house of lies (2014) season 3 review & tv preview - david l. $money train$ watts, futurxtv &...
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House of Lies (2014) Season 3 Review & TV Preview - David L. $Money Train$ Watts, FuTurXTV & HHBMedia.com - 2-20-2014Mary: “I know what I'm doing at work, but at home with him I don't have a fucking clue”Marty: “Welcome to the new economy America where only the richest, meanest and smartest will remain.”Marty: “The deterrent aspect of mutually assured destruction is predicated on the assumption that both parties are rational. Now you not being a good person by any stretch are at least a rational individual. I on the other hand, I'm a goddamn terrorist and I will crash my 767 right into your prodigious fucking forehead.”Marty: “You know what? Maybe I should suck your dick, I've already got your balls in my handMarty: H.B.S., that's Harvard Business School cause fuck if they are going to waste their valuable time saying that whole thing.”Marty: “You're gonna be eating so much crow when I come back here with blue balls you're gonna have feathers coming out of your ass.”TRANSCRIPT
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Mary: I know what I'm doing at work, but at home with him I don't have a
fucking clue
Marty: Welcome to the new economy America where only the richest, meanest and smartest will remain.
Marty: The deterrent aspect of mutually assured destruction is predicated on the assumption that both parties are rational. Now you not being a good
person by any stretch are at least a rational individual. I on the other hand,
I'm a goddamn terrorist and I will crash my 767 right into your prodigious
fucking forehead.
Marty: You know what? Maybe I should suck your dick, I've already got your balls in my hand
Marty: H.B.S., that's Harvard Business School cause fuck if they are going to
waste their valuable time saying that whole thing.
Marty: You're gonna be eating so much crow when I come back here with blue balls you're gonna have feathers coming out of your ass.
A subversive, scathing look at a self-loathing management consultant from a
top-tier firm. Marty, a highly successful, cutthroat consultant is never above
using any means (or anyone) necessary to get his clients the information they
want.ShowtimeIMDB
HOUSE OF LIES SEASON 3 (2014) REVIEW & TV PREVIEW 2-20-2014 2-20-2014 - Written By: David L. $Money Train$ Watts Journalist/Film Reviewer
FuTurXTV & HHBMedia.com - David Velo Stewart Editor HHBMedia.com - $$$$$
David L. $Money Train$ Watts FuTurXTV HHBMedia.com [email protected] www.hhbmedia.com David Velo Stewart
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It would be an insult to say that the best Black sitcom on TV right now is Showtimes
House of Lies merely because House of Lies is centered around the Black character
Marty Kaan played by Don Cheadle. The typical three pillars of urban TV comedies are
baby mama drama, hood jokes and bashing Buppies for not being real. If you think I am
exaggerating watch any Black sitcoms like BETs The Game and Lets Stay Together
or any Tyler Perry sitcoms on TBS or now on OWN and I defy you to find one episode
that does not one or all those three elements somewhere in any episode. I will say
again Kevin Harts Real Hollywood Husbands is one of the most funny, well written
and diverse Black sitcoms out today, but I still think House of Lies is the best Black
sitcom and one of the best sitcoms on TV on TV today. But the reason why I have to
even say House of Lies and Black sitcom in the same sentence is because there are
still millions of Blacks who have not seen Season 1 or 2 of House of Lies. And now we
have started Season 3 I want to start the debate before BET brings The Game back for
its new season in two weeks and starts claiming once again that it has TVs top Black
sitcom. What is being lost when Black Twitter is not going nuts about House of Lies as
much as The Game is that many Black TV viewers are missing the antics of one of TVs
most articulate, funny and unique Black characters. We have to see the best to know
how high to set the bar. Or you get embarrassing dumb slop like Tyler Perrys Love Thy
Neighbor. It would be too easy to say House of Lies was not Black enough because
some of its main characters are white and many of Martys clients are white. But that all
changes on Season 3 and it may be the season that draws in many new Black viewers.
House of Lies creator Matthew Carnahan ended last season on a highly dramatic note
as Marty quit his powerful management consultant firm Galweather-Stearn to start his
own management consultant firm Kaan & Associates. Jeannie Van Der Hooven (Kristen
Bell), who may or may not had drunken sex with Marty and told Marty she loved him,
decided to stay at Galweather-Stearn with Martys naively loyal numbers man Doug
Guggenheim (Josh Lawson). Even Clyde Oberholt (Ben Schwarz) abruptly and harshly
abandoned Marty to go work for Martys ex-wife and professional ball buster Monica
Talbot (Dawn Olivieri). So Martys world was left in shambles with no clear direction. But
Marty Kaan is a survivor and fighter, so he bounces back and gets Kaan & Associates
going and ready to take off. Eventually by the fifth episode of Season 3 Marty, Jeanie,
Doug and even disloyal backstabbing Clyde are fully reunited at Kaan & Associates.
David L. $Money Train$ Watts FuTurXTV HHBMedia.com [email protected] www.hhbmedia.com David Velo Stewart
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I will not give away spoilers or sneaks about all the outrageous and humorous twists
and turns and plot twists to make this impossible reunion possible. What is most
important that by the fifth episode the band is back together, so now the real hijinks,
chaos and confusion that usually follows when Martys best laid plans to salvage his
clients business hits a few minor speed bumps, major potholes or a sink hole of epic
destruction. Marty gets hired by a popular urban fashion label called DollaHyde that is
jointly controlled and owned by the sensible and business minded Dre Collins (Mekhi
Phifer) and the fun, free-wheeling and temperamental Lucas Frye (T.I.). Marty is
immediately thrown into an ethical dilemma when he realizes that the best way to take
DollaHyde to the next level of fashion mega-stardom and get DollaHyde a successful
IPO launch is to get rid of the troublesome and unpredictable Lucas. And Dre is whole
heartedly in agreement with Martys master plan to get rid of his childhood friend and
business partner because he also feels that Lucas is holding the DollaHyde brand back.
So from episode 4 Soldiers through episode 5 Soldiers, episode 6 Middlegame and
episode 7 Pushback we see the most developed minority storylines so far in House of
Lies. And these episodes were also a great way to showcase the new dynamic of Marty
having to defer his decisions like choosing to stick with Dre over Lucas to his new
partner Jeannie whereas the previous seasons Marty would just tell Jeannie what was
gonna happen and that would be it. But Jeannies character has grown up, so much that
she goes behind Martys back and seduces and sleeps with Lucas. Marty then learns
the next day that Lucas will sell his DollaHyde share to Dre not at $50 million but only at
$125 million. Mary looks shocked as Jeanine informs Marty that if he cannot get $125
Million then he is going to be Lucass bitch. This type of bold and ballsy Jeannie did not
exist before, so it is only going to make House of Lies stronger and more balanced. It is
Martys world on House of Lies, but he can no longer easily bully Jeannie to do things
or expect her to blindly following his orders. I also like the fact that Clyde fell hard from
being Martys biggest cheerleader to now a distant outcast/pariah until he proves he can
land a major whale of a client for Kaan & Associates. Clyde was so smooth and full of
himself that it is only inevitable that when gets back in good graces with Marty there will
always be the potential of him again crashing and burning. And one of my favorite
characters in the show is Doug because he is now married and under as much pressure
from his bossy wife to have a baby as he is from Marty to make great financial reports.
David L. $Money Train$ Watts FuTurXTV HHBMedia.com [email protected] www.hhbmedia.com David Velo Stewart
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What is also interesting in the DollaHyde storylines is how it is a mirror to all the turmoil
in Martys personal and home life with his son Roscoe Kaan (Donis Leonard, Jr.) and
his dad Jeremiah Kaan (Glynn Turman). As Marty gets closer to Dre as a business
partner and a friend we see him and Jeannie debate about whether Marty is really
wishing he had Dres normal family life. Marty in the first two seasons has gone well out
of his way to be supportive of Roscoes eccentric and trans-gender behavior. But Marty
is not feeling Roscoes new girlfriend Lex (Bex Taylor-Klaus) who likes to dress as and
act like boy. That is until Marty takes Lex home one night with Roscoe and then Lex has
to strip off her guy gear before going inside her suburban home. There is much friction
between Marty and Roscoe when Marty insists that Roscoe not bring Lex to Dres
mansion to meet Dres wife and their two well behaved kids. It seems like Roscoe could
be as weird as he wanted to be amongst his white schoolmates and at home, but Marty
was not going to let Roscoe embarrass him in front of an important Black client and
potential friend. Marty also does not approve of Jeremiah sleeping around with a young
Black female college flunky. There are many subtle parallels between Marty trying to
control his family in almost the same way he wants Dre to control or get rid of Lucas to
present DollaHyde as a respectable and profitable urban fashion empire. There has not
really been this many Black characters or multiple Black storylines since the Season 2
of House of Lies where we were introduced to Martys brother Malcolm Kaan (Larenz
Tate) and his old business school alum Tamara (Nia Long). Also, Marty is out jogging
late at night and then has to deal with the hot issue of police racial profiling Black men.
Marty had few options to fight the racism he experienced when the cops beat him up.
I also look forward on Season 3 of House of Lies to see where the writers will go with
Marty and Jeannie as a potential couple or lovers. It may not happen because it seems
they both like to avoid being the first one to admit their real feelings for each other. You
can see that the pressing fear that Marty and Jeannie face is getting rejected by one of
them and then forever be perceived as the emotionally weak one at work and among
their co-workers. And still complicating things in Martys life is his on and off again
toxic sexual relationship with Monica. I kinda feel bad that Dawn Olivieri has not gotten
an Emmy, SAG or Globe nom. She is so good at being bat crazy Monica that she
should get more critical accolades. Yet, I would have preferred Marty dating a strong,
independent sista character like the egotistical motivational speaker Sandra Joy (Salli
Richardson-Whitfield). But for some reason Sandra was only on one episode so far.
David L. $Money Train$ Watts FuTurXTV HHBMedia.com [email protected] www.hhbmedia.com David Velo Stewart
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Without a doubt I believe Marty Kaan is one of the most exciting, complex and original
characters on TV. Marty has been hailed by TV critics as one the first Black antiheroes.
Marty Kaan is not killing folks and running a criminal empire like Giancarlo Esposito did
on Breaking Bad as the Chicken Man. The difference is that Don Cheadle is the
shows lead character and not a side character. There have been an avalanche of
excellent Black TV antiheroes like Omar, Snoop, Avon Barksdale, Stringer Bell, Brodie
or Marlo Stanfield on The Wire. But we have to be honest and no matter how bad ass
those TV criminals were on The Wire there were also equally morally challenged Black
cop characters like Bunk, Kima or Lester Freeman. To be really fair the only other truly
lead Black antihero on TV today that can match Marty Kaan in cunning, ruthlessness
and smarts is BBCs Luther played by Idris Elba. So hopefully Season 3 will be another
breakout time for Don Cheadle to finally win an Emmy as Best Actor in Comedy Series
and hopefully another Golden Globe as well. In my opinion Don Cheadle deserves an
Emmy way more than Kerry Washington does for her silly, side piece role on Scandal.
And I truly do think that the DollaHyde narrative can easily attract some new Black fans
to House of Lies. And sometimes it is the most direct and sarcastic dialogue in House
of Lies that has me laughing out loud. For example, Doug is panicking and upset that
he may have killed Lucass dog by bringing some chocolates that caused the dog to get
fatally sick. Doug says, Who brings a dog to a night club. The second hand smoke
alone could kill him. The line is so Doug and it falls right in line with the ironic and
sometimes un-PC or unapologetic humor in the show. The good news for fans of House
of Lies is that Showtime has already renewed the comedy series for another season.
So we are guaranteed that Marty Kaan and all his Kaan & Associates crew will be back
next year doing and saying whatever it takes to get paid, close a deal or sign a client. I
am very proud to give House of Lies $$$$$ and cant wait to see the rest of Season 3.
David L. $Money Train$ Watts FuTurXTV HHBMedia.com [email protected] www.hhbmedia.com David Velo Stewart