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Down Dog, Ep. 1.01: “Pilot” is a misfire on many levels

Down Dog, Ep. 1.01: “Pilot” is a misfire on many levels
Josh Casaubon

Josh Casaubon

Down Dog, Season 1, Episode 1: “Pilot”
Written by Robin Schiff
Directed by Brad Silberling
Released January 15, 2015 by Amazon

Writer Robin Schiff, while perhaps best known for her work on Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, has also been a noticeable presence on television, writing for shows such as Party of Five, Are you there, Chelsea?, and Super Fun Night. Amazon’s latest round of pilots sees Schiff delve into creating her own show, as she writes the pilot for Down Dog, about a yoga instructor who finds his life suddenly thrown into turmoil. Unfortunately, the pilot stumbles out of the gate and never recovers, as a combination of conflicting messages about the lead character and unmemorable or reductive secondary characters make this potential show one with little to no promise.

The episode seems oddly confused about how to feel about the lead character and his actions, which does not bode well for the show. On one hand, the pilot paints Amanda and her thoughts about Logan appear to be endorsed, as much of what she says is either echoed by other characters, or its truth becomes apparent in Logan’s actions. On the other hand, the episode also appears to want the viewers to cheer for Logan and be on his side, as evidenced by the pilot’s implicit support of Gabrielle’s firing. The conflicting views also appear in the portrayal of Logan himself, who is shown early on to have gotten through life by manipulating women, whether it’s by convincing them to give him answers during a test, or to pass him in class. Yet, his excitement over becoming a potential yoga video star is painted as the simple-minded naivete of someone who sees the good in people, an idea reinforced by the visit to his drug-dealing father, and the latter’s attempt to rope his son back into the trade. If it goes to series, the show will have to decide very quickly how it feels about its protagonist, and calibrate the writing accordingly. The conflicting messages otherwise rob every scene of any attempted impact, as it becomes unclear whether the show wants the viewer to mock Logan, or sympathise with him, nor does it try to present Logan as is and let the audience decide.

The pilot’s inability to make up its mind about how it feels about Logan would perhaps not be such a glaring concern if the other characters on the show were interesting themselves. Unfortunately, this is not the case, as nearly none of the other characters leave an impression one way or another. Other than Logan, the only other two characters who make much of an impact are Paget Brewster’s Amanda and Lyndsy Fonseca’s Winter. Amanda stands as the sole bright spot of the episode, as both the writing and the performance carry the weight of a woman coming to the realisation that the relationship she’s in is a toxic one. The effectiveness of Amanda only makes the poor handling of Logan more baffling, but the writing of Winter further cements Amanda as the anomaly. While Fonseca valiantly tries to infuse the character with more dimension than is present, giving her body language and speech patterns the feel of someone who’s emotionally maladjusted, Winter nonetheless comes off as little more than a carefree young woman who lusts after Logan. Despite this, Winter fares better than the others, who leave no impact whatsoever, to the point that even the brief presence of Kris Kristofferson fails to make Logan’s father Jimmy make an impression. With Amanda seemingly set on a reduced role at the end of the pilot, if the show does go to series, it will have to work to not only make its secondary characters more meaningful, but ensure that they have dimensions as well.

Overall, Down Dog is a disappointment as a pilot, and does not promise an enticing series. The portrayal of Winter is closer to how the women fare in the episode, as many of them seem to throw themselves at Logan for no conceivable reason, and two key characters, Winter and Dawn, are shown to be struggling with substance abuse and psychological issues respectively, which raises a red flag for the portrayal of women on the potential series, which is a sad turn of events, given the fact that the pilot’s writer is a woman and a veteran of the industry herself. The other key issue with the potential series is the lead casting itself, as many of the problems with how the pilot handles Logan could have been overshadowed by a lead performer with charm and charisma. Unfortunately, Josh Casaubon is not that performer, and appears just as lost as the viewers with regards to Logan. If Amazon does pick up this series, the writers will have to decide whether Logan is a privileged individual getting his first dose of reality or a clueless but plucky character who remains optimistic in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. The inability of Schiff to make this decision before writing the pilot itself doesn’t bode well, and this, combined with a dearth of compelling secondary characters, make this a show that would be better left alone than followed through on.

– Deepayan Sengupta

Other Amazon Pilot reviews: The New Yorker Presents/Salem Rogers/The Man in the High Castle/Point of Honor/Mad Dogs/ Cocked

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