Jake Lacy, usually the rom-com sweetheart, plays beautifully against type as a spoiled preppie, and Murray Bartlett is perfection as his foil, the passive-aggressive resort manager. White ultimately gives the characters enough depth and history to make them much more than just vehicles for his big points, and the acting is superior. White’s collection of one-percenters spend a week at the titular resort, and we watch them exploiting the hard-working staff, trying - but usually failing - to relax. It’s a murder mystery, a cringe comedy, an upstairs-downstairs drama, and - despite the gorgeous Hawaiian setting - a study in ugly white American entitlement. The unsparing satire of Mike White, the guy behind the two-season wonder “Enlightened,” reached a new high in this faceted series. It’s all a little “King Lear,” a little “The Crown,” a little “Billions,” and a lot good. The layers of infighting among creator Jesse Armstrong’s ensemble of drama queens are dazzling, as the siblings jockey for Dad’s money, power, attention, and, assuming there is any in the cranky husk that is Logan Roy, love. There really is no one to root for in this Machiavellian pit of self-interest - except, perhaps, the writers, who outdo themselves with each new insult.
The scripts have been spikier than ever, as the characters seem to become more twisted - and more profanely witty - with each new episode.
#SLAVE MAKER 3 ENDINGS TV#
The Roys, billionaires and media tycoons, may not be nice, but what’s that got to do with fun? The show returned in October for season three after a long pandemic delay, and it has been a fall treat that has dominated the TV conversation (thank you, weekly release schedule). Plenty of strong TV shows - “Seinfeld,” “Veep,” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” come to mind - have thrived on moral bankruptcy in all its fascinating iterations. OK, OK, so there are no “likable” characters in this brutally sarcastic portrait of the American ruling class.