‘Here and Now’ Season 1, Episode 5: Commitment Issues

I find the show compelling enough to return to each week, but given the short number of episodes, I'm not sure I'll stick around for another season. Given the shortage of comments on each re cap, I'm guessing this show is not generating the interest of audience that HBO had hoped for.

I cannot remember where I heard the show described as the "anti-This is Us." Perfectly describes the show. I watch both.

The characters in this show in every scene mention the city they live in. They are always dropping in the word "Portland" as if to add some kind of contemporary relevance and or resonance to the content. Then they get in cars and drive the wrong way to a neighborhood they mention. Or invent a park for a psychotic episode. What is this mess about anyway? Oh yeah, "here and now". This is lie no here or now that I have ever seen. And the "Portland" they are living in is a ridiculous fancy reimagining of the place. Pretentious nonsense by HBO with obligatory "sex" scenes thrown in every 15 minutes.

The premise of this show seems engineered specifically so that its creators would have the opportunity of examining every compelling complexity of the human experience. I suppose they want to do so because they are smart and curious people, and because ideas are interesting. What does it mean to be faithful? What does it look like to relinquish control? What is identity? How can we claim our own in a world that is constantly telling us what it means to be gay, African American, or Muslim, how we ought to behave as an aging woman, or an aging man? Yet I cannot watch this show without feeling that I am on a tour of the People and Their Foibles exhibit in a richly marbled museum where each human conundrum is being represented by someone who is highly successful, attractive, loved and cared for deeply, financially privileged and by all accounts ignorant of every bit of their moral luck. Kristen and Navid wiling away the afternoon in a homeless camp, swinging on a burned out car like a jungle gym, blissfully unaware and bizarrely gleeful at turns was about as much disconnect as I can deal with.

I mainly watch because I live in Portland (my wife likes to call it our "pretentious Portland show" and it does play into some of the legit stereotypes here) and like to see the places where it's being filmed (Ramon's apartment building I walk by on my way to work out, I often hike by the place he had his hallucination). A note on Duc and Vancouver, I'm quite sure those were fantasies he had, not actual experiences.

I am sorry, but this show's characters may represent the most self-absorbed people in an ensemble cast I've ever witnessed on an HBO series. Each one of them is sooooo preoccupied with their own egos, it is hard to watch. One of the adopted daughters is miserable about being Afro American adopted by loving white parents, but married a white man who just loves her and her daughter. Their Vietnamese son is a poster child of dysfunction, an OCD who poses as celibate, while he keeps his violent sex life a secret, and I guess we are supposed to believe it is all because of his mother's prostitution he witnessed as a child?? The totally aimless spoiled youngest daughter, the Iranian son who may be gender fluid, cross dressing or gay, how much could these writers jam into one family or series. I could go on, but, like the young gay Barista Henry, I want to tell him to run screaming away from this family and the series. Life is just not this hard, dudes.

I keep watching, because I really enjoy the performances by Holly Hunter and Tim Robbins. I have a brief understanding of their marriage and their disappointments in life, so their story line is interesting to watch as it develops. As for the (4) children - all of them are self centered, self involved and ungrateful for the beautiful lives they were given. I find it difficult to have sympathy for any of them (regardless of their start in life). There is so little appreciation for what they've been given or for the sacrifices their adopted parents made on their behalf. I have a hard time feeling invested in their life journey. As I said, I watch for Holly Hunter and Tim Robbins.

Lame episode all around but, no, Greg didn't respond with more lies. He responded with an apology, which seems to have aggravated his overwhelming wife even more, quite a feat of acting for a Holly Hunter who always seems to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Last but not least, a note to the stylists of "Here and Now": somebody please brush Ramon's hair! As cute as the guy is, every time I see him my scalp starts itching.

My first thought when Henry mentioned Waco was that he was a child involved in the Branch Davidian siege. If so that would mean that four of the characters -- Henry, Ramon, Luc, and Farid -- are dealing with post-traumatic stress from childhood horrors. We don't know Ashley's Liberian origin story yet. Not a coincidence, and maybe this is at the root of the hazy premise of this show. I believe there are only two more episodes this season, so I hope Ball shines some light on this soon.