, Mike, playing the piano. He likes what he hears. At the end of the sad song, his colleague is wiping a tear from his eye. He wonders what's going on, and Mike tells him the school has decided to wipe out the music program and he is out of a job. Ray is shaken by the news, but figures the school will not drop sports.

Seith Mann directed this interesting episode. Let's not forget the adult content of the series that will probably not sit well with certain viewers. The idea of breaking taboos with more explicit shows make the creators of the series ground breakers in the field where most of the sitcoms on television are ages apart from what HBO has been doing for quite some time.

Thomas Jane and the amazing Jane Adams are the best excuses for watching the program. Anne Heche, Rebecca Crestkoff, Lauren Weedman, and Eddie Jamison have some good moments as Jessica, Lenore, Patty, and Ronnie
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Lenore...Again...
JasonDanielBaker12 October 2012
Former work colleague Lenore meets would-be pimp Tanya (Jane Adams) for lunch and tells her she'd like to book a date with gigolo Ray (Thomas Jane). Lenore is bad news but she pays up front for his particular service this time. The tryst is a prelude to Lenore's attempt to displace Tanya as Ray's pimp (madam, procurer or whatever).

One notes a certain logic to the offer given that Lenore appears considerably more comfortable with such a role and milieu than earnest and dorky Tanya. But looks can be deceiving. A physically beautiful (in a scary kind of way) woman like Lenore is avoided by acquaintances for a lot of reasons aside from her abrasive, condescending, profane demeanour. This person is a dangerous x factor.

Tanya is failing miserably at trying to get clients for Ray. She is trying to sell female co-workers on Ray's service which is a bad idea for all sorts of reasons. It is her place of work and besides that women there don't have much money.

Ray's nightmarish shrew ex-wife Jessica (Anne Heche) becomes a client of Lenore's personal shopper service and Lenore makes her even worse. If it doesn't ring alarm bells it should. Lenore knows firsthand what Ray does as a sideline - something which is not only illegal but which his ex and his kids don't know about.
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