I Don't Love "Tell Me You Love Me"

Last Sunday brought the premiere of HBO’s newest attempt to find a tentpole show Tell Me You Love Me. And, having watched the first episode, I’m pretty sure I can tell HBO to keep looking. “Tell Me” is, well, not really lovable. At least, not in it’s first episode it isn’t. From the first hour, none of the characters really stand out as people worth investing 12 hours of my life watching. I feel like the story between Tim Dekay and Ally Walker, of the couple who is slowly falling out of love, is the same storyline that’s been handled in many other, better, movies and television shows. A recent example of a much better handling, in my opinion (although, really, everything on this whole blog is my opinion, so that should go without saying), is Knocked Up, where the Pete and Debbie story line of a very similar nature was not only more appealing to watch, but also more interesting for the way it paralleled the other storyline in the movie. The Luke Kirby and Michelle Borth story line is not really gripping me at all either, mainly because both these people seem to be the type that I would never want to listen to or be around in real life. He comes across like a jackass and she comes across as annoying. I mean, maybe I was just misinterpreting their characters and their storyline dynamic, but I just found nothing appealing about either character or their relationship. The storyline between Jane Alexander and David Selby was so marginalized that I don’t really give a darn whether they’re happy or not. The only storyline that was mildly interesting was the relationship between Adam Scott and Sonya Walger, whose inability to conceive is amplifying some possibly previously existing problems. Their scenes come across as the most interesting, because there appears to be an extra layer of complexity to their relationship that doesn’t seem to be there with the others, meaning that on top of their commonplace in pop culture problem, there may be an added twist to it. I hope that sentence made sense.

But really, a discussion of this show can’t occur without discussing the rampant, graphic sex scenes of the show. This is certainly one of the more interesting facets to the show (I mean that in a completely nonperverted way), but it still feels as if the show almost has two sides, like Dr. Relationship Drama and Mr. Porn. I mean, I get that the show is supposed to be an unflinching look at these couples in different stages of relationship discontent, but does unflinching really have to go as far as creator Cynthia Mort takes it? I understand that we’re supposed to get a no-holds-barred look at their relationships, but it seems almost like gratuitous nudity for nudity’s sake. I understand the use of the sex scenes, and I actually think the way that they are placed and handled thematically is quite good, but it feel like Mort wanted to showcase their bodies more than their problems. For example, when Kirby and Borth are having sex, we get frequent shots of her riding him with his balls clearly visible. There’s no need for this detail, but Mort shoots it this way nonetheless. Another example is the completely pointless shot of Walker walking to her side of the bed with her shirt open (See, I’m complaining about both genders here, so don’t accuse me of sexism). Also of note and pointless (and potentially scarring), is the random cutaway scene of Alexander giving Selby a blowjob. It seems to serve no purpose whatsoever but to show that Alexander and Selby still have a functioning sex life. But again, maybe I just missed the point.

Technically, I found the show to be both strong and weak. The performances are very good and deserve better than the storylines their dealt. In particular, I thought that Ally Walker was fantastic, but she was saddled not only with the already-been-done storyline she had but also a completely extemporaneous and pointless story line that goes nowhere about her daughter’s first period. And Scott and Walger both deliver solid performances that add to the complexity of their character’s relationship. Everyone else is also good, but not really noteworthy. But, unfortunately, all these good performances are saddled down by somewhat clichéd writing and stories. So, unfortunately HBO, I cannot tell you that I love you, but I do know that I much would have preferred a second season of John From Cincinnati (I don’t know Butchie)instead of this.

Funny side note: According to blogger, this is my 69th post. I find this funny because I'm an immature teenage male and this post talks about sex. So to recap, Hahaha, I should be ashamed of myself.