Like Damon Lindelof I’m a sucker for StarWars quotes, especially Han Solo lines. So forgive me for the gratuitous quote to describe a show that you should be watching on Wednesday nights, but it kinda fits!Terriers is not a show about dogs. Even Donal Logue (the lead actor playing scruffy unlicensed PI Hank Dolworth) admits that’s probably not the best marketing for this wonderful drama that airs on FX on Wednesdays. Terriers is set in the quaint beach township of Ocean Beach (a suburb of San Diego) and tells stories around a couple of friends, Hank Dolworth (Donal Logue) and Britt Pollack (Michael Raymond-James). The pair are oddly matched, Hank an Ex-Cop/Drinker/Husband and Britt an Ex-Criminal/Break-in Artist. To scrap together a few shillings to eat at local diners (which should be featured in Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives… please) Hank and Britt team up as mostly process servers for a lawyer friend. They also get a stray case here or there as unlicensed private investigators.
Noir is the genre that is most often tied to Terriers, and I suppose it fits (note bene: I’m not a professional critic and lack the education for all these types and things… ) but it’s also sunny in all the right places. Britt and Hank have a wonderful onscreen rapport (and much has to do with Donal and Michael being real life friends) that makes watching and listening to a joy. The stories are more procedural than sequential, so you can jump in at any time and be ready to enjoy the stories. And while the stories are captivating and interesting, they, like most FX dramas, aren’t always full of happy endings.
The characters keep secrets from each other under the guise of protecting their friends and their relationships. As LOST lovers are aware, this isn’t a great way to win friends and influence people, and as viewers we all are aware of the train-wreck that is coming when the secrets are eventually discovered, or misinterpreted.
The supporting cast of Laura Allen (Britt’s live-in girlfriend/fiancé), Kimberly Quinn (Hank’s e-wife), Jamie Denbo (their lawyer friend/new mother), Rockmond Dunbar (Hank’s ex-partner/police detective) … and a wonderful guest run by Karina Logue (Hank’s sister/schitzo- which I hope becomes a recurring role) make for a rich background that surround the pair as they deal with the uncertainty of their tenacious actions.
See Terriers isn’t just a reference to a scruffy dog, it’s scrappy, tenacious, and unrelenting show about some lovable yet deeply flawed characters trying to do right in an everchaging world. Watch Terriers tonight!
