Nearly every time Kevin Bacon gets to play the villain or the antihero in a movie (any "Hollow Man" fans in the house?) or TV show (see his recently cancelled Prime horror series "The Bondsman") is when he comes alive the most. That's not to say he isn't great playing good guys — check out his poignant performance in the HBO war drama "Taking Chance" — but it's arguably more fascinating and entertaining to see him clench his teeth into a scumbag ("Super") or morally corrupt character he usually portrays
with gusto. He loves to play egotistic jerks and men with a god complex, and one of his best of those on the small screen was FBI veteran and champion sonuvabitch Jackie Rohr in Chuck MacLean's Boston crime procedural, "City on a Hill."
Despite being produced by Hollywood's most well-known Bostonian duo, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and having a cast filled with excellent character actors like Aldis Hodge, Jill Henessy, Matthew Del Negro, and John Doman, the Showtime series was kind of slept on when it aired for three seasons between 2019 and 2022. The vibe of a more low-key and Boston-set version of "The Wire" (though not nearly as complex and painstakingly written as David Simon's groundbreaking masterpiece) just wasn't clicking that widely with audiences at the time. Sure enough, "City on a Hill" was far from an easy watch due to its dry plotting, sprawling roster, and the politically complicated dynamics that made up its core.
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City On A Hill Was Underseen But Not Underrated
Set in the seedy 1990s of Boston, Massachusetts, the show followed Assistant District Attorney Decourcy Ward (Hodge) and the amoral FBI agent Jackie Rohr (Bacon) as they navigated the city's underbelly while chasing their individual agendas. While Ward mainly sought justice to get as many criminals behind bars as possible, Rohr was after satisfying his pleasures (such as drinking, drug use, and adultery) while trying to maintain his powerful (if disdained) position in the bureau and his role as husband and father in a dysfunctional marriage. The juicy bit was that these two — who shared a mutual hatred for each other — had to form an unwanted alliance/partnership to get the results they wanted. Of course, they knew perfectly well how the other could trick, mislead, or double-cross them at any turn, which provided easily the most exciting aspect in season 1 as they tried to catch an organized group of armored car robbers. Unfortunately, in the following seasons, the "pact" between the two was somewhat dialed back and led to a murkier and less-rousing plot, focusing instead on dime-a-dozen criminals and additional political figures. That's not to say seasons 2 and 3 were awful by any means, but some of the spark that propelled the freshman season was certainly lost amidst the individual subplots.
Although critics still liked the series, the gradually declining viewership eventually tanked its chances to continue, and Showtime decided to cancel it in late 2022. If you're a devoted fan of gritty crime dramas like the aforementioned "The Wire," the criminally underseen "Brotherhood," or the Jon Bernthal-led "We Own This City," you should definitely give "City on a Hill" a chance if you missed it back then, if for no other reason than to watch a fierce and frenetic Kevin Bacon with a devilish smile on his face while he's deludedly trying to run a city that has left him behind.
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Read the original article on SlashFilm.