TV Show Review

TV Review: HOUSE OF LIES: Season 1, Episode 1: The Gods of Dangerous Financial Instruments

Don Cheadle, House of Lies

House of Lies Season 1 Episode 1 The Gods of Dangerous Financial Instruments Review. House of Lies: Season 1, Episode 1: The Gods of Dangerous Financial Instruments is hilarious and outrageous but not sleazy or over the top. The show introduces an aspect of the business world that few ever see or knew existed. Because of that, unlike with over-saturated lawyer shows, House of Lies has a freshness to it. Along with that freshness is refreshment: the show is completely self-aware, breaking the third wall constantly. Series star Marty Kaan (Don Cheadle) looks at the viewer to explain industry jargon all the time, acting as both a character in the series and as a teacher giving practical, working examples of consultant slang. This is both a strength and a weakness: taking time to explain what was just said could diminish it and the show (talking down to the viewer) but in a comedy/drama like this, it works.

One of the best parts of the show thus far is the real business infused into the business meetings and business presentations of the House of Lies. The episode’s Powerpoint presentation combined with the Kaan speech it ameliorated are highly effective and persuasive.

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If the first episode is indicative of the rest of the series, fans of comedies and dramas will be in for an entertaining dose of both. The opening scene for the episode is hilarious: both actor (Don Cheadle) and actress (Dawn Olivieri) are bravely naked, but its not hot, for the most part, so much as funny. Example: Olivieri’s butt is clearly visible, Cheadle slips putting on her dress and his face lands on it, much to his chagrin.

The rest of the cast initially bolster Cheadle and his performance (he is having a large amount of fun with Kaan) but begin to break off and lay the ground work for their own characters.

With Jeannie Van Der Hooven (Kristen Bell) being a business psychologist, the team, whether they know it or want it, has a potential morale center. Like in the film Tropic Thunder where the black face character could have been seen as derogatory were it not for his foil, the actual African-American, Hooven is Kaan’s foil. Clyde Oberholt (Ben Schwartz) and Doug Guggenheim (Josh Lawson), at this point, are only Kaan’s retainers.

What adds to the drama of the show and Kaan’s life are Kaan’s cross dressing son and his school life, intermingled with his ex-psychologist father and how he looks down on Kaan and his ex-wife’s parenting abilities.

Besides the drama in the show there is levity, lots of it. There is a strip club scene in the episode that is particularly humorous: Kaan’s team dances in the vip room, each getting their turn, each with varying degrees of rythme and grace while Kaan is enticed by a comely stripper that ends up being his breakfast and dinner date. In other, non-recreational venues, the characters display various degrees of unscrupulous behavior all to land a consulting contract and garner the holiest of holies: afterwork.

House of Lies is starting off as strongly as the third season of Californation, balancing humor with emotional, dramatic moments.

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Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
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