[One of the best
parts of my 2018 so far has been discovering SundanceTV’s Hap & Leonard. Based on the
series of novels
by Joe Lansdale, and starring James Purefoy and Michael K.
Williams, the series has completed two wonderful 6-episode seasons and as I
write this is in the midst of Season 3. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy a
handful of Hap & Leonard
contexts, leading to a special weekend post on the unique career to date of
Michael K. Williams!]
On some of the
show’s many complex and great supporting characters, all part of the justice
system (and in addition to Tiffany Mack’s
Florida Grange, about whom I wrote a bit yesterday).
1)
Marvin Hanson and Charlie Blank: Season 2’s
investigations feature a pair of police detectives, Hanson (Cranston Johnson) and
Blank (Douglas Griffin), who
are each far more than they appear. Hanson’s African American detective is
alternately Leonard’s most aggressive adversary and an ally to the African
American community, and his burgeoning but troubled romantic relationship with
Florida (which continues into Season 3) adds one more layer still. But it’s
Blank whose arc truly reflects the show’s depth, as he initially appears to be
a blatantly racist white cop and by the end of Season 2 (and certainly the
start of Season 3) is a far more sympathetic and even likable figure (despite
having done some unquestionably bad things).
2)
Valentine and Beau Otis: A father and son duo
who together rule the county, Sheriff Valentine (Brian Dennehy) and Judge
Beau (John McConnell)
Otis more clearly occupy villain roles in Season 2. That becomes even more
apparent through a multi-episode series of flashbacks that gradually reveal
Beau to be the teenage drunk driver who killed Hap and Leonard’s fathers
decades ago, and Valentine to be the father who paid off the authorities to let
his son walk free. Yet without spoiling more than I already have, I’ll simply
note that the season’s final revelations significantly shift our perspectives
on both Valentine and Beau, and make clear that the season’s overarching themes
of family histories, race and community, and identity affect even powerful
white men such as these two.
3)
Sneed: Evan Gamble’s Sneed is
the weasely white cop who brutally beats Leonard while he’s in police custody
(although Leonard gets his revenge in that humorous hyperlinked scene), and
thus a visceral representation of some of Season 2’s central images of white supremacist
prejudice and violence. Yet in the first two episodes of Season 3 (which is all
I’ve seen as of the moment in which I’m writing this post), we meet Sneed in a
very different place, literally and figuratively, and begin to see the
possibility of change even more a man who has done and been the things he has.
The fact that we can believe in that possibility, while still remembering what
Sneed did and was in Season 2, reflects the nuanced humanity that Hap & Leonard and its actors bring
to each and every character.
Next context
tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? Thoughts on H&L, or other
shows you’d highlight?
No comments:
Post a Comment