Independent student content

BG Falcon Media

Independent student content

BG Falcon Media

Independent student content

BG Falcon Media

Support BG Falcon Media!
As part of BGSU's One Day fundraising effort, every dollar you contribute to Falcon Media will go directly to helping us continue to produce quality content. Every dollar helps. Donate here
The BG News
Follow us on social
BG24 Newscast
March 28, 2024

  • Visiting Author: Sheila Squillante
    Last week, the visiting author, Sheila Squillante, presented the art of creative non-fiction at BGSU. Last year, her memoir came out. From Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA, Squillante visited BGSU, last week. Previously, she has published collections on poetry, but most recently, her memoir, All Things Edible, Random and Odd  was published in 2023. “I […]
  • Petrofiction Review: Oil on Water
    Here’s my review of Oil on Water by Helon Habila – a petrofiction novel which won The Commonwealth Prize and Caine Prize. For context, petrofiction stems from petroleum and fiction. A specific text that focuses on petroleum culture in political economics and environmental impact. Although Habila’s novel begins with a journalist investigating a kidnapping, the […]
Spring Housing Guide

Strong cast stacks ‘House of Lies’

At Galweather & Stearn lying, cheating and having the balls to take it all is just business, so “grow a pair.”

The Showtime comedy, “House of Lies,” wrapped its inaugural season Sunday, providing a sharp satire of the world of big business and management consulting.

Don Cheadle stars as Marty Kaan, a conflicted consultant whose firm, Galweather & Stearn, is facing some big changes that threaten the security of his job and could really screw him over.

Ironically, Kaan makes his living by screwing businesses over each week, but this time he’s screwed himself along with about 12 other women in the world of business.

Kaan leads a team known as “The Pod,” featuring Kristen Bell as Jeanne Van Der Hooven; Ben Schwartz as Clyde Oberholt; and Josh Lawson as Doug Guggenheim.

The show’s key to success comes with its cast, primarily the members of “The Pod.” Cheadle and Bell, the show’s most visible stars, lead the group because of their similar business and personal practices, in spite of Jeanne’s initial moral compass.

Cheadle himself is a powerhouse and builds a connection to the audience by embodying a smooth talking, perceptive observer of corporate culture who is able to read people and exploit their weaknesses to his advantage.

To illustrate Kaan’s expertise, the show often freezes the frame, leaving Kaan to walk around and talk to the audience as the rest of his victims remain frozen in place, completely oblivious.

Despite his professional expertise, Kaan faces challenges at home. He genuinely loves his father Jeremiah (Glynn Turnam) and son Roscoe (Donis Leonard Jr.), a 10-year-old who cross dresses and experiments with his gender identity. However, Kaan’s frequent absences and womanizing make it difficult for him to provide his family with any stability.

This is complicated by the frequent appearances of his sexpot ex-wife, Monica (Dawn Olivieri), who works at a rival firm and still manages to seduce him in elevators or public rest rooms.

Characters like Greg Norbert (Greg Germann) and Marco “Rainmaker” Pelios (Griffin Dunne) round out the cast, with Norbert providing a hilariously awkward, insecure rival for Kaan and “The Pod.”

The show manages laughter and drama, with Cheadle and Bell moving the story forward, while Lawson and Schwartz provide comic relief with undertones of their own insecurities and ambitions.

The fleshed out characters keep the show interesting even when they get caught up in business jargon. While the terminology is necessary to describe “The Pod’s” schemes and advance the plot, we have to admit some of it goes over our heads.

Despite this almost necessary flaw, “House of Lies” is the best new show of the spring season.

Leave a Comment
Donate to BG Falcon Media
$825
$1500
Contributed
Our Goal

Your donation will support the student journalists of Bowling Green State University. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

More to Discover
Donate to BG Falcon Media
$825
$1500
Contributed
Our Goal

Comments (0)

All BG Falcon Media Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *