For those out of the loop, Black Monday seems like a dramatic retelling of one America’s worst financial crises. The premiere opens with a simple sentence:
“October 19, 1987, AKA Black Monday, was the worst stock market crash in the history of Wall Street.”
Then a businessman is seen crying in an almost apocalyptic scene as 80s street punks tag the wall behind him. Suddenly, a bright red limousine Lambo gets crushed when a mystery person jumps from their window above and it becomes obvious Black Monday isn’t what it seems.
“To this day, no one knows what caused the crash. Or who. Until Now.”
Rewind one year to Don Cheadle waking up in bright purple underwear as Mo, a fast-talking, coke-snorting trader who owns the limo Lambo from before. Mo gets up, pays his ‘date’ from the night before, does coke with his robo-butler, Kyle, and gets his day started. After that, we watch Mo wheel and deal his way through a scheme to take over Wall Street. One that hints at a corrupt underworld waiting to be explored as Mo takes out a few loans from some sketchy characters.
On the other end of the spectrum is Blair, played by Andrew Rannells, a newcomer to Wall Street who has an explosive run-in with Mo on the trading floor. Mo essentially blacklists him and humiliates him in from of the entire floor. Blair later shows up at Mo’s office and the two make a bet that could land Blair a job. He ultimately fails but Mo, in a surprising moment of depth, offers him the job anyway.
Black Monday starts fast and doesn’t take time to play catch up as they throw numbers and companies at you a million miles a minute. But, once you get your feet under you the show proves that it’s got something to say and not only that but its screaming. This creates an interesting effect that almost puts the viewer in the shoes of Blair.
Ultimately, Mo spends most of the episode acting like a Jordan-Belfort rip-off but the end of the episode hints at much more to his character. A few scenes with Regina Hall’s Dawn hint that he seems to harbor a deep-seated love for her, something complicated by the fact that Dawn is in a relationship. Also, his perceived ‘kindness’ to Blair is also nothing more than a move in his scheme. Even their first meeting on the trading floor was orchestrated entirely by Mo.
Cheadle shines in Black Monday‘s premiere as the show promises big things but the rest of the stacked cast isn’t really given their own time to breathe, except Rannells. Hopefully, as the show’s story unravels they will be given their own roles in Mo’s scheme. Even if they’re not though, this episode tells me the rest of this season will entertaining at the very least.
Black Monday airs Sundays on Showtime at 10 PM ET/9 PM CT.
