Pop Culture Loves: Terriers

My girl Megan was a Veronica Mars super-freak. The tiny, blonde private eye excited Megan in a way that no other television character did, and Meg took pleasure in trying to get me to watch the show with her.

I told her, "I don't really do private eye shows."

Fast forward to 2011, when I gorged myself on all three seasons of Veronica Mars in a matter of weeks thanks to Instant Netflix. That show is fan-flipping-tastic; I fell hard over that show and practically breathed with the characters through every episode.

I have not had a show thrill me like that since then. Especially not a P.I. show set in a beach town with flawed characters.

Enter Terriers. It meets all of those criteria.

Donal Logue (Grounded for Life, Life) and Michael Raymond-James (True Blood) starred in the FX series in 2011; they portrayed rag-tag private investigators who got mixed up in a huge conspiracy and used not-so-legal means to see justice through.

The great folks at the Extra Hot Great podcast suggested watching this show when it first aired, but it's obvious that I'm not a very good listener. I waited until it was already cancelled, then put on Instant Netflix to watch it. Even though I don't have a Nielson ratings box, I wish I had supported this great show in its initial run.

I'll admit that Donal Logue is definitely my "type," as in I think he's really handsome. But the emotional depth of his character Hank has made him the co-star in many of my dreams lately; Hank is a former cop who got kicked off the force due to his drunkard ways. After he got sober, he realized that he drove everything good in his life away. The show chronicles the rebuilding of his life and his stumbles along the way.

Michael Raymond-James portrays Britt,  a former breaking & entering criminal who went straight after meeting the girl of his dreams; Britt becomes Hank's partner in a private investigation firm and takes over the more shady parts of their cases, such as planting evidence and climbing through doggie doors. If I had to choose a favorite aspect of Britt, it would definitely be his penchant for hoodies. Whenever Britt feels any sort of emotion, be it melancholy or thrilled, he puts his hood on and looks dreamy doing it.

This show is separate from other crime procedurals because the over-arching crime story is almost second to the exploration of these complex characters. The fact that it was a cable TV show gave it the flexibility to go into the grittier parts of Hank and Britt's lives, so make sure that people with sensitive eyes aren't watching it with you.

Even though the season was only 13 episodes, I felt like I took a complete ride with these guys. The series finale is immensely satisfying— minus the fact, as Joe Reid says, that it was the series finale.

So, if you loved Veronica Mars and want to know how grown-ups might go about the same line of work, I completely recommend watching Terriers. Or maybe you don't think you "do private eye shows." Give this show one episode to get you hooked—even the first five minutes are charming and gripping.

Though, beware: I had a Terriers hangover after watching the entire series in a weekend.