With my black Friday deal of Showtime coming to a close, I decided to squeeze in another show. I remember at the time thinking that American Rust was Showtime’s attempt at Mare of Easttown. It might have been, but it sure didn’t live up to it.
We’re still in the state of Pennsylvania, but this time near Pittsburgh, but really closer to West Virginia. There’s a murder in town of a former local police officer, and Buell County Chief, Del, tries his hardest to contain it. Especially given that the likely killer is his on and off again fling Grace’s son, Billy. We are then treated to a flashback some six months prior of Billy trying to do good by walking away from some drunk, antagonistic guy, but almost ends up killing him with a two by four. This is supposed to convince me that Billy is unpredictable and capable of extreme violence. And sure, maybe he is clenching his real self deep inside, but what I see of Billy throughout the season is someone relatively calm and extremely loyal. To a fault.
He’s trying to protect the real culprit of the crime, which shouldn’t really come as a shock at all that it’s closeted, Isaac. That incident is the catalyst he needs to finally skip town and try to make his way to California. It would have been a lot easier if he’d kept the money he’d taken from his neglectful and now disabled father, but instead he returns it out of spite and takes up a with another homeless youth looking to head west, too. I liked that pairing, but Isaac is innocent to a fault. I suppose I’d be just like him, although I don’t know that I’d ever be desperate enough to just leave without a plan or at least some funds. He tries to make right by the end of the show, and boy if hasn’t at least learned a lot.
Billy’s mother, Grace, is almost as frustrating as Del. She spends most of the season defending her son, but she’s also trying to get a union started at the dress factory she’s been working at for a majority of her adult life. Just give these people some damn healthcare and overtime! She’s right that these are basic worker’s rights! I admire her for that, but ultimately, her ex-husband Virgil has it right. Grace is a user, and she sure uses the crap out of Del. I’m almost not convinced that she fancies him all that much, because it’s always something for something with her. I understand looking out for yourself, so maybe it’s just Del with the problem.
Almost tied at the frustration level with Grace and Del is Isaac’s sister, Lee. She’s managed to get away from this life-sucking town and has made it big in New York working on a law degree and married to a Spaniard tied to a successful, family run vineyard. She just calls one day, declares she married, and sounds like she has no intention of coming back. That changes when Isaac skips town and she must care for her father. She falls back into things with Billy, and although it’s clear she still detests this town, somehow by the end of the season she’s changed her tune and decided to stick around for at least a semester. Girl. Maybe she deserves to get sucked back into that place.
Finally, there is Del, at the center of all the chaos in this town. By the end of the season I’ve finally come the conclusion that he’s a good guy dressed in a bad guy’s clothing? Del is ultimately trying to do right, but his motivations are always really, really muddy. He’s always looking out for Grace, so for that he has to do a lot of work in trying to prove Billy’s innocence. The fact that the investigation somehow turns into a way to take out the opioid dealers in their town is just sloppy writing. Yes, that is an interesting and noble plot point, but it wasn’t introduced in a proper way and just ended up feeling tacked on four episodes deep.
I have to imagine that if this show makes it past the second season that Amazon’s Freevee resurrected from cancellation hell, that Del is going to pay the ultimate price. He’s lived too much of a scarred life to come out on top. And maybe it’s that predictability that also made the show not worth it in my eyes. Of course, there were plenty of cliffhangers at the end of the season, and while I want to know what happens, I won’t be watching it to find out. Good luck to those who try.