Lone Star Pilot Review 101

Lone Star is no con. It's for real. And so is Bob Allen,(James Wolk) who, though he is a con man, plays himself in two worlds. Make no mistake, he's a liar, but it's his heart you'll fall in love with in this pilot. I almost wanted to hate him, but he is no Don Draper. The writers do their part to make him sympathetic, but ultimately, it's James Wolk's brilliant portrayal that gives you warm fuzzies. Seriously, at the risk of going over the top here, I can't think of a better performance by a male lead on a tv show. I can't wait to see him at work week to week.

Bob Allen is hawking phantom oil shares in two cities. He uses his fake reputation and his relationship with Cat Thatcher(Adrianne Palicki, Friday Night Lights) to wrestle his way into a job at her father, Clint Thatcher's(Jon Voight), oil company.

Lindsay is the girl in the small town that he is also in love with. He has conned virtually her entire town into buying shares of his phantom oil stock. They are almost all older folks, who seem incredibly grateful to him. But his father(David Keith), who taught him this business when he was young and never let go of his hold on Bob's life, alerts him that someone in the town may be on to his lie, and so he tells Bob he has to flee.

The tension of the show lies in the audience's hope that Bob can break free of his conning ways, but mostly just the hold his father has over him. The beauty of the writing so far is that we can see perfectly why Bob would be in love with both women, and the writers do an excellent and subtle job of making sure we love them too. You can see his chemistry with both women, and you believe that he is in love, and that they are too. That's part of the brilliance. The writers play our love of both women into making us root for him to stay with both. It's disconcerting to find yourself at that point, but we just don't want to see either of them hurt, and he's already in too deep to get out without hurting them.

Meanwhile, there's the hope that Bob can really do the job that Clint Thatcher has given him, and that he can truly avoid being caught by anybody. The writers will likely try to play on our fear of Bob getting caught. It will be a source of tension in the show. Basically, the writers just want us to root continuously for Bob getting what he wants, no matter how morally questionable it might be. They're banking on James Wolk to be able to stay likable amidst all his lies. I wouldn't bet against him. 4 out of 4 Stars.

If you're not going to watch this show, EXPLAIN YOURSELF!