Come Monday...Low Winter Sun

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of (or commentary about) websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.  Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”  This is subject to change, however.  In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.  For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?  Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

I would like to think of myself as being fairly sophisticated, but I can certainly understand where it can be argued that I am actually rather simple-minded.  For when it comes to watching a show, I want to see clearly-defined heroes and villains.

That is especially true with television series.  For I do not want to become firmly in the corner of someone who turns out to be a louse of the lowest order later on down the line.

In other words, I want my good guys to be generally good.  An exception to that rule would be [Det.McNulty], who wound up being kicked off of the force because of making up a serial killer in order to secure the necessary resources to arrest a real drug lord during a time of severe budget concerns.

No, [Low Winter Sun] is not [The Wire].  Although, methinks the producers would like for it to be.  For the general atmosphere to Low Winter Sun is one of desperation—where everyone on both sides of the proverbial line are just trying to do what is needed to survive.  The problem is that I cannot see where that line is drawn.

In all fairness, I have only seen two episodes so far, and I have caught glimpses of where the line between tarnished good and pure evil may be running through the shadows.  So, it might become easier to see as my eyes become more used to the low levels of light, but…

From what I have gathered so far, the best of the worst appears to be [Det. Frank Agnew], who participated in the murder of a corrupt cop at the very beginning of the show.  Yeah, nothing like easing us into the action.

Helping with that murder was [Det. Joe Geddes], who was the partner of the harshly dispatched.  Det. Geddes is played by [Lennie James], whom we know from a recurring role on the [Human Target] television series a couple of years back.

Another familiar face on Low Winter Sun is [Ruben Santiago-Hudson], whom we know from playing Captain Roy Montgomery on [Castle].  On Low Winter Sun, he is playing [Lt. Charles Dawson], who appears to be above the fray, but one can never know until it is too late with a show like this.

Another Low Winter Sun cast member was not as familiar to us, but I thought we had seen her in something before.  After a little digging, my suspicions were confirmed—twice, even!  For had seen [Sprague Grayden] on [White Collar] and [Sons of Anarchy] (before we stopped watching it).

Yeah, a genuine manly man never really forgets a face like that.  Hence, the reason why I suspected that we had seen her before and Arlynda did not, along with more proof of my virility still being in there somewhere.

On Low Winter Sun, the lovely and talented Ms. Grayden plays [Maya Callis], who is just trying to carve out a little piece of the American pie-in-the-sky dream for herself by supporting her husband’s efforts to crawl his way to the top of the pile.

Since the pile is set in Detroit, it should not be too hard to imagine what it mostly consists of, and in this regard, the producers of Low Winter Sun do not disappoint.  I just wish they would insist upon the heroes taking more showers.

No, we will not be tuning in for the third episode.  In fact, Arlynda barely made it through the first one, and she is arguably a bigger fan of The Wire than I am.

Nonetheless, it just might be what you are looking for.  Please, proceed with caution.

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