The tagline for FOX’s House is “Everybody Lies,” but the two-word slogan would make a better fit with sister network FX’s The Riches, now in the middle of a ridiculously good second season that cements it as TV’s most underrated series.
“[Lying] eats up your soul and it destroys you and it destroys everyone around who you love,” said a tear-streaked Dahlia Malloy in a recent episode. And Dahlia (Minnie Driver) would know, as season two has her family of gypsy con artists still assuming the life of the Riches, a wealthy, upstanding family apparently living the American dream behind the fences of a posh gated community. Appearances can be deceiving though, and Dahlia and her husband Wayne (Eddie Izzard) are struggling to keep their con going until Wayne, who fakes being a lawyer by day, cashes in on $13 million from a shady New Orleans real-estate deal.
As the Riches, they’re fighting homeowners’ association rent-a-cops and a nosy private investigator. As the Malloys, they must contend with Dale, Dahlia’s sociopathic cousin who has discovered their secret and wants in on the action, and the rest of their Irish Traveller clan who are none too happy that the Malloys abandoned them for a better life.
But most of all, they battle themselves, as the lies they tell to the world and each other build up around them like bricks forming a prison cell. Dale killed a man who was onto the Malloys’ secret and Wayne helped to cover it up, a fact he’s not sharing with the rest of his family. Meanwhile, in an attempt to atone for her sins, and without telling her husband, Dahlia turned herself into the police for parole violation and was forced into a crummy job at a fish market. They refuse to abandon their long con because, at its end, they know they’ll have the money to leave all these nasty untruths behind. But, ironically, they need to tell bigger and bolder lies to keep up the charade.
It also doesn’t help that the Riches are slowly turning into the people they started out only pretending to be. For daughter Di Di, that’s not such a bad thing. She likes attending a real school and making normal friends. But it’s torture for Cael, who hates what his family has become and misses the freedom that’s inherent to the Traveller lifestyle. And Wayne is learning that working as a corporate lawyer requires just as much lying, or perhaps even more so, as being a con artist. When he discovers that his get-rich-quick real-estate deal takes advantage of thousands of New Orleans residents left poor and homeless after Hurricane Katrina, he begins to wonder if the $13 million is even worth all the harm that could be done.
Driver was deservedly nominated for an Emmy for her work on The Riches last season, and she continues to astound this year. Dahlia is on the fringes of a breakdown this season, covering up her old lies with new ones in a hopeless quest for a simpler, guilt-free life, and Driver deftly conveys Dahlia’s emotional despair. Izzard’s job is easier -- he just gets more frazzled the deeper the mess Wayne finds himself in – but he’s still incredibly entertaining in the part and can meet the challenge when a tender moment arises.
The writers’ strike resulted in a shortened second season of The Riches, so the show’s going to be leaving us much too quickly. If you haven’t been watching, do yourself a favor and buy, rent or borrow the DVDs when you get a chance. FX is known for its layered, challenging dramas, and The Riches should only add to that reputation. Whether Wayne and Dahlia can get away with stealing the American dream without losing their souls in the process is not yet known. Hopefully, FX keeps The Riches on the air long enough for them (and us) to find out.
originally published in the April 18th, 2008 edition of The Herald
