Stream of Conscience

That’s the title of the third episode of the The Cleaner.

Annabeth Gish, costar of two of my favorite movies of all time, “Mystic Pizza” and “Shag”, was the guest star of note. In those movies, she played the character I most identified with, so I’m delighted to see she’s getting meaty roles as a full-fledged adult.

In this episode of The Cleaner, she plays the perfect housewife, a hot-shot lawyer who gave it all up to become a full-time wife and mom. The problem is she’s taking pain medication long after she healed from a skiing injury. Fortunately, she has a husband who actually pays attention to her and actually cares. He contacts William Banks with his concern. One of Banks’ rules is that he have full access to the house, and when he goes through it, he finds the drug abuse is much worse than pain meds.

Turns out Suzy Homemaker (I forget the character’s name, so I’ll be going with “Suzy” here on) is part of an elaborate drug ring of suburban housewives (and, not to show gender bias, one house-husband) who share user and dealer duties on a monthly basis. Banks’ team is unable to infiltrate the drug club, so they purge Suzy’s drugs and prescription refills and cut off her off her ATM and credit cards. (Who knew goofball Arnie Swenton is a computer whiz?) Suzy becomes more and more frantic when she can’t get her fix. She tears the house apart, lies, and terrifies her children with her erratic behavior.

The husband thinks Suzy is “cured” once she says she’ll get treatment “tomorrow” and despite Banks’ objections, he terminates his services. But when Suzy purposely break her hand in order to get more pain meds (and forgets to pick up her daughter after soccer in the process) he realizes how serious her problem really is.

I have to give the guy credit. Instead of refusing to admit his mistake, he takes the next step, even though he feels horrible, and horribly guilty by doing so.

Nor are things all that good on the home front for William. His wife gives him more responsibilities at home, which he tries to fulfill. But when duty calls, he’s out the door. There’s something seriously brewing between William and his son, which I’m sure we’ll see play out in the next weeks. (And, the way this series is going, may still not be resolved by the end of the first season.)

Being the big Benjamin Bratt fan that I am, I’m thrilled this show is getting viewers. And the majority of the viewers are enjoying the show. It’s time Benjamin Bratt had a “hit” on his hands.

Benjamin Bratt was back on tv last night with the premiere of The Cleaner. I wish they would have titled the show “Cleaner,” but nobody contacted me for my opinion. And while the premise sounded hokey—an ex-addict who talks to God tries to save people from their addictions—I was still going to watch.

I didn’t really get excited about the series, though, until I finally watched “The Woodsman” with Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick. I watched it about the same time that “The Andromeda Strain” first appeared on A&E. What I’d seen of Bratt’s performance in “The Andromeda Strain” hadn’t really impressed me. The character was an intelligent, highly-educated scientist who, despite his penchant for womaning, wasn’t really all that interesting.

His role in “The Woodsman” was much more of an every-man, scruffy and blue-collar. And it seemed to suit him much better. I felt it was possibly the same type of character William Banks, “The Cleaner” of title, was meant to be. And that’s what got me really interested in watching the show.

The reviews of The Cleaner have been highly mixed, from “the best new show of the season, if not the year,” to “not addictive.” Now that I’ve seen the premiere, you can put me on the scale as being closer to “best” than to “not.”

A show’s premiere is usually not the best indicator of what it’s capable of being. There’s too much exposition, the characters’ personalities are exaggerated in order for them to stand out, and usually the episode’s plot takes a back seat to the overall premise of the show.  I recognized all these things, and thus was willing to forgive its sins.

I liked The Cleaner.  I think it’s a great vehicle for Benjamin Bratt.  The character is dynamic, but very flawed.  He means well, but doesn’t always do the right thing.  The supporting characters are also quite interesting, although they were a bit over the top.  The flirty femme fatale (played by Grace Park, from Battlestar Gallactica), was a bit too sexual; the chatterbox Swenton (who kept putting his foot in his mouth every time he opened it), a bit too comical.  But they’re interesting enough to want to know more; and hopefully their back-stories will be explored as the season progresses.

I think the show hit its mark  in a number of places, most notably with Banks and his family.  He’s not the perfect dad, he makes (BIG) mistakes, and he doesn’t always learn from his mistakes.  His family’s reactions to what he does (and doesn’t do) are very real.  And, it moved me to the point of tears.