USA's Satisfaction - Episode 1.02 "...Through Admission"
Adriana tries to convince Neil to continue his secret life while Grace struggles to rejoin the working world.
Of USA's two new Thursday dramas, Satisfaction was the one I was much more intrigued in seeing a second episode. The pilot was this really intriguing character piece. It did stuff that was different yet wildly effective. But it also had a handful of stuff that was just to keep it sustainable as a TV series. The pilot's last third brought Neil back to the job he had spectacularly gotten fired from simply to keep him torn and full of angst over his life. Episode two had to outline the importance of the new status quo. To my surprise, the hour keeps up the level of character beats that worked in the premiere. Sure, I'm still a bit puzzled as to why Neil is just being so passive aggressive and won't confront Grace about Simon - especially when he's so comfortable being blunt and honest with his client. But when I think about it more and try and get into Neil's headspace, I'm much more intrigued into what Satisfaction is doing. And ultimately, a show that makes you think is a great thing to have on TV.As Neil states in the opening voice over, he has this vision of how his life should turn out to be. He sees happiness and a life with Grace in their gorgeous house. Then life got in the way and now he's making excuses as to why these things are happening. Work has made him drift away from Grace which made her look outside their marriage. He's taking control over his life again. He's hoping that by ruining Simon's livelihood Grace won't see him anymore. But he is still thrown whenever he sees her name pop up on Simon's cell phone. To him, he is the second man in her life. When Simon won't answer, she calls him. But what Neil doesn't know is that Grace wants to end things with Simon. Pay him his fee and then leave for good. And yet, the conflict between Neil and Simon is quickly mounting and she has no clue about any of it. She has found happiness again with work but so much more is happening in the world around her. So much of this plays as Neil's story and I would just love to give so much more screentime to Grace so we can see her side of things. A reason why she wants to end things with Simon isn't really given and we don't exactly know how she felt about him during their time together. Was it sex or was it something more?
Instead we get more playful banter between Neil and Adrianna as they work out some kind of business arrangement - which will need a better explanation and definition next week - as well as the high school antics of daughter Anika. Sure, the daughter becomes vital for the end of episode twist where she spots Simon with her dad's car. However, I'm still searching for a reason why she needed so much focus about going back to that school and being popular. Overall though, this was a pretty decent follow-up that leaves me hopeful for the future.
Some more thoughts:
- "...Through Admission" was written by Sean Jablonski and directed by Michael Smith.
- I'm loving Neil's weekly interactions with Tzi Ma monk. I wish there was more of them honestly.
- Anika sure has a knack for walking in on awkward situations - mom getting high, parents watching their sex tape and then Simon getting into dad's car.
- The TV in the conference room is just going to get hit by a different object every week, right?
- The first time I really enjoyed Neil and Grace together where they felt like they honestly loved and understood one another was when they were reminiscing over that sex tape.
- But who really admitted anything in this episode?
