Stan Ritchie

The pilot episode for a new show, the titular Stan Ritchie (played brilliantly by James Serpento), is a down-on-his-luck type facing a mountain of repercussions for his reckless hedonism over the years.

A once prominent poker player with his face on billboards in Vegas, Stan is being hunted by violent loan sharks whom he owes many dollarbucks to. One such loan shark gives Stan a lifeline in the form of a high-stakes poker game where the prize is a cool one million dollars. Enough to clear his debts and return to his former glory. Unfortunately, Stan’s route to freedom has more than one roadblock.

Filmmaker Thor Moreno (see also When Jack Came Back) provides excellent direction here, creating a palpably tense atmosphere for Stan’s world to cave in within. The dialogue comes across as organic and far less wooden than other crime/comedy scripts with similar stories and the proceedings vamp up accordingly when they need to in order to keep a modern audience intrigued and hooked for another episode (this critic certainly was).

James Serpento is doing some excellent screen work here; his character takes to desperately visiting anyone who may offer him money in his time of need and instead, most seek to rebuke him or even humiliate him. Viewers will be likely appalled at his poor life choices (cemented by a hazy “party” scene with his uncle) but will also be drawn to his “mouse caught in a cat’s grasp” antics, as well as his desire to protect his daughter, which provides a sense of poignancy to the piece.

Setting up a series is always difficult, and Stan Ritchie could certainly struggle to make much of an impact with audiences who have seen this story played out before, or ones very similar. Viewers will be impressed by certain sequences in the first episode (such as a killing), however, the tone and delivery are most definitely going to feel familiar. And with recent slick movies, like Uncut Gems starring Adam Sandler, or high-end shows like The Gambler starring Mark Wahlberg, most of the success of this show is going to come down to whether you buy into the lead character, and the casting here is what will likely tempt good viewership.

Knowing the calibre of film Thor Moreno can make, Stan Ritchie offers a great deal of promise and some compelling spectacle in its debut episode to show potential. However, much like the main character’s game of choice, the odds are stacked against it, especially when there are already so many great players to choose from.