While seeing surreal elements in movies is pretty common, it’s sometimes hard to process seeing similar elements on TV series, especially when they’re presented in a way that make them look like they’re happening in real time, instead of in a dreamlike environment. A new comedy starring David Oyelowo (who is also an executive producer) has his character being led by divine signals, but those divine signals feel like real-world coincidences.
Opening Shot: “Chino State Prison, 1967.” A man comes out of solitary and walks back into the general population, to the tune of “Time Has Come Today.”
The Gist: Hampton Chambers (David Oyelowo) is in Chico for passing bad checks. When he comes back from the hole, he complains to his cellmate Rudy (Adam Beach) that the guards are messing with him. Rudy tells him he needs to find some sort of faith and work to make his way emotionally back to his family. He directs him to an inmate named Gus (Mykelti Williamson), who works in the chapel. Gus tells Hampton to let God — in whatever form — guide the way, citing a beatdown of an inmate named Kenny Sharp that inspired him to take his path.
Two years later, in 1969, Hampton is about to be released. He’s taken the two years to work in the machine shop with Rudy and invent a self-sharpening drill that he thinks he can pitch to Rocketcorp, thanks to his friendship with Manny Brinks (Jeremy Bobb), who works there. But a riot starts in the machine shop, accompanied by a burst pipe and Hampton accidentally shanking someone close to him.
Still, he manages to get released despite all that happened, and when he returns home to Chatsworth and his family — wife Astoria (Simone Missick) and sons Harrison (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) and Einstein (Evan Alexander Ellison) — he gets a decidedly cool reception. Astoria, tired of Hampton’s broken promises, banishes him to the garage. Harrison won’t even talk to him. The intelligent and good-natured Einstein is determined to be a champion pole vaulter instead of going to, say, MIT, because “college is for simpletons.” Einstein does give Hampton the piece of information he needs, though, to perfect the drill.
On his way to Rocketcorp, though, Hampton is intercepted by his old friend Bootsy (Bokeem Woodbine). Bootsy helped broker a deal with the Prevost brothers to help Hampton after the riot. “They own the valley now,” says Bootsy. The oldest Prevost brother, Patrice (Julien Heron), tells Hampton he owes them $2,000, and the consequences for not paying up are extreme.
Hampton manages to buy time and gets to Rocketcorp, where he finds that Manny is a janitor. Still, he’s unbowed, hatching an alternate plan involving Manny and some seed money that will help pay off the Prevosts.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? In look and feel, Government Cheese reminds us of the recent reboot of The Wonder Years.
Our Take: Created by Aeysha Carr and Paul Hunter, Government Cheese is still trying to find a lane in its first episode. It’s a comedy about Hampton and his magical thinking after his release from prison, but there are also some surreal moments that demonstrate to him that his magical thinking might work out, with some divine help. But the show works best when Hampton tries to rebuild the trust of Astoria and his sons, even if we don’t have a full explanation of what he did to lose their trust to begin with.
We know that Hampton spent at least two years in Chico for passing bad checks, but it was likely more. Given his penchant for engineering, we wonder what he did before his foray into criminal activity. It seems that, before his visit with Gus, he was going to get swallowed alive by “the system.” but was inspired by the idea that small events lead to big things.
What we’re intrigued by was that his relationship with Astoria was severely hurt by what he did. Flashbacks to the way they were pre-prison will help contextualize Astoria’s pain a whole lot more, as well as what his relationship with his sons was like before he went away.
Don’t get us wrong, we enjoyed Oyelowo’s confidently positive portrayal of Hampton; it seems that, no matter what gets thrown at him, he knows that divine guidance will help him. Missick is also great as the weary but strong Astoria, who somehow forged a new version of their family unit and kept it together without Hampton.
Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode.
Parting Shot: Hampton gets a visit from another Prevost brother (Louis Cancelmi), one who may have started the riot in the prison, to tell him that his family are not patient people. In other words: He needs to pay them, and fast.
Sleeper Star: We’re fans of Bokeem Woodbine, so the more we see him as Bootsy. the better.
Most Pilot-y Line: There certainly seems to be a reason why a Prevost started the riot, and then made a deal to help Hampton get out of any blowback that would have kept him in prison, but the way that was broached in the first episode was confusing.
Our Call: STREAM IT. There are certainly funny moments in the first episode of Government Cheese, and we like the potential of the story, plus the performances of Oyelowo and Missick. But the first episode didn’t grab us as much as we thought it would. There’s enough good stuff there, though, to encourage us to stay with this show.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
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