“You never think I can win and then I prove you wrong. That’s our drill, Dad.” – Lights
Lights Out gained quite a bit of steam going into the back half of the season in last week’s “Crossroads.” For some reason, the show felt like it was a good time to bring that momentum to a screeching halt in “Head Games” by introducing a new character to the mix. “Head Games” quickly morphs into The Eamonn Walker Show and, while Walker is a fine actor, his seething, unstable performance doesn’t jive with the show’s straight-forward, what-you-see-is-what-you-get style.
One of the problems with an actor like Eamonn Walker appearing on a show like Lights Out is the fact that whenever I see Walker, I can’t help but think of Sayid from Oz. This is often the case with performers who are most known for a single, iconic role. I felt similarly about Pablo Schreiber for the first few episodes — not that Nicky Sobatka was particularly iconic. I was also somewhat distracted by the scenes with Walker and McCallany (and there were many) due to the obvious discrepancy in dramatic chops. Early on in the episode, Ed suggests “You were a good fighter, but you’re too tense in the ring, too programmed.” The use of the word “programmed” strikes me as a bit humorous because it brings to mind computers and robots and I have contended from Day One that there is something distinctly robotic about McCallany’s acting style.
Eamonn plays Ed Romeo, Death Row’s reclusive former trainer. He bursts onto the scene and dominates the episode, after Pops steadfastly refuses to train Lights for his rematch with Reynolds. Pops (Stacy Keach) tells Patrick that he is not “capable of fighting at this level anymore” and that he can no longer watch his fights objectively as a trainer. When Pops watches Lights take blow after blow, he does so as his father, not his cornerman.
Lights brings a reluctant Ed from his rural compound (where he trains at-risk youth in the art of boxing) to Bayonne to get a feel for Patrick’s life before committing to train him. It’s as if Lights is on a prolonged interview. After a few bumps in the road (namely, Barry Word), Ed agrees to help Lights prepare for his title fight.
Despite my prior complaints about the episode, “Head Games” has a couple of things I really dig. For the first half of the season, the Leary family (with a few notable exceptions) presented a pretty united front. This week, cracks in that facade start to become more obvious. Part of Ed’s investigation into Patrick’s life involves taking a hard look at the people closest to him. When he learns that Lights foots the bill for his sister’s diner and Pops’ gym, Ed asks, “Damn Lights, how many titties you got?” The implication of this is that Patrick’s loved ones might be leaching off of him and retarding his progress back towards the championship belt. The mistrust works both ways and Johnny, fearing that he is being cut out of the action, begs Lights to drop Ed and train with Pops again.
The final sequence of “Head Games” is pretty damn gripping. Reynolds (Billy Brown) barges into the gym during one of Lights’ training sessions to warn Patrick about Ed. “You don’t want that dude messing around in your head, trust me,” he says. This forces Ed to come clean about the events surrounding the end of his tenure as Reynolds’ trainer. He lifts his sleeves to reveal two long scars running down each of his forearms. “This is life and death for me. If you’re not down with that, we shouldn’t even start.” But Lights is down with that. Romeo is his trainer, suicide attempt be damned.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.