Big Lie Country

Based on previews, I was intrigued and even a little excited for Fox's new drama Lone Star. Little did I know that this quiet character piece might just be the best new show of the fall. It may not have the flashy bells and whistles of most of its Monday night log jam of competitors, but so far, it's my favorite new pilot of the season.

Lone Star centers around Robert, a young man who's never known anything but the con game, having been indoctrinated by his father from the time he was a boy. He's never had a real job and his only real relationship has ever been with his father... until now. Having lived a life of destroying people's lives, swindling the unsuspecting, and lying to everyone around him, Robert wants something real because for the first time, he has something real. Two somethings, as it turns out. Make that someones. Robert has fallen in love with two women, his girlfriend, the middle class daughter of one of his marks in small town Midland, Texas, and his wife, a member of a wealthy family with infinite financial means, i.e. the ultimate mark for Robert and his father. Lone Star looks at how a man who's in so deep manages to stay above water and even attempts to make things right. Faced with the prospect of having to leave his girlfriend as the walls close in around him, Robert devises a plan to have his wife and his girlfriend too, using one identity to repay his debts to the other.

James Wolk stars as Robert, a man who is living a tenuous double life and has spun an incredible web of lies for each. As with Nurse Jackie or Dexter, there's a constant fear of detection or exposure which imbues even the most ostensibly menial situation with a precarious tenseness. Wolk anchors the show in this role and has been perfectly cast. He's adorable and completely disarming. He's the poster child for good-guyishness and you can instantly believe that he could be the ultimate con man because in a way, he cons the audience as well. You genuinely want him to remain undetected and get away with his crimes, even if it means leaving a path of financial and emotional ruin in his wake. In spite of his and father's schemes, you can't help but sympathize with him. Robert is trapped and the weight of his actions is crushing him. So, in a way, you want the con to succeed, but can't bear to watch the toll it takes.

This show does a tremendous job of enveloping the audience in the quiet desperation of its characters. Wolk is the core of the show, but the supporting cast is also incredibly strong. You feel a twinge of pain and regret each time he dupes them. I could sense my blood pressure rising with every lie Robert told and every time he was almost caught in those lies. You can really feel the weight on his shoulders and it's heartbreaking to see him cracking under the pressure. This show presents a terrifying house of cards that could collapse at any moment. It's not often that I truly feel the pressure on a character this early on, but Lone Star had me invested from minute one. The show is exhilarating and suspenseful in a very quiet, but palpable way and I'm loving it.

The show has set up a very delicate dynamic that seems impossible to maintain. On the one hand, you know that you should condemn Robert for conning people, but on the other, you see how desperate his situation really is. His father has controlled his life from the beginning and has made it nearly impossible for Robert to have real relationships with anyone or escape the con game. Even as Robert stands up to his father, fighting for a real life, you can sense the toxic co-dependence between the pair. Both actors bring a tremendous amount to the table and you believe their dysfunction wholeheartedly. Even if Robert manages to have a real life and work his way out of the hole he's in, he'll being working double time because he has two families. Even his best of efforts at paying back his con victims might not be enough because he's constantly lying to everyone. He likes to think he can go straight, but at the end of the day, he has two wives to juggle, one of whom has a suspicious Jon Voight for a father. Robert is cool and collected on his feet and a phenomenal liar, but you get the sense that Voight and especially his eldest son might be onto his game. It makes for a truly menacing threat that's constantly looming over Robert's head. It kind of felt like Doakes on Dexter, the eldest son of his wife's family being the only person who sees Robert for what he really is.

I think this show had such an impact on me because Wolk does such a wonderful job as Robert. Even in his bald-faced lies, he seems utterly genuine. You can see his heart breaking with every lie he tells and basically just want to give the poor guy a hug by the end of the pilot. He really does love both the women in his life, er, lives, and even turns down a stringless one night stand with a woman in the hotel, finding himself glad the hot water isn't working in the shower. He wants to make it right, but he's in an impossible situation. Everyone can relate to the way lies can spin out of control and the crushing anxiety that comes with it. Each lie necessarily spawns ten more and it becomes nearly impossible to control who knows what to avoid holes in the story. This show was powerful in a small, very personal way. Especially given the current economic situation, seeing middle class families investing in his con work was hard to watch and you have a sick feeling that it's all going to come crashing down. That said, this show was not a downer. Robert has a plan to make things right and a very positive, if slightly delusional attitude toward that end. I can't wait to see if he can actually pull this one off. By the end of the pilot, you think that if anyone could really do the impossible, it's him. He takes "fake it till you make it" to new heights and is a slick enough liar that he just might win.

This show is incredibly well-written, the on air talent is impressive and convincing, and the creative team has done a hell of a job creating a world in which I am wholly invested. My only concerns with this show relate to its long-term success. It's premiere numbers were very low and as far as the concept for a series is concerned, I think the writers have a hell of a task on their hands. Robert's situation is already teetering on the edge and it seems like the walls are already closing in. I'm not sure what this show would do in future seasons because once the jig is up, where do you go from there? I, for one, am excited to find out, but based on it's ratings, I doubt I'll get the chance. I loved this pilot and want to recommend it to everyone, but it's hard to promote a show that has so little chance of remaining on the air for long. If Fox really wanted to give this show a chance, they would have put it on a different night. It's a little show without many big names and I think it simply got lost in the shuffle. But, as is so often the case with shows that I love, I'll stick around for as long as Fox is willing to let me. I'm hoping for a miracle here, but I'm afraid Lone Star's chances of surviving this season are even bleaker than Robert's chances of having a real life.

Such a shame for such a great show.

Pilot Grade: A