Hype - Pilot
Genre: Crime / Dark Comedy
Director: Stephen Merchant
Writer: Dominic Wilkins
Cast: Seth Green, Charles Baker, Nick Swardson, Daveed Diggs, Alicia Silverstone, Stephen Merchant, David Cross, Daniel Stern, Sarah Polley and Gabriel Iglesias
Plot:
We open in a dimly-lit room with chairs placed in a circle with a chair in the middle, on a rotating platform. All the chairs are occupied and at the top of the circle is Dr. Stewart (Stephen Merchant). He asks everyone if one of them wishes to come forward and speak, but no one raises wishes to talk. He warns them that he will force someone to come forward if he has too. The shortest man in the room, David Brady (Seth Green) comes forward and says he’ll go. He sits on the rotating chair and he asks Dr. Stewart if it really needs to spin and he says that it forces them to look at everyone while they’re talking. He finds it stupid, but he starts. Stewart asks him what brings him here today and David says he started to drink again.
A couple of hours earlier – The camera focuses on David’s face as we hear the crowd mildly cheering in the background. The darkness of the rooms is submerged by light and he says it’s time to rock and roll. He puts in his raging bunny head on, revealing his mascot costume and comes out of the room running and he slides all the way down to the baseball field on the stairs. It’s time for the fifth-inning traditional mascot wrestling match for the local little league team. David’s opponent, from the visiting team, is his neighbour Jesus Iglesias (Gabriel Iglesias), wearing his popular giant baby costume. The referee is long-time superfan Wilson Devereaux. He orders the staff to ring the bell and David goes at it with Iglesias. They go over their routine one more time while in a headlock. They keep things simple, in large part because of Iglesias’ size and Brady’s inability to lift him. The giant baby tries to outrun the rabbit, but he hits from behind with a folded chair. The rabbit goes under the ring and takes out bottles of ketchup, the sponsor of the day and he douses Iglesias with ketchup. Iglesias is grabbing his chest and screams at David to end this thing, something feels wrong. He covers Iglesias and Devereaux makes the three count while cursing at them for offering a poor performance. Iglesias stays in the ring, grabbing his chest on the ground. It is understood that he’s having a heart attack and the paramedics rush the field to take care of him. David’s costume, now a bright red from all the ketchup scares children and the rabbit runs into hiding.
After the incident, David goes back home to his wife, Jessie (Sarah Polley). Jessie works at home as an over-the-phone psychic and really believes in her powers. Needless to say, their apartment isn’t tidy and cleaning is far from the priority. She notices David’s emotions and she doesn’t ask what’s wrong, she immediately knows Jesus had a heart attack. She thinks it’s a testament to her psychic powers, but David himself hears Jesus’ mother in next door’s apartment telling everyone what happened. Jessie said she felt it today when she woke up, but she couldn’t say it to anyone to diminish the chances of it happening. David has had enough of his wife’s bullshit and heads out. He pulls over at a bar and sets shop at the counter and orders drinks.
Julian Gilmore (Daveed Diggs) is at the same bar philosophizing about the meaning of life and his dislike of sports in general. He openly smokes marijuana and isn’t afraid to do so. He sits next to David, drunk as a skunk, who watches the football game on television. He discusses with the bartender about how important the roles of mascots are in sports. Julian asks David what he likes about sports, for him, it’s just a bunch of egoistical narcissists who get payed way too much for nothing, while society’s true heroes are underpaid. David orders him to shut up so he can enjoy the game. Julian understands that the truth hurts, and he looks down at David’s bag. He notices the rehab pin he has on it. Julian asks him what is his poison and he David points at his beer. He says he nearly killed his friend in mascot wrestling match today and Julian says it sounded nice, but is it bad enough for him to ruin his life once again with alcohol. David picks him up and takes him to Dr. Stewart’s therapy session.
Dr. Stewart thanks David for his speech. He ends the session for today and he thanks everyone for their input, although only David spoke today. David is pouring himself a cup of coffee and eating a donut and Julian comes to see him. He asks him if today made a difference and David says it didn’t really do anything to him, he doesn’t believe in the power of therapy. He leaves Julian when he sees a familiar face in the crowd. He reaches over to Sarah Bernard (Alicia Silverstone), his boss. Before he asks, she stays she isn’t here for an addiction and she liked her speech. He asks her what she’s here for and tells him he should come to work tomorrow to find out.
The next day, David notices there are more cars in the parking lot and their office is full of mascots hopefuls. Their profile is saddening, all of them look desperate and dirty. He starts to realise that it is also what he looks and feels like. Sarah comes over to him and says that she got so many degenerates to sign up at the therapy session, it was insane! She’ll finally be able to execute her plans. David warns her that he won’t do anything illegal and she walks away. She gets everyone’s attention and ask them to present themselves to the group. Chuck Gardner (Charles Baker) comes forward and he says he’s a sport fanatic. He’s addicted to heroin, but he hopes to turn his life around as a mascot. Dennis Cholowski (Daniel Stern) takes a step forward and he says he’s an ex-mascot who recently got out of jail a new man… along with a crystal meth addiction. Steve Dunn (Nick Swardson) takes a tiny step forward and introduces himself. He says he’s never had any friends and he wants to seize the opportunity to meet new people. By the way, he’s addicted to painkillers and that’s a huge factor as to why he doesn’t have any friends. Sarah thanks them for their input, but they didn’t have to share their tragic stories. She walks next to a drawing board and flips it around. She has a plan to make them rich, so they better suit up and do everything according to plan and they’ll be swimming in money in no time. David has some concerns, but he’s too small to get Sarah’s attention, as all the others, all even more desperate for money than the other, is jumping in celebration, saying it’s the best day of their lives. David wonders what he got himself into as the episode ends.
We open in a dimly-lit room with chairs placed in a circle with a chair in the middle, on a rotating platform. All the chairs are occupied and at the top of the circle is Dr. Stewart (Stephen Merchant). He asks everyone if one of them wishes to come forward and speak, but no one raises wishes to talk. He warns them that he will force someone to come forward if he has too. The shortest man in the room, David Brady (Seth Green) comes forward and says he’ll go. He sits on the rotating chair and he asks Dr. Stewart if it really needs to spin and he says that it forces them to look at everyone while they’re talking. He finds it stupid, but he starts. Stewart asks him what brings him here today and David says he started to drink again.
A couple of hours earlier – The camera focuses on David’s face as we hear the crowd mildly cheering in the background. The darkness of the rooms is submerged by light and he says it’s time to rock and roll. He puts in his raging bunny head on, revealing his mascot costume and comes out of the room running and he slides all the way down to the baseball field on the stairs. It’s time for the fifth-inning traditional mascot wrestling match for the local little league team. David’s opponent, from the visiting team, is his neighbour Jesus Iglesias (Gabriel Iglesias), wearing his popular giant baby costume. The referee is long-time superfan Wilson Devereaux. He orders the staff to ring the bell and David goes at it with Iglesias. They go over their routine one more time while in a headlock. They keep things simple, in large part because of Iglesias’ size and Brady’s inability to lift him. The giant baby tries to outrun the rabbit, but he hits from behind with a folded chair. The rabbit goes under the ring and takes out bottles of ketchup, the sponsor of the day and he douses Iglesias with ketchup. Iglesias is grabbing his chest and screams at David to end this thing, something feels wrong. He covers Iglesias and Devereaux makes the three count while cursing at them for offering a poor performance. Iglesias stays in the ring, grabbing his chest on the ground. It is understood that he’s having a heart attack and the paramedics rush the field to take care of him. David’s costume, now a bright red from all the ketchup scares children and the rabbit runs into hiding.
After the incident, David goes back home to his wife, Jessie (Sarah Polley). Jessie works at home as an over-the-phone psychic and really believes in her powers. Needless to say, their apartment isn’t tidy and cleaning is far from the priority. She notices David’s emotions and she doesn’t ask what’s wrong, she immediately knows Jesus had a heart attack. She thinks it’s a testament to her psychic powers, but David himself hears Jesus’ mother in next door’s apartment telling everyone what happened. Jessie said she felt it today when she woke up, but she couldn’t say it to anyone to diminish the chances of it happening. David has had enough of his wife’s bullshit and heads out. He pulls over at a bar and sets shop at the counter and orders drinks.
Julian Gilmore (Daveed Diggs) is at the same bar philosophizing about the meaning of life and his dislike of sports in general. He openly smokes marijuana and isn’t afraid to do so. He sits next to David, drunk as a skunk, who watches the football game on television. He discusses with the bartender about how important the roles of mascots are in sports. Julian asks David what he likes about sports, for him, it’s just a bunch of egoistical narcissists who get payed way too much for nothing, while society’s true heroes are underpaid. David orders him to shut up so he can enjoy the game. Julian understands that the truth hurts, and he looks down at David’s bag. He notices the rehab pin he has on it. Julian asks him what is his poison and he David points at his beer. He says he nearly killed his friend in mascot wrestling match today and Julian says it sounded nice, but is it bad enough for him to ruin his life once again with alcohol. David picks him up and takes him to Dr. Stewart’s therapy session.
Dr. Stewart thanks David for his speech. He ends the session for today and he thanks everyone for their input, although only David spoke today. David is pouring himself a cup of coffee and eating a donut and Julian comes to see him. He asks him if today made a difference and David says it didn’t really do anything to him, he doesn’t believe in the power of therapy. He leaves Julian when he sees a familiar face in the crowd. He reaches over to Sarah Bernard (Alicia Silverstone), his boss. Before he asks, she stays she isn’t here for an addiction and she liked her speech. He asks her what she’s here for and tells him he should come to work tomorrow to find out.
The next day, David notices there are more cars in the parking lot and their office is full of mascots hopefuls. Their profile is saddening, all of them look desperate and dirty. He starts to realise that it is also what he looks and feels like. Sarah comes over to him and says that she got so many degenerates to sign up at the therapy session, it was insane! She’ll finally be able to execute her plans. David warns her that he won’t do anything illegal and she walks away. She gets everyone’s attention and ask them to present themselves to the group. Chuck Gardner (Charles Baker) comes forward and he says he’s a sport fanatic. He’s addicted to heroin, but he hopes to turn his life around as a mascot. Dennis Cholowski (Daniel Stern) takes a step forward and he says he’s an ex-mascot who recently got out of jail a new man… along with a crystal meth addiction. Steve Dunn (Nick Swardson) takes a tiny step forward and introduces himself. He says he’s never had any friends and he wants to seize the opportunity to meet new people. By the way, he’s addicted to painkillers and that’s a huge factor as to why he doesn’t have any friends. Sarah thanks them for their input, but they didn’t have to share their tragic stories. She walks next to a drawing board and flips it around. She has a plan to make them rich, so they better suit up and do everything according to plan and they’ll be swimming in money in no time. David has some concerns, but he’s too small to get Sarah’s attention, as all the others, all even more desperate for money than the other, is jumping in celebration, saying it’s the best day of their lives. David wonders what he got himself into as the episode ends.
Hype off to a darkly humorous start with addictions to alcohol, painkillers, heroin, meth and sports all getting their moments. Seth Green is an interesting choice as the sad-sack lead. I will be tuning in next time to see where Wilkins and Merchant are planning on taking this tragically comedic premise.
The feel I get from the pilot doesn't reassure me for the rest of the series. Following the long development progress and script troubles, the characters feel like they are known simply from their problems and seem to be puppets for the showrunners to use at their ease, without proper character development, especially in the supporting cast.
For a show that had a troubled development from script to screen, I must say that Dominic Wilkins really worked his way out of the hole, with a dark kind of comedy that translates well to the screen with Stephen Merchant's style. Definitely intriguing and an original premise, I'll tune in next week.
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