"Dirty Sexy Money": Too Little Too Late

As I was watching “Top Chef” Wednesday night, I flipped over to “Dirty Sexy Money” just for the heck of it.

And I was surprised to find that there was actually a lot going on. In fact there was so much I almost didn’t want to turn back to “Top Chef.”

And I think you guys know for me that’s really saying something…

So for the first time in weeks I was actually excited to watch my tape of the show. But before I could watch last week’s I had to watch the week before, which I had never bothered to watch.

In fact, I had lost so much interest in the show that I had forgotten to start the VCR until 17 minutes into the show. So imagine my chagrin when I discovered that those 17 minutes had more action in them than the entire season…

Simon (Blair Underwood) was finally revealed as the ubervillain he was apparently always intended to be. And in an interesting twist, he ended up as Tripp’s (Donald Sutherland) partner.

And the show wisely put the Wren story to bed, although I must admit I didn’t see much of how they did since I fast-forwarded through all of those scenes…

But the best part was that the show put the spotlight back on its best character—Brian Darling (Glenn Fitzgerald). Never the romantic before, Brian showed he does have a softer side by turning Karen’s (Natalie Zea) cancelled wedding into one for him and Andrea (Sheryl Lee).

If not for Lisa (Zoe McLellan) saying goodbye to her marriage—again—it would’ve been the perfect wedding…

But thankfully, “DSM” wasn’t done with Brian yet as the spotlight remained on him last week as well. Trying to deal with Andrea’s impending death, Brian made a deal with God. “It’s time for you to step up,” he yelled at the picture of Jesus, “and show me what you can do for me.”

It’s a position that unfortunately way too many of us are familiar with. And it injected a lot of heart into a show that hadn’t even had a pulse all season.

But there was more good stuff about last week’s episode. Carmelita (Candis Cayne) returned. Jeremy (Seth Gabel) showed some brains. Lisa was not involved at all. And FINALLY, Nick (Peter Krause) showed some backbone and stood up to the Darlings instead of just rolling over and doing whatever they wanted as he had all season.

The episode culminated in a classic cliffhanger as shots rang out at Patrick’s (William Baldwin) inauguration.

It was like this hideous season had never happened and the show picked up right where it left off last season.

But sadly, it’s too little too late…

If only the show had made some of these moves earlier, it may have survived. Now I’m just hoping that ABC will actually air all of the remaining episodes.

Especially if they’re as solid as last week’s was…

“Dirty Sexy Money” airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on ABC…

Photo Credits: Vivian Zink/ABC & Randee St. Nicholas/ABC