The Amazingness of The LA Complex Must Be Acknowleged.

Anyone could be forgiven for seeing the first previews of The LA Complex on the CW and expecting nothing more than a sleazy little guilty pleasure.  However, as those increasingly faithful viewers who have been tuning in since the show quietly debuted a few months back are well aware, this is a truly unique, startlingly emotionally deep show with layers to spare.  The LA Complex takes the potentially frothy premise of a bunch of dreamers living in a fashionably shabby long-stay motel and spins it into an ever-more-complicated, often dark and even contemplative rumination on the meaning of chasing one's dreams, as played out over myriad and disparate plotlines.Not only is this show not remotely the silly filler one would expect a network to throw into the ether during the summer months, but The LA Complex is miles better than the soapy shows the C-dub does air during the year.  I generally enjoy shows like 90210,Gossip Girl, and especially Hart of Dixie.  But LA Complex is in another league altogether, and is hardly comparable due to its vast superiority.Creator Martin Gero has admitted to carefully balancing the darker side of the show (as personified by Connor, Kaldrick, and Raquel) with the lighter side (Abby, Nick).  This works to utter perfection.  The maelstrom of tragedy which regularly besieges poor, childhood-scarred Connor alone provides a fair amount of tearjerking fodder, even though Connor really is a bit of a lovable airhead.  While Connor comes by his troubles via naivete and extreme vulnerability, Raquel's selfish, headstrong ways manage to self-sabotage every good thing that comes into her life.  Anyone who questioned what popular actress Jewel Staite was doing on "a show like this" should really just watch one episode.Most arresting of all is the incredibly impressive saga of Kaldrick King, one of the most original and amazingly well-acted characters ever seen on television.  Not only is the transition of the initially brutish, hateful gangster rapper into a healthier man who comes to terms with his homosexuality realistically slow and painful, but Andra Fuller fills each moment with such genuine feeling that in many ways his character defines the show.  He also happens to possess the most effective puppy dog eyes ever.  Seriously, check it out:With the sandwich.  And the milk.  It kills me!Abby and Nick's plotlines may fall into the fluffier categories, but their roles often provide some of the most hilariously, bittersweetly accurate portrayals of what it's really like to break into showbiz.  From Abby's ridiculously inept agent ("So, hi...") and stream of thankless guest-starring roles ("dead hooker," anyone?) to Nick's sexual-tension-fraught battle with Sabrina or his betrayal at the hands of a friend in the writer's room where he finally thought he had a break, the scenes are cuttingly funny.If anyone were capable of truly admitting a flaw in this show, it would probably have to be the presence in each season of a character that didn't quite fit into the mix.  In season 1, it was the sweet, cutesy Alicia, whose saga was close enough to Abby's experience to make it a null point.  Now there's Beth, an often slightly annoying character whose relationship with her brother and father does finally gain some strong emotional resonance towards season 2's conclusion.  Actually, the whole Beth storyline is simultaneously semi-redeemed when she starts dating the charming Cam (Kristopher Turner from Saving Hope - what a double agent!) and is confronted by her semi-ne'er-do-well father (Louis Ferreira from Stargate Universe).  However, these storylines are not entirely without merit; they only pale in comparison to the more important ones.After the stunning season finale, with its next-to-last scene a gorgeous montage of turning points in character vignette style calling to mind the "Wise Up" sequence inMagnolia (but without the singing), one can only hope with utmost fervor that Much Music Canada and the CW will renew The LA Complex for a much-deserved third season.