The Book of Rannells: Black Monday: Season 1, Episode 1 – “365” (2019)

We’re taking another break from The New Normal, a more extended one this time, to make room for a new series co-starring Andrew Rannells.  With the pilot now under my belt, I’m still getting into the rhythm of the show, but I’ve seen enough that I think this could be pretty fun.

One year before the infamous “Black Monday” crash of 1987, Mo, who heads up a “chop-shop” trading firm on Wall Street, sets his sights on stock from a low-value company housed in extremely-prime Manhattan real estate.  To the apprehension of Dawn, his friend/second-in-command, he goes after the stock in a big way, spending massive amounts of money he doesn’t have to attempt a controlling interest.  Along the way, he meets Blair, a young novice with a hot new trading algorithm and very little real sense of what he’s getting himself into.

My clearest impression of the show so far is that it has a very big personality.  So far, that’s mostly coming down on the side of being a good thing, but it could potentially tip into irritating if it keeps hitting everything so hard.  The ‘80s references are copious, the jokes are raucous and self-impressed, and the characters are loud and flashy.  There are times when the commotion of the scene gets overwhelming (and I’m not even talking about the floor-trading scenes themselves,) others where I get into the flow of what’s happening and am able to ride it.

For the most part, I enjoy the story in the pilot.  It has takes some nice twists, at least one of which I admit I really didn’t expect at all.  Some of the character-development stuff doesn’t quite land – with Mo in particular, I feel like the final sequence gets too introspective too fast after all that’s come before – but I’m willing to see where the show is going with it.  The cast is definitely a plus.  Don Cheadle is an out-of-the-gate force of nature as Mo, and Regina Hall holds her own in the firm’s boys’ club as Dawn.  Casey Wilson (formerly of SNL) also has a featured role.

Rannells plays Blair, who’s taken on something of a roller coaster already in the pilot.  His first few scenes vacillate starkly between highs and lows, and that’s before he meets Mo and basically has his entire world upended.  I see some hints of Elder Price in this character.  For one, he’s the square in the middle of a lot of outrageous personalities, and even though he finds ways to stand up for himself as the episode goes on, he doesn’t have the same easy talent for in-your-face braggadocio and insults as the other characters.  He’s also someone who goes into this new situation with a certain image of how it’s going to be and has that image rudely/repeatedly shattered over the course of what has to be a dizzying day for him.

I’m excited to see Rannells take on this part.  Even though the framework between Blair and Elder Price is definitely there, Rannells plays them differently, and Blair is very different from the more typical archetype Rannells often plays.  It’s more of a straight-man role compared to Mo and Dawn but still very funny, and it looks like there’s a lot of potential in seeing how Blair is affected and/or changed by his new circumstances.

I do have to smile, though, at everyone calling Blair “kid.”  Obviously, Blair is pretty green and naïve, but it also speaks to Rannells’s enduringly-youthful looks.

Recommend?

In General – First impression, I’d say I think so.  It feels like it might still need an episode or two to gel, but things seem to be lining up, and it does a good job dropping you into this very specific world in which it’s set.

Andrew Rannells – Go for it.  I’m really interested to see where this goes.

Warnings

Language (including the N-word,) drinking/smoking/drug use, sexual content (including nudity,) violence, and thematic elements.