'The Brink' episode 2 review: 'Half-Cocked'

Well past the halfway mark of this week’s episode of The Brink, “Half-Cocked,” Secretary of State Walter Larson (Tim Robbins) tells his ever-persistent assistant Kendra Peterson (Maribeth Monroe) about how he mixes up being ballsy with being suicidal. He’s not the only one who has this problem, it seems. Apparently this is something creators Kim & Roberto Benabib have trouble separating as well.

There’s always a rhythm and momentum moving their first series together forward, but rarely does their spitfire approach hit the notes they need to sing. The humor is dark, but never brooding or wacky, and there’s clearly a smart, enthusiastic team ready to pounce on the scene. But it doesn’t quite feel edgy enough — or sophisticated enough, really — to make the impact it needs. But it’s also too smart to be broad enough to land as an out-and-out political farce, just like The Campaign. So what’s left here is this sort-of in-between series with the will power to explode on the scene, but without the proper ammunition and skill sets to carry out its master plan.

It’s a puzzling affair, filled with great talent on-and-off-screen giving the show their all, yet not quite delivering anything especially funny, insightful or entertaining to the mix. Meddling is perhaps the best way to describe The Brink — as much as it hurts to say it — and that's confirmed yet again with this follow-up to last week's pilot. To its credit, though, “Half-Cocked” is an improvement. Under Robbins’ direction, the Benabibs’ show takes a slightly more dialed-back and character-driven focus, which helps elevate the overly eager, quick-bang-buck style Jay Roach brought before. It fits the direction the showrunners seemingly want to go, as it focuses less on making each joke stand-out and as loud as possible, and more on driving the intensity of the plot through these hyperactive personalities. It feels more natural, and less sitcom-y. It also gives the show a little more posh too. It's not quite there yet, but it's a start in the right direction.

Picking up exactly where things left off last week, pilots Zeke Tilson (Pablo Schreiber) and Glenn Taylor (Eric Ladin) try to fly straight despite the miscalculated drugs flowing — and coming out — out their systems, and as a result have accidentally blowing up a drone just overhead of Pakistan. This doesn’t bode too well for the figureheads in the White House, but they have their own mess-ups to deal with. A misunderstand of the phrase “half-cocked” from Larson on the phone in the bathroom causes General Umair Zaman (Iqbal Theba) to consider pushing his nuclear war plans further into effect.

President Julian Navarro (Esai Morales) has to try his best to clean up Larson’s mistake, yet as this continues the Secretary of State never loses sight of making sure he can prove himself a powerhouse figure, especially in this time of possible war. While this all happens, Alex Talbot (Jack Black) ends up a prisoner-of-war for his attempt to fax private documents to the C.I.A seen last week. Although he cannot convince his kidnappers that he’s not part of the bureau, he tries to get out of this sticky situation as best he can — and that includes bringing Larson’s name into the mix. Also attempting to gain Alex’s freedom is Pakistani U.S. Embassy employee Rafiq Massoud (Aasif Mandvi), however persuading his peers to rescue an American diplomat isn’t as easy as he would hope it to be.

Robbins does a better job containing the energy and also letting the performers hone down their characters. But these characters still feel just that: characters. They aren’t realistic enough to feel compelling — despite the satire around them — like they are on Veep, but they also aren’t goofy enough to be something of a telling commentary on modern war tactics, just like Dr. Strangelove. The comedy series is then still left in this middle zone, from which it doesn’t seem concerned about leaving. Without telling anything that anyone with even a passing knowledge of U.S. politics can infer (or believe to be so), and without pushing itself in any territory that hasn’t been done before, The Brink is not a half-assed effort, but it’s still feels a little, well, half-cocked.

Image courtesy of HBO