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American Gothic: | |||||||||||||||||||||
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rinity, South Carolina, has a sheriff problem. Specifically, Sheriff Lucas Buck (Cole), who may not be Satan himself, but at the very least has the big guy's office number on speed dial. Backed by his own supernatural powers, Buck gives folks what they think they want, in exchange for favors of dubious morality, thereby corrupting anybody who goes along and cruelly destroying anyone who refuses. His control over the town is so absolute that he can even show up at the local church once a week, so the priest can brief him on what everybody's been confessing. The closest thing he has to a confidante in his vile activities is local schoolteacher Selena Coombs (Bakke), who acts sweet and innocent in the classroom but is a amoral man-killer everywhere else, revealing in one episode that she's kept one of her ex-lovers chained in a shed for months.
Buck is also secretly the father, by rape, of young Caleb Temple (Black), whom he seeks to raise in his image. To this end, he snaps the neck of Caleb's disturbed sister Merlyn (Paulson) and frames her drunken dad for the deed. But Merlyn returns in ghostly form to stand between Caleb and the threat Buck represents. She may be an avatar of God, but if so, it's going to take her a while to decide exactly what she's going to do. In the meantime, Caleb's soul remains in jeopardy.
Other Trinity citizens include Caleb's psychic cousin Gail Emory (Paige Turko), who knows the sheriff is bad but doesn't come close to suspecting just how bad; Dr. Matt Crower (Weber), who also smells a rat but doesn't suspect its infernal origins; and Deputy Ben Healy (Nick Searcy), who witnesses the sheriff's evil doings up close but doesn't seem capable of mustering more than the weakest protests.
And the battle begins.
A criminal cancellation
Created by one-time Hardy Boy Shaun Cassidy, creative mind behind the current Invasion, American Gothic is a cult classic ahead of its time that well deserves its re-release on DVD.
This isn't the first time we've called Gary Cole too good an actor to have presided over as many one-season wonders as his career has known. His Lucas Buck is something special. Charming, likable when he wants to be, subtly or unsubtly dangerous the rest of the time, he exudes malice without ever once sacrificing his personal charisma. You can understand why he's so beloved among the townspeople who haven't been burned by their personal dealings with the man, so feared by people who have begun to suspect what he is and what he can do. At his best, he's subversively funny. Watching him, and Selena, wallow in their evil is one of the show's undeniable pleasures: Witness the one episode involving a crooked real estate deal, which is so nasty you almost cheer his victory over the poor gullible schlub tricked into selling his home for a fraction of its value.
But chief among the show's problems is the dearth of any similar magnetism among the characters who oppose Buck. Gail is dull. Crower's a well-meaning but ineffective nonentity. And Merlyn, though powerful, is so ethereal, even when wielding her otherworldly wrath, that she seems more a plot device than a character. The only genuine antagonist is Caleb, a kid who hasn't yet made up his mind which side he's on, and whose greatest weapon seems to be the disapproving eyebrow he raises at any adult who tries to snow him. That's one hell of an eyebrow. But as an ultimate weapon in the fight against evil, it's kind of lacking.
Also, the faux-Southern atmosphere gets a little too thick for the show's good, sometimes smothering scripts that are deliberately paced to start with.
But these are minor complaints compared to the sheer pleasure of watching devil-man Buck, and his occasional cohort evil woman Selena, strut their stuff. They make life in Trinity look almost attractive. As long as you don't sign any contracts while you're there.
The DVD set includes deleted scenes from eight episodes, none of which are critical, but some of which provide additional insight into the characters. —Adam-Troy
Also in this issue: The Eye 2 DVD
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