WAYNE Review by Michael Winkler
May 26, 2019 9:23 pm |
Cute animals, soldiers coming home, and tutorials, are usually what come to mind when I think of YouTube. That thought has changed for me after watching YouTube Premium Series “Wayne”. Wayne follows a teenage rebel on a mission from Brockton, Mass to Florida to take back his late father’s prized car. In this multi-genre series, Mark McKenna and Ciara Bravo do a phenomenal job at toeing the line between genuinely good and bat shit crazy.
Creator Shawn Simmons hits a home run in this edgy, violent, and funny saga. Adding elements from his hometown experiences and placing characters in authentic scenarios, really lend to the amount of time spent on creating these amazing roles. He succeeds in making the viewer feel connected to these unlikely lovebirds. Simmons does a fine job incorporating elements of dark humor, action, and drama. With two lead roles and a plethora of supporting characters, this series is paced extremely well. Viewers get to dive into each character just enough, without taking away from the main characters and overall theme of the show. With episodes at around thirty minutes each, this series makes for a fun and easy watch (or binge in my case).
Wayne is a hammer toting, dirt bike riding, and bully beating badass. After his father passes away from cancer, Wayne has nothing left in the world and decides to make it his mission to retrieve his fathers 1979 Trans Am. After burning down his house, with his recently deceased father inside, Wayne asks his new girlfriend Del to make the journey with him. Del (short for Delilah) is a girl that comes into Wayne’s life when she tries to sell him cookies. Del is witty, sarcastic, wise, and a little mean. Del’s back-story isn’t as fleshed out as much as I would’ve liked, but it still does a very great job telling her story. There has been a lot of turmoil in her life, and her living situation isn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows. Her father (Dean Winters) is an alcoholic whose days seem numbered with the lifestyle he is leading. We learn that Del’s father has a soft spot deep down under his rough exterior. The series does a good job in making characters, such as “Daddy”, multi-faceted. As the story moves along we learn that Del suffered the loss of her mother. When Wayne and Del try to take off together, absolute carnage ensues. This includes a nose being bitten off, a foot being cut off with a chainsaw, and a teenager being beaten with fiery 2×4. Once they hit the road, it is where the show captures the hearts of the viewers. Together, Wayne and Del face a variety of situations in which test the new couples faith in one another.
As the story develops, we learn that Wayne has all the right intentions. Sometimes having good intentions isn’t the same as making the right choice. I enjoyed this show so much because the stakes are high. Wayne faces his estranged mother, police officers, school officials, sadistic golf course groundskeepers, and more. After a lot of these interactions, Wayne is left worse off than he was before leaving Brockton. His best friend Orlando (Joshua J. Williams), and Principle (Mike O’Malley) hit the road to try and stop Wayne from making more bad choices. This tandem makes for plenty of funny banter and they find themselves in a lot of outlandish scenarios. Following closely behind are officers Jay (James Earl) and Geller (Stephen Kearin). Officer Jay is a food blogger, which adds a lighthearted comedic tone to his scenes. Geller is one of the funnier characters. He is a soft-spoken Sargent with a dark past that we find out about toward the end of the series. Don’t let the guttural laughing and tears of joy fool you, there isn’t a happy ending to this story. The momentum shift at the end is an absolute punch to the gut, but still maintains the integrity of the overall theme.
Simmons delivers on this brilliant dark comedy. The marriage of comedy, action, and drama is what sets this series apart from the rest. Well-balanced storytelling, stoic character arcs, and brilliantly written roles make for a phenomenal viewing experience. At times the violence is jarring, but its nothing worse than a PG-13 action film. Executive Producers, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Deadpool, Zombieland) fit perfectly into this show style. There is a reason their work has been so successful. Talent recognizes talent. “Wayne” can be streamed on YouTube Premium in as little as one sitting. I’d suggest anyone and everyone check out this tale of justice, love, and despair. “The heart wants what the heart wants” and my heart wants Season Two of WAYNE!
PCL Rating: Tupperware
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH 🍅
Share this:
Tags: Ciara Bravo, Dean Winters, James Earl, Joshua J. Williams, Mark McKenna, Mike O'Malley, Rhett Reese Paul Wernick Wayne, Shawn Simmons, Stephen Kearin, Wayne 2019 YouTube
Categorised in: Television Reviews
This post was written by Leftover Brian
Comments are closed here.