Filthy Rich Review: Pilot (Season 1 Episode 1)

Filthy Rich Season 1 Episode 1, “Pilot,” is everything we expect from a “southern gothic fable,” as the show’s star and matriarch of the Monreaux family, Kim Cattrall, has called it. Yet it proves that “expected” doesn’t have to be a dirty word on TV. 

For some unknown reason, Catrall as Margaret Monreaux — the evangelical Christian and eventual head of her family’s Christian TV network — is a perfect fit.

Margaret may put on a wholesome show for her network’s millions of viewers, but she also has a lot in common with Catrall’s most well-known persona, Sex And The City‘s Samantha Jones. 

First and foremost, after her husband Eugene’s presumed death in a plane crash, she’s in total control of her family whether they like it or not. But there’s also the fact that much like Samantha, Margaret seems to despise all children, even her biological ones with Eugene. 

She won’t help Rose launch her clothing line through The Sunshine Network and won’t let Eric take over the Sunshine empire as Eugene wishes per his will. 

The fact that Margaret treats almost anyone who is at least a generation younger than her like a mosquito buzzing in her ear that she wants to swat away is what gives Filthy Rich so much potential. 

We aren’t watching a tale of the Monreaux’s versus all of Eugene’s illegitimate offspring. 

On the contrary: every “Monreaux” child has a reason to want to seize the crown from Margaret’s head whether they’re ready to act or not. 

It’s a refreshing choice not to make Ginger, Jason, and Antonio “villains” in Rose and Eric’s minds to start.

Everyone’s arc is a little bit less predictable that way, though nothing about Filthy Rich makes for groundbreaking TV. 

The fact that Eugene is alive hardly counts as a twist. It’s foreshadowed by the fact that news reports say his body has not been found. Plus, Gerald McRaney is credited for all 10 episodes of the season. 

All too often, it’s a cop-out within the “men who behave badly” trope for the man to die. In reality, we need to see more men alive to face the consequences of their actions on TV. Maybe that will slowly normalize white men in particular paying for their bad behavior. 

The exception to this wish of mine is Fox’s 2019 disaster Almost Family,where killing off the medical rapist would’ve given the show a shot at decency at the very least. 

But I digress, Almost Family is a dead show, but Eugene is very much alive on Filthy Rich.

While cheating and abandoning your children is despicable behavior, it’s also in a different category than any kind of rape. 

Eugene being alive should eventually render his will irrelevant. If he does return to his family, he won’t be able to deny three of his children his assets while sober anymore.

Rose likes Ginger too much. Eric is too whipped by Becky to interact much with his new siblings, but his mother stands between him and his ultimate goal more than anyone else. 

Perhaps Eugene will eventually be forced to have a relationship with the kids he’s ignored. That’s an interesting twist. 

But we need to talk about Jason because it seems that the man in the hospital bed who he appears to borrow spit from is actually Eugene’s biological child. 

I’m guessing Jason and the guy dawning the full-body cast are brothers, and the woman Jason kisses goodnight in the hospital chair sleeping is their mother. 

That’s the only reason Jason would dare kiss Rose… right? He’s acting as a proxy for his brother so that he doesn’t lose out on what’s rightfully his while in a coma? That better be it. 

The number of times I’ve actually typed a sentence like this pains me but here I go again: Let’s hope that Jason and Rose aren’t related because kissing anyone who shares your DNA has its own term — incest — and it’s quite disturbing how often TV ignores that incest is bad. 

Other than that (possible) misstep, Filthy Rich commits no crimes of TV but will not be nominated for Emmys. Good enough is good enough for now. 

 

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Filthy Rich airs Mondays at 9/8c on Fox.

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