The long con

THERE'S SPOILERS IN THIS HERE BLOG. YOU'RE WARNED.

I thought I had it in me to sit here and pontificate about the greatness of The Riches to you for a while. And I could, but it would probably sound just like it does every other time I blog about a show I really enjoy. In brief: FX, yay... strong characters, yay... brilliant writing, double yay. It's not the greatest, but for the past three months I've looked forward to watching every week.

When The Riches premiered, it as simply another cool FX show. I don't think I'm the only one who'd never heard of Travelers -- American gypsies of Irish decent -- and was pretty intrigued by the idea of a show about such a group. Con artists are entertaining characters to begin with.

Anyway, to keep you from falling asleep thanks to a long post, for this look back on season one there's only a one point that needs to be made to best highlight the show (which, for the record, didn't need to leave a cliffhanger to bring people back next season).

Here goes: The show is nothing like anything else on television. It's constantly changing, going from what seemed to be about a family of con artists to a story about a family that just wants to be accepted. This is a good thing, and a bad thing for the show. It's kept things fresh, without a doubt, but things moved fast through the season as the family has assimilated into their new lives. That leaves a number of milestones in their journey in the rear-view.

If things stay as they are, the show will need a short run to be considered strong. They're running deep into the well of bad stuff that could happen to the Malloys in their current situation. But then, I should probably have faith in the creative minds behind the show working a little more magic and redefining everything one or twelve more times.

As far as the finale goes, I was a bit disappointed. The real Doug Rich's friend Pete is more annoying than anything (he may even deserve the brutal beating it seems is coming from Dale if it makes him stop the whining). I get the feeling he'll eventually learn the whole truth and latch on... even more annoyingly. Dale on the other hand may end up with more power than most viewers might want him to.

(Side note: Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver are absolutely amazing in this show. Their play off each other alone is worth applause, but they've each crafted a pair of characters -- and together crafted a relationship -- that is beyond what anything on television is doing right now. And I used to hate Minnie Driver.)

(Side note two: I'm extremely happy that the show never made the kids superficial. They're as much in this situation as Wayne and Dahlia, and they've shown up and stepped up accordingly.)