Guest Review: TNT's "Mob City"

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Published on Wednesday, December 11 2013 18:04

Written by Christian Diamond

By Christian Diamond

12/10/13

“The Walking Dead” Deceased Characters “Turn” Noir in TNT’s Mob City

It felt right.  It felt familiar.  The show opened with a flashback sequence to a 1920’s prohibition era mob booze warehouse scene and subsequent dramatic shootout.  For a moment or two I felt like I was watching a scene right out of Boardwalk Empire.  So far, so good.

Then, before I knew it a few minutes later, we have jumped forward to 1947 to see Jon Bernthal, (who plays Detective Joe Teague) chatting with Jeffrey DeMunn (playing Detective Hal Morrison) in an office at Police headquarters about an “after hours” job offer made to Teague the following night.  Now I felt like I was like watching a flashback scene straight out of “The Walking Dead” before the zombie apocalypse, but in an alternate universe.

For those of you might not know, both Jon Bernthal and Jeffrey DeMunn are former main cast members of the AMC hit TV Series “The Walking Dead,” who both met with a grisly demise (as is customary for many of the main characters on this show).  On “Walking Dead,” Bernthal played the character of Shane Walsh, a former police officer, who had more than one verbal run in with (DeMunn’s) Winnebago jockey Dale Horvath.  Saying that Shane and Dale didn’t like each other is an understatement and the two characters shared many tense scenes together in the past.  Seeing them now together again was a real treat for “Walking Dead” fans (like me).

Also, as an extra surprise, returning from the “Dead” cast is actor Andrew Rothenberg – formerly appearing as the character of Jim from the early episodes of “The Walking Dead.”  Rothenherg now plays Eddy Sanderson, another Detective on Morrison’s (DeMunn’s) crack mob task force.

Lest we forget another zombie-related special guest star in the first episode:  Simon Pegg, who delivers an almost flawless American accent while he plays comedian Hecky Nash.  Pegg previously had played the infamous Shaun of  “Shaun of the Dead” fame and, of course, the latest Scotty on the two most recent Star Trek feature films.

This gathering of former “Walkers” is not by accident.  As TNT is all too eager to advertise, Mob City’s creator and show runner is Frank Darabont (formerly Executive Producer of “The Walking Dead”).  His directorial and visual style is very distinct and “Mob City” is an obvious valentine directed at some of the best film noir pictures of the 40’s and 50’s.

The “Mob City” story is adapted from John Buntin's nonfiction book L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City.  It depicts a unique time in 1947 Los Angeles when mobsters and crooked cops ruled the city and a squad of good police officers struggle to take it back.  The show features a slew of notorious real life characters, mixed in with some fictional ones including:  Mickey Cohen (Jeremy Luke) and Bugsy Siegel (Ed Burns) as well as a fictional enforcer, Sid Rothman, (Robert Knepper).  The real L.A. Police Chief Parker is played by Neal McDonough.

The main character Joe Teague (Bernthal) plays a classic tough-as-nails former U.S. Marine and current L.A. Police detective who we are led to believe moonlights for the mobsters.  He looks like he has been through the ringer and keeps coming back for more, in classic noir style.

Overall, the story takes a little while to develop, however, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this “Walking Dead” reunion meets “The Big Sleep.”  Mr. Darabont, you can certainly make a career out of this new genre I’d like to call “Walking Noir.”  

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Christian Diamond is a longtime listener and supporter of HHWLOD, and this is his first guest review for the site.