Yesterday’s show was a matinée. And a late arriving crowd on the west side of the stadium that was splashed in the Rose City sunshine saw one hell of a performance.
Of course, this acting troop has continually delivered on their considerable promise this year – time after time, show after show. The energy is terrific, and even though their act strains credulity, it continues to deliver.
While it may be true that some are tired of their charade, feeling it’s too bombastic in its ambition to confound, frustrate, and entertain, there’s no denying its magnetic pull: The Portland Timbers Acting Company has given us a season of television that will be long remembered for a number of reasons.
Yesterday’s show saw a number of game guest stars, the “San Jose Earthquakes” – the Washington Generals, if you will, to the Timbers’ Globetrotters in that the Timbers remained in total control of the game and allowed the Earthquakes an allowance of three goals to keep things interesting – keeping with the tradition this show has of pulling in solid guest actors. Fans will remember the “Columbus Crew,” the “Vancouver Whitecaps,” and “FC Dallas.”
For our main cast, there was no shortage of action. Pa Moudu Kah, something of a recurring star this year, turned in a performance remarkable in its obstinance and deafness – by the end, most in the audience were convinced that he could successfully ignore the Watergate break-in happening right in front of him.
This was almost certainly the end of Kah’s story arc with the Timbers, as there surely won’t be any recovering from this level of disaster, but he’ll always have his place in show lore.
Diego Valeri as well continued his march towards the Emmys with something of a tour de force in acting. His range of expressiveness and inventiveness in his acting continues to amaze, and every moment we get of him on screen is a true blessing. That the writers of the show keep giving Valeri magical moments to exploit is a credit to the show’s creative team as well.
Kalif Alhassan, an actor who is trying to resurrect his career also chipped in, making the most of his screen-time with a few effective scenes – will we see more of him going forward?
Though he’s regarded by many in Hollywood as nothing more than a solid character actor, Diego Chara continues to expose himself each week as a star in his own right. As off-the-hook as this show is, Chara is able to add a much needed layer of gravitas.
Not everything was rosy though. Liam Ridgewell, prized for his career in major motion pictures, put in a poor performance this week. He simply looked slow and somewhat shockingly disengaged. His chemistry with co-star Kah was almost uncomfortable to watch. While many may blame Kah, Ridgewell is not blameless for their scenes falling short.
Alvas Powell continues to impress with his effectiveness in big moments, but I’m still not sold on his acting fundamentals. Same can be said of recent cast addition Jorge Villafana.
On the comic relief side, Will Johnson’s meltdowns get better each and every week – but maybe the writers owe it to Johnson remind viewers why his character has been so respected in the past. Right now, that respect is falling away quickly at the hands of a cheap laugh.
But maybe best of all was the quick cut to show-runner Caleb Porter’s face after the Earthquakes scored their third goal – his look said it all: “I don’t know how we did it again, but we did!”
Network President Merritt Paulson seemed far less pleased, but he frankly has a level of expectation that is simply unreasonable.
Yes, this show falls back on some cheap tricks to keep audiences enraptured every week, and yes, we’ve seen this type of show I’d conservatively say ten times already this year, but somehow it works for the Timbers.
They are setting up an incredible season end-run and finale. The writers have set up a scenario where whatever happens – happy ending, sad ending, something in-between, there’s going to be more great drama.
So what’s on tap for next week? Well, we could see the menacing South American actor Norberto Paparatto again after he missed this weekend. There’s some debate over whether Paparatto is a frustrating actor because of the role he’s being made to play, or whether the role he’s playing is frustrating because Paparatto is the man playing it.
We also should see Rodney Wallace’s series regular back involved, after he missed this weekend’s episode because of a family commitment that took him away from filming.
Maybe next weekend will bring a shakeup – it’s a bit cliché to see a cast dig itself out of big trouble each and every week, but this show has a formula and it seems unwilling to back away from it and take a risk.
We’ll see – it’s a scary world once you back away from what is tried and true. But whatever happens going forward, we can all agree that this season of Portland Timbers soccer is just about as good as fiction can get.
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