Review: Push, NV

by Tyler Carey

Kinda. I almost wonder if the writers/puzzle-makers outsmarted themselves. For some odd reason, a major component of the online content was not highlighted during the first episode - The Push Times Online. The Push Times is the imaginary newspaper for the imaginary town of Push, NV. It's a kind of ham-handedly weak website - apparently mocking the websites for small town papers who are trying to keep up with the Jones'. It provides you with a wealth of seemingly useless information about the town and its people, but common sense suggests that a number of clues are hidden somewhere - perhaps in the columns, fake classifieds or online archives. Granted, by loading up the first clue you can link to the Push Times, but I was pretty surprised that they created this whole online world and intentionally hid it. Loading it without any of the other clues does little to help you solve the mystery. My big fear about the "interactive mystery" is that they've set the bar just high enough that it frustrates the regular joe who wants to play along, but just low enough that some professional Agatha Christie reader will solve it by episode four. That curiosity factor is enough to keep me at least tracking the online involvement of viewers.

Now, the actual show. Think the Coen Brothers do Twin Peaks. Affleck and company have amassed an excellent cast of indie and character actors (Mystic Pizza's Conchata Ferrell, Jon Polito of The Big Lebowski and Homicide and Armand Assante, for instance), and the smart script walks the line between bizarre and satiric. Much like Twin Peaks, to which it has already been compared dozens of times, the writing captures America's zeitgeist. Whereas some of the overarching conspiracy in Twin Peaks played on the early 90s phobia of an economically powerful Japan, the big bad corporate conspiracy that pushes all the buttons in Push, NV is comprised of crooked corporate bigwigs who, as our dear president is fond of saying, "cook the books." The actual prize in the online game is the money that is stolen from a casino vault in the first minute of the pilot episode. It's kind of like ABC is trying to let America take a stab at stealing back from all the crooked Enron execs out there.

The protagonist (as passive as a protagonist can be) is IRS agent Jim Prufrock, played by Derek Cecil. Cecil is excellent. Plain and simple. His character is a recently divorced pencil pusher who goes to Push to track down an apparent bookkeeping error that suggests corruption. All of a sudden, he's thrust into this twisted world of brothels, bootleg tattoo parlors, and victims of a huge coverup plot that plays upon our fears of big bad corporate America. Unlike so many fish out of water stories, Cecil doesn't quickly adapt to his surroundings with a nod and a wink. He orders non-alcoholic beer at a brothel where he is looking for information. When his trail takes him to a tattoo parlor that would frighten even the most inked of us Hoboes, and the artist says he won't talk until Prufrock gets a huge tattoo, Prufrock doesn't just give in and get in the chair, he runs away - literally. Prufrock, fairly inappropriately named after J. Alfred Prufrock, is a nervous everyman who will inspire all of us regular joes who wonder what we'd do in his shoes. Thankfully, Affleck's and Bailey's writing is sharp enough to play up on Prufrock's inadequacies, as opposed to having him try to mythologically overcome them with ease and uncharacteristic courage.

Sadly, Push, NV plays higher on atmosphere than it does on plot. Lynch's main issue in Twin Peaks seemed to be that he was having so much fun creating this odd little town and these odd little people to play with, that he lost sight of an actual story beyond "Laura Palmer is still dead!" In the two episodes of Push, NV that have been broadcast so far, there's been just enough story to keep me interested. The characters are great, the script is witty, the cinematography is fairly clever for a weekly series and the soundtrack is very well selected. But, I'm a little worried that we're looking at another flash in the pan - a great setup but very little story development as it progresses. I'm certainly going to tune in next week, and plan to explore the website, but I hope the storyline goes past IRS investigative agent Jim Prufrock finding evidence and being told to ignore it by the local authorities, time and again.

One last bit of oddity. Although Affleck and co-writer Sean Bailey have created their own world, this is still very much America, and Corporate America at that. The Push Times Online is sponsored in part by the local Toyota Dealership and the local Sprint shop. The Sherriff on the program is a vociferous fan of Quizno's subs. This is product placement at its most insidious. To be honest, I'm pretty amazed. Not surprised, mind you, but amazed. The cash prize for solving the mystery is probably a drop in the bucket compared to the fees they received from advertisers. The whole combination of show, websites and advertising is what I think may become the next big thing. Thankfully, the writing and atmosphere of Push, NV make it all worthwhile to watch and endure the hidden ads. The imitators, who will be spawned like Survivor-alikes, I'm sure, have a high bar to hurdle.

Check it out next Thursday - the initial episodes will no doubt be rerun frequently to get folks into the game.

-Tyler Carey, who was up until 2 AM clue hunting again, last night.