Admittedly, I’m not getting through Showtime’s catalog all that quickly given how little time I have left with the service, but still. At my dad’s recommendation, I decided to give the crime drama City on a Hill a chance. He and I usually have a similar taste in shows, and while he liked this series, he said it wasn’t great. That should have been my first clue.
I really wanted to like this show, I really did, but it was just so freaking boring. For a season that only contains ten episodes, it took me what felt like a lifetime to finish them. Anyway, here’s an overview on what went down in this crime drama. We’ve got two protagonists, essentially. First is corrupt FBI agent, Jackie Rohr. Seriously, this guy is a piece of shit. He bribes and weasels his way through things on the job, but he gets results so everyone sort of turns a blind eye to him. More than that though, he’s a really bad husband. He’s mean and dismissive, and oh yeah, a cheater! Even when his Jenny finally starts living for herself though, it takes the cheating to finally kick him out. In the end, good for her though. She’s got it extra rough because their daughter idolizes Jackie, at least for most of the season. Jackie finally gets his, but it does seem like he’s trying to turn a new leaf by the end of the season.
DeCourcy Ward is an ADA trying to make a name for himself and bring back some good into the city of Boston in the 90s. Good luck. Somehow he gets roped up with Jackie, and is even a little bit fooled into thinking Jackie is going to help him do some good. Sure, Jackie will help him win a case, but it’s probably not the way DeCourcy would have went about it. Meanwhile, his wife is working with a creepy preacher to also bring their community together. Sadly, that story line really mirrors a lot of issues we are still seeing today. Luckily today though, victims are getting the benefit of the doubt more often. Still plenty of work to be done. While DeCourcy spends most of the season leading his own crusade, the rest of his team is not so trusting of Jackie, so they simultaneously try to take him down.
The main goal of the season is to find and prosecute the people responsible for an armored car robbery and triple homicide. The personal lives of the men responsible for that crime is infinitely more interesting than most of what happens throughout the season. It probably helps that Jonathan Tucker and Mark O’Brien are the brothers in question – love those guys! Aside from those two, the most compelling characters of the show are the women. First there is Cathy, who plays Tucker’s character’s wife. She is the brains of the operation, but her performance is so multi-layered! Also, Jenny is brilliant as a woman scorned, but also finally taking a stand and essentially starting her life over the way she initially envisioned it. Finally, there is Rachel, a member of DeCourcy’s team who doesn’t get shut out by the men in her field, and does some serious work. She was perhaps my favorite to watch.
Overall, with all the good writing there was, it just couldn’t bring the show together into something compelling. It’s a show that dragged on way too long and had too many small and stray subplots to deal with. Yes, they all essentially tied into the bigger picture, but I just think the same point could have been made with fewer threads to follow. The main mystery of the first season gets pretty well wrapped up by the end, so I can’t really see putting myself through the second season. Nice try, Showtime.