‘The Comey Rule: Night One’ Review: Jeff Daniels goes smoothly from Will McAvoy in 'The Newsroom' to FBI chief
Spoilers for ‘The Comey Rule: Night One’
There’s a term called RINO. Republican In Name Only. It is used primarily by conservative members of the United States Republican Party to describe people and political stances which are namely Republican but do not align with Republican ideology. A corollary to RINO is a term that may apply well to a lot of Aaron Sorkin-esque characters — The righteous Republican. Much like Sorkin does in ‘The Newsroom’, his celebrated HBO news drama series, Billy Ray’s Showtime limited series ‘The Comey Rule’ seems to have a similar objective. To present the righteous Republican.
Based the book ‘A Higher Loyalty’ by former FBI director James Comey, the two-part limited series takes a look at Comey’s short tenure in the FBI, especially in 2016 and 2017, when he oversaw the bureau’s investigations into Hillary Clinton’s emails and the possibility of Russian intrusion in the 2016 US presidential election.
In ‘Night One’, at just over one hour and thirty-five minutes long, the episode — if one can call it an episode — sees the appointment of Comey by President Obama, and swiftly moves on to the two aforementioned hugely controversial cases: "Midyear Exam," the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails while serving as Secretary of State, and "Crossfire Hurricane," an investigation into Russia's ongoing attempts to derail the presidential election of 2016.
The first impression that the show gives off, especially in the trailer, is that it would be an explosive, high-stakes story. But it is not. It’s anything but, in fact. And slow-moving, anticlimactic depictions of actual events, for example ‘Spotlight’ or ‘Snowden’, can prove to be compelling cinema. Unfortunately, ‘The Comey Rule’, or at least its first part, is not. That is not to say it’s boring.
‘The Comey Rule’ is interesting enough, especially if you’re politically savvy and were hooked on to news channels in the runup to the last elections, and after. But for a story that intends to highlight what is presumably one of the biggest political controversies since Watergate, it doesn’t tell the story well. There are some parts that are great, for example, the deliberations of the FBI chief and his staff about whether or not to make a public announcement about their findings on the Clinton emails. But there are other parts that are not explained well and would leave viewers who did not follow the news hungrily a little confused.
Of course, there are limitations to showing just what something as complicated as hundreds of thousands of classified emails suggested or how Russian influence worked in the polls, but it seems that the show works on the presumption of people already being aware of the topics, and intimately so.
But it’s not the show’s, or at least the first part’s, presuppositions that irk. Rather it is the feeling of déjà vu. Comey, in the show, is played by Jeff Daniels. And this is where the aforementioned righteous Republican comparison comes into play. In Sorkin’s ‘The Newsroom’, Daniels played Will McAvoy, a registered Republican television news anchor, who goes from being an inoffensive and popular face on TV to becoming what can only be considered the ideal journalist. Or at least what Sorkin’s idea of that is. McAvoy’s character was affable, idealistic, and calm (with chaotic moments).
The problem with ‘The Comey Rule’ is that it seems like Ray’s instructions to Daniels were to emulate the same role but as the FBI chief. It’s almost indistinguishable from McAvoy. Daniel’s Comey is calm, highly principled, and above all, a righteous man. It’s not a question of how much this portrayal resembles the real Comey — that’s difficult to assess; and in context of this comparison, unimportant. It is that this show feels exactly like ‘The Newsroom’ but set in an organization that has been thoroughly whitewashed, and with a visual aesthetic that closely resembles ‘House of Cards’.
So, in essence, Ray’s idea of the former FBI chief seems less like a thought-out decision, but rather an easy hack. After all, both the fictional McAvoy and the real Comey were lawyers, and both were registered Republicans, and both placed more supposed value to personal ethics than pragmatism.
That being said, ‘The Comey Rule’ is still an interesting watch, if not the most compelling one. It has a great star cast that includes names like Brendan Gleeson as Donald Trump (though he is yet to make an appearance), Michael Kelly, Jennifer Ehle, Holly Hunter, Peter Coyote, Steven Pasquale, Oona Chaplin, Scoot McNairy, and more. And above all, it does take on a topic that should have been dramatized more by now — Donald Trump’s rise to power.
‘The Comey Rule’ airs on Sunday, September 27 and Monday, September 28 at 9 pm ET/PT, only on Showtime.
