(I didn't spoiler this because I don't think I give anything away, but someone send me a slap if I'm wrong.)
The thing I liked about the second episode, the encouraging thing, is that I found myself liking the lead character the more he spoke "on screen" (as opposed to the voice-over). Not that there was anything wrong with the voice-over either. It's just that he is such a weird guy, but he's peeling himself open a little at a time and he really is becoming more human and relatable.
As good as it has been, this show is going to have to tread very, very carefully around the "WB/CW Network" pitfalls that are littered all over this kind of landscape. The central question he is grappling with is very intriguing and complex - does he smash the status quo, despite not really knowing what kind of people he is getting into bed with, or indeed what the over-arching consequences of that smashing will be? Or does he hang fire, self-medicate, and just "get by"? This is an interesting question. Much more interesting than delving too far into "daddy issues" (there are far too many "latch-key" c*nts - kids with parents who abandoned them in one way or another - whose abandonment is the whole story - this is what I mean by "WB/CW Network" shite, though it is all around on most of the networks). More interesting than young stilted romance if that romance is too mundane and typical of the TV romance (especially between teens) we have seen the past ~10 years. There's something of that in here with the blonde girl, and I really hope the show tackles it with the aplomb it has brought to the central question. So far, so good on that count.
I still can't get over the fact that this is on the USA Network.
