TVSquad

(S02E05) Right about now, some of the Malloys should probably be having some second thoughts about returning to Eden Falls. The lure of big money is hard to resist, but it's certainly not going to be easy money. The dark turn to their adventure continues in episode five as we find Dahlia continuing to struggle with her new triple life, Pete causing more trouble for Wayne, and young Cael striking out and getting some story all his own.

Gallery: The Riches

Before we get to all that though, a little semi-off topic observation. Joel has mentioned over the past couple of weeks how the show has taken a much more dark and serious tone. I agree, of course, but the part of that I find interesting is the promotion. Every advert for the show that I see hints at a show that just doesn't exist. If you didn't know the show and tuned in based on those 30 second spots, I think you would be in for quite the shock. For whatever reason, FX has decided to give the impression that this is some kind of caper comedy. I think there could actually be a good show if things were taken in that direction, but it's not at all what the show is.

On a similar note, there was an interesting comment last week from egordon where he worried that the show could fall prey to "the spinning of untangle-able webs." That is actually something that I've considered before, but giving it more thought, I don't think it's going to be a problem for The Riches. The nature of who the Malloys are lends itself to being able to wrap things up quickly and get out of any sort of story jam. They already have a laundry list of hanging plots in their past. Were they to pack up and put Eden Falls in the rear view next week, it might not be the resolution we are all looking for, but it would fit right in with who these characters are.

Of course, I don't expect we are going to see that happen any time soon. As mentioned before, that Bayou Hills payday is a fat one, and it's going to help lessen the perception of many a threat. Something we saw to good effect as our new friend, P.I. Landry (Toby Huss), came calling. It did all play out as a throw-away story of the week, but then, that's only true if Landry doesn't come back. That's something I expect we will see at some point.

When he started going through the trash my first thought was that Wayne is much too careful to have anything incriminating in something so publicly accessible. The fact that Sam had tossed the towel, and was sharp enough to put two and two together and realize what could come of it, was a clever way to go. It also got us back to the always entertaining "partnership" between Wayne and Dale. It's a great dynamic because they both know there is no partnership, and they are both convinced that they have the upper hand.

Wayne also had his hands full with Hugh. I'm thrilled that the mojo transplant is taking. This Hugh is so much more fun. I love hearing him rattle off lines like how he doesn't want to spend his time with politicians, because they are liars and crooks. Right after he bitches because his crooked politician got fired. Hugh does see the world in a very particular way. Speaking of Hugh's go to zoning guy, Graham, I liked his replacement, Ulysses Gillard (Cullen Douglas). I suspect that Gillard has no idea the kind of mess he is getting himself into, but it's worth it for the simple fact that he has proven to be the catalyst for Hugh's mayoral campaign. That has all kinds of potential.

Meanwhile, Dahlia just continues to dig her hole deeper and deeper. It was pretty clear from her meeting at Devereaux's (Ntare Mwine) office that this just can't end well. He is just way too smart to get played for long. Add to that the fact that with everything else going on around Dahlia, she is really off of her game. The double life of being Dahlia with the family, and Cherien to the public was asking a lot. Add in another secret life of law abiding Dahlia and those dark clouds really start to roll in. I don't really have my finger on where Devereaux's heading with this. It sure seemed like he had taken just about all the crap he was going to take from Dahlia in that final scene in the squad car. But is there another angle for him to pursue? I'm curious to see where that goes.

The other thing I wasn't completely sure on was Di Di's little B&E adventure. Where did that come from? A little nostalgia for the old times, or did Cael get inside her head a little bit before he took off? With all of the tension between Wayne and Dahlia, which was so obvious to Di Di, is her curiosity for the buffer life finally being overshadowed by the reality of their surroundings?

And finally, saving the best for last, my favorite part of the episode was Cael. I was a little concerned with his story when his latest tent adventure started. It seemed like it was a path we had been down a couple times already. Making the move to have him set out on the road was a good choice. And it didn't go down at all like I thought. We've seen it so many times, when he started in with his pool hustle, I was sure there was a beating coming, to show him that life on the road has it's own particular set of bumps.

The escape into the waiting Cassidy RV was a pleasant surprise. That first conversation with Decklin was particularly good as there was a very nice tension between the two of them as they both tried to get a feel for what each others intentions really were. Cael might have misjudged a bit, or had his judgment clouded by Rosaline. Understandable I suppose, as it wouldn't be the first time he has made that mistake. There wasn't much to his meeting with Eamon, although you could tell that Cael had a whole history of who he had been in the past by his reaction. Still, that little "Welcome home." carried some weight for where things will be heading in the next couple weeks.

Overall, a nice solid episode, and I think they have things lining up for an exciting finish to what is probably going to end up being looked at as an all too brief season.