Boss is a two season TV series about the mayor of Chicago, Tom Kane, played by Kelsey Grammer, and his struggle to maintain control as he battles a degenerative disease, political opponents, family troubles and the press. Boss is what would happen if you liked The Wire’s episodes on political corruption, the union and the press more than the struggle of cops versus drug dealers with a dash of Billy Bathgate meets Ally McBeal if it was a Shakespearian tragedy or Hunter S. Thompson without the drugs. Each season of Boss has an overarching mystery that gets resolved by the end of the season, but is not the dominant focus of the show. The mystery provides momentum and obstacles for the characters to overcome and illustrate how the viewers may have permitted superficial demeanor to underestimate the threat posed by each character.
If you don’t want to watch Boss because of Frasier, dismiss that notion. Grammer is equal parts menacing and sympathetic as TV’s Macbeth. Connie Nielsen as the soft-spoken first lady of Chicago and first daughter, Meredith Kane, shows her range from conniving to desperately deferential while not losing her composure. You can believe that she married Tom Kane, but while equal or more capable than her husband has still not been able to outwit him. Sanaa Lathan only appears in the second season, but steals the show with her impassioned earnestness. In the first season, the story for Kathleen Robertson’s character did nothing for me, but if there was a third season, she may have emerged as the most interesting character in the show. Unfortunately even though she is a political operative, she gamely provides the majority of the cable TV series required nudity and sex scenes, i.e. boobies. Troy Garity’s journalistic story arc is complete by the second season, and while he is a very interesting character, I am not sure what his role would have been if Starz renewed Boss. Boss’ ensemble cast did a great job with special supporting anchor kudos to Martin Donovan as the voice of reason, Karen Aldridge as the doctor and Mary Hollis Inboden as the only good character and normal person in the entire series.
The least satisfying character was Emma Kane. I completely misread her intentions towards the local drug dealer in the first episode, found her baffling during the rest of the first season and was relieved by her trite but at least understandable turn in the second season. I don’t know if the writer tried to do too much, the director provided insufficient instructions and/or the actor just was not up to the task, but she was an annoying hot mess. Can anyone be as stupid as Darius? The Ian Todd storyline was weird, perhaps a veer too far in the direction of Greek tragedy, but promised to be interesting in his interactions with Kane, who HAD to know based on their final interaction in the second season.
I really enjoyed Boss although the suspension of disbelief required can be Herculean though enjoyable instead of insulting to the viewer’s intelligence. Boss has sex, nudity, violence and profanity so sensitive viewers should skip it, but not as sensational as HBO series. While Boss still had enough momentum to survive and remain interesting for a third season, it is better to go out while you are still on top. Boss leaves you wanting more.