At its best two and a half men was the Beatles. Today it’s lamo McCartney pop, whereas Anger Management is still in the awkward phase of Lennon’s first albums. Middle-class hero indeed.
Four episodes of season 2 have passed thus far, and we can make some conclusions. The current cast and dynamics of Anger management are thus far distorted reflections of the established 2.5 men formulae.At its best two and a half men was the Beatles. Today it’s lamo McCartney pop, whereas Anger Management is still in the awkward phase of Lennon’s first albums. Middle-class hero indeed.
Four episodes of season 2 have passed thus far, and we can make some conclusions. The current cast and dynamics of Anger management are thus far distorted reflections of the established 2.5 men formulae. The apparent love interest (Dr. Kate Wales) is Charlie himself from 2.5 Men a relation-phobic sex-enthusiast.
Charlie’s profession is appropriately downscaled to reflect his real-life financial downscaling. The ‘when will they drop dead’ attitude to the parents is transposed onto Martin Sheen’s character.
A coarser, meaner version of the castrating mother/Judith is Charlie’s sister, or at least the glimmer of her we saw up to now.
Meek dude Nolan is a one-trait Allen if you remember Allen asking himself why he’s so turned on by angry women…
Intolerant old fella is the gay-to-be dad of 2.5 Men Charlie’s love interest Chelsea.
The mellow black neighbor is Rose but without an agenda. He’s another dead weight thus far, like the inmates, which for now are pieces of the décor, who chime in with their down-to-earth-trailer-trash aphorisms, the male choir whose lead is the waitress. The inmates are like a theoretically more regular version of Charlie’s poker-paying buddies.
Berta is Bret the surly, hoarse, gutter-wise waitress.
Instead of Jake we have twitchy, highly strung Sam.
Charlie’s Anger Management ex-wife like Schwarzenegger’s Terminator a role crafted perfectly for her woodiness.
Summary: where 2.5 Men started with a bang, with fleshed out characters from episode 1 minute 1, Anger Management is going for the slow buildup. Charlie and Dr. Wales and Charlie’s dad are the only characters thus far who look and feel like real people; everyone else is still in the ‘untapped resource’ category, and we can only hope that will get ‘tapped’ soon. There are hints of this happening. Intolerant Ed and Patrick are showing the first signs of turning into real characters. Nolan and Lacey and Sam and the ex-wife and everyone else still seem stuck in the position of appendages to one and one only character trait. I think (hope), that that is about to change.… Expand