Couch Potato Report

My wife was curious about Patrick Swayze’s last acting job — his role in  The Beast, a show about the FBI set in Chicago.  I’ll let her talk more about his performance if she cares to, so all I’ll say is this: one review she read me called his performance (and I’m paraphrasing here) “the best performance of his career”.  I’m not one to argue.  I think it’s damn good.  If you enjoyed Swayze’s character in Road House and/or enjoy Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan’s character) in Burn Notice or any interesting gritty cop shows, you’ll enjoy The Beast.

One of the things we marveled about The Beast was how, by shooting entirely in Chicago, they made it not only the backdrop but also a central character.  I don’t think there’s ever been a TV show that gives such an honest portrayal of the city my wife and I call “home.”  I’m usually a little hesitant to speak for her on this blog, but I think I can speak for both of us when I say it’s the best portrayal of Chicago we’ve seen on the small screen.

The Beast embodies Chicago.  In one episode, their cover is Turano Bread delivery men.  Chicagoans see Turano Bread trucks every day.  In another episode, there’s a tanker truck involved that bears the logo for Gas City, a popular Chicago gas station in the south suburbs.  Also, they do not just include the cliche locations you’d expect, like Grant Park, the Lakefront, the “El”, the Loop, etc.  One location (that I suspect might eventually be on that  list) is the mesmerizing reflective sculpture in Millennium Park known as “The Bean”.  The scene shot there is one of the best uses of Chicago art in a TV show or movie ever (except for Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off).

A lot of the show is filmed in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, which is easy to spot through the architecture and neighborhood businesses.   There’s a scene that takes place at a greasy diner called “Steak N Egger”, which is a real place.  We bet they filmed it at the Pilsen location.  When Barker (Swayze) or Ellis (Aussie actor Travis Fimmel) meet Conrad (Kevin J. O’Connor), it’s usually in an iconic Chicago location.  Finally, one small detail many Chicago-based shows fail to capture:  the hats that Chicago Police officers wear have a checkerboard boarder.  I was watching another show this season supposedly set in Chicago, and the police uniforms were close except for that telling detail.

ER did a nice job portraying Chicago, including the police caps. New ABC drama The Forgotten handles it decently, though they rely heavily on the dialogue to remind us (the characters are often saying things like, “It’s a block from the Loop” or “That place is on Diversey” or “The cops nabbed him in a liquor store on Wabash”, which are meant solely to placate those of us paying attention to the Chicago details).

Seeing Chicago showcased intelligently, and because it’s Patrick Swayze’s tour-de-force swan song, The Beast gets an A+ from both him and her.