HBO's "Bored to Death" returned Sunday night for the start of its sophomore season of pseudo−noir and hijinks. The comedy, created by the writer Jonathan Ames, is about a writer named Jonathan Ames (Jason Schwartzman) who moonlights as an unlicensed private detective in his spare time.
The series itself is very episodic — a quality that tends to generate considerable inconsistency from show to show — but the season two premiere was one of its better efforts. The premiere starts the season off on a good note, focusing on the characters rather than the cases, which in the past has been a winning formula for the show.
Ted Danson returns as Ames's friend and editor, the drunkard George Christopher. George is well past middle age but still has a hard time maintaining a healthy relationship or fulfilling responsibilities. In the show, George functions as a warning to Ames: If Ames does not mature soon, he may end up as alone and messed up as George. Danson smartly plays this character with a dry, cynical demeanor that makes George's ridiculousness appear more grounded and believable.
Zach Galifianakis from "The Hangover" (2009) plays Ames's other friend, Ray Hueston, giving the actor another chance to portray the only type of character he seems to ever play: a weird, though harmless, man−child. Galifianakis has a deadpan delivery that works well with his many strong one−liners.
For instance, when his girlfriend tries to break up with him because she is no longer happy, he states, "Nobody is happy. My parents have been together for 40 years and they haven't been happy for one second." Galifianakis speaks these lines with an expression that says his character honestly believes that his logic is strong enough to stop his girlfriend from leaving him, and he sees nothing humorous nor wrong with what he just said. It is the kind of childishness that will put a smirk on the viewer's face.
The focus of the actors is not on the humor in the script, though. They are not trying to create comical characters, but rather, to create real people that the viewer can laugh at because of their obvious flaws and the situations they put themselves in.
It is a refreshing change to see a show with humor that comes naturally from the situation and does not feel like the script was written with a bunch of jokes stuffed into it that do nothing to advance the plot.
This organic comedy is showcased in how George describes himself as a libertarian because he is "fiscally responsible but sexually out of control." George does not find anything humorous in that statement; it is just honestly how he sees his own life.
This dryness is prevalent throughout the episode, as Ames continues to be an unlicensed detective because he thinks getting a license would probably just be a lot of paperwork. It is comedy that speaks volumes about the character rather than being a throwaway punch line.
The show does at times lose some of its appeal because it often treads into the realm of pretentiousness despite the plot's absurdity. The show frequently drops references to Zadie Smith, Herman Melville and Vladimir Nabokov, and not in a way that furthers any development, instead coming across as name−dropping highbrow literature. The references seem out of place, since the characters are too unaware and immature to be thinking of these kinds of allusions off the tops of their heads in normal, everyday conversations.
Another flaw of the show is that, because so much time is given to Ames and his friends, very little time is spent on developing Ames's clients. It would make the cases more compelling if the viewer got to know a little more about the clients, if only because it is always interesting to learn more about the type of person who would hire an unlicensed private detective off Craigslist.
The series' first episode back had exactly what any viewer would expect from the series: It was character−driven ludicrousness comparable to lesser Woody Allen films. The show is not packed with jokes, but after a few episodes, the series gets better because the viewer can understand the characters, who start to feel like old friends — messed up old friends.
