TV Series review: "The Big C"

While I was imprisoned in Texas (just kidding, Jenn) I had the privilege of watching the second season of "The Big C" and loved it.  I am just now watching the first season and it is equally as good.  The acting, the dialogue, the entire premise is perfect, at least to me.

First we have Laura Linney who has never been better and honestly I have never seen her turn in anything but a stellar performance in any role. In this, she seems like all of us, trying to deal with cancer (duh, no spoiler there, it's the Big C) on her own without telling her family but knowing she will have to clue them in pretty soon.  Every thing she does, every move she makes, every stilted conversation she has seems like how we would act and talk.  She makes us identify immediately with her character from the first episode, wanting to dig a pool in her front yard so she can teach her teenage son how to goof off in the pool and do silly dives.

Then we have Oliver Platt, not the obvious choice (to me) to be her husband but the difference in the two characters makes it work and it works fine, at least up to this point in the first season.  They are living apart because she is tired of being his mother-waitress-servant-cleaning lady.  He can't figure out why she doesn't want him in the house.  The two butt heads and reasonably so.  He is the kind of guy who shows up at the house with flowers but then wants you to go find a vase to put them in and, while you are at it, get him a beer.

The supporting cast is equally as good, everyone is fleshed out and given some foundation to work with as tangential characters.  

It could just be me, I could be reading something into this first season that is too deep or too important.  But I am loving it for all the right reasons:  acting, script, editing, filming and music. And I can't ignore the emotional context.  It is very good. It isn't maudlin, it isn't gratuitous and it certainly isn't sad.  Poignant at times, yes, but mostly real and sometimes just purely funny.  Check it out. It is available on Netflix so it is probably in the library system as well.

Two thumbs up from here.


.