Bryan Cranston‘s return to dramatic tv ought to be trigger for celebration, proper? In spite of everything, his flip as Breaking Dangerous‘s Walter White, a meek chemistry trainer who reworked right into a sinister drug lord earlier than our very eyes, is one among TV’s all-time nice performances. It’s a disgrace, then, that his new Showtime restricted sequence Your Honor — premiering this Sunday, Dec. 6 at 10/9c; I’ve seen the primary 4 episodes — is such a letdown. Graphically violent and morose, it rubs our noses within the ugly facet of humanity for no good cause, and for a authorized thriller, it’s remarkably dumb, with its characters making unforgivably boneheaded selections at each flip.
The premise is intriguing, to be truthful: Cranston performs revered New Orleans decide Michael Desiato, whose son Adam (Reality Be Advised‘s Hunter Doohan) by chance strikes and kills a mob boss’ son in a hit-and-run automobile accident. (The loss of life scene is so harrowing and bloody, it’s really arduous to abdomen.) As quickly as Adam confesses his crime to his dad, Michael’s wheels begin turning. “Don’t inform anybody. Not ever,” he sternly instructs his son as he plots out how you can cowl his tracks earlier than the authorities — or worse, the mob boss — will get to him. Taking part in a conflicted dad who treads into an ethical grey space is a pure match for Cranston, in fact, and his haunted face, creased with fear, does its finest to promote it as Michael frantically lies, cheats and steals to be able to defend his son.
However Your Honor‘s dramatic potential is squandered by the brutally grim and badly contrived developments that observe. (Peter Moffat, who created the British crime drama that HBO’s The Evening Of was based mostly on, is the author and showrunner right here, with The Good Struggle‘s Robert and Michelle King as govt producers.) It tries to be a morality play, a twist-filled thriller and an appearing showcase suddenly, however it falls quick on all fronts. We wish to see Michael put his appreciable authorized experience to make use of saving his son… however for a decide, he reveals surprisingly horrible judgment. (We get our first style of his authorized strategy in a courtroom scene that’s so weird and outlandish, Ally McBeal would blush.) And it’s not simply him: Your Honor is riddled with nagging leaps of logic, absurd coincidences and folks brazenly yelling in public about their varied legal conspiracies.
Cranston’s presence helped to draw a powerful supporting forged, however the materials fails them, too. As mob boss Jimmy Baxter, Michael Stuhlbarg — so good on Boardwalk Empire and Fargo — is extra thought than character: a generically menacing unhealthy man who by no means develops past a obscure sketch of villainy. Expert actresses like Carmen Ejogo, Amy Landecker and Hope Davis are given little to do. And it’s not Doohan’s fault, however Adam rapidly turns into one of the crucial irritating TV characters in latest reminiscence. Sure, I perceive the boy is in a guilt-ridden panic, however he can’t cease himself from making incriminating errors, and watching him completely collapse isn’t compelling; it’s agonizing.
In actual fact, Your Honor is a troublesome watch generally: Mired in a tragic, blue visible palette, it wallows in cynicism and cruelty, however by no means gives sufficient perception to make the cruelty price it. It finds a good sufficient groove when it stays centered on Michael and his morally questionable schemes, however it will get much less attention-grabbing the extra it expands its scope, making an attempt to juggle half-baked subplots about political maneuvering, corruption inside the jail system, racial inequality and on and on. The nice Margo Martindale does present up in Episode four to offer a much-needed dose of frequent sense, however by then, it’s too late. The decision is already in.
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: Bryan Cranston does his finest, however his Showtime authorized thriller Your Honor is a brutally grim and remarkably dumb misfire.