NEW YORK 鈥� At the end of last season鈥檚 fiercely absorbing Vice Principals, administrator Neal Gamby was left sprawled on the pavement of the North Jackson High parking lot in a pool of blood, gunned down by an unknown assailant.
Could this be payback from Dr. Belinda Brown, the former North Jackson principal who was overthrown by Gamby in cahoots with his sometime-ally Lee Russell (even as they stayed bitter rivals, both vying for Brown鈥檚 job)?
Nothing is so simple on Vice Principals.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not like there鈥檚 just one person Gamby can point to who could have done it,鈥� says Danny McBride, who plays him, and can鈥檛 help but chuckle. What鈥檚 so funny about attempted murder? For starters, Gamby is such an indiscriminate jerk! 鈥淚t鈥檚 like he鈥檚 rubbed EVERYBODY he鈥檚 ever encountered so wrong that ANYONE could have done it.鈥�
Upon his recovery, Neal will spend this second and concluding nine-episode season, which premi猫res tonight on HBO, trying to flush out, and wreak vengeance on, whomever it was who tried to off him.
He will also resume his dogged campaign (in partnership with Lee when they鈥檙e not in cutthroat competition) to land the grand prize: his name on the North Jackson principal鈥檚 office door.
Among the many things that make Vice Principals so funny, yet so poignant: No one could be less fit for the job than this misanthropic lout 鈥� unless it is Lee, a Machiavellian dandy.
鈥淐onsidering those guys鈥� mental state, some of the students are probably more advanced than either of them,鈥� says McBride.
鈥淚鈥檇 say MOST,鈥� says Walton Goggins, who plays Lee, and busts out laughing.
鈥淎lmost ALL of them,鈥� McBride hastily agrees.
A creator and writer of Vice Principals, McBride (Eastbound & Down, This is the End) has joined co-star Goggins (The Shield, Justified, Six) to report on getting back to school for this series, and to account for how the show is in a class by itself.
For instance: The half-hour format and its reigning pair of knuckleheads suggest that Vice Principals is a comedy. Which it is. But isn鈥檛.
For all its outrageousness, the series is solidly grounded, and populated with deceptively well-rounded characters played by a solid cast including Busy Phillips, Shea Whigham, Kimberly Hebert Gregory, Georgia King, Sheaun McKinney and Dale Dickey, along with the superb McBride and Goggins.
鈥淭his is a complex character study of two morally obtuse human beings,鈥� Goggins sums up.
鈥淲e use the broad comedy just to trick the audience,鈥� says McBride, 鈥渢o make the viewers think they鈥檙e going to get the usual run-of-the-mill comedy 鈥� and then we sucker punch them with some real drama. Suddenly, they have no idea what the show鈥檚 going to take seriously and what it鈥檚 NOT going to take seriously.
鈥淥nce we get the audience there, they鈥檙e just putty in our hands, and we can take them anywhere.鈥�
Goggins says 鈥渁nywhere鈥� also applies to him as an actor inhabiting a character he doesn鈥檛 need to pigeonhole.
鈥淵ou can go anywhere with the role and not judge the outcome. It鈥檚 no more complicated than that.
鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 like the word 鈥榓ctor,鈥� to be honest,鈥� he confides. 鈥淎ll of a sudden it means an occupation and that鈥檚 a whole set of issues I think 鈥榮toryteller鈥� is more appropriate and accurate.鈥�
鈥淚 never look at anything I write in terms of a genre,鈥� McBride said. 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 think life is that way. Some of the funniest stuff can happen in the moments of greatest tragedy.
鈥淟ee and Neal are morally reprehensible,鈥� Goggins declares. 鈥淏ut where they will get to on the other side of this journey is sublime.鈥�
