BuzzFeed: "The Americans Season 2 Arrives Just As U.S.–Russian Relations Turn Icy"

After Sochi, the wolf, the bitter protests, and human rights violations, the second season of the FX Cold War drama arrives at the perfect time to look back at failed Soviet ambitions. Minor spoilers ahead.

At BuzzFeed, you can read my latest feature, "The Americans Season 2 Arrives Just As U.S.–Russian Relations Turn Icy," in which I review the second season of FX's The Americans.

With the closing of the Sochi Olympics earlier this week, Russia is on our collective minds once more: FX has rather cannily picked the perfect time to launch the second season of its gripping Cold War drama The Americans, which revolves around a set of married Soviet sleeper agents, Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys), in suburban 1980s Washington, D.C.

Yes, The Americans has car chases and street brawls, silly wigs and costume changes (not to mention one scene in particular that pushes the boundaries of basic cable depictions of sexuality), but these elements are window dressing for what lies at the true heart of the series: an exploration of national and personal identity. While the show might depict the high-stakes Cold War skirmishes and battles between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, there is a canny investigation of ideology, loyalty, and self-identity unfolding within these characters, even as the collateral damage they create in their wake mounts.

The risky missions and the tradecraft that the Jenningses embrace — dead drops, legends, and sleeper cell mentalities — become emblematic for thwarted Soviet ambition. Until the Sochi Olympics, this intracountry strife and its secret wars seemed so far removed from our daily life, but The Americans arrives at a time when Russia is once more at the forefront of the news cycle. The futility of these spies’ operations is a tacit reminder of the fluidity of the international stage and the shortness of memory of its participants.

In the show’s first season, the audience quickly learned the stakes for the Jenningses. They live on a seemingly placid street across from Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), who, coincidentally, is the FBI agent tasked with tracking down undercover KBG officers. And the duo is also in constant fear both of being unmasked and of having their children — Paige (Holly Taylor) and Henry (Keidrich Sellati), who initially have no idea what their parents are doing — taken from them.


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BuzzFeed: "Veronica Mars and 8 Other TV Shows You Can Only Stream On Amazon Prime"

Looking to get caught up on Veronica Mars before the movie comes out on March 14? Turns out, the only place you can do so now is on Amazon Prime Instant.

At BuzzFeed, you can read my latest feature, "9 TV Shows You Can Only Stream On Amazon Prime," in which I run nine shows that you can only watch on Amazon Prime.

1. Veronica Mars

A long time ago, we used to be friends… and you used to be able to stream Veronica Mars on Netflix. But those days are long gone and on Jan. 9, Amazon Prime Instant announced that it had secured exclusive streaming rights to all three seasons of the UPN/CW sleuth series. And what perfect timing to get caught up (or refresh yourself) on all of the intrigues in Neptune: The feature film sequel opens on March 14, marshmallows.

2. Downton Abbey

Episodes of Julian Fellowes’ well-heeled period drama — which airs Stateside on PBS’ Masterpiece Classic and centers on the Crawley clan and their servants — can only be seen on Amazon Prime Instant these days. Downton’s first three seasons are available for streaming on the platform, while the series’ fourth just premiered earlier this week on PBS.

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The Daily Beast: "The Bridge: FX’s New U.S.-Mexican Border Thriller"

FX’s The Bridge, about a serial killer investigation that entangles both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border, is very good. If you haven’t seen the Danish-Swedish series it’s based on, you might even think it’s great.

At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest story (one of my very last ones, in fact), "FX's Border-Killer Thriller," in which I review FX's The Bridge, based on the Danish/Swedish drama Broen, which begins tonight at 10 p.m. on FX.

Borders are complex signifiers, reinforcing both national and cultural identities as well as distinguishing between outsiders and insiders. Where you are, how you see yourself, depends largely on what side of the wall—visible or invisible—you’re standing on at the moment. Few modern-day national borders are as fraught or as psychologically charged as that between the United States and Mexico, a nearly 2,000-mile line in the sand that is the most frequently crossed international border in the world.

It’s this international way station that acts as the backdrop for FX’s provocative new mystery thriller The Bridge, which is based on the Danish/Swedish drama Broen and which begins its 13-episode run Wednesday night at 10 p.m. The American adaptation of the hit drama series (a ratings success in the Nordic region as well as in the U.K.) moves its crosscultural concerns away from Scandinavia, instead exploring the socioeconomic, psychological, and cultural effects of the border between the U.S. and Mexico and two detectives from either side of the divide.

When the corpse of a woman is discovered in the middle of the Bridge of the Americas (also known as the Cordova Bridge), which links El Paso, Texas with Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, each country claims jurisdiction over the incident. As the bridge is shut down while the identity of the victim is ascertained, detectives Sonya Cross (Diane Kruger) and Marco Ruiz (Demián Bichir) square off over whether an an ambulance—carrying a wealthy American citizen in the throes of a heart attack—should be allowed to cross the border.

It’s the first time that these two disparate people—American and Mexican, female and male, introspective and gregarious—have met, and the collision between Sonya and Marco informs much of the drama to come as they are forced to work together to track down an insidious and intelligent killer. The woman on the bridge, as the detectives come to learn, isn’t just a single corpse: the top half and the bottom half belong to two separate victims, one an American judge and the other an unknown female, one of former murder capital Juárez’s hundreds of slain women in the last 20-odd years, whose continued disappearances and deaths now register barely a mention in the American media.

The killer, it seems, has a need to bring to light some of the shocking inequalities between the U.S. and Mexico, but he is no crusader. Instead, he—or perhaps she—delights in causing mayhem on both sides of the border, illuminating the travesties facing those trapped by the border while simultaneously perpetuating them. He has a drive to create both carnage and impact, and he reaches out to Daniel Frye (Matthew Lillard, appropriately smarmy here), a drug-addicted newspaper reporter working well below his potential, in order to cast his message even wider.

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The Daily Beast: "Joelle Carter's Ava Crowder: The Most Badass Woman on TV"

She’s wielded a skillet, a rifle, and—in last night’s episode of Justified—nearly ignited a man. Joelle Carter talks to me about the evolution of Ava Crowder, empowerment, and last night's explosive episode of the FX drama.

One choice quote: “We wanted to see them on top of a mountain before the fall,” said Carter.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "The Most Badass Woman on TV," in which I sit down with Joelle Carter to talk about playing Ava Crowder, empowerment, and more.

FX’s Justified, based on characters created by novelist Elmore Leonard, revolves around criminals and lawmen who collide in a never-ending bloody battle. Unfolding largely in the backwoods of modern-day Harlan County, Kentucky, the show is grounded in a rough-and-tumble man’s world, one containing a very specific code of honor among the hairy-chested set. It’s a show about how we often stumble upon the path of darkness, how violence defines our worldview, how a gun can represent the law or criminality.

But it’s also a show that features one of the strongest women on television in Ava Crowder, one-time battered wife-turned outlaw who has emerged as a force to be reckoned with over the course of the last four seasons. As magnificently played by Joelle Carter in a tightrope performance, she’s a character who engages the viewer’s sympathies while indulging in all sorts of bad behavior: whacking uppity men with skillets, slaying vicious pimps, punching whores, and in Tuesday’s episode of Justified (“Decoy”), nearly setting a man on fire with little more than a cigarette lighter and a snifter of high-proof booze.

Ava’s behavior here is, well, absolutely justified. Her very much NSFW scene is fueled by a desire, both on the part of Ava and the audience, to see Mike O’Malley’s Nicky Augustine pay for treating the Harlan businesswoman as nothing more than a common whore. As Ava uses her sexuality—just one of the many weapons in her deadly arsenal—to get closer to Nicky, the audience cheers her on, wanting Nicky go up in flames, to be punished for his awful misogyny, and for reducing Ava to a simple girl who turns tricks.

Carter, 40, said that the scene is intended to be a “slow burn,” a taut sequence where Ava waits to discover if Boyd (Walton Goggins) has been killed, only to turn her attentions on the man jeopardizing her lover. “Ava reacts before she thinks, sometimes,” she said, laughing.

In person, Carter barely resembles Ava Crowder. Perched on a chair in a corner of a Beverly Hills bar on an unseasonably dreary Los Angeles day, her blonde hair is cut short and her eyebrows dyed for a futuristic short film that she’s producing and starring in. Gone is Ava’s Kentucky drawl, replaced with a rounded accent that could be from Anywhere, U.S.A. (“It’s always in my repertoire,” she said. “When I get drunk or lazy or something, you’ll hear the twang.”)

Last night’s explosive scene displays Ava at a high-wattage intensity, a dangerous cocktail of boiling rage and violent, sometimes unpredictable, self-empowerment.

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The Daily Beast: "Keri Russell On The Americans, Sleeper Agents, Motherhood & More"

On FX’s The Americans, which begins Wednesday, Keri Russell plays a Soviet sleeper agent in 1980s suburban D.C. I talk with the former Felicity star about Russian spies, secret lives, and being a mom.

At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Keri Russell On The Americans, Sleeper Agents, Motherhood, and More," in which I sit down with Keri Russell to talk about FX Networks's new 1980s espionage drama The Americans (and why it's perhaps the anti-Felicity), motherhood, and more.

In the opening scene of The Americans, Joe Weisberg’s tense new 1980s spy drama, Soviet sleeper agent Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell) flirts with a middle-aged stranger in a Washington, D.C., bar.

Donning a blond Pretty Woman-style wig and a short dress, Russell is nearly unrecognizable, convincingly transformed into a barfly who pretends to be turned on by a G-man’s security clearance. Elizabeth and her mark head to a hotel room, where she proceeds to seduce him in order to elicit top-secret information, engaging in a range of sexual contact that’s all recorded and later listened to by Elizabeth’s husband, Phillip (Matthew Rhys).

In other words, this is the anti-Felicity.

“Oh, yeah, blow jobs and push-up bras and wigs,” says Russell, laughing. “It’s certainly a far cry.”

It’s January, and Russell sits demurely on a couch at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena. The 36-year-old actress is animated and excited, prone to waving her hands and pounding her fists emphatically on her knees while talking. It’s impossible to believe that it’s been more than 10 years since Russell played Felicity Porter on The WB’s beloved coming-of-age drama Felicity between 1998 and 2002. In the time since Felicity wrapped, Russell segued into a movie career, starring in the late Adrienne Shelly’s 2007 Sundance favorite Waitress, Mission: Impossible 3 (which reunited Russell with Felicity co-creator J.J. Abrams), and a slew of others. (A brief return to television, as the female lead opposite Will Arnett in Mitch Hurwitz’s 2010 Fox comedy Running Wilde, was short-lived.)

In person, Russell is warm and open, nothing like the character she plays on The Americans, which begins Wednesday night on FX. While she’s all high-waisted jeans and smiles on the surface—the perfect portrait of 1980s suburban motherhood who brings over home-baked brownies to her new neighbors—Elizabeth is, underneath, a brutal and unflinching killer who believes in the mission given to her and her “husband” by their Russian overseers.

It’s a bit ironic that Russell is now playing a spy. After Felicity, Abrams went on to create the Jennifer Garner-led ABC espionage thriller Alias, the idea for which grew out of a writers’ room discussion about what it would be like if Felicity became a spy. (Alias would make a star out of former Felicity guest star Garner and become an international hit.) But while Alias featured a spy who was one of the good guys, The Americans’ Elizabeth is anything but on the side of the angels.

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The Daily Beast: "Comedy Clash: Charlie Sheen’s Anger Management & Louis C.K.’s Louie"

Tabloid fodder Charlie Sheen returns to TV with FX’s lazy Anger Management, which feels out of place on the cable network, particularly when it sits beside FX’s more experimental and daring fare. I compare Sheen’s new show with Louis C.K.’s Louie, which returns for a third season on Thursday.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Comedy Clash: Charlie Sheen’s Anger Management & Louis C.K.’s Louie," in which I compare and contrast the new Sheen comedy vehicle, Anger Management, with the similarly themed Louie. Both shows revolve around middle-aged men, both air Thursday on FX, and yet that's when the similarities stop altogether...

Charlie Sheen returns to television with FX’s Anger Management, beginning Thursday.

If that statement fills you with dread, we’re simpatico in our TV-comedy leanings. Putting aside the fact that Sheen is a thug with a penchant for substance abuse and violence against women, Anger Management—developed by Bruce Helford (The Drew Carey Show) and based on the 2003 Jack Nicholson film—is toxically mediocre.

Sheen plays a variation on himself: a womanizer named Charlie who derailed his career with a public flameout. (We need not rehash the specifics of his departure from Two and a Half Men and the loopy publicity engine he stoked during his live concert tour and frequent TMZ interviews.) In Anger Management, the fictional Charlie Goodson ended his baseball career by trying to break a bat over his knee. Now he helps people with their own rage problems!

Anger Management, which FX acquired from Debmar-Mercury (the production company that bestowed Tyler Perry's House of Payne upon the world), feels entirely out of place on the network. In general, FX has had a holy mission of developing edgy, provocative, and original fare. On the comedy side, the cable network funneled its offbeat vision into the delightfully oddball It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the raunchy animated comedy Archer, surrealist Wilfred, and Louis C.K.’s exceptional Louie, which returns for its third season on the same night that Anger Management begins its run.

Louie and Anger Management couldn’t be more different from each other, despite the fact that both shows revolve around a middle-aged white guy dealing with middle-aged white-guy problems. (It’s worth noting, however, that Louie C.K.’s paternal grandmother was Mexican, and he lived in Mexico City until he was seven.) While comedy firefly Louie emits a decidedly incandescent indie feel, Anger Management feels like it rolled out of the same factory that continues to mass-produce Two and a Half Men.

The juxtaposition of Louie and Anger Management, airing on the same night on FX, is head-scratching. These two shows cannot compare to one another on any level. For a network that has been so brave and experimental with its comedy development, Anger Management feels like a creative misstep. Below are five examples of the inherent differences between Louie and Anger Management.

SUBJECT

Both shows feature a fictionalized version of their lead actor. While Anger Management stars Sheen as a Sheen-esque blowhard, Louie stars Louie C.K. as a divorced single dad who works as a stand-up comic. Both revolve largely around the familial, romantic, and professional concerns of the two men, but the similarities end there. Anger Management finds Charlie working as a therapist with a specialization in, well, anger management. The show follows him to various group-therapy sessions—one in his home composed entirely of Caucasians and another in a prison that is more ethnically diverse—and as he deals with his materialistic ex-wife, Jennifer (Shawnee Smith); his sexually adventurous therapist best friend, Kate (Selma Blair); and his daughter, Emma (Daniela Bobadilla).

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The Daily Beast: "Fall TV Report Card: The Winners and Losers"

With the 2011-12 television season in full swing and the cancellation orders stacking up, Jace Lacob rounds up the season’s winners (Revenge! Homeland!), losers (Man Up! Whitney!), and draws.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest story, "Fall TV Report Card: The Winners and Losers," in which I offer up not a critic's list, or a Best of 2011 TV list, but a business story selecting the winners and losers (as well as draws) for the first half of the 2011-12 television season. (Those selections are in the gallery.)

With the 2011-12 television season well underway, it’s become increasingly clear that this isn’t the best fall the broadcasters have ever had. Back in May, when the networks touted their new offerings to advertisers, it appeared they were trying to take some risks with their programming.

But the opposite is true: most of those shows featured what the networks hoped were built-in audiences for retro brand settings (Pan Am! The Playboy Club!) or remakes of vintage television (Charlie’s Angels, it’s back to pop-culture heaven for you), but viewers largely stayed away from these and many of the new fall shows.

Those claiming that viewers’ attention is elsewhere, such as on the Internet, likely don’t have a response for the oversize audience for things like AMC’s The Walking Dead, now the highest-rated cable show on the air, or the first post–Charlie Sheen episode of CBS’s Two and a Half Men. (The latter could be due to sampling, but the show has remained consistently in the range of 14 million to 16 million viewers since then.) It seems as though people are watching television, but they’re increasingly just not that excited about what’s airing on the broadcasters. (Just look at the declining fortunes of once-invulnerable reality franchise The Biggest Loser.) Which is downright worrisome, as the networks have to replace aging series and churn out new and zeitgeist-grabbing programming on a yearly basis. And sorry, Fox, but that wasn’t The X Factor, despite the nonstop hype.

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The Daily Beast: "American Horror Story: The Craziest Show on TV"

The most divisive show on television is FX’s American Horror Story, a haunted-house drama created by Glee’s Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, with viewers and critics loving it, hating it, or loving to hate it.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "American Horror Story: The Craziest Show on TV," in which Maria Elena Fernandez and I, in our latest He Said/She Said discussion, examine the show's merits and failings and attempt to come to something resembling an agreement about the show. (Spoiler: we don't.)

What is your take on American Horror Story? Head to the comments section to discuss, debate, and react.

American Horror Story airs Wednesdays at 10 pm ET/PT on FX.

The Daily Beast: "Margo Martindale: Emmy’s Stealth Frontrunner"

Nominee Margo Martindale, in the running for outstanding supporting actress, may not be prepping an Emmy acceptance speech--but she should be, especially after her magnificently malevolent turn as Mags Bennett on FX's Justified this year.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Emmy’s Stealth Frontrunner," in which I sit down with Martindale to discuss playing Justified’s Mags Bennett, how she won’t be wasted on CBS’s A Gifted Man, and why she believes in ghosts.

Justified returns for a third season in 2012.

Put an End to My Troubles: Getting to Know the Mystery on the Season Finale of Justified

If there is any justice in the world--our world, that is, and not the rough-and-tumble Harlan County--Margo Martindale will walk away with an Emmy nomination (and, one imagines, a win) for her jaw-dropping performance as Mags Bennett this season. Tough-as-nails and quick with her rapier wit, Mags was a top-notch schemer with the brutality to match her Machiavellian machinations, and Martindale brought her to life with all of the grit and dust of the Kentucky mountains intact.

And if there was a highlight of the second season of FX's sensational and atmospheric lawman drama Justified, a season overflowing with dramatic highs and serpentine plot twists galore, it was Martindale's accomplished turn as the head of the Bennetts, a pot-growing clan that has been enmeshed in a feud with the Givens for seventy years. Would Mags and Raylan bury the hatchet? Or bury it in each other's backs? That was the question swirling around the season finale, one populated by several other compelling strands: the quest of vengeance enacted by poor Loretta McCready, the wily plots carried out by bad boy Boyd Crowder, and the future happiness between Raylan and ex-wife Winona.

In the end, Season Two came to a close with much bloodshed, violence, and enmity, much in the same way that it began: with two people sitting across from one another, over a bottle of Mags Bennett's infamous apple pie.

There was a sense of coming full-circle here in the terrific and taut season finale ("Bloody Harlan"), written by Fred Golan and directed by Michael Dinner (who helmed the pilot and second episodes of the series), as Mags poured out another dram of apple pie.

Once more, the poison, we're told, was in the glass and not the jar. I didn't think that dear old Mags would try to kill Raylan, but as soon as she grabbed two separate glasses--one from above and one from below--I knew that Mags had made her choice. That she died, her stomach wrenching from the very same poison that killed Loretta's daddy as she made her peace, both with the world and with Raylan Givens, shuffling off this mortal coil and clutching Raylan's hand was profound and perfect. Was it the only way to end a bitter feud that began seventy years earlier? Was Mags going to see her dead sons--Coover and Doyle--once more and "get to know the mystery" that she spoke of so fondly in her final moments?

Loretta did get one shot off at Mags, shooting her in the leg, but rather than become a killer and enact her revenge on the woman who killed her father--becoming, in essence, Mags herself--Loretta is given a second chance at life. It's Raylan who talks her down, which is ironic as Raylan knows a thing or two about vengeance and about killing. And it's interesting that it's Mags herself who serves as the conduit for Loretta's new life twice: first in killing her father (an effort to transform Loretta's existence and take her away from a life of crime) and here in the final showdown. But is Mag's suicide an escape from punishment--both Loretta's and the law's--or a balancing of the scales? A life for a life? Hers for Loretta's? Hmmm...

I do mourn the loss of the Bennetts, though interestingly Dickie--the one man whom everyone wanted dead--managed to survive everything this season, including what seemed like a pretty certain execution from Boyd. The man with a limp ended up being the last man standing. Which means that in the world of Justified, the story of the Bennetts might not be over quite yet. With Dickie still kicking and the identity of the mysterious old woman who got him out of jail last week still unclear, there are still quite a few story threads to be picked up down the line. And that's a Good Thing Indeed, though I will miss the wrathful leadership of Mags herself.

The season finale also left more than a few storylines dangling in the wind: would Ava survive Dickie's gunshot, falling to the ground in her own kitchen much like Helen a few episodes ago? Would a pregnant Winona face the future with Raylan... or without him? And would Raylan stay in Kentucky or get the hell out?

We at least learn that Art hasn't completely written off Raylan as a lost cause. He and the Marshal Service do come to Raylan's rescue, just as Doyle is about to end Raylan for good. (As soon as Doyle took the gunshot to the head, it was clear that the bullet had been fired by marksman Tim.) We've not spent much time in Lexington these past few episodes, though the relationship between Raylan and Art did get some depth this season.

However, I'm still of the mindset that we desperately need some development of Tim and Rachel, who got seriously shafted this season (even more than in Season One) when it came to storylines. But this is a quibble that I hope is addressed when the writers begin to break stories for Season Three; these two need some more screen time and some additional shading, which is difficult when much of the action takes place not in the offices of Lexington but on the dirt roads of Harlan.

As for Boyd, he proved himself to be just as--if not more--crafty than old Mags Bennett, envisioning that the Bennetts would attempt to gain the upper-hand during their parley and take out his compatriots. (I loved the shot of Johnny Crowder wheeling out of the barn after he blew up his own house, with two of the Bennett's goons inside.) While the finale once again came down to white hat Raylan working together with black hat Boyd, there was the sense here that Raylan may have been willing to cross a moral line and allow Boyd to murder Dickie... until he realized that he needed his old adversary alive.

But it was the sight of Boyd, literally handing Raylan's white hat back to him, that made me think that Raylan's moral compass wasn't quite as haywire as it appeared. Was it a moment of weakness or of the realization that he and/or Boyd couldn't enact justice upon Dickie Bennett? Or was it something far more pragmatic?

Ultimately, I thought that "Bloody Harlan" was the perfect ending to a sensational season of Justified, one that masterfully balanced individual, character-based plotlines (Winona/Raylan, the salvation of Boyd Crowder, Loretta McCready) with episodic plots... and one hell of an overarching, serialized narrative, one that took the strengths of the series and exploded them sky-high. While I was a huge fan of the first season, it's this second season that demonstrated the real depth and scope of Justified... and has given the writers some mighty big shoes to fill when it comes to Season Three.

What did you think of the season finale of Justified? Did it meet your expectations? What will happen to Raylan, Ava, Winona, Boyd, and Dickie? Who was that mysterious old woman from last week? And how on earth will we be able to stand the long wait for Season Three? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Season Three of Justified is set to air next year.

Black as Coal, Dark as Sin: Quick Thoughts on the Next Three Fantastic Episodes of Justified

It's always gratifying when a fairly procedural show takes a serialized plot and runs with it.

That's the case in the next three amazing installments of FX's Justified, which pick up the threads of last week's Winona-centric "Blaze of Glory" and several other ongoing storylines and take them to some truly remarkable places, including next week's "The Spoil," which might just be the strongest episode of the series to date.

It's with these episodes, viewed individually or as a whole, that Justified not only reaches the heights of last season's Crowder storyline but overtakes it as well, transforming this season into an intoxicating blend of procedural cases of the week and a larger mythology for the series, one that entangles Raylan and Winona, Boyd and Ava, Mags Bennett and her clan... and a coal company with designs on the mountain and lands of both Harlan and Bennett counties.

This last element introduces one of the season's most intriguing and nuanced characters in Rebecca Creskoff's Carol Johnson, an executive from said coal company who has not only an interesting offer for Boyd Crowder but also for the good people of both counties. Her presence in Kentucky is the powderkeg that threatens to ignite the rest of the season, bringing with her questions of culpability, of moral boundaries, and of land rights. It's an interesting approach that pays off in dividends here and Carol manages to infiltrate the lives with Raylan, Boyd, and Mags with a good deal of bluster and confidence.

I'm not going to spoil the plot of what lies ahead, but I will say that these three episodes are absolutely outstanding. While the entire cast shines (praise goes to Timothy Olyphant, Natalie Zea, Walton Goggins, and Joelle Carter, as always), it's Margo Martindale's Mags Bennett who steals the show here. Over the course of the next three episodes, we see Mags to go some places I never imagined (particularly in "The Spoil" and "Brother's Keeper"), from the maternal spark that's lit by the presence of young Loretta McCready (Kaitlyn Dever) in her clan and the grandstanding speech she gives in "The Spoil," to her shocking rage and the power she holds over her sons. Martindale gives a stand-out performance that's jaw-dropping as she wields an unnatural amount of power over her malevolent sons and the county as a whole.

Look for some great scenes between Mags and Carol Johnson, and between Mags and Boyd in the next few weeks as the Bennett plot kicks into high gear. But it's Martindale's performance during a scene in "Brother's Keeper" that floored me entirely, as it shows in no uncertain terms just what Mags holds dear and what she doesn't. Brutal, emotional, and jaw-dropping, it's a menacing scene that pits Mags against Raylan and likely sets up the showdown between the Marshall and the Bennetts at the end of the season.

(UPDATE: As some are inquiring about Jeremy Davies' Dickie Bennett and his presence in the next three installments, I'll say that Dickie is definitely in these episodes and has a fair amount to do, especially in "Brother's Keeper"... and I'll reveal that we learn just how he got that limp of his. Hmmmm....)

All in all, three fantastic installments of Justified await you over the next three weeks and you'd be crazy--or drunk on Mags' apple pie--if you miss them.

Justified airs Wednesday nights at 10 pm ET/PT on FX.

The Gunslinger Returns: An Advance Review of Season Two of FX's Justified

Lawman Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is back with a bang as the gripping second season of FX's taut drama series Justified kicks off tonight.

In the time since we last caught up with the beleaguered Raylan, this taut series hasn't lost any of its luster or its off-kilter nature. Season Two, which launches tonight, begins with "The Moonshine War," which picks up exactly where we left off at the end of last season as Raylan, Boyd (Walton Goggins), and Ava (Joelle Carter) attempted to fend off fire from the Miami drug cartel's hitmen.

The action picks up moments later to reveal just how the three manage to live to tell the tale. But rather than sweep last season's plotlines under the rug, there are consequences to the shootout in Bulletville and to Raylan professionally. Will he be held accountable for the death of Bo Crowder? Will he stay in Harlan or return to Miami? Will he choose his ex-wife Winona (Natalie Zea) or Ava? Will Boyd choose the path of vengeance or of godliness?

Fortunately for us, these questions loom over the action of the electric second season, which effortlessly sets up new adversaries for Raylan and the U.S. Marshal Service in the Bennetts, a Harlan County clan of pot growers who rule the county with an iron first.

Or make that an iron fist in a metaphorical velvet glove.

Heading up this operating is Mags Bennett, the matriarch of the clan, played to perfection by Margo Martindale, who plays Mags as a combination of feudal lord and tough-love matron. Her front might be the rundown local store that . operates while cooking up some mean moonshine (or as she calls it "apple pie," 180-proof, cut with some cider, cinnamon, and vanilla for good measure). Mags is ruthless, duplicitous, and above all else, dangerous.

There's also some bad blood between the Bennetts and the Givenses, a fact that's hinted at in the early episodes. Whatever passed between Mags and Arlo has the potential to ignite once again, especially as the vacuum of power left by Bo's death means that someone will likely try to step in to fill his criminal shoes in Harlan. Not a good thing, considering the amount of bloodshed that the Crowders brought to the table.

Mags isn't in this business alone. While she remains, um, distant from the sort of blood-letting that her particular operation entails, Mags isn't above getting her hands dirty when needs must, as we see in the season opener. But she's also the kind of woman who has the reputation for "helping" the locals with their glaucoma troubles. Her enforcers are her sons, played ably by Lost's Jeremy Davies, Brad William Henke, and Joseph Lyle Taylor, the latter of which plays Doyle, a local sheriff as crooked as they come. (Special praise is due for Davies, whose limping, conniving, sadistic Dickie Bennett is a nasty piece of work. This is a gripping portrayal miles away from the endearing genius of Daniel Faraday and there's a wounded animal nature to Dickie's savagery.)

While I don't want to spoil too much, I will say to keep your eyes open for Kaitlin Dever's Loretta McCrady, one of the most spirited and clever character to appear on Justified. Following in the footsteps of the characters played by Winter's Bone's Jennifer Lawrence and True Grit's Hallie Steinfeld, Loretta is another kick-ass teenage girl who doesn't suffer fools gladly and is more than capable of making her way through this world alone. When her father (the always fantastic Chris Mulkey) vanishes, she's taken under Mags' wing. But this girl knows how to fight her way out of a tough situation and something tells me that Mags may have underestimated this pint-sized brawler. (Witness the way in "The Moonshine War" that she takes out the triple-named sex offender harassing her in the grow shed and you'll see what I mean.)

And then there's Boyd Crowder who has one hell of a transformation at the very tail end of the third episode that must be seen to be believed. Boyd ends up in a profession very much suited to his, uh, unique skill set but one can't help but feel that he's looking backward instead of looking forward. With Raylan watching his every move with as much intensity as Boyd's new-found god, something has got to give before long. And once you reawaken that dragon, there will be hell to pay.

All in all, Justified returns with its swagger, precision, and character intact in its second season. Olyphant is once again at the top of his game with a character that he was born to play and the thwarted friendship between Raylan and Boyd remains at the heart of this crime drama. This is an Elmore Leonard-ian drama with all of the quirkiness, violence, and memorable characters that such a description entails. Season Two, off to an electrifying start in the three episodes provided to press for review, promises to delve even deeper into the mindsets of the characters in Lexington and Harlan as the tension mounts for what's likely to be a major brawl between the Marshal Service and those Bennetts. Me, I just can't wait for the inevitable explosions.

Season Two of Justified premieres tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on FX.

Yup, Archer Is Back Tonight: Why You Need to Watch

FX's subversive animated comedy Archer returns tonight and not a moment too soon, for television needs the gonzo spirit and out-there humor of this Adam Reed creation.

The first seven episodes of Season Two of Archer, provided to press for review, might be the strongest to date, offering up a virtual cornucopia of sight gags, double entendre, shockingly foul language, superspy hijinks, and one of the worst examples of humanity in HR executive Pam Poovey.

To say that these memorable characters are flawed is an understatement of the highest order; they're so morally corrupt, so self-absorbed and tragically insane, that it makes for obsessive and unpredictable viewing. And that's perhaps the beauty and magic of Archer: in creating a cast of characters who are so reprehensible in every way, it's impossible to turn your eyes away from the carnage--both physical and personal--that follows in their wake.

Along the way, Sterling Malory Archer and his covert cohorts at ISIS are tasked with protecting a slew of important VIPs: from a slutty, seemingly nymphomaniac teenager in the season opener "Swiss Miss" to a Chihuahua-toting actress in "Movie Star," while a pipeline, a blood sample, the wee Baby Seamus, Cyril's sex addiction, Pam's thirst for gossip, Mallory's Hollywood dreams, and Lana's low self-esteem all play right into the various plots unfolding his season.

Building on the strength of the first season, creator Adam Reed deepens the characters here, giving screen time to supporting characters like Krieger and Ray Gillette and broadening the world of ISIS exponentially. Familiar faces (voices?) make their return appearance here, as well, giving some sense of continuity and serialization to the adventures of Sterling Archer and Co., even as the throwaway lines and dirty jokes leave you gasping for air on the ground. (Hmmm, flashbacks to Judy Greer's Cheryl here.)

The result is a gleefully psychotic comedy, and I mean that in the very best possible sense. Archer is a touchstone for the sort of subversive humor and no-limits comedy that FX embraces and I'm glad to see that a break between seasons hasn't dented the delightfully twisted psyche of this unique series.

With spies like these, who needs national enemies?

Season Two of Archer premieres tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on FX.

Year in TV: The 10 Best (and 5 Worst) TV Shows of 2010

It's that time of year when we bid farewell to the last twelve months and start looking toward the future, but it's also a chance to reflect, to catalogue, and to reminisce as well.

My selections for the Ten Best (and, cough, five worst) TV shows of 2010 have now gone live over at The Daily Beast.

The series selected represent the very best that television had to offer the past twelve months and include such shows as Mad Men, Community, Terriers, Parks and Recreation, The Good Wife, Fringe, Justified, Boardwalk Empire, Friday Night Lights, and Modern Family.

It wasn't easy to whittle down the competition to just ten shows as, despite the overall drain in creativity this calendar year, there were quite a lot of fantastic series. (In fact, one of the very best of the year didn't even air on American television at all: Season Three of BBC One's Ashes to Ashes--including its breathtaking and gut-wrenching series finale--would have made this list if it had been open to overseas programming that hadn't aired within the US during 2010. Additionally, Downton Abbey would have made the list but it's set to air in January on PBS, so will be held until the 2011 list.)

As for other runners-up, that category would include (but wouldn't be limited to) such series as Damages, Party Down, Nurse Jackie, Sherlock, Bored to Death, Better Off Ted, Doctor Who, True Blood, Treme, Big Love, Archer, The Choir, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The IT Crowd, The Life and Times of Tim, Luther, and 30 Rock (for the current season, at least).

But now that the list is (finally) live, I'm curious to hear what you had to say:

What's your take on the best of 2010? Do you agree with my picks for the best of the year and the worst? Head to the comments section to discuss, debate, and analyze, as well as share your own best-of list for 2010.

Brilliant But Canceled: FX's John Landgraf on Terriers' Cancellation

Critics and audiences alike were disheartened--if unsurprised--by FX's decision to cancel the critically-adored but low-rated freshman drama series Terriers this morning.

The announcement about the fate of Terriers, created by Ted Griffin and executive produced by Shawn Ryan, was made via a PR email to press members, which promised further information and a statement from FX president John Landgraf at an unprecedented telephone press conference later today.

Many of us were curious to see just what Landgraf had to say about the network's decision not to bring Terriers back for a second season (and why he was willing to host this conference call), though the writing was on the wall for the drama, considering the ratings chart that FX sent out this morning, which compared Terriers's thirteen-episode run with that of fellow FX series Dirt, Damages, The Riches, and Over There, all of which were canceled by FX yet all had significantly higher ratings than Terriers (more than two times), particularly in the key Adults 18-49 demographic.

(It's worth noting that Damages was rescued from the scrapyard by DirecTV's The 101 Network, which will air the next two seasons exclusively.)

Landgraf said that he had met with Ted Griffin, Shawn Ryan, and Tim Minear on Friday to have a "postmortem" for the show and told them that the network would not be picking up Terriers for a second season. Landgraf called New York Magazine's decision to name Terriers as the third best show of 2010 "bittersweet."

The reason behind the call with press? An effort at transparency, which is something that Landgraf believes in both internally and externally. Given the support the show received from the creative community, Landgraf didn't want press to speculate about why the show was axed.

Landgraf did take some umbrage at the notion that the terrier-centric billboard campaigns in New York and Los Angeles affected the ratings (he went as far as saying that FX's marketing team had unfairly taken the blame for the series' failure), particularly as the on-air campaign tested well with the network's 600-person focus group, who felt that it captured the tone, setting, and plot of Terriers.

"For whatever reason the show didn't work, it wasn't because the promos didn't show Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James..."

So what did the postmortem findings show about why Terriers failed?

"People felt the show was compatible with the FX brand but dissimilar to other FX shows," said Landgraf about the postmortem he had with the series' producers. "The things that were wonderful about the show were subtle... It had a subtle charm that crept up on you. [But] I don't know if subtlety is something that the American public is buying in droves today."

(Interestingly, the focus group testing showed that the perception was that Terriers was "less sexy [and] less edgy" than FX's other programming.)

The numbers, according to Landgraf, further supported this: Terriers was losing 47 percent of its lead-in audience an dropped an average of 16 percent over the course of its hour run.

"What would I have done differently? At a minimum, I'd probably call it 'Terriers: PIs," said Landgraf, chuckling.

"The show failed to launch," he continued. "It was the weakest premiere that FX has ever had... One of the luxuries that cablers have that broadcasters don't is that we could leave it on-air... You put things out there, you give people the opportunity to find it and sample it, and talk to their friends."

He pointed out that FX's upcoming drama Lights Out is unique in the respect that it's the only show featuring an ex-boxer trying to make it, whereas there is a lot of familiarity with buddy private detectives. Clearly, FX couldn't make the public feel that Terriers was innately different or superior to those similar series that came before.

"There's a relatively low correlation between excellence and commercial success," said Landgraf, who went on to say that FX is committed to finding the overlap. "We just try to make really good shows."

"Part of what was great about Terriers was its integrity and its subtlety. Season Two would have been great and it would have been better than the first. But the question was, can we at FX justify [a second season] as a business?"

Despite being heartbroken about FX's decision, I do applaud Landgraf for taking the time to make the network's decision-making process transparent and speaking to press about the reasons and rationale behind the cancellation. Series, even beloved ones, get axed all the time without the sensitivity and grace shown by FX in this case. ("I'm glad that some people saw it and loved it," he said courteously thanking members of the press for supporting the show and writing about it. "That's not nothing.")

"One of the things we've done well is take risks and continue to put shows on the air," said Langraf. "The reality is that this is hard when you're aiming for creative excellence... and commercial success," said Landgraf, somberly.

"This isn't the first really good show that we've had to cancel and it won't be the last."

Putting the Dog to Sleep: FX Cancels Terriers

It's official: FX has opted not to move ahead with Ted Griffin and Shawn Ryan's brilliant PI drama Terriers.

The news of the cancellation was announced this morning by FX SVP of Media Relations, John Solberg, in an email to members of the press which invited us to participate in a conference call with FX president John Landgraf later this morning, in which Landgraf would discuss the network's decision not to order a second season of Terriers.

The cancellation hits amid a fall season that hasn't generated too many hits, either critical or audience ones. (In fact, the only two new series that I fell in love with this fall season were Terriers and Boardwalk Empire, which should say something about the lackluster nature of the offerings this season>.)

Hank and Britt's tagline may have been "too small to fail," but in the end it seems that Terriers itself was too small to succeed. Despite its creative triumph, the series was undone by low ratings, a terrible title, an even worse marketing campaign, the FX/Dish carriage dispute, and audience apathy.

Which is a real shame, as the public missed out on a remarkable series that those of us who tuned in week after week had fallen head over heels in love with. I've already written about the joys of watching this beautiful, introspective, and genre-busting series over in another post, "Don't Put This Dog Down: TV Needs FX's Terriers," so I won't reiterate my thoughts again here. (Though I urge you to check it out as it will be, tragically, a eulogy for the already mourned show.)

If I'm being honest, I'll say that it was a longshot for Terriers to get renewed, given the ratings that it had achieved in the 13-episode run but it would also have been a triumph of the medium--and of creative achievement--if FX had given the show a reprieve and allowed it time to grow... and time for the audience to discover it on DVD.

Alas, it was not meant to be. The cancellation shows once again that television might be a medium but it's also a business, even in the more creatively charged waters of cable.

I loved Terriers and I was continually astounded and impressed with what Griffin, Ryan, the writers, and the series' talented group of actors, was able to achieve in the thirteen episodes allotted to them. Even if this is the end for this amazing series, I did relish every minute of those thirteen episodes, every pithy line of dialogue, every hard moment of emotion, and every smile that passed between Hank (Donal Logue) and Britt (Michael Raymond-James).

Ultimately, Terriers might be too small to fail, but it's not small enough that it will fade from memory any time soon. You and your maverick spirit will be missed, my scrappy friend.

Don't Put This Dog Down: TV Needs FX's Terriers

"Which way will it be?"

And now we wait.

I'm not typically an optimistic person. My cynical worldview has served me well in my thirty-plus years on this Earth, but for some reason I'm holding out hope when it comes to FX's Terriers, which wrapped up its sensational first season last night and is currently on the bubble for renewal.

It will take a bit of a Hail Mary for this remarkable if underrated series to avoid the guillotine and return to fight again. Too small to fail? You bet. But unfortunately the smallness of the ratings have made Terriers' future less than certain.

Which is a shame, really, because those of you who didn't give Terriers a chance missed out on what was easily the best new series of the fall season, a genre-busting crime drama about real estate swindles, brotherhood, secrets, and lies. It was humorous, heartbreaking, and human drama at its finest, the story of two men who try to do good yet usually wind up making things worse for everyone around them.

But whether FX ends up going straight or turning left, Ted Griffin's smart and savvy Terriers, executive produced by Shawn Ryan, gave us a fantastic season of deft characterization, tautly scripted dialogue, and one of the best TV partnerships in leads Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James.

Along the way, the series' early episodic cases gave way to a taut overarching plot which managed to dazzle and surprise in equal measure, a smart callback to the Lindus case of the pilot transforming into something far more sinister and complex than it originally seemed. Bodies piled up, vengeance was had, the real puppet master revealed, and both Logue's Hank Dolworth and Raymond-James' Britt Pollack learned that their actions had consequences.

Which brings us to that climactic final scene between the two of them and the question that lingers in the air: do we run or do we face up to what we've done? It's a question that's unanswered as the screen fades to black, offering a cliffhanger ending even after the Montague land grab storyline is more or less wrapped up in "Hail Mary." Have the events of this season lead Britt to see that running never truly equals freedom? Will he serve his time or flee? Will we, the viewers, have a chance to see just what he chooses?

The uncertainty of that final moment in "Hail Mary," (written by Ted and Nicholas Griffin and directed by Ted Griffin), of which way Hank turns the car, of where we go next, encapsulates the uncertainty of the series' future at FX. While some have pointed towards the fact that the scrappy Terriers doesn't quite fit into the FX brand, I blow a big raspberry at that logic.

Granted, yes, FX has a particular brand and most of its shows tend to fit into the network's depiction of brash, loud, and raucous manhood (which might be why the more female-centric Damages got the boot earlier this year), and Terriers might be a quieter, more low-key exploration of modern masculinity and brotherly love. Yet, I can't help but wonder whether Terriers' ratings would have been better if the FX/Dish conflict hadn't come to pass. After all, the series wasn't available to Dish Network customers and had to have been adversely affected by the elimination of FX from Dish's offering lineup. But also, Terriers was also perhaps undone by its title and the promotional/marketing campaign, which I've already discussed in full elsewhere.

I'm not going to be blind and pretend that people were tuning into this series in droves because they weren't. The ratings were not good, but for those of us who looked past the title and the dog-focused advertising and gave Terriers a chance, we discovered its beauty and humanity, its humor and its pathos, and its incredible array of eccentric and flawed characters.

There's special praise necessitated for the many superb actors who filled out Ocean Beach so memorably, each turning in nuanced performances that made me fall in love with this quirky crime drama. Logue, Raymond-James, Laura Allen, Kimberly Quinn, Jamie Denbo, Rockmond Dunbar, Loren Dean, Karina Logue, Alison Elliott, Michael Gaston, Daren Scott: you each brought your A-game to Terriers and it hasn't gone unnoticed. In the pinball machine of Terriers' plot, your characters served as the the flippers, bumpers, and kickers, knocking Britt and Hank around, either physically or emotionally.

I'm not ready to say goodbye to Terriers, certainly not yet. While the plot of the Ocean Beach land grab scheme may have been tied up now, there's the matter of the duplicitous and menacing mastermind behind the scheme, Cutshaw, played ably by Neal McDonough, a corrupt soul whose seemingly benevolent charity work belies a horrific true nature, the man behind the mask willing to kill Mickey Gosney and whoever got in his way in order to get that scandalous photograph back. (I'm going to assume that the photo depicts him engaged in child abuse of the most awful kind.)

Is Cutshaw intended to be Hank and Britt's new target next season? Do they go straight or turn left? Does Britt cut and run or serve his jail time? Will we get an answer or will their decision sit, unanswered, forever, a car idling eternally at a traffic light? Do we need tidy endings to our stories or does the messiness of life--and art like Terriers depicting that messiness--mean that some things are unknown and unknowable?

The one certainty is that television was improved by Terriers' bark. Fusing together a buddy comedy, a relationship drama, a crime procedural, and a taut thriller, Terriers truly defied pigeonholing. If this is the end for the series, its creative spirit and its gonzo nature will be remembered for some time to come. For those of us who fell in love with its quirky charms and underdog status, these 13 perfect episodes represented an alternative to the by-the-numbers nature of this season's programming.

Ultimately, it's not just Hank and Britt who have to make a decision, but FX as well. Will the show have time to develop, to win over audiences who might have been put off by titles or campaigns, and who might discover this winning series on DVD? Do they take a chance on Terriers or do they cut and run?

For those of us who love television, I hope it's the former rather than the latter. With the broadcast nets decidedly uninterested in taking risks at the moment, Terriers represents the outlaw spirit of cable. I just hope that, in the end, FX gives this dog its rightful day.

The Daily Beast: "Twitter's TV War"

Twitter should be a tool for audiences to interact with the talent behind their favorite shows—instead, anonymous users heap abuse onto writer-producers for ruining "their" shows.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Twitter's TV War," in which I speak to Community's Dan Harmon, Bones' Hart Hanson, and Grey Anatomy's Shonda Rhimes about the complicated relationship between access, privacy, and angry fans on the social networking platform.

I'm curious to know what your take is and whether you side with showrunners or fans. What happens when the dialogue turns ugly? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Biting Back: An Advance Review of the Final Four Episodes of FX's Terriers

I've been extremely forthcoming about my love for FX's brilliant drama Terriers. Scratch that. I've been gushing about the show--created by Ted Griffin and executive produced by Shawn Ryan--for months now and I wish that more of you were tuning in to this remarkable and unique series.

The first of the final four episodes of Terriers' season begins tonight with the sobering "Asunder," a major turning point for the season both in terms of the overarching conspiracy plot (yes, the shady circumstances of the Montague come back into focus)--which Hank (Donal Logue) and Britt (Michael Raymond-James) are dragged back into--but also the character-driven subplots that have been lurking beneath the surface all season.

I ripped into these next four installments with my teeth last week, insatiable for more of this groundbreaking series, and I wasn't disappointed in the least. In fact, I think that they rank up there with the very best that the series has produced to date, as the serialized plot is shifted into high gear and secrets--both big and small--begin to spill out onto the pavement of Ocean Beach.

The wedding of Gretchen (Kimberly Quinn) and Jason (Loren Dean) drives the plot of tonight's episode but it's the destruction that left around them--the threats of violence, the siren's lure of temptation, spilled drinks and botched plans--that echo long after the closing credits. Gretchen and Jason's life might be filled with hope but for Hank and Britt, their lives are about to get very messy indeed.

Before you ask, yes, I'm being deliberately vague. There is so much joy to be had from Terriers' plot twists ahead, that it would be a shame to spoil them. Far better that you experience them firsthand, feel the searing heat of the emotional grenades that get detonated over the course of these four episodes, the sensation of loss, humility, vengeance, and rage that color these installments.

Along the way, we're privy to some crucial backstory as well: just what went wrong with Hank and Gretchen's marriage, why Hank got booted from the force, how Hank met Britt, and how all of these things are all tangled together. And we get a fantastic new recurring character with Laura Ross (Alison Elliott), a muckraking online journalist (or "blogger" as she's dismissively called) who might hold the key to revealing the larger forces of darkness at work in Ocean Beach.

That is, if she survives long enough to publish her next piece.

Laura makes an admirable addition to the Terriers team, her scrappy nature and fringe-element maneuverings a match for those employed by Britt and Hank and Elliott sparkles here, her nose for trouble getting her into some hot water with some dangerous types who wish to do her harm. That is, unless Hank has anything to say about it.

The story behind the Montague and the falsified environmental data--realized in a heartbeat by Hank's genius sister Steph (Katrina Logue)--comes full circle here as that plot becomes the driving force behind the final four episodes. And, why yes, that is Ben Zeitlin (Michael Gaston) and Burke (Daren Scott) lurking around the periphery. Just what is going on in Ocean Beach? What does it have to do with why Hank's drinking buddy Mickey Gosney was murdered? And can Hank and Britt and Laura uncover the truth before it's too late?

Other familiar faces turn up throughout the final four episodes. I was happy to see just how instrumental a role Rockmond Dunbar's Mark Gustafson plays in the proceedings as well as Jamie Denbo's deliciously snarky Maggie Lefferts and others as well. It's a testament to the world that Griffin created that it expands outwards to include some new characters as well as some favorites, a living, breathing landscape that tinged with noir but also realistically drawn.

Meanwhile, look for some major complications in the relationships between Britt and Katie (Laura Allen) as well as between best friends Britt and Hank. Each of these relationships undergoes its own crucible, the bonds that hold them together tested by betrayal and a host of lies. Tonight's amazing episode, "Asunder," brings one of the most painful and emotionally disturbing scenes between Katie and Britt and its aftermath is felt in more ways than one until the final shot of the season, a cliffhanger that ends the thirteen episode run on an unanswered question, one that hangs in the air like cigarette smoke.

But these episodes also recount the quest for adulthood that these happily stunted men embark upon. As they continue the long, hard slog towards maturity, issues of responsibility, of personal duty, and of the greater good become hauntingly clear. Actions have repercussions, they learn. In some cases, hugely dramatic ones. It's how you roll with the fallout that defines who you are. Do you run? Do you stand your ground? Do you turn the other cheek? Or do you hit back even harder?

Ultimately, these fantastic and taut final installments of Terriers are gripping, emotionally resonant television at its very best. I'm not ready to say goodbye to Hank and Britt or to Ocean Beach anytime soon and it would be a travesty if FX didn't renew this extraordinary drama for a second season. (Television needs a show like Terriers like the world needs oxygen.) If you're at all like me, you'll be screaming at the television and/or tearing up when it fades to black at the end of the season.

You'll also be dying with anticipation to know just what happens next to these dogged detectives. Fingers crossed that we get to face the future with them.

Terriers airs tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on FX.

An Open Letter to FX: Please Keep Terriers Around

Dear FX,

This fall television network has been pretty lousy at the broadcast networks. Massively hyped series have fizzled and viewers seem largely turned off by the prospects for new offerings, with several series already cancelled. It's likely that the axe will fall on a bunch more before winter comes.

Which is why your new series, Terriers, is such a breath of fresh air amid a what's largely a creatively stagnant landscape this fall.

For some reason, viewers haven't flocked to this remarkable series.

Perhaps it was the odd choice of title (it's not about dogs or dog breeders, despite the scrappiness of our protagonists) or the advertising campaign that played up images of snarling, biting, and scrappy dogs rather than focus on the beachy private investigator angle or series leads Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James. Or perhaps this would have performed better in the summer rather than competing against a crush of new series, all premiering at the same time and jockeying for viewers' attention.

Regardless of the ratings (they, like the canines alluded to in the title, are small but fiercely loyal), Terriers is a series worth sticking with, a hysterical and heartbreaking series that's quirky and original and broadens the brand of FX.

Creators Shawn Ryan and Ted Griffin have winningly fused together the crime-based procedural with serialized, character-based arcs, fleshing out the world of Ocean Beach in include a cast of colorful characters that only get more, well, colorful over the next four episodes, which I gleefully watched recently.

Over the course of its first five installments, Terriers developed into a deeply nuanced series that explored the bond between brothers, between lovers, and between people, a taut emotional cat's cradle that examined the consequences of action.

These next four episodes, beginning with tonight's "Ring-a-Ding-Ding," find Hank and Britt grapple with a number of changes to their lives as the wedding between Hank's ex-wife Gretchen (Kimberly Quinn) and Jason (Loren Dean) fast approaches, the condition of Hank's sister Steph (Karina Logue) worsens considerably, and secrets between Katie (Laura Allen) and Britt threaten to derail their entire relationship. (I'll say that all four episodes were outstanding, and I adored the guys' unusual client in "Pimp Daddy," who nearly stole the show, and the tension of "Agua Caliente.")

Along the way, supporting characters like new mother Maggie (Jamie Denbo)--the guys' putative boss as well as attorney--and Hank's ex-partner Mark Gustafson (Rockmond Dunbar) get fleshed out further, as the series itself grows up a bit. It still hasn't lost its focus on odd couple Hank and Britt, but there's a remarkable sadness that's crept into its bones as well, making this far more than a one-trick pup.

Terriers may not be an out of the gate smash hit like Sons of Anarchy, your top-rated series, but it's also a critical favorite that adds a bit of screwball fun to the lineup. Positioned differently, it could be a quiet hit for the network as well as sit separately from the acid-tongued humor of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The League, the sweeping Shakespearean Sons of Anarchy, and the Western trappings of Justified.

Besides, those ratings aren't quite accurate now that Dish Network subscribers can't even watch Terriers, much less FX at all. So reports that ratings have plunged for this winning series aren't all that accurate, considering it's not available in as many homes as a few weeks earlier. Let's just keep that in mind when taking a look at the fate of this series.

But with so many doctor/lawyer/cop tropes on display yet again this season, Terriers has been a refreshing alternate to regurgitated and rewarmed genres that we've seen time and time again. And while PIs aren't exactly novel nowadays, the way in which they're handled here--they're too small to fail--makes for compelling and intelligent programming, something that's severely lacking on the broadcasters right now.

So why not do Terriers fans a solid and not put this dog to sleep just yet?

Terriers airs Wednesday evenings at 10 pm ET/PT on FX.