The Riches: The Complete First Season

Review By: Brian DePasquale
BrianDePasquale @TheCinemaSource.com

Nothing about FX’s The Riches is particularly inventive or visionary. The show borrows heavily from the plot structures of other narratives and sometimes what occurs on the screen is not convincing. Yet despite all of its glaring flaws, the program is oddly affecting. Each episode is crafted well enough to entertain and the actors that make up the title family have wonderful chemistry. The magic of the show lies in their interactions with each other. The weaknesses of the show occur when they have to step outside their home and interact with others.

The story is simple enough. The Malloys are a group of Irish con artists who live in a colony of fellow traveling thieves. The mother, Dahlia (Minnie Driver) is recently out from prison and the show begins with dad and the kids picking her up to go home. Wayne Malloy (Eddie Izzard) is the father and the most gifted of all the thieves. He often gets himself into trouble because the thrill of telling lies clouds his judgment about how to make them work. The three kids that make up the rest of the family function more like soldiers than normal youngsters. They all play major roles in all of their group stunts and know the rules of their team’s thievery inside out.

The family, with the exception of Wayne, seems content with their living situation. When a conflict over leadership occurs within their group, however, Wayne steals some money and takes his wife and kids away from it all. On the road, they run into members of the group they just left. In an incredible turn of the events, the Malloys get in a car accident that kills the husband and wife driving the other car. Desperate to find a path for his family, Wayne decides to take them to the home of the couple they just killed. After careful consideration, he devises a plan for them to pose as the upper-class family they found dead and to try and survive in their world. Wayne sees the situation as an opportunity for the ultimate con. Dahlia sees it as a big risk that could cause serious consequences. Much of the conflict of the show revolves around the drama of their disagreements about what is best for the family. We can tell the two have a troubled past.

Despite its tragic interior, the majority of The Riches operates mostly in the comedic realm. The show’s structure is based off of the False Identity Plot in which most laughs derive from situations in which the family is stuck in a situation where they have to prevent their cover from being blown. Think of the ending of Mrs. Doubtfire when Robin Williams is forced to try and dress up as a man ...