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BOSS “Stasis” Review

BOSS “Stasis” Season 1 Episode 7 – I think I’m finally coming to terms with the fact that Boss is not a very good show. I love political intrigue in my tv shows. I love bad people doing bad things and getting away with it. I loved that Boss had a distinct style and a cast which seemed (with the exception of a few cough estranged druggie minister cough weak links) pretty solid and that the show was not afraid to go completely over the top with flashy dialogue and ridiculous speeches all in service of a cool scene.

But Boss has a problem and it is a fatal one. It’s terribly dull.

Oh sure, there are other problems and they’re shown up in this episode: everyone except Kane seems to be operating at the intelligence of a retarded pig. Outside of Kane, nobody’s character is truly fully developed. This episode went at some lengths to show Kitty seriously down in the dumps and it worked and it worked well because it finally made her human and brought her out of the sexy robot state she’s been operating under for the past several episodes. Connie Nielson is probably the character best served outside of Kane. The idea of Meredith, this Lady Macbeth figure who actually has a huge amount of influence and savvy about politics in Chicago is seriously cool and Nielson is good enough to pull her off without seeming a stereotype.

But there are too many threads I just don’t care about. If you’re going to have a good drama on television, you have to make the enemies of the protagonist as interesting as the protagonist. Just look at Gus on Breaking Bad or the whole Cary/Peter Florrick combo on The Good Wife. Here, Kane’s opponents (except for the main man Zajac and Cullen) are boring, their main purpose on the show seems to be to provide exposition.

If I were to describe what happened in this episode, from Kane ruining his own daughter to pulling the rug out from under his opponents and pre-emptively stopping an impeachment hearing to the brutal murder of Alderman Mata, this would seem like the most amazing episode of television since the end of Breaking Bad. But this episode was a slog to sit through. Which is a pity.

What did you think of this episode? Sound off in the comments below.

By | December 3, 2011 | 17 Comments
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  • PKMan

    I have to disagree with this review.  I found the latest episode to be intriguing and tremendously watchable.  True, there are a few characters who need less screen time (Kane’s daughter and her boyfriend), but Kitty and Meredith are truly interesting characters who could use some more rounding out.  The point of the episode is to show how powerful and formidable Kane is and how even in a seemingly hopeless situation he can still triumph.  His “betrayal” of his daughter is subject to interpretation — he is saving his own skin and helping to get his daughter drug-free and free of the drug dealer boyfriend.  I’m looking forward to next week’s last episode of the season.

  • chitownclown

    ditto your post pkman… whiile the season has been slow at times, it has more than kept my interest. this was the best episode of the season.  love grammer in this role.  to watch a terminal illness curb the a$$hole in him and then to see it come back out so strong in his most desperate hour was entertaining.  Two truly riveting scenes: kane and kitty after she leaked his bait and zajac’s wife stomping him back in his place. 

  • http://www.daemonstv.com/ Eric

    I have to agree with the other commenters on this one. This episode was jaw dropping to say the least. What is great about Kane is that he is fundamentally all out for himself and that there is nothing and I mean nothing he won’t do to survive.

    For me, the other character’s stupidity is actually how most people operate. In real life, you make reasonable assumptions and then you make decisions accordingly. The only problem is that with Kane, reasonable assumptions have simply no place in this game.

    You can’t be reasonable with someone like Kane.

  • Bigbossman

    How can you call this episode dull? Without a doubt, one of the best episodes of the season by far.  This episode along with the pilot were tremendous.  After watching this episode, I was legitamitely scared of Thomas Kain. You just don’t see that anger, control and evil out of other characters on television.  Might actually watch this episode again. 

  • Guest

    Could not disagree more with your review. I had to pause my DVR and say a swear word to appreciate how good this episode turned out to be. To see how quickly and emphatically all the grand machinations working against Kane could be snuffed out and the players rendered impotent was simply great television. Grammer’s work in this series should bring a slew of Emmy nods, and Neilsen is terrific as well.

    One of my favorite new shows, and almost as good as my #1 The Good Wife.

    • Ryan’s the lesser of two evils

      I completely disagree with the review — wow, it’s as if the reviewer has literally no concept of what good drama actually is.  Yes, there were times during the season when the story was slow, but I always knew that there was something being set up for a future payoff.  So, it works,  

      The fact that the daughter’s storyline seemed like it was from Mars at first, has paid off — Especially after being set up by Kane’s heartfelt and emotionally draining phone conversation with his daughter, right before he used her as a scapegoat for his political gain (Good stuff!).  Following that was probably the best 10-minutes of TV in a very long time (The Wrath of Kane!)

      I’m looking forward to the finale!

  • Bryinchi

    Seriously, one of the best episodes of TV that I have seen in a long time.  All of the subtle nuances came together at once, to finally show the evil bastard that Kane really is (and somehow, the show also manages to make us feel sorry for the SOB).  I couldn’t disagree with you more.

  • Thaddeus

    It seems that we all watched a different episode then the reviewer.This was the best episode of tv I have seen in years.Kane is a monster but u love him at the same time. The way he did his daughter i hated the way he did Ross and Zajac I loved…

  • Timothy P.

    This reviewer must be on some type of hallucinogenic or something because this episode was probably one of the best episodes Ive seen not only on this show, but of the entire fall tv season (breaking bad aside). While I will admit there are some slower moments within the show, but as a whole, its top notch television. And this episode delivered on all fronts.

    • http://twitter.com/muyiwamc2 Olumuyiwa Oluwasanmi

      Honestly, Timothy P. I could not agree with you more. This is honestly, the best drama on TV in a long time. Kane is completely amoral and a survivor! I would not like to go toe to toe with anybody that is remotely like him in any fashion. The reviewer seems to be in some alternate universe!

  • Samuel

    “everyone except Kane seems to be operating at the intelligence of a retarded pig”. I beg to differ. Mac Cullen’s plot of turning Zajac against his mentor was pretty clever. Kane still doesn’t know who has been leaking info on the toxic waste to the newspaper. To me it seems that the show doesn’t depict Kane as supremely intelligent and his enemies as dumb.

    He is just smarter, tougher and meaner than a bunch of already smart, tough and mean politicians, and still makes mistakes and ill advised moves, like alienating a very understanding wives or needlessly scaring his mentor’s nurse.

    This being said, I am not happy with the turn taken by Kitty. I find it difficult to believe that such a seemingly tough girl would so stupidly get pregnant or would not smell a rat when her boss talk about stepping down.

    I’d love to think that Kane is just giving her some tough love and really want to make something out of her…

    • donny

      Less”dull” than hysterical. As in frantically flinging poo against the wall. They’ve ” dissapeared” an attending neurologist, and dropped the subplot. Any thought for the residents, records transcribers, appointment makers, clinic nurses and imaging techs who would have known exactly what the Doc was working on? Nope, just dropped.

      They’ve murdered a seeminly prominent Alderman, and dissapeared him to. Any reaction? Nope. Nbody seems to have noticed. Yeah, right.

      They’ve built the big reveal around finding a disorderly drug closet at a free clinic. Ha ha. Those cases are worth zero as prosecutions go. Were they supposed to have computerized pharma control?

      They show a newspaper owner changing editors because a politician said so. Oh sure. That’s why people get in the newspaper ownership share. So they can be a stooge of the machine.

      These scripts are flailing and absurd.

  • Ric Somerville

    The only retarded pig around here seems to be the author of this review.

  • Howdcat

    Great…. I love this show, nothing boring about it. When one show ended we could not wait for Friday to come around to see the next show. Kesley’s acting, demand an audiance along with Ezara Stone’s. Writers if you are listing please slow Kane’s down, let the medication start working. And don’t let Ezara die. Let him have his cell phone on him to call 911. Best show since Dallas!

  • Lacrimae

    I understand the concept of differing opinions and all, and I respect yours, but JESUS! are you kidding me?! Some of the criticisms of this show are valid, I’m not a fan of stupid subplots or subplots in general getting dropped off cliffs, or some of the absolutely inconceivable story developments, but this show is damn entertaining. Kelsey Grammer is insanely good in this role. Watching him inhabit this monster is electrifying. I’d liken it to watching Heath Ledger as the joker in The Dark Knight, or Denzel As Alanzo in Training Day. Easily one of the best new series on now, despite it’s (sometimes many) flaws. It is so incredibly haunting. I don’t know what the reviewer is watching.

    As a general rule, don’t ever ompare a show to BrBa and you should be fine.

  • Robie

    You sir are mental! For me this episode was simply outstanding! Can’t think of an episode as good as this! It led me one way with him saying to his daughter that he loved her and them connecting for arguably the first time in the series and then completely threw me when he throws his daughter to the wolves to save himself! I think it’s beautifully shot and just outstanding to watch! Truly gripped.

  • theatrelover

    I just watched episode 8 wherein one character says “this ain’t the 15th century and we’re not in f#@*in’ Florence” which I thought ironic as that describes the show to a T: it’s classical theatre.  The acting and production values often outweigh the material.  But the story is straight from the pens of Aeschylus and Shakespeare.

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