Golden God Hamiltion Will Bring You Back to 'Coma'

The newest episode (#3) of Coma (Don’t forget Michael Madsen’s in it!) premiered on Crackle yesterday, bringing with it the thunder of more George Hamilton. Let’s face it, the man is a cultural tan icon, so casting him as the profanity spewing Mayor is simply fun to watch. It’s like an unofficial Glengarry Glen Ross sequel set in city government. If it were up to me the whole show would just be George Hamilton shouting at various flunkies until sammiches arrive.

But let’s lay off of the Hamilton because it’s Madsen’s show. I know this because his name is listed above the credits, and in a bigger font. Also because he spends most episodes getting shot the same way, over and over again. I don’t mind. It looks cool. Beyond that, the mind slackens, mostly due to the breakneck editing and slick after effects work applied to the final product.

For those who have yet to partake, Coma looks like a cross between 24 and Sin City. It’s set in a world where everything is lightly Matrix-green, but the edges got blurred because everyone had a few too many at the bar. It’s a highly manipulated Jezebel of a show and I love every moment of its visual sluttiness. It screams “look at me” so loudly that I glossed past any attempt at plot, much like brushing aside a hot girl’s attempts at explaining how exciting her cat is. It’s simply not why we got involved in the first place. This is a love letter to people too ADD riddled to make it through a Bazooka Joe comic.

The series is another example of Hollywood stepping further into the online series world. It’s got star power (Madsen!), is well produced, and has credits that take up one quarter of the total length of the piece. Ultimately, you can keep the slickness, but I’ll always come back for the Hamilton.