Watershed moment for 'Dirty Sexy Money'
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- November
- 29
Last night’s episode of “Dirty Sexy Money” was a benchmark for the series, and not just because the identity of Nick’s half-sibling finally came out.
“The Watch” marked the moment when “DSM” switched off the soap suds and showed that it could be a pure, honest, excellent drama—instead of a melodrama.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the show’s campy fun: Jeremy’s job was to lighten last night’s heavy load, as he enlisted Lisa’s help in his quest to keep Sofia by making her think he’s a poor, struggling artist. Best line of the night was his at Lisa’s art gallery: “Let’s nude it up!”
(SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!)
But overall, the episode was honestly heart-wrenching, revolving around Nick and the Darlings reaction to the revelation that Nick’s dad had fathered Brian.
There wasn’t much suspense in which kid (or kids) it would turn out to be: Karen would be too icky, the twins too confusing and Patrick simply not dramatic enough.
That Nick’s bro turned out to be Brian, plot-wise, was perfect. Brian is the Darling who has hated Nick all his life (for whatever his mean reasons). And Nick has always hated the Darlings for taking his father away from him.
And now, for all those naysayers who scream, “WHY ON EARTH WOULD THIS GUY WORK FOR THIS HORRIBLE FAMILY,” Nick has a third reason to stick with his job.
First, it was to find out who killed his dad. Then, as Lisa pointed out last night, it was to get money for his various charities.
Now, there’s an even more compelling reason. The Darlings are literally Nick’s family.
Peter Krause got the opportunity to really show off his chops in what’s been sort of a reactive role: He forced Letitia to admit the truth he’d been dreading and finally told off Tripp about how the family robbed him of a childhood.
And talk about heart-wrenching: The hitch in Nick’s voice as he asked Tish, “And Brian is my brother?” was killer.
If all this wasn’t emotional enough, there was also Brian dealing with Tripp’s rejection and losing custody of his son. Can’t blame the guy for his nasty streak, yet there was a glimmer of humanity (and hope for a deeper relationship with Nick) when he invites his half-brother to sit with him in the church.
And sheesh, I got seriously teary when Brian gave Dutch’s watch to Brian Jr. before he left for Brazil. When that little munchkin let his father off the hook for not being able to say “I love you,” I nearly busted out the waterworks.
All this, plus Patrick’s dilemma of having to choose his political career and wife over Carmelita. Lots of folks thought the transgender girlfriend was a gimmick, but their relationship has turned out to be one of the most loving on the show.
Whew! Now that I’m thinking about it, that episode was kind of exhausting.
I imagine that the show will get back to its usual hammy hijinks next week—Juliet gets a mysterious visitor from the Seychelles and Nick finds out about Simon and Karen’s affair.
That’s a good thing, since the show couldn’t sustain this kind of emotional drainage every week. But for an hour, “DSM” showed that it’s capable of a lot more than just dirty, sexy fun.
(Photos courtesy of ABC)
This entry was posted
on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 9:40 am by Heather Salerno.
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