Chris Sheridan
The following recap contains spoilers for The Audacity S1E1, “The Best of All Possible Worlds” (written by Jonathan Glatzer and directed by Lucy Forbes)
AMC’s The Audacity, created by Jonathan Glatzer (writer for Better Call Saul and Succession, and first-time showrunner here), certainly isn’t the first show about Silicon Valley, and most definitely won’t be the last, but it’s a unique and darkly funny fresh player to tear the technology center a new a**hole.
We open on Duncan Park (Billy Magnussen), who has just been denied an acquisition for his company Hypergnosis by the company Cupertino and is not happy about it. A therapy session with Dr. JoAnne Felder (Sarah Goldberg) doesn’t help too much, and during their session, he repeatedly stresses and asks about doctor and patient confidentiality, to which Joanne insists on that integrity. As a slightly more confident Duncan leaves after completion of the session, JoAnne immediately picks up her phone. “Schmuck.”
Board member Anushka (Meaghan Rath), has little advice for Duncan given that he leaked the original rumor that the acquisition might be happening and now that it’s almost definitely not, the stock price is in danger of sharply dropping. It’s also heavily implied that she and Duncan used to be involved with each other.
One of the funniest elements so far is Duncan’s explosive, unpredictable behavior, starting with him screaming “GOD DAMN IT!” when his maid fails to catch a small, heavy cube of tungsten when he tries to hand it to her, when he shrieks “F*CK!” when he fails to score a basketball at his personal setup in his home office, and when he constantly calls associates in a panic like they are constantly beholden to his every panicked whim. He is an extremely passionate man with a dangerously short fuse.
JoAnne and her husband Dr. Gary Felder (Paul Adelstein)’s son Orson (Everett Blunck) has just flown in to move into the basement given his biological father’s illness. He clearly hates it, and his fractured relationship with his mom and Gary isn’t helping, least of all Gary’s irritating tendency to switch to “therapist mode” at the drop of a hat. Despite Orson wanting to return home to his dad, it’s looking like he’s stuck here for a while.
The Felder household isn’t the only one with familial strife: Anushka and her husband Martin (Simon Helberg), who has a frankly hilariously stupid fixation on developing AI, can’t seem to connect with their daughter Tess (Thailey Roberge). Similarly, Duncan isn’t exactly the best father figure to his own daughter Jamison (Ava Marie Telek). He’s also not on the best terms with his wife Lili (Lucy Punch), who not only views him as a nuisance, but confidently tells Duncan that she cheated on him. Duncan immediately attempts to bully analyst Harper (Jess McLeod) into looking into Lili’s new squeeze.
Another character we get some focus on is Tom Ruffage (Rob Corddry), a disabled Veteran’s Affairs undersecretary who is trying fruitlessly to secure a contractor for the agency with his employee and would-be lover Jeffery (Andrew Bushell). It’s not going well, and gets worse when a promised speaking arrangement is denied at the last minute. Duncan greedily swoops in to offer his services in exchange for the military’s data resources, but Jeffery counters that they’re just the VA.
Finally, Carl Bardolf (Zach Galifianakis), a retired billionaire prone to angry outbursts, is another of JoAnne’s patients and hates his life, despite having more money than one could reasonably dream of spending in their lifetime. Nobody in The Audacity appears to be happy, but none of them are focusing on that, instead pushing for more material ambitions.
Jamison and Tess were childhood friends before drifting apart, but at Martin’s insistence at a reception party, they interact. Tess begins by calling out Lili’s incessant body shaming of her daughter, while Jamison bites back to reference her old friend’s kleptomania. Tess indeed takes one of Duncan’s cubes of tungsten, but when confronted by Orson, gives it back. He stuffs it into his pocket to avoid being seen with it, and doesn’t return it to Duncan’s office.
Duncan moves a chess piece into place in his next session with JoAnne when he counters her accusations of pumping his stock by telling her that Hypergnosis harvests any and all data of their users, including Joanne. Duncan ignores his therapist kicking him out and informs her that he knows that she sold all of her shares in the company, and that she’s going to spill all of the beans to him. He holds the cards (or at least, he thinks he does), and as an audience, we know this is going to blow up eventually for both of them. Goldberg’s shock and nervousness at his monologue is perfectly executed, and her chemistry with Magnussen will hopefully be a linchpin for the series.
There is a lot going on in The Audacity’s pilot. There are several characters introduced that will no doubt be coming together in some form as the season continues, but the real meat comes in the final scene when Duncan sets up what will undoubtedly be a fierce conflict with JoAnne. The first half of the episode didn’t quite click with me given how overstuffed with setup and characters it can be, but now, I’m all in. Things are about to pop off, and the darkly quirky vibe we’ve seen so far, along with sharp script, is hopefully going to delightfully pay dividends.
We’ll find out more next week.
