The Comey Rule

This is the tale of James Comey in a real darned if you do, darned if you don't situation. All the cliches work here "Walking the line", "Crisis of conscious", etc. Comey's side of the tale is that he was trained not to have any of these things - just do the work, present the work, move forward from there. Don't let politics or personal relationships be involved. It's the FBI that is trained not to be that way.

But in the 2016 American election campaign and things connected to it, were ALL political and personal. This is the story of a guy of the head of the FBI who really didn't want any of that,. It shows how he remained "robotic", with a very military attitude, stoic approach in his work, while he was surrounded by others that were not, including those in his own home.

The production of the telling of this side of Comey's tale was top notch. And as we all write reviews, that is what this is, Comey's side of the tale. And that is how I will present this review. Excellent casting with Jeff Daniels and Brendon Gleason - and even down to other important casting such as Scoot McNairy as Rod Rosenstein narrating the tale, Holly Hunter as Sally Yates, Jonathan banks (wow!), William Sadler as Michael Flynn (another WOW!), Michael Hyatt, Joe Lo Truglio and Kingsley Ben-Adir - the whole cast of actors were knock outs in their roles. All of them, they are all worth a look up on IMdB.

While many want to harp on the "political" side of this, The Comey Rule is not primarily about that as I mentioned above. For me, it was clear this wasn't about Party sides, but about a man so professional in his job, he wanted to do the right thing no matter who it was about. Comey shows even trying to walk the line, that there was no line for many - the Candidates, the media, the White House, his own team members in in the FBI, etc. And for a man who was as direct to do such, this production was good enough to walk that line as well.

This movie is done very well, especially for a news junkie like me. But most importantly and really the only reason to review this movie is the fact that I never knew, until now, why Comey did it. Why he thrust a hand grenade into the gears of the democratic (HC) machine. As many did, I HATED Comey for not just once damning Clinton, but TWICE; the second of which there was no coming back from. Watching this movie and seeing what went on behind the scenes that ultimately forced Comey to do what he did, I get it now. What a horrible awful impossible situation to be in. And although I voted for her, I'm afraid HC has no one to blame but herself.

This show is a must watch. It is very well acted with great performances from Jeff Daniels, Brendan Gleeson, Holly Hunter and many other notable actors and actresses. The direction and pacing of the show is also well done. The show is based on Jim Comey's book A Higher Loyalty, so it included many personal and intimate situations from his time during the unfolding of these events. The low ratings are of course from the same individuals/bots who target other shows as well which promote any truth or diversity in the Trump Era.

..because I expected some preachy piece that did not show the people involved as they were. But it worked and it keeps the tension up even though we all know what happened. And the vices and virtues of everyone are shown, warts and all.

After Comey makes what is a very difficult decision - to report to Congress the continuation of the Clinton email investigation though he knows somebody will probably leak it to the press - he is called out in public by people who both support what he did and denigrate what he did, but they all pick the wrong reasons as to Comey's motivation.

Very good acting by the entire cast. Nobody really looks like who they are portraying. Let's face it, Jeff Daniels looks nothing like Comey, yet he is quite believable.

There was one what might have been accidental piece of realism though. Comey's wife and daughters are portrayed as over the top Hillary supporters. It's not that they seem to like Hillary so much, but that they really want a first woman president and they act like they really don't care who that woman is. Normally I would roll my eyes at such shrill histrionics, but I live near Loudoun County and this is exactly how Loudoun county women of privilege behave.

I shall now prepare to be pelted by tar and feathers for my criticism of Loudoun county women. Or will it be fondue and feathers?

The 2-part series is not an attack on Trump but rather a presentation of how institutions, procedure, and rule of law work in America. The first part focuses on Hilary emails before the election, while the second part focuses on Comey's work after Trump gets elected.

It's an honest portrayal that's worth watching. The focus is repairing public faith in the FBI and DOJ.