I’ve seen four episodes of Married so far, and only the last one, “Invisible Man,” gives me hope that Married has somewhere to take its story. There’s a formula the show establishes early on that works for it, and should attract some regular viewers, but outside of that fourth episode’s intriguing end, the formula is already grating on me a little. Married is all about the woes of marriage, and how both Lina and Russ are coping with realizing that the rest of their lives isn’t going to be as thrilling as they had hoped – it’s all right there in the tagline: “It’s a long time ’til death.” But just because the show’s protagonists feel resigned to tedium, that doesn’t mean the show’s viewers should too.
Somehow, even the sex isn’t enough to get the show’s pulse going. Because Married is on FX, the standards on language and sexual content are lowered, which is demonstrated immediately by the first scene, in which a frustrated Russ, denied sex by Lina while she reads her vampire romance, takes matters into his own hand (ahem). But there’s a grim realism to the scene, and others of the same sort, that stifles the humor. Surely, this wasn’t Married‘s intention. Additionally, the show’s first four episodes communicate a mockery of its characters and subject that borders on outright contempt. And with leads like Greer and Faxon, why is it that the writers feel we must laugh always at Lina and Russ, never with them?
That kind of unease in the humor suggests a deeper lack of faith in Married‘s central tenet. In the very first episode, frustrated with his horniness, Lina tells Russ he should get a mistress on the side. It’s a story that just doesn’t work, because the writers never convince us that Lina and Russ are at a place in their marriage where they feel infidelity is the only way to save it. And, tellingly, by episode’s end, it’s as if nothing has happened – as if Russ never considered (and came extremely close to) cheating on the mother of his children. For a show called Married to make its first episode all about Russ’s frankly ridiculous struggle to remain faithful is strange, to put it mildly.
Married definitely improves in its subsequent installments, as more screen time is afforded to AJ and Jess, and the familiar, shopworn kind of love between Russ and Lina is more clearly delineated. The jokes also seem to hit their targets with greater frequency – though that may be a product of FX shuffling episodes around, putting stronger installments first. In particular, “Invisible Man” climaxes with an absolutely side-splitting scene involving Russ’s visit to a doctor to follow up a vasectomy. If Married can, in the rest of its season, work to blend the pressures (and pleasures) of married life with very funny scenes like that, it could shape up into a series worthy of its cast. Alas, Married is not there yet – but like in any good union, FX will hopefully give it some time to work out the kinks.
