The Philanthropist
Have you ever had an impulse, one which has no foundation in logic, and which runs counter to our biological drive to hoard and be selfish? We admire heroes precisely because we recognize that our default mode is to be selfish, to care for ourselves and our loved ones before any stranger that may require our beneficence. We comfort ourselves with the notion that we’re not criminals, and therefore, at the very least, we are not actively making the world worse. Sometimes, we make ourselves feel better by throwing money at a cause. If we can’t ship out to South America or volunteer for the Peace Corps, perhaps we can send financial aid instead. Perhaps one takes a more cynical view, arriving at the conclusion that charity is in itself selfish, since those who do it are in it for the attention, or to ease their own gnawing consciences. Is there such a thing as a selfless deed? Nevertheless, isn’t it to our credit that we have those gnawing consciences? If our Darwinian drive dictates that we be selfish to protect ourselves and our families at the expense of others, then isn’t the fact that we feel for others, for strangers in far-off lands, a good thing?
The Philanthropist, NBC’s summer premiere about a billionaire-playboy-turned-humanitarian, may seem like too shallow a vehicle to tackle such questions. After all, what do the folks over in Hollywood know about human suffering on a global scale? Curiously, however, the show works, and it does so while feeling vibrant and human rather than didactic. James Purefoy stars as Teddy Rist, a fast-living, globe-trotting man who finds a moment of clarity in the middle of an African village. This brings us back to my opening question: the illogical impulse to do good, particularly when that good runs counter to our own well-being. In the midst of a hurricane, Teddy sees a poor boy and saves places him onto a safety raft, sacrificing his own place onboard. Upon returning home to NYC, Terry finds that he can’t put the boy out of his mind and returns to Africa in search of him.
With excellent production values, the show comes to life when Teddy is abroad. The exotic locations photograph beautifully, and even the impoverished towns that Teddy visits are a welcome respite from the monotonous settings of other tv shows. As a character, Teddy is but the last in a long string of rich boys playing heroes: from The Scarlet Pimpernel to Batman, the motif is a recurring one. Teddy measures up as a character because he seems genuinely concerned for the people that he is trying to help, and because he does it through charity, rather than violence. Teddy doesn’t don a cape and mask and beat up the bad guys; he tries to deliver vaccines to villages where they are desperately needed. This isn’t to say that the character (and the premise) are unproblematic. After all, Teddy seems to think that bribing people is a legitimate way of getting around the local systems of corruption. Furthermore, the people that he helps (at least in the pilot) are African, bringing forth racial questions to the tune of White Man’s Burden and Western Imperialism. Whether or not the show will tackle these questions remains to be seen, though the issue is briefly noted in the pilot.
In terms of casting, James Purefoy is an inspired choice. Having played bad boys in Rome (my favorite HBO show…ever) and Vanity Fair, James brings that Marc Antony-esque swagger and adventurous spirit to Teddy, but then he adds a deep sense of loss and empathy to the character that make Teddy more substantive and compassionate than Purefoy’s previous roles; he truly seems to care. If there is a problem with the show, it is with Teddy’s life in New York. Teddy’s turbulent background includes broken relationships and the loss of a son, all of which drive him away from his home in America. While I like the notion that Teddy is running from unhappiness, thereby bringing his motives into question, I find it too facile and reductive for the writers to give the rich playboy a dead son as the trigger for his quest to right wrongs. Can’t a person feel sympathy for a fellow human being without having anagolous experience in his/her own life story? I don’t need to have AIDS or see someone close to me die of AIDS in order to feel sympathy for an AIDS patient. It would have been more interesting to me if Teddy’s change were not so easily explained.
Teddy’s son is not the only problem he left behind in New York. He lost his former girlfriend Olivia (played by Neve Campbell) to his best friend Philip (Jesse L. Martin). Though Martin acquits himself well with very little to do in the pilot, Campbell seems out of place, and uninteresting. Lindy Booth, playing Teddy’s assistant A.J., has the same problem; she’s there to beg Teddy to stay out of trouble, and this gets tiresome very quickly. Perhaps these characters will get more development in future episodes? Do we even want to know more about them? The pilot itself is entirely about Teddy, and it works well, but I don’t know that it would, if centered on the other characters. In a previous post, I questioned whether the charm of Nathan Fillion would be enough to sustain my interest in Castle, despite its weak supporting cast and its uninspired writing. The answer to that is a resounding “No” and I gave up on that series. I think The Philanthropist falls more in line with House, as a series with a strong lead who has enough support from the other players and the writing to make me tune in time and again. Like House, The Philanthropist can choose to focus on one character alone, but the supporting players need to be strong enough to make that character’s world an interesting one. It could also go another way by becoming an ensemble piece, but I doubt that they will pull away from Teddy to make that happen.
As it stands, the pilot of The Philanthropist was very intriguing, fast-paced and surprisingly moving. It speaks to that gnawing conscience inside all of us that wants to alleviate the pain in the world. Put simply, it’s wish fulfillment, the desire to become the type of person who could rise above selfishness. Of course, it wouldn’t be fun if Teddy didn’t stumble along the way, but that’s what makes life (and tv) interesting: the flaws in the plan. I, for one, can’t wait to see what Teddy will be up to next.
The Philanthropist airs Wednesdays at 10PM on NBC.
Interesting review, I enjoyed the show too. I am most appreciative of the fact that you’ve referred to the location using the more vague term “Africa” as opposed to Nigeria, because very little (in fact nothing other than the names Abuja, Jos and Lagos) was in fact Nigerian, least of all the hurricane (there are actually NO hurricanes at all in Nigeria) It would have worked much better if they took your lead an left the location more non-specific.
You give me too much credit; I didn’t do it consciously, nor am I familiar with the weather phenomena of Nigeria. I try to look at it from an entertainment (writing, directing, etc) perspective. Unless they do something waaaayyyy out there, like introducing time traveling or something, I’m willing to suspend disbelief.