Lights Out: Cakewalk

Just as I thought, Lights Out slows down a bit after the pilot episode and lets the plot, characters, and themes develop a little more deliberately. Cliffs have been hung, and moments that seem small for now will surely come back in a big way later (e.g. the earring in the locker room). Lights Out now resembles the serialized TV show we’re all used to seeing. The show’s writers also introduced Hal Brennan (played by Bill Irwin), the mysterious stranger who moves in darkness and will, from this point forward, be Lights Leary’s puppet master. 

Brennan’s presence is necessary, as every other character seems equally as lost as Lights. Just as the unseen Brennan pressed Lights to rough up “the dentist” in the pilot episode, he’s the character who pushes Lights into action, sending him on a number of shady errands throughout the episode. But since Lights appears to be a good guy doing bad things for his family’s well-being, he’s new to the world of (semi?)organized crime, leaving trails of his involvement everywhere. Brennan likely knows what he’s doing, which means he’s gathering evidence against Lights for his own profit. My guess is he’s the one who eventually forces Lights into the rematch (that everyone knows is going to happen) against “Death Row” Reynolds.

Which reminds me: I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s a bad thing that the only black character with a name happens to be called “Death Row,” am I?

Part of what makes Lights Out entertaining is watching Lights lie his way through every scene. He does it so easily, even though he doesn’t really want to. It makes the few honest moments even better, like when he tells his daughter Daniella about his pugilistic dementia. Now she’s been let in on one of the secrets viewers are already aware of. How they work together will surely be a nice addition to the story. How much is he going to make Daniella lie to the rest of the Leary family?

I was pleased to see Daniella utilized more in this episode than the oldest daughter Ava. Even though Daniella is still another teenage stereotype (so far), we found her doing real teenager stuff like snooping through her dad’s computer and “researching” on Wikipedia. 

“Cakewalk” also showed us some actual boxing. I’m happy it was a fairly short scene because boxing (and all other sports) shows or movies aren’t really about the sport. Lights is out of fighting shape, but we saw what he’ll be able to do when he gets himself conditioned. Pops, by choosing to chastise Lights after the sparring, revealed that he doesn’t expect much from his son anymore. While Lights tries to stay afloat, Pops has moved on to his next great hope.