The Sopranos: "D Girl"

This is a returning weekly feature.  I cover each individual episode going from the beginning.  I've already covered Season 1 and will post a weekly post on the second season every Sunday.

Past Episodes

Season 1

Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office

Do Not Resuscitate

Toodle Fucking-Doo

Commendatori

Big Girls Don't Cry
Happy Wanderer

D Girl is not a great episode of Sopranos, but it is hilarious.  This is an episode about Chris and Hollywood plus a significant plot about AJ.  Those are traditionally some of the lesser Sopranos episodes - although also some of the more blatantly laugh-out-loud episodes.  And it's definitely the case here as well.

The momentum to start this episode is a bit shaky as it's Chris' cousin's girlfriend who helps get Chris in contact with Hollywood.  So Amy is seeing Chris's cousin - a man we've never seen nor will we ever again - and she just so happens to be in close contact with Jon Favreau who just so happens to be working on a mobster-affiliated movie.  So another contrived plot from Sopranos - that's clearly something David Chase is utterly unconcerned with.

Jon plays his part well and is a good sport if I do say so myself.  He comes across as an asshole, but also seems to represent your typical Hollywood asshole.  He claims the mobster project is "a passion" of his which is clearly bullshit.  He starts randomly cussing in the middle of conversations with Chris, which Amy always looked over at him weirdly for, which was perfect.

Alicia Witt though plays it better.  When Chris whispers to an obnoxious partygoer and he immediately shuts up, the look she gives him is just pure lust.  I don't know how she does that.  And she is charming, but you always get the sense that she's deceiving you - which goes right past Chris of course.  The title of this episode is when she gets offended at being called a "d girl," which strikes me as the ultimate Hollywood satire attempt - I don't think it really comes across like Todd A. Kessler (the writer) wanted it to cause it's not that funny or clever of an insight.

The other storyline is played mostly for laughs with AJ stupidly crashing the right side of his car when another car honked.  He's learned Nietzsche and it kind of loses me in this.  I don't know what fucking school he went to, but I'm thinking it's way too complex of stuff for 8th grade.  Also, the show tries to have its cake and eat it too by trying to make fun of the fact that AJ is smarter than Tony, but also making AJ really dumb.  It works for Meadow, because she's really successful and smart, but for AJ, not so much.

Anyway, the saving grace of the episode is just how funny it is.  While the AJ stuff isn't really that great to me, Tony bewilderingly trying to understand his kid as he spouts existential views is the gift that keeps on giving.  Naturally, Tony's more worried about AJ talking about death and nothingness more than AJ crashing and stealing the car.

Interspersed with this story is Livia Soprano, sort of in the background but ever present.  She's brought up in Tony's therapy - Dr. Melfi tries to push her into the conversation, but Tony ends up deferring the conversation back to AJ.  Also, AJ goes to her for advice and wow that was a bad idea.  She sort of has a point and on some level I agree with her, but it's her fault.  You also should probably not tell a kid that. (Quote below)

Lastly, Skip pushes Big Pussy to talk about some mobster that got blown up.  I don't think Tony had anything to do with that - I could be wrong - but nonetheless Skip ends up pushing Big Pussy to wear a wire.  He's obviously struggling with it, looking at himself in the mirror trying to put it on while his wife knocks on the door.

Lastly, the show uses this overtly comic episode's last five minutes to make the episode all worth it.  Using AJ's confirmation and Big Pussy as a sponsor, it's all seemingly set up for a scene where Big Pussy has to defend Tony in front of AJ.  Of course, he's wearing a wire at the time while he's talking about how Tony's a good guy.  It kills him and he barely avoids breaking down before convincing AJ to go back down to the party.

Between that and Tony giving Christopher an ultimatum on whether to stay at the party or leave forever, I sort of wish those last five minutes were somehow the entire episode.  Oh well, I'm just glad this episode ended on such a strong note.

Grade - B+

Surprise Guest Appearances

Jon Favreau, Janeane Garofalo, and Sandy Bernhard all play themselves

Quotes

"Swingers?  He can suck my dick - that swings too." - Chris 

"When I get confirmed, I'm going to be a man.  So how come I can't drive?" - AJ

"Death just shows the ultimate absurdity of life." - AJ again

"She knows that even if God is dead, you're still going to kiss his ass." - Tony to AJ

"Don't expect happiness.  You won't get it, people let you down, and I'm not naming any names, but in the end you die in your own arms." - Livia

"When you're married, you'll understand the importance of fresh produce" - Tony

"Fucking Walnuts doesn't lie as good as you."' - Chris to Amy

"Be a good Catholic for fifteen fucking minutes.  Is that so much to ask?" - Carmela

Playlist

1. "Rhiannon" - Fleetwood Mac

2. "Fragile" - Tech N9ne feat. Kendrick Lamar, !MAYDAY!, & Kendall Morgan

3. 'Tell U What to Do" - Toftgard

4. "Last Nite" - The Strokes

5. "All Along the Watchtower" - Jimi Hendrix

Rewind: Freaks and Geeks

Timing is everything.  Timing is both why Freaks and Geeks was one of the best, most realistic shows of all time and also why it was cancelled after just one season.  It's appropriate that the show is set in 1980, thus allowing it to escape being dated.  With the exception of a few actors (one in particular really), it has completely stood the test of time.

By this point - and it's still being perpetuated - high school shows or movies follow a stereotypical pattern that seemingly applies to no one.  (And when it doesn't, it's usually because that high school is really unique - Texas HS in Friday Night Lights; need I explain for Buffy?)  Freaks and Geeks seemed like a real high school experience - because it mostly was.  It is based off Paul Feig's time in high school.  And several of the ideas are from real-life experiences from the writers.

The show gave each character, no matter how minor, enough shading to make them seem believable and not like a plot device.  This is a show where there really aren't major cliques.  Sure you have your jocks and you have your geeks, but they still interact with each other.  There's a scene where a girl tries to get a jock and a geek to fight, but neither will because they like each other.  And there's another scene where a bully looks approvingly on when a girl dances with a mentally challenged kid at a school dance.  It defies high school cliches.

This cast is ridiculously talented.  It's insane.  Oscar nominated actor James Franco, box office behemoth Seth Rogen, and the always hilarious Jason Segel are only the tip of the iceberg.  Ironically, those three guys give perhaps the weakest performances of the cast.  Well Rogen certainly does.  He's pretty awful, but thankfully he's given the least to do and by the time he does have a storyline, he's improved enough to make it good.

Stealing the show is Linda Cardellini, playing Lindsday Weir.  I almost want to watch ER just for her.  Almost.  Filling out the freaks is Busy Phillips, who I wish I had more to say about.  Among the kids, Martin Starr is the standout actor though "should have been a child star" Sam Levinne and "ridiculously good at playing shy and awkward" John Francis Daley certainly are close by.  Honestly, if I had no knowledge of their future careers, I would have guessed this trio would have made it big and the older guys would have had successful, if somewhat underwhelming careers.  Go figure.

The supporting cast includes a wonderful performance by Joe Flaherty as the father to Linsday and a sweet-natured performance by Becky Ann Baker as the mother.  The list of guest stars to appear on this show include: Shia LaBeouf, Jason Schwartzman, Rashida Jones, David Krumholz, Leslie Mann, Ben Foster, Lizzy Caplan, and Joanna Garcia Swisher.  It's mind boggling how successful the majority of the people who were on this show became.

It's only appropriate then that the people behind the camera have also been ridiculously successful.  Judd Apatow, whom the person reading surely knows, wrote six episodes and directed three.  It's created by Paul Feig (who's directed several episodes of Arrested Development and The Office, and Bridesmaids).  Feig had a writing credit for all 18 episodes, surely because this is essentially based on his experience.

In 1999-2000, the show regularly got 8 million viewers, which was low enough to be obviously cancelled by just about every network.  Nowadays, a show like Freaks and Geeks gets put on the air and gets low ratings, it mostly likely survives on the backs of critics.  Of course, if that were the case, we wouldn't have the wonderful cast and brilliant writers that we do.  So it's both a blessing and a curse that it came at the time that it did.

As far as the show is concerned, I watched it with somebody who did not receive the pilot episode well.  By that same token, I've read someone say that the pilot is one of the best pilots in introducing the characters.  And I kind of agree with both.  The pilot is clearly the weakest episode of the ones I watched and Seth Rogen's bad acting is way too prominent to be ignored.  But I recently re-watched it and it's amazing how much it improves after you've seen the series.  So if you feel underwhelmed by the pilot, give it one or two more episodes (at least until "Kim Kelly is My Friend.")

Freaks and Geeks was masterful in building sympathetic characters.  Daniel (Franco), Nick (Segel), Ken (Rogen), and Kim (Phillips) are all people I can see myself distancing from when I was in high school.  And yet, the show slowly unfolds backstories that help explain the situation they are in.  It explains their actions, which don't look too kindly upon the character if you have no knowledge of what they've been through.  The geeks - Bill (Starr) and Neal (Levinne) - also have somewhat complicated home lives, although the geeks are probably easy to relate to from the get-go.  The only exceptions to having problems at home are Lindsay and Sam Weir, because their parents are extremely understanding and happy.

The show also makes good use out of its premise, for the most part separating the freaks and geeks.  But when a geek and a freak come into contact for some reason, it's usually one of the best parts of the episode.  It's also made more plausible since Lindsay and Sam and brother and sister, therefore the freaks are aware of the geeks more than they probably would have been.

It is hard to argue for another season - as much as I want one - because the first season was so perfect.  It'd be difficult to imagine the second season being better.  In fact, the last few episodes - when the creators knew it would be cancelled - had a plots meant for the second season, but truncated into a few episodes.  It doesn't make the plots feel as rushed as you would imagine however and the episodes hardly suffer for it.

So, come watch Freaks and Geeks to watch your favorite stars before they were stars, and stay for an excellent piece of television.  It's a show that rings truer to life than most shows on television, which means there aren't usually big victories at the end, but minor ones.  It looks at high school as it was and not as it's portrayed on screen usually.  Most importantly, it's a show that is immensely enjoyable and entertaining.

Grade - A

Playlist
1. "The Chain" - Fleetwood Mac
2. "Burning" - The Whitest Boy Alive
3. "Be Good (RAC Remix)" - Tokyo Police Club
4. "Don't Wanna Dance" - MØ
5. "Runaway" - Mr Little Jeans

The Sopranos: "Happy Wanderer"

This is a returning weekly feature.  I cover each individual episode going from the beginning.  I've already covered Season 1 and will post a weekly post on the second season every Sunday.

Past Episodes

Season 1

Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office

Do Not Resuscitate

Toodle Fucking-Doo

Commendatori

Big Girls Don't Cry

Never get into business with Tony Soprano.  He's like a disease, infecting all people who come into significant contact with him.  David Scatino, charmed by the Tony who he sees at parent-teacher conferences, learned that the hard way.  There's a certain reflective quality in these scenes.  You start to be convinced Tony's not that bad of a guy and is a product of his environment.  And then you see how he earns his money.

Scatino, played by Robert Patrick, is very clearly a compulsive gambler early on.  He finds out Tony took control of the executive game from Junior and wants in.  He's already a regular player in Richie Aprile's games.  He did poorly and borrowed money from someone you shouldn't borrow money with.  Of course, him being a compulsive gambler, he decided the best way to get that money back... is to keep gambling.

Now, I don't know how the Sopranos figured out what he owed them - clearly it's interest of some sort exponentially rising with each passing week.  I like the moment when Richie scoffs at Scatino trying to bullshit his way into another game.  Richie may be impulsive and greedy, but he knows his business.  And really he's right in this episode.  He lent money out, he needs to get it back so he shuts off the receiver, and then another party comes in and Richie won't be getting his money for a while.

Scatino stupidly comes to the executive game and Tony lets him play after little prodding.  He gives him a starting amount of money to be able to play in the executive game.  And he starts off well it sounds like.  But he can't quit while he's ahead and gets even farther in the hole than he was before.  By the end of the episode, he's given up his son's car.

If there's a weakness to this episode, it's Meadow and Eric's sudden friendship.  It's a little difficult to give a shit about Eric.  And he's the one who gets screwed over the most in this episode.  This isn't unusual for Sopranos - they brought one-episode characters a lot that were never seen before or after that episode.  But it still makes the episode suffer slightly.

But this show does use this opportunity to have Meadow reflect on her life of luxury benefiting from the pain of others.  This was still back in the day when Meadow seemingly had a conscience.  It's pretty telling that Carmela simply ignores what Tony is saying and in fact tries to get him to stop when he says that everything he does pays for their life.  So this episode has the dual effect of shining a light on Tony's activities while shining a light on the characters who it benefits.

Meanwhile, Tony and Dr. Mefli are still working out the kinks of what transpired last episode.  Tony kind of wonders why he comes there to bitch and moan when before he would rather be the "Gary Cooper type."  (After having finally seen a Gary Cooper movie, I got to say Tony you're more interesting)  It's a natural extension to them finally getting back to therapy.

Somewhat conveniently, this also happens to be the episode where Junior tells Tony that he has a secret uncle, who was probably developmentally disabled.  If the purpose of that was only for Junior reflexively defending his brother after Tony makes somewhat innocuous comments (for him at least), this storyline was worth it.  Anyway, the episode was a point for nature over nurture - although clearly this show has a multitude of evidence that's it's both.

And that's pretty much all that happens.  Feeble-minded Sean and Matt get to work the executive game.  Silvio hilariously lashes out over Matt because he was sweeping the cheese under his feet.  Chris teaches us how to steal food as well.  Otherwise, not a lot happens, even for Sopranos standards.

Grade - B+

Deaths
None, except Scatino's ability to live a happy life

Surprise Guest Appearances
Frank Sinatra Jr, who I didn't recognize nor would have.

Quotes
"You want to know what I'm thinking?  I'm thinking about smashing your fucking face into a fucking hamburger." - Tony to Melfi in therapy

"I stick motherfucking provolone in my socks at night so they smell like your sister's crotch in the morning." - Silvio's funniest line ever probably

"Serious?  Nah, he had everybody in stitches back then." - Tony on if he uncle was developmentally disabled

"So take that high moral ground and sleep in the fucking bus station if you want."

"That's a lucky break.  I wonder what happened?" - Oh Carmela, your ignorance never ceases to amaze me

Playlist
1."The Happy Wanderer" - Frankie Yankovic (from this episode)
2. "Drowning" - Banks
3. "Sheila" - Jaime T
4. "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" - The Hollies
5. "Suicidal Thoughts" - Notorious BIG

Rewind: Veronica Mars S1

The first season of Veronica Mars set a standard that the show simply couldn't live up to.  It had an engaging, yet simple mystery.  It had a shocking reveal without it cheating or making no sense.  It integrated its characters in organic, natural ways.  It was basically the pinnacle of what this show could be.

The first season is a bit difficult to write about, believe it or not.  The next two seasons?  I could write forever about them and their faults.  In fact, I'm struggling mightily not mentioning problems that are only concerns in later seasons.

The first season stands out for a number of reasons.  One, it has a very interesting high school as its setting with its caste system.  Using high school as a way to talk about class isn't exactly new, but the show approaches it smartly and head on.  It's most certainly something that the show missed when it moved to college in the third season.

Another thing that works is that it takes the time to make us care about the case and the people involved in the case.  Lilly Kane was murdered.  I'm not sure how they managed to stretch this storyline into a full season of episodes and never make it feel... stretched out, but they struck the right balance somehow.  And it peaks at the right time with a finale that answers just about every question (with an annoying cliffhanger though).

One of the bigger problems in this season is that Duncan Kane is boring as shit.  The actor, Teddy Dunn, just doesn't make him into an interesting character.  I'm inclined to blame the actor, because he really should be more interesting than he comes across.  And Dunn not really having done anything since then isn't really helping his case.

There are three actors though who steal the show: Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, and Jason Dohring.  The biggest sin of this show getting prematurely canceled is that the latter two haven't been able to shine like they should.  Bell, obviously, blew up in a big way.  She's clearly the star and she carries the show.  Colantoni, as Keith Mars, is a close second, but only because he's not nearly in every scene as Veronica.  I think Dohring gets better as it goes along, because he didn't really impress me in the early episodes, but he has since won me over.  (Possibly his character just improved - a distinct possibility)

One of the strengths of this season that I don't think future seasons have is that every character feels well utilized.  Wallace, who becomes virtually ignored, needs Veronica to adjust to a new school.  Duncan, who's flat as a character, is at least relevant in this season.  Weevil somehow seems better used in this season even though in the second season, he's a part of the larger arc.  Basically, there's not really a character that feels pointless.  Even the small side characters who become more relevant are used sparingly but used very well to give the school a real-world sense.

What did get slightly annoying was when the show tried to paint one of the main characters - Logan, Weevil specifically - as the bad guy.  It's obvious that they aren't - it's even more obvious they aren't when all the clues point to them cause that's like a staple of this show.  (I do kind of wish the easy answer was actually the easy answer one time)  Also, Weevil is supposed to be a gang leader, but he's too lovable and innocent.  I think he does one thing that would be qualified as immoral on screen. (and to be fair, it was a pretty bad thing although completely justified)

This season had some really great episodes.  "Like a Virgin" is a strength highlighting the concern about what other people think about you and introducing a recurring Meg, a great character the show really should have treated better.  "An Echoll's Family Christmas" is a really fun episode where they try and figure out who stole the money to a poker game and possibly my favorite of the whole series.  Then the show finishes strong with "A Trip to the Dentist" and "Leave it to Beaver," answering all the questions that needed answering in a succinct fashion.

The first season is immensely enjoyable and if I sound more negative than I intend, I apologize.  Clearly Rob Thomas knows what he is doing with this series.  The only real weakness of this season is really Duncan Kane, just because he's so prominent and a character who I just don't care about even a little.  (I also kind of wish the mother was given better treatment, although she seems clearly intended to be awful and she's in so little of the season, that it barely registers on my radar)  Basically, the first season is the reason this show is so beloved.  The show has one of the better characters in television history in Veronica Mars, a mystifying setting, and a genuinely great mystery - making the first season a must-watch.

Grade - A- (Duncan Kane knocks it from a straight A)

Playlist
1. "We Used to Be Friends" - The Dandy Warhols (because of course)
2. "Glacier" - James Vincent McMorrow
3. "Goes Black" - Big Ups
4. "Grand Union" - Arthur Beatrice
5. "No Below" - Speedy Ortiz

The Sopranos: Big Girls Don't Cry

This is a returning weekly feature.  I cover each individual episode going from the beginning.  I've already covered Season 1 and will post a weekly post on the second season every Sunday.

Past Episodes

Season 1

Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office

Do Not Resuscitate

Toodle Fucking-Doo

Commendatori

In a parallel universe, there's a television show centered around Christopher Moltisanti.  He's arguably more complex of a character than Tony is.  Here's probably the only mafia guy who shows any interest in getting out of the mafia.  He has dreams and he has aspirations that exceed what your typical Sopranos character desires.

And yet, I think only Paulie is less talented an individual than Chris is.  I get the sense that this is Chris' highest potential in life.  Not to mention, Chris is an unhinged person, even by Sopranos standards.  He commits heinous acts of violence with little remorse.  He shows a temper that would not be permitted in any other facet of life.  Anytime I start to want Chris to get out of this life, I pull back and remember that he's seriously not a good person.

However in this episode, Chris does show actual talent for once.  I can't remember another episode where this is the case.  He displays pretty good acting at his workshop.  Of course, in order to achieve this, he needs to access a part of him that he simply has no wish to reveal.  He doesn't want to be vulnerable.  He doesn't want to show people a soft side to him.  He thinks of himself as Joe Pesci.

Christopher Moltisanti is a seemingly sympathetic and relatable character on some level.  And for that, I will have to praise Michael Imperioli.  If you simply look at the facts of this character and read a description, it makes very little sense for him to be one of the more tragic characters.  He has no business being as liked as he is by the viewers.  But Imperioli plays him so well that it's impossible not to feel for Chris.  This was the episode that opened my eyes to Imperioli's amazing acting ability.*

*Side note: I can't think of anything much harder than acting in a scene where your character is acting.  You have to somehow show that the character is acting while still remaining the character in the real movie/show.  And most of the time, the fake acting isn't supposed to be that good.  So it's a tricky line.

While Chris loses hope to write a screenplay, Tony and Melfi finish their time apart by having parallel storylines joining them together at the end.  The Melfi stuff works about as well as it could.  Unfortunately, it's way too obvious that they are getting back together since Melfi serves no purpose in this show without Tony.  So her eventual reasoning to take Tony back didn't really resonate.  However, it's semi-plausible that she accepts him through guilt on her own part and certainly the most plausible I can come up without damaging her moral center on this show.

Meanwhile, Tony finds a new therapist in Hesh.  Hesh is not a good therapist.  He's too interested in talking about himself when Tony is spilling out his guts.  Make no mistake, I'm not saying Hesh is in the wrong here.  Tony is a total dick to Hesh, sharing his feelings while completely ignoring Hesh's stories.  He came there to tell Hesh, but he has no interest in reciprocation.

Hesh does reveal one piece of information: Tony's dad also had anxiety attacks.  I kind of feel like this was unnecessary.  We as an audience already had plenty of information to formulate why Tony had panic attacks.  I just don't think knowing this adds anything to the story.  We didn't need to add the genetic component to why he had panic attacks when we already had the environmental aspect.  By the end, Tony notices Hesh isn't really listening as well as Melfi when he goes on one of his rants and this in turn helps motivate Tony to go back to Melfi if he had any doubts before.

On a plot basis, the most vital piece of information - since let's face it, therapy is completely useless on this show - is the integration of Furio and the slow pushing out of Big Pussy.  Tony brings Furio over as per his agreement in "Commendatori."  Big Pussy not only gets passed over by Paulie, but by the newcomer Furio.

There's a sense that Big Pussy has been getting screwed for years and it's certainly possible (This is almost entirely perpetrated by Pussy and Skip to be fair).  But I think it goes back to the season two premiere when Tony looked at Big Pussy with a watchful, distrusting eye.  I think he no longer trusted Big Pussy and at least unconsciously knew intuitively that he was a rat.  So he gave less responsibility to Big Pussy than he may have deserved.   

Big Pussy gets phased out and Furio gets brought to America.  They have a party in his honor and he's charming.  Then Tony tells him to intimidate a whorehouse and Furio kicks fucking ass.  I mean he hits an innocent guy with a bat, punches a woman in the face, and shoots a guy in the leg so I feel slightly bad about saying that, but that scene is undeniably viscerally exciting.

The show also has one short scene showing Tony finding out that Janice and Richie are back together.  He also finds out that Janice took out a loan for the house.  Tony's two separate problems just became fused together and created one huge problem.  Not like he was allowed to kill Richie before, but he's now almost family.  (In hindsight, Janice is probably just as big of a problem with her influence in certain events with Bobby)

Oh yeah and Junior and Bobby go to Furio's party and hilariously get rejected by Carmela.  Those guys literally came in for a 10 second scene.

Deaths

The confidence of the Asian woman at the whorehouse after Furio arrived.  Alas, no actual deaths happened.

Surprise Guest Appearances

Ajay Naidu, best known for Office Space, is one of the acting students

Quotes

"Sunday.  My house.  Box of melomosa on the counter.  Fucking empty.  Think I don't know it was you?" (Paulie shakes head) "I'm kidding you, you fuck."

"You smug cocksucker.  Fuck you." - Melfi to Elliot

"I'm making eggs.  You want some eggs." - Richie - the death knell of this show

"There are men in the can better looking than my sister." - Tony

"You got a problem besides those fucking pants." - Oh Tony

"Just watch your intake of sugar... and sugar substitutes." 

"I want to be in total control." - Tony

Playlist

1. "Ladykiller (Gigamesh Remix)" - White Sea
2. "Deadbeat Summer" - Neon Indian
3. "You're a God" - Vertical Horizon
4. "Low" - Young Fathers
5. "I Saw Her Standing There" - The Beatles

Orange is the New Black S2 Review

When Orange is the New Black was originally conceived, it was not meant to be a show for Netflix.  It was created in the traditional television mold.  And while it certainly lent itself to binge-watching better than most shows, it was still easy to imagine it airing on HBO or Showtime.  This season was however, completely created knowing that people would be binge-watching.

And thus it's reflected in the first two episodes, something that would not happen if it was shown week-to-week.  It's too daring, too risky to completely isolate all your interesting characters for one episode and then ignore your main character in the second episode.  Granted, Piper is essentially a supporting character in 80 percent of the episodes, but still this would not happen if it wasn't on Netflix.

And that risk - and it's still a risk even knowing your audience can immediately watch the next episode - pays off.  The first episode is a master class of tension and unease.  Piper's not interesting to me, but finding out what the hell is happening to her definitely is.  And then we get dropped into a new prison.  Piper in that prison is a show I would want to see too.  (Though it was not perfect - the weird rodent game her bunkmates forced her to participate in didn't really work for me)

Then in the second episode, we ignore Piper.  It feels like a normal episode still.  Vee gets introduced through flashbacks and then in a twist at the end.  I kind of like what they did with Vee in that it takes a while to figure out if she's good or bad - relatively speaking of course (though I was pretty sure early on, it's still ambiguous for a while).  The introduction to Vee was also beneficial because the rising tension between two - three really - factions of the prison was one of the things present in this season that wasn't there in the first.  I'm a sucker for well-written escalating tension throughout a season.

The other positive about Vee?  It forces Taystee, Poussey, and Crazy Eyes to re-play out how they got there in the first place: Taystee's need to feel like she has a family, Poussey being in love with a woman she cannot have, and Suzanne not fitting in because of her mental illness.  I'm honestly not a huge fan of what they did with Suzanne's character for most of the season, but I'd be lying if I didn't enjoy the conclusion and it was a good place to take her character even if it wasn't fun to watch.  Poussey though?  Damn, I liked her before and now she's probably my favorite character.

Not all the characters though managed to become more awesome.  Morrello for instance became much more terrifying.  Not to spoil anything, but let's just say what she does is the stuff of nightmares.  Somehow, you still feel sorry for her though even though... and hopefully she's improving going forward.  She's definitely gaining more self-awareness throughout the second season at least.

Looking back, it's hard to believe how little actual stories came from most characters.  Piper got her few episodes and actually became much more likable - that is until the end when Alex got involved.  Let's just say this show needs to learn to stop writing about characters who have long been past their expiration date.  I was actually infuriated for about 10 minutes in one of the later episodes because it was 10 straight minutes of characters I could not give a fuck about.  It was Piper and Alex (ugh seriously Piper is likable... until Alex gets involved - then I hate every second on screen) and then Larry and whatever Piper's best friend's name is.  I refuse to learn it.  I do not care about her, I have never cared about her, and she serves no purpose in this show whatsoever.  And as far as Alex is concerned, without spoiling, let's just say Piper has been given a very declarative reason to stop talking to her and yet somehow that reason is seemingly forgotten by the end.

With my little rant out of the way, one of the positives of this show is that it gives minor characters backstories that aren't necessary, and yet completely appreciated.  Did we need to know Miss Rosa's backstory - she's the one with cancer?  No, but I will say that it does pay off.  Speaking of old people, I like how the show ended up reflecting on the older women at the prison.

You have the old lady with what is probably Alzheimer's - whose story provides a few laughs until it takes a dark turn.  The others remind you that these women probably did much worse things than the other ladies - after all, they probably didn't just get into prison but have spent their life there and got transferred to a low security prison from good behavior.  I just really enjoyed them getting some life injected into them from joining with Red.

Speaking of Red, she had her downfall last season, and this is her slow rise back up to the top.  Her rivalry with Vee is actually a major plot point for this season and I did enjoy their scheming against each other.  Her former "family" doesn't get to do much unfortunately - Morrello's character gets viewed in a clearer picture and Nicky gets to give good advice every episode - it somehow didn't feel like it suffered.  This season was largely Red versus Vee and Vee versus Poussey and it's reflected in the time the other characters are given.

The "third faction" leader, Gloria, is also given some perspective and her transformation from weak-willed to being a badass who doesn't back down is essentially what they did to Red, but it's still satisfying.  I can't say I liked the Bennet-Diaz story too much - Bennett says something insensitive, Diaz gets mad, rinse, repeat.  Sorry, still not really buying that they love each other.

Enough about the inmates, I have to say that the work that they did with the guards was also pretty great.  Healy isn't exactly redeemed, but his futile attempts to make a difference at least made me feel some sympathy for him.  I don't remember my feelings towards Caputo last season, but hell if his laughing in the face of Pornstache and Natalie Figueroa don't make him instantly endearing.  O'Neil becomes a fun side character, Luschek is funny, and Fischer's story actually has a nice arc of sorts.

What's amazing about this series is that it seems perfectly cast - like the young representations of the characters we know and the characters themselves seem like they couldn't be played by anybody else.  Now go look at the IMDB history of the actors.  Nearly every actor is in barely anything else except for the men.  I don't know who the casting director is, but give that person a raise.  I applaud them and sadly a lot of it has to do with the underrepresentation of the women in movies and shows.  (And specifically minorities, overweight, unattractive, or even unconventionally attractive women.)

I mentioned above that Piper became more likable this season.  She seems more hardened and she also has a mirror image of who she used to be - or at least the naivety.  Soso, the new Asian inmate, is excited and talkative and she slowly gets drained by the end of the season, spurred a bit by a self-imposed hunger strike.  She's a bit one note and not fully formed, which is fine - most of these characters were that until they got a backstory episode.  Plus, her purpose in this season seemed to essentially be Piper 2.0 and any attempts to further her character would have lessened that parallel.

It's hard to say if this season was better, worse, or the same as last season.  Last season, it took me until about episode five to get really into it and then I was sucked in.  This season, I was already fully committed to the show.  I haven't revisited the first season either so I don't know if that's because the show started slow or because I hadn't gotten used to it yet.  Either way, I'm going to give it the same grade - this season may have been marginally worse, but I enjoyed more of it than last season - and it gets knocked a little for having the awful Alex-Piper and Larry-what's her face scenes.

Weeds - Kohan's former show - had a reputation for declining soon after her first season.  I've seen the first season, but not past it, and I can't comment on that show's decline.  But the fact that this show has maintained its quality into the second season and not lost any of its luster is extremely promising.  And whereas Weeds was somewhat limited in its storytelling, Orange is the New Black is limitless in what it could tell.  There are no boundaries and it could continue airing for years theoretically.  Right now I'm probably overly optimistic about this show, but I hope it does.  The second season was great and there are no signs this show will ever lack a story to tell.

Grade - A-

Playlist
1. "If So" - Atlas Genius
2. "Shout (Parts 1 and 2)" - The Isley Brothers
3. "Tight" - Mix Chopin
4. "Fluorescent Adolescent" - Arctic Monkeys
5. "All for You" - Sister Hazel

Rewind: Alias S1

Alias doesn't really seem like it would be a good show looking at it retrospectively.  It gets basically no love and is nearly forgotten in the wake of newer, better shows.  Jennifer Garner's career, if you haven't seen Alias, hasn't been the best.  At least, she hasn't been impressive in the movies I've seen her in and if she's asked to do more than a supporting role, then it's been downright dreadful.

But I chose to watch it anyway, even amid the reputation that the show becomes downright dreadful itself by the end.  I'm glad I for some reason decided to watch it, because this show is way better than I expected.  This is a thrill-a-minute, episode cliffhangers-galore type of show.  Usually those type of shows can't sustain the suspense throughout the show's run.  Doesn't matter for me at least because I'm only committing to the first two seasons.

I'm most pleased with the show's ability to create episode after episode of multiple spy missions, drama, and kick-ass fights without losing the audience even once.  None of the missions ever really felt like they were just stalling for time (well except for the clip show, but that feels like a network mandate).  And a show such as this could have easily coasted on one awesome spy mission an episode that would have gone at the end and it would have been something resembling a procedural.  But that's not at all what Alias did.  As weird as it sounds, it let the story develop organically and just wrote what they thought would come next, not designed the episode for a spy mission at the end.  That they somehow do this while still maintaining cliffhangers at the end of each episode is really impressive.

Jennifer Garner is surprisingly great in this role.  My one quibble is whenever she cries - and she cries a whole lot in this season.  But otherwise, she displays impressive range when she has to act like she's acting like another person in the show.  If that makes sense.  It's probably one of the hardest things to do in acting.   Anyway, it's easy to underrate her performance given her latter career, but she really does do a good job as Sydney Bristow.

Then there's a pretty damn good supporting cast, better than most shows.  Victor Garber, the veteran TV actor, is fantastic as the father who needs to show emotion with how little emotion he shows.  He's surpassed only by Ron Rifkin, who steals the show.  Watching Rifkin is worth choosing to watch this show by itself.  He elevates this show past what it probably deserves to be.  He plays the villain of the show and it's easy to be a caricature, but Rifkin makes him much more terrifying as someone who seems like a real person.  (Adding on to that is the creepy dad-like role he plays to Sydney.)  Then there's Carl Lumbly, who made me wonder why he's not in more things, and Bradley Cooper, who shows why he became famous.

One of the weaknesses to the show - and this may just be inherently a problem for this type of show - is that Sydney's "other life" is rarely interesting.  When you're avoiding death and kicking ass, is there even a chance you can make normal life seem just as compelling?  Probably not.  The writers certainly did us no favors though trying to make us care about whether or not Charlie cheats on Francie.  They made Cooper's story interesting because he's a reporter with seemingly everything against him - it's basically Enemy of the State.  Plus, it eventually interspersed with Sydney's story.

As far as the love triangle is concerned, bleh.  I could do without it.  Michael Vartan is decent in this role.  I'm not exactly clamoring for him to be with Sydney.  And Will's not really even going after Sydney for some reason.  Probably because they needed Syndey to have a love triangle and not for any viable reason.

That said, the "Lost" aspects of the show - the parts that made it obvious JJ Abrams was apart of this - I ate up.  It still doesn't make sense to me why Rambaldi's prophet-like predictions matter so much to these governmental agencies, but I don't think I care.  It's still pretty fascinating even if I am positive I'm never going to get an answer to why Rambaldi matters to these specific agencies.  (If you're wondering why, Lost didn't answer a lot and that show has a good reputation.  This show has the reputation of crashing and burning.)

Also great: the conflicting and zig-zagging opinion we are supposed to have on Jack Bristow, Sloane needing to kill his wife, Sark manipulating seemingly everybody, and the two-part episode The Box (though Quentin Tarantino isn't terrible, I sort of wish someone else played that part.  And I like him.... as a director.)  

Not great to me: the out-of-nowhere love square (?) that happened when Noah Hicks came, played by Peter Berg.  I will love Berg forever for Friday Night Lights, but I'm glad he retired as an actor.  I did not understand why Sydney would go for him, I did not understand the appeal of him, and it was a little irritating when the show tried to make me give a fuck whether or not Sydney would go with him when we all knew she wouldn't.

With the exception of Sydney's "normal life" and her dalliance with Peter Berg, I don't think I have another complaint about this season.  I just love being on the ride of what will happen next, and don't really care if the show won't give me any real answers.  Wow that sounds a lot like Lost.

Grade - A-

Playlist
1. "Hey Ya" - Outkast
2. "Glory" - Wye Oak
3. "Tears for Uriah" - Cyne
4. "These Chains" - Hot Chip
5. "West Coast" - Lana Del Ray

Looking Review

While it is my opinion that FX has surpassed HBO as the greatest network currently, HBO hasn't exactly gone away.  They are also creating new, innovative television shows.  Looking is innovative in more ways than the obvious.  And if you have no idea what Looking is - which if you're not a regular television viewer or HBO enthusiast, you probably don't - it's a show about three gay male friends "looking" for love.  And this isn't your typical gay male relationship you see on TV.  No, there are very intimate scenes, a lot of kissing, and many sex scenes that don't leave much to the imagination.  But really it's no different than any heterosexual relationship you see commonly featured.  It's just that this show is showing them exactly the same way straight people would be shown.

The most prominent name featured on this show is Andrew Haigh, who wrote three episodes and directed five of the eight episodes.  He is not well-known, but he had a highly acclaimed indie flick called Weekend, which I haven't seen so I won't pretend to know, but it's definitely a film that focuses on gay males as well.  

This may be difficult to explain, but the show is highly realistic and seems to be taken from everyday life.  But at the same time, the entire world is gay in this show.  I'm only slightly exaggerating.  On the AV Club reviews for this show, most of the gay commenters mentioned that they don't only hang out with gay people.  And in this show, that is definitely not the case.  There's only two straight people in the show to my memory, and they both occupy the "Main/Gay Best Friend" TV Trope - except you know everyone else is gay and they're straight.  However, this is kind of hilarious and appropriate if you ask me so this is not an issue to me at all.

And there's a pretty easy way to explain why they are all male and not female.  Somewhere along the line, homophobic men decided that lesbians were hot, but that gay males were disgusting.  It's kind of become ingrained in pop culture.  So even if this show is a snapshot of gay life, there are no lesbians in this show.  (Hell, there's barely any females to speak of)

The "star" of this show as determined by the running time is definitely Patrick, played by Jonathan Groff.  He's actually unlikable for most of the season.  Not helping the case is that he has a sort of love triangle with his boss and his boyfriend, both of which seem to be too good for Patrick.  The boss is played by Russell Tovey, and he's supposed to play him as an irresistible Brit who nonetheless would represent a terrible decision for Patrick.  He definitely succeeds.  And Richie is played by Raul Castillo, a Latino hairdresser who represents a class and racial difference from Patrick that Patrick clearly is at least a little uncomfortable. (Patrick is a video game designer and he seems to do quite well)

Then there's Dom, who seems to be the most interesting and best-acted person on the show.  Played by Murray Bartlett, he's definitely my favorite character as he plays the man who is considerably older than the other two.  He's a waiter in the restaurant business, and he's roommates with one of the straight best friends, Doris.  Undoubtedly, Doris and Dom's interactions are easily some of the highlights of the early episodes, which tended to be slower.

Lastly, there is Agustin who is by far the character who needs the most work going into the second season.  I can relate to Patrick's awkwardness and inability to say the right thing, I can relate to Dom because he's awesome, but everything about Agustin just seems bad from the start.  He seems to pressure his boyfriend, Frank, into a three-way in the first episode, calls himself an artist and yet never creates (although he's remarkably self-aware about this), and all of his actions are pretty selfish.  I just found an inability to care about his problems and if I did care, it was a negative reflection on him.  

This show needs to round out its love interests better too.  Richie is played really well by Castillo, but we don't know much about him.  He seems too perfect for Patrick and we really don't know why he's even interested in Patrick half the time.  Lynn, played by Scott Bakula, is also similarly distantly characterized.  And Frank gets barely any screen time, but he seems to be way too good for Agustin.  Luckily the actors involved do a good job at making this characters seem more complete than they are.

The fact that the show is a closer and more intimate look at the relationships of gay males is not the only reason you should watch the show.  It's also pretty damn good.  I don't remember if I was expecting to like it or not, but I finished the show pleasantly surprised.  Maybe it's because the contradictions of Patrick makes for one very compelling character.  Maybe it's because Dom is just impossible to dislike.  Maybe it's because it's very well-written and the direction creates for almost an inside look feel.  It's like you're dropped into their lives and they exist in real life.

San Francisco should also show this show for advertisements to get people to live there.  It's prominently featured, but not in any way that feels like they're showing off.  It's the perfect background to the show.  Also as an outsider, it being in San Francisco certainly helps me accept everyone being gay.  I know that isn't actually the case, but if it was in Washington DC, I don't think it'd be as easy to accept.

I would recommend this show to anyone who is willing to give it a shot.  It's not a great show and it has its flaws, but it's well-written and expertly directed with great performances.  And if you're not gay like myself, it's got that wonderful TV ability to transport you into a world you're completely unfamiliar with.  That always elevates a show better than it might otherwise be in my opinion.  You should stop looking for a show to watch and watch Looking (I could not resist this forgive me)

Grade - B+

Playlist

1. "I Want You Back" - Jackson 5

2. "Sunny Afternoon" - The Kinks

3. "Mercy" - Duffy

4. "Regulate" - Warren G

5. "You (Ha Ha Ha)" - Charli XCX

The Americans S2 Review

For its second season, The Americans abandoned what essentially was the main focus of the show and re-directed it to a new purpose.  The first season was about two people who had been in a loveless, arranged marriage who were starting to love each other.  While the first season was great, the Jennings leaving each other only to reconcile had already become repetitive.  Returning to that well would have made the show seem stale and out of ideas.

That is probably why the marriage is basically an afterthought, a comforting presence in times of increasing turmoil.  The marriage is seen as sound and a rock to guide the Jennings while multiple threats are thrown their way.  The love the two share is no longer in doubt.  If anything, it may be suggesting that falling in love may have been the worst thing to happen to them.

The next logical step to take for a show about a Russian family in America during the Cold War is exactly what step the show took.  They made it about their love for the kids.  In the first episode, a family of four gets shot and killed, with the exception of the son.  (I really think this portion would have been more effective if they had introduced the family in the first season, but alas).  It forces them to look at what life after they're gone looks like with their children.

And that's pretty much how the rest of the second season is framed.  They seemed to commit more murders, put themselves into higher risk jobs, and expose themselves to people like Andrew Larrick - really the show's first villain.  The tension and the risk seemed ever escalating and increased with each episode.

Another impressive feat pulled off by The Americans is that this season felt more cohesive and less standalone.  The spy plots seemed connected each episode.  They are working on stealth planes most of the season and each mission more or less connects to that basic framework.  They also inherit the turned informant of Emmet and Leane Connors, Fred.  With the addition of Lucia, a possible mentee for Elizabeth, and you have basically every mission the Jennings had in the second season.

It's a little misleading to only have talked about the Jennings, because a rather large part of this season was also the deteriorating relationship between Nina and Stan.  Nina became a regular just as much as the Jennings while Stan kind of just sat in the corner making smiley face emoticons to Nina while secretly making sad face emoticons to himself.

One of the weaknesses to this season is that they really destroyed Stan's character for me.  I mean the third season could clearly rejuvenate him and it's not like any of the the things he did were irrational - I get why he did them.  He just doesn't look good at all doing them.  First, he takes advantage of the situation he's in and gets with Nina while the dynamics of the relationship are clearly him as a superior.  It's the same reason bosses aren't supposed to date their employees, except it's like ten times worse because Nina's life is at stake.  On top of that, he cheats on his very faithful and - as portrayed by the show - really sweet wife.  I mean his wife seems pretty great if not exactly as exciting as Nina.  He's not exactly irredeemable, but let's just say that when he got what was coming for him, I wasn't feeling bad for him at all.

Meanwhile the big twist was shocking, but the more you think about it, the less sense it actually makes.  Maybe it's because I'm... you know.. not crazy, but I don't think a girl could get me to KILL MY PARENTS.  Maybe turn on America.  I don't know, it's just hard to buy.  Oh and not to mention that the prospect of trying that again on the Jennings makes no sense when they picked a new inexperienced agent over very experienced, skilled field agents.  Then there's the practical things - a gun going off in a hotel three times doesn't elicit any alarm?  This show is portrayed as realistic so these things kind of make everything fall apart.

That's not the type of thing to destroy a show - well I guess it did for Homeland for me - but it certainly puts on a damper to an otherwise great season.  And it looks like they will be framing the third season in the light to convert Paige.  I'm much more interested in the Phillip/Elizabeth argument as Elizabeth seems to think it'd be ok to get Paige in this life while Phillip is very much against it.  But if there's too much meddling from the Soviets, it'd be distracting because it's just hard to accept that they would alienate their highly experienced and highly successful agents because they want a completely inexperienced, probably unreliable possibility.  Doesn't add up.

But that's for the next season.  This season was 12 episodes of greatness followed by a tension-filled finale that will probably be worse on second viewing (like Jared Connors speaks for 5 minutes or more when he has a bullet in his neck and he's explaining the twist), but I am no less high on this show than before.  I still think people should watch this as soon as they can because I'm getting a little tired of the low viewership.

Grade - A-

Playlist
1. "Stay High" - Tove Lo (Habits Remix)
2. "Klapp Klapp" - Little Dragon
3. "Stress" - Justice
4. "Get Free" - Major Lazer ft. Amber
5. "We're an American Band" - Grand Funk Railroad