A necessary disclaimer: I've seen the first two seasons of 24 so I was essentially watching this as a first-time viewer. I mean I understood how 24 worked, but I knew none of the non-Jack Bauer characters, not even Chloe.
24 has always been the type of show that would obviously benefit from not having to write 24 episodes. Invariably, there are always going to be one or two storylines that are clearly filler, a way to fill up time for a character that has nothing to do. Shortening it to 12 episodes makes writers have tighter plots and tighter stories.
This season was not perfect, but it was probably one of the best seasons. I personally liked it better than 1 or 2, although my indication is that 5 was the undisputed best season. It remains to be seen for myself, but 24: Live Another Day will definitely be at the top of my list, because there's no useless filler. Everything presented is absolutely pertinent to the story.
If you think too hard about certain things that happen, it starts to become pretty clearly implausible. But what the writers did with these events is what mattered. They led to some surprisingly emotional moments that a show like 24 has no obligation to do. The last few episodes provided some successful emotional moments even as I had no Audrey-Jack history in my mind.
The one disappointing thing for me is that this season relied a lot on callbacks to previous seasons. That's actually a great thing, but I never met Chloe, President Heller, Audrey, or the surprise villain at the end. It didn't matter a whole lot - the show was kind enough to indicate connections where there was one and it's not like I missed much. It's just there's a certain value to seeing characters as early as the show wants you to and I missed that opportunity.
William Devane stands out this season for his excellent acting as President Heller, who tries to manage a country through a national crisis with oncoming Alzheimer's. Kiefer Sutherland is his usual "grab you by the throat and force you to accept everything's happening" self and I mean that as a compliment. Yvonne Strahovski plays a great female Jack (cause that's what she is). Lastly, Kim Raver manages to gain my affection for her and Jack's relationship despite me seeing none of their previous encounters. (As accomplished as Benjamin Bratt, Tate Donovan, and Gbenga Akinnagbe are, they don't get much to do, acting-wise)
The plot is pretty airtight, although the fact that the Russians and Chinese were working together is a little too tidy in my opinion. They could have made it a little more messy with the Russians simply going after Jack Bauer while the Chinese did their own thing. That's a small complaint though.
Overall, 24: Live Another Day proved to be one of the best seasons the series has ever done, which is kind of surprising since a rejuvenation of a series that ended on such a low note would appear to be a poor decision. No matter, they used those four years wisely and created 12 beautifully done episodes.
Grade - A-
Playlist
1. "Big Pimpin'" - Jay-Z feat. UGK
2. "Collard Greens" - Schoolboy Q feat. Kendrick Lamar
3. "Don't Save Me" - Haim
4. "I Can't Get Next to You" - The Temptations
5. "Dosas & Mimosas" - Cherub
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
The Leftovers Review
Most professional critics are given four episodes in advance of the season. They then will write a review of the season based upon those four episodes. Since I'm not a professional, I obviously do not receive such advances. Thus, we are four episodes into The Leftovers so I am giving my review of it.
One thing is very clear about The Leftovers thus far: if you have any interest whatsoever in finding "the answers," this show is not for you. It's pretty obvious early on that in order to watch this show, you have to accept that. You have to be able to find the journey compelling, not the mystery. With that said, through four episodes, I'm still very unsure of what to think of this show.
It's intriguing, but it's not clear it's going anywhere. Worse, there is literally one thoroughly compelling and well-written character, Reverend Jamison, who basically is on the sidelines for three of the four episodes, but gets his very own episode in the other. None of the others are that interesting or well-defined. Sure, they still kind of get away with it, because the acting talent in the cast is stunning.
The lead, our audience surrogate of sorts, is Kevin Garvey, played by Justin Theroux. Well, audience surrogate is the wrong term as he shoots a dog and might be going insane. The fact that he might be going insane is the only interesting thing about him actually. It's difficult to explain how to describe his character he's so ill-defined. Sure, I can explain facts about his place in the story: he has a wife and son who he no longer talks to and a daughter who misbehaves and he seems woefully unqualified to be police chief of a town that is dealing with tragedy. But his actual characteristics consist of "nice guy losing his mind and trying to remain sane."
There are so far two reasons to watch this show: one, despite having very few actual characters, the concept is innately fascinating. Three years ago, a significant amount of the population just disappeared for no identifiable reason. (And I mean literally disappeared. If you were talking to a person when it happened, they would just vanish) This show is adept at showing the result of such a thing happening. It's not so much that a tragedy happened, it's the not knowing what the hell happened that would drive you mad.
And this is the kind of thing I talked about in my opening paragraph: don't expect an answer to why that happened. The show isn't about the mystery of what happened to the world, it's about how people deal with such a traumatic event. It would just help a lot if this show had characters to go with the premise.
The second reason to watch this show is for the performance by Christopher Eccleston. He's truly incredible as Reverend Jamison. He gets 54 minutes of an episode to himself - it's all about him, and it's by far the best episode. I'm not going to spoil one minute of that episode, but the reason to continue watching is the hope that The Leftovers has episodes like that for our other characters. Eccleston is fantastic, but the rest of the acting talent would be up to the challenge I'm sure.
While I certainly understand that I won't get answers, it'd be nice if I had some insight into the motivations of The Guilty Remnant. I mean if their purpose is purely to force people to acknowledge that there is no hope and to constantly remember that "The Sudden Departure" happened, then they don't work for me at all. I can't relate to them and I'm so clearly supposed to.
Members of the Guilty Remnant include Liv Tyler, Amy Brennaman, and Ann Dowd. I'd say their actual names, but I need IMDB to figure that out because none of them speak except Tyler. I can't shake the feeling that the writers want us to connect with them and look at them with sympathetic eyes. Except the things they do are creepy and downright awful. If they are such good people, why are they in this? Dowd and Brennaman do about as well as they can without having actual speaking lines. Tyler's serviceable, but doesn't work as well as I think she should because her actions are volatile (I would blame the writing more than her performance for that)
Still, they are better than whatever the hell Tom, Kevin's son, is involved with. Chris Zyllka is pretty solid, but it raises the question of why he's involved with whatever he's involved with. He's dropped out of college (understandable) to join what appears to be a cult of some sort called "Holy Wayne." (not as understandable) The problem is that Paterson Joseph is so good at giving off a "crazy cult leader" vibe that it's a wonder why any sane person would ever step near him. And it's pretty clear that Kevin is played as a directionless, yet normal person. I don't care how directionless I am (and I'm pretty fucking directionless right now), I run away from Wayne immediately.
Rounding out the cast is Kevin's daughter, Jill, played by Margaret Qualley. She's extremely cliche as a misbehaving teenager. It really doesn't help that the writers seem to have no grasp of how teenagers act as judging by the ridiculous party in the pilot. She has a best friend named Aimee, who may as well be called "Impersonating Mena Suvari in American Beauty." Emily Meade is not totally unsuccessful at it to her credit. Lastly, Amanda Warren is good as the mayor.
There remain enough interesting parts about the show to keep me watching for the time being. The core reason for me to watch this show is that it reminds me of when I'm laying in bed alone at night, questioning if there's really a purpose and getting freaked out whenever I try to grasp the concept of eternity. THAT is this show really: 2 percent of the world's population disappears (including Shaq!) and the "leftovers" remain to ponder the purpose of it all.
Grade - B
Playlist
1. "Rollercoaster" - Bleachers
2. "Electric Relaxation" - A Tribe Called Quest
3. "Not Fair" Lilly Allen
4. "Australia" - The Shins
5. "Otherside" - Macklemore ft. Fences
One thing is very clear about The Leftovers thus far: if you have any interest whatsoever in finding "the answers," this show is not for you. It's pretty obvious early on that in order to watch this show, you have to accept that. You have to be able to find the journey compelling, not the mystery. With that said, through four episodes, I'm still very unsure of what to think of this show.
It's intriguing, but it's not clear it's going anywhere. Worse, there is literally one thoroughly compelling and well-written character, Reverend Jamison, who basically is on the sidelines for three of the four episodes, but gets his very own episode in the other. None of the others are that interesting or well-defined. Sure, they still kind of get away with it, because the acting talent in the cast is stunning.
The lead, our audience surrogate of sorts, is Kevin Garvey, played by Justin Theroux. Well, audience surrogate is the wrong term as he shoots a dog and might be going insane. The fact that he might be going insane is the only interesting thing about him actually. It's difficult to explain how to describe his character he's so ill-defined. Sure, I can explain facts about his place in the story: he has a wife and son who he no longer talks to and a daughter who misbehaves and he seems woefully unqualified to be police chief of a town that is dealing with tragedy. But his actual characteristics consist of "nice guy losing his mind and trying to remain sane."
There are so far two reasons to watch this show: one, despite having very few actual characters, the concept is innately fascinating. Three years ago, a significant amount of the population just disappeared for no identifiable reason. (And I mean literally disappeared. If you were talking to a person when it happened, they would just vanish) This show is adept at showing the result of such a thing happening. It's not so much that a tragedy happened, it's the not knowing what the hell happened that would drive you mad.
And this is the kind of thing I talked about in my opening paragraph: don't expect an answer to why that happened. The show isn't about the mystery of what happened to the world, it's about how people deal with such a traumatic event. It would just help a lot if this show had characters to go with the premise.
The second reason to watch this show is for the performance by Christopher Eccleston. He's truly incredible as Reverend Jamison. He gets 54 minutes of an episode to himself - it's all about him, and it's by far the best episode. I'm not going to spoil one minute of that episode, but the reason to continue watching is the hope that The Leftovers has episodes like that for our other characters. Eccleston is fantastic, but the rest of the acting talent would be up to the challenge I'm sure.
While I certainly understand that I won't get answers, it'd be nice if I had some insight into the motivations of The Guilty Remnant. I mean if their purpose is purely to force people to acknowledge that there is no hope and to constantly remember that "The Sudden Departure" happened, then they don't work for me at all. I can't relate to them and I'm so clearly supposed to.
Members of the Guilty Remnant include Liv Tyler, Amy Brennaman, and Ann Dowd. I'd say their actual names, but I need IMDB to figure that out because none of them speak except Tyler. I can't shake the feeling that the writers want us to connect with them and look at them with sympathetic eyes. Except the things they do are creepy and downright awful. If they are such good people, why are they in this? Dowd and Brennaman do about as well as they can without having actual speaking lines. Tyler's serviceable, but doesn't work as well as I think she should because her actions are volatile (I would blame the writing more than her performance for that)
Still, they are better than whatever the hell Tom, Kevin's son, is involved with. Chris Zyllka is pretty solid, but it raises the question of why he's involved with whatever he's involved with. He's dropped out of college (understandable) to join what appears to be a cult of some sort called "Holy Wayne." (not as understandable) The problem is that Paterson Joseph is so good at giving off a "crazy cult leader" vibe that it's a wonder why any sane person would ever step near him. And it's pretty clear that Kevin is played as a directionless, yet normal person. I don't care how directionless I am (and I'm pretty fucking directionless right now), I run away from Wayne immediately.
Rounding out the cast is Kevin's daughter, Jill, played by Margaret Qualley. She's extremely cliche as a misbehaving teenager. It really doesn't help that the writers seem to have no grasp of how teenagers act as judging by the ridiculous party in the pilot. She has a best friend named Aimee, who may as well be called "Impersonating Mena Suvari in American Beauty." Emily Meade is not totally unsuccessful at it to her credit. Lastly, Amanda Warren is good as the mayor.
There remain enough interesting parts about the show to keep me watching for the time being. The core reason for me to watch this show is that it reminds me of when I'm laying in bed alone at night, questioning if there's really a purpose and getting freaked out whenever I try to grasp the concept of eternity. THAT is this show really: 2 percent of the world's population disappears (including Shaq!) and the "leftovers" remain to ponder the purpose of it all.
Grade - B
Playlist
1. "Rollercoaster" - Bleachers
2. "Electric Relaxation" - A Tribe Called Quest
3. "Not Fair" Lilly Allen
4. "Australia" - The Shins
5. "Otherside" - Macklemore ft. Fences
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Rewind: Star Trek S3
Well, this season was... ummm... not good. Star Trek has never really resonated with me like I think it does for some folks, even accepting the flaws inherent when watching a TV series from the 1960s. Much as I've tried, even the episodes I would call good come with some sort of "but..." With that said, the third season of Star Trek is terrible.
At some point, I'm going to develop my Top 10 Star Trek episodes (which I will post here) and my intent was to re-watch 25 selected episodes that either I remember being good or one of two other sites I've visited had praised. I had heard all about the quality of the third season so I estimated I'd take 10 episodes from the first two seasons and five from the third. Needless to say, the third season was so bad, I couldn't pick even five episodes from the third season to make that list of 25. I almost feel compelled to go back to the first season and see if my first impression of it was too harsh!
It's pretty easy to figure out why that is the case. After the second season, the show managed to stay on the air purely from the strength of fans mailing in letters begging them to not cancel the show. Which worked... except that it was granted a season with a reduced budget and moved to Friday nights, which was basically the kiss of death. Gene Rodenberry was so frustrated that he chose to step away from the show for the third season except for as an executive producer.
It's tough to say whether the reduced budget played a hand in the quality of the show dropping. I'm leaning towards no, only because the special effects and sets have never been that impressive in the first place. Now, if the budget managed to impede the writing - they couldn't buy a script due to the price and/or they were forced to ignore a script because of budget limits - now that's something that would indirectly affect the show. But they could probably figure something out - I mean they explained why Spectre of the Gun looked cheap so there are writing ways to get around that.
What hurt the show to me was repetitive plots, women being women, and Shatner being Shatner. Look, go ahead and read my first two reviews: I've constantly said he's the one who holds this show back, the thing that has aged worse than the sets, the sex politics. With that said, he didn't hold the third season back - the writing did. It's full of plots we've seen done better, plots that go nowhere interesting, and interesting ideas that just quickly peter out.
Also, my least favorite episodes in the past have been episodes were women fawn over Kirk and holy shit that's like every episode this season. And if it's not Kirk, it's Spock or McCoy or Chekhov or Scotty (poor Sulu). These are the type of situations where they meet and boom it's love. I wish I counted, because while it might not be every episode, it's damn near close to it. Naturally, the best of these happens to be when a woman falls in love with Spock (All Your Yesterdays).
Overall, I really was only able to single out four episodes of this season that I liked. That may be a bit harsh, but it's not extremely off. "The Enterprise Incident had me hopeful for the third season as it was only the second episode of the year (After "Spock's Brain" which um, really?). Then "Spectre of the Gun" was a fun episode, "Day of the Dove" was interesting but makes less sense the more you think about it, and it's a long string of disappointing episodes. I'd go over some of them, but I don't even think they were memorable enough to remember (except the "Empath" oh man that was awful).
Thankfully it finishes sort of strong, at least compared to the rest of the season. After the space hippies episode, "The Cloud Minders" is a very un-subtle take on slavery, but it still kind of works. "The Savage Curtain" opens up with Abraham fucking Lincoln in space, I don't think any more needs to be said. (Although it's near a copy of "Arena") Lastly, "All Your Yesterdays" is the last great Star Trek episode with Spock going back in time and suddenly gaining emotion with an attractive woman.
Actually, who am I kidding? In the original series of Star Trek, it's literally always an attractive woman. By the last season, it was getting ridiculous how every episode had a woman in extremely skimpy and impractical clothes. Even in the freaking Arctic the lady wears practically nothing! (In hindsight, it really shouldn't be a surprise why Star Trek appealed particularly to self-proclaimed male geeks.)
Anyway, the show simpers out with a hilariously bad episode by just about every way imaginable. See, a former lover of Kirk's (ugh) is driven to madness and overtakes Kirk's body (ugh) and then... she pretty much typifies what I'm sure was the male idea of a female in power. Because she's really emotional. And terrible at her job. Also, we have the hammiest Shatner acting of the series and it's quite... annoying... to watch. (But also kind of funny - did people think he was a good actor ever?)
There's not much good with the third season of Star Trek. You could point to any number of factors, but the main point is that there are very few watchable episodes and ever fewer good ones. Star Trek has always had issues with the things it suffers from in this season, it's just magnified by bad scripts. I just spent roughly 20 hours watching the third season and I suppose the purpose of this post is to advise you to spend 20 hours doing something else.
Grade - C-
Playlist
1. "Endless Shore" - Melody's Echo Chamber
2. "Public Service Announcement" - Jay-Z
3. "Lola" - The Kinks
4. "Bitch" - Meredith Brooks
5. "Rock to It" - Shad
At some point, I'm going to develop my Top 10 Star Trek episodes (which I will post here) and my intent was to re-watch 25 selected episodes that either I remember being good or one of two other sites I've visited had praised. I had heard all about the quality of the third season so I estimated I'd take 10 episodes from the first two seasons and five from the third. Needless to say, the third season was so bad, I couldn't pick even five episodes from the third season to make that list of 25. I almost feel compelled to go back to the first season and see if my first impression of it was too harsh!
It's pretty easy to figure out why that is the case. After the second season, the show managed to stay on the air purely from the strength of fans mailing in letters begging them to not cancel the show. Which worked... except that it was granted a season with a reduced budget and moved to Friday nights, which was basically the kiss of death. Gene Rodenberry was so frustrated that he chose to step away from the show for the third season except for as an executive producer.
It's tough to say whether the reduced budget played a hand in the quality of the show dropping. I'm leaning towards no, only because the special effects and sets have never been that impressive in the first place. Now, if the budget managed to impede the writing - they couldn't buy a script due to the price and/or they were forced to ignore a script because of budget limits - now that's something that would indirectly affect the show. But they could probably figure something out - I mean they explained why Spectre of the Gun looked cheap so there are writing ways to get around that.
What hurt the show to me was repetitive plots, women being women, and Shatner being Shatner. Look, go ahead and read my first two reviews: I've constantly said he's the one who holds this show back, the thing that has aged worse than the sets, the sex politics. With that said, he didn't hold the third season back - the writing did. It's full of plots we've seen done better, plots that go nowhere interesting, and interesting ideas that just quickly peter out.
Also, my least favorite episodes in the past have been episodes were women fawn over Kirk and holy shit that's like every episode this season. And if it's not Kirk, it's Spock or McCoy or Chekhov or Scotty (poor Sulu). These are the type of situations where they meet and boom it's love. I wish I counted, because while it might not be every episode, it's damn near close to it. Naturally, the best of these happens to be when a woman falls in love with Spock (All Your Yesterdays).
Overall, I really was only able to single out four episodes of this season that I liked. That may be a bit harsh, but it's not extremely off. "The Enterprise Incident had me hopeful for the third season as it was only the second episode of the year (After "Spock's Brain" which um, really?). Then "Spectre of the Gun" was a fun episode, "Day of the Dove" was interesting but makes less sense the more you think about it, and it's a long string of disappointing episodes. I'd go over some of them, but I don't even think they were memorable enough to remember (except the "Empath" oh man that was awful).
Thankfully it finishes sort of strong, at least compared to the rest of the season. After the space hippies episode, "The Cloud Minders" is a very un-subtle take on slavery, but it still kind of works. "The Savage Curtain" opens up with Abraham fucking Lincoln in space, I don't think any more needs to be said. (Although it's near a copy of "Arena") Lastly, "All Your Yesterdays" is the last great Star Trek episode with Spock going back in time and suddenly gaining emotion with an attractive woman.
Actually, who am I kidding? In the original series of Star Trek, it's literally always an attractive woman. By the last season, it was getting ridiculous how every episode had a woman in extremely skimpy and impractical clothes. Even in the freaking Arctic the lady wears practically nothing! (In hindsight, it really shouldn't be a surprise why Star Trek appealed particularly to self-proclaimed male geeks.)
Anyway, the show simpers out with a hilariously bad episode by just about every way imaginable. See, a former lover of Kirk's (ugh) is driven to madness and overtakes Kirk's body (ugh) and then... she pretty much typifies what I'm sure was the male idea of a female in power. Because she's really emotional. And terrible at her job. Also, we have the hammiest Shatner acting of the series and it's quite... annoying... to watch. (But also kind of funny - did people think he was a good actor ever?)
There's not much good with the third season of Star Trek. You could point to any number of factors, but the main point is that there are very few watchable episodes and ever fewer good ones. Star Trek has always had issues with the things it suffers from in this season, it's just magnified by bad scripts. I just spent roughly 20 hours watching the third season and I suppose the purpose of this post is to advise you to spend 20 hours doing something else.
Grade - C-
Playlist
1. "Endless Shore" - Melody's Echo Chamber
2. "Public Service Announcement" - Jay-Z
3. "Lola" - The Kinks
4. "Bitch" - Meredith Brooks
5. "Rock to It" - Shad
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Silicon Valley Review
Does this show sound familiar: a show dominated by awkward geeks who largely work in a male-dominated profession whose main source of humor is generated from the inability of the main characters to function effectively in social situations. It sounds a little like The Big Bang Theory, doesn't it? Well, it somehow fits that description while being vastly different: both by having considerably more realistic characters and actually managing to be funny in the process.
Created by Mike Judge, Silicon Valley would remind you of Office Space in its thrashing of corporate nonsense. Silicon Valley is a very unique and original setting for a television show and Judge makes great use out of it. Judge drives a fine line between realism and parody. An example is when a character tries to talk to a person first through hologram, then by video chat and then by telephone, at which point the technology fails in all of them.
The basic gist of Silicon Valley is that Richard, played by Thomas Middleditch, creates a somewhat dumb idea for a website, but his "compression" chart is record-breaking. Look, it's not important. What's important to know is that he inadvertently makes things easier and faster online. So he becomes a highly valued commodity between two rivals, Peter Gregory and Gavin Belson.
He lives in the apartment of Erlich, who rents out the apartment to various tech start-ups in exchange for 10 percent of the profits of whatever they create. TJ Miller is the standout star of these few episodes stealing scenes. Best of all, Erlich goes from a liability to the company by the start to having a clear role and purpose by the end. The place is also rented by Big Head (Josh Brener), Gilfoye (Martin Starr), and Dinesh (Kumal Nanjiana). Middleditch's timidness is only surpassed by the even quieter Brener and the rapport between Starr and Nanjiana is a series highlight.
Rounding out the cast is the late Christopher Evan Welch, who creates a character that cannot possibly be recast. He plays Peter Gregory as an extremely odd, quiet person who is impossible to figure out. His rival, Gavin Belson, is played by Matt Ross, who finds the right note of insecure, rich douchebag. Amanda Crew plays the only recurring female character and her only trait is that she's competent at her job. And lastly, Zach Woods proves invaluable towards the end stealing scenes as Jared.
The show spends a few episodes building its world, which makes up for the fact that it's not exactly hilarious out of the gate. But this world is completely foreign to anything I've ever seen so it's almost necessary. By the last few episodes, the show had hit its stride and was genuinely making me laugh-out loud. The culmination is in the finale, when it has possibly the greatest extended dick joke of all time. I would go explain it for you, but you need to see it for yourself.
The one real flaw to the show is both its lack of female characters and the fact that the lone female character is evidently set up for a love interest, despite zero romantic chemistry between her and Richard. This may sound like a spoiler, but if you've ever seen a long-running comedy show, it's not. It feels like they are only destined to get together because that's what you're supposed to do. Anyway, it's an unfortunate path. I'm less troubled by the lack of female characters if only because that's pretty much true in real life and she's clearly the only character who has her shit together. (With that said, if they can find away to get another female without making her a love interest, that'd be great.)
Silicon Valley has a strong first season with a great cast. The nerds in this show are actually human beings and not stereotypes of nerds. It features some actual narrative stakes as well as we find out and root for Richard's company to be successful. I'd recommend this show to anybody seeking a new comedy show as its the second best new comedy show behind only Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Grade - A-
Playlist
1. "Don't Stop Me Now" - Queen
2. "The What" - Notorious BIG feat. Method Man
3. "21 Flights" - Heavy English
4. "Genesis" - Grimes
5. "December" - Collective Soul
Sunday, July 13, 2014
The Sopranos: From Where to Eternity
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.
Happy Wanderer
Past Episodes
Big Girls Don't CryHappy Wanderer
D Girl
Full Leather Jacket
After a few episodes of good, but ultimately B quality Sopranos episodes, "From Where to Eternity" is an episode that foreshadows, entertains, and questions. It's a wonderful episode that has all the men with short tempers and little memory pondering life itself and what, if anything, comes after it.
We start where the last episode ended, with Chris in the hospital recovering from his wounds. Chris is too vital a character, too unfinished a story for him to die yet. He dies for one minute and apparently goes to hell. That's... not exactly hard to believe. His version of hell is appropriately dark and funny at the same time. He has a message for Tony and Paulie from Mikey: "Three o'clock." I'm sure if you dissected every episode - and plenty of people have in fact done that - you'd find 3 am or pm is a very important time. I myself am on my second watch through the series so I cannot confirm that.
Tony mostly shrugs this information off, although he does bring it up in therapy meetings. Dr. Melfi uses this opportunity to ask if he thinks Chris will go to hell. Tony says you only go to hell if you're really evil: child molesters, genocidal monsters. Interestingly enough, given the amount of people Tony's killed, manipulated, or affected, I'd say he's in that category. No matter, it's definitely an interesting perspective. I sort of don't believe him though - I think he's more that he doesn't believe in God at all - like he tells Paulie - "none of this matters." (Less interesting: Melfi's guilt at pressing the issue.)
Paulie on the other hand, clearly believes in God. Paulie, you see, is a simple man. And when Chris tells him an ominous message from the dead, he believes him. So that time haunts him throughout the episode. Did he kill Mikey then? No, no he didn't. So he has nightmares over it until his onetime girlfriend - future Scrubs star Judy Reyes - tells him to go see a psychic. The psychic talks of Paulie's first kill - since is The Sopranos, we can pretty much take it at face value I think that this guy actually has a gift. Paulie's worries are seemingly solved when Tony tells him "Why would Mikey be the leader of all the heavy hitters you've killed?"
Anyway, that portion of the episode is largely played for laughs, although I have to say it's a little better than your average overtly comic Sopranos stories if only because it involves a character analyzing himself and death itself. The fact that it's Paulie is why it's hilarious. This is also, I think, one of the first episodes where it seemed like the supernatural would play a part in The Sopranos. I don't think there's been an episode yet that has been so blatantly riddled with supernatural elements that suggest what the characters experience really happened.
Meanwhile the Carmela plotline is fascinating in its portrayal of how Carmela functions. She prays for Chris to live and to have sight if he does live. She also finds out that Ralph (not Cifaretto who doesn't seem to exist yet) has a well-known gumar who has a baby. She chastises Tony for it and asks him to get a vasectomy.
Only she softens when he leaves in the middle of the night from a phone call from Big Pussy. The look on her face as he leaves the house suggest she knows he's killing who was responsible for attempt on Christopher's life. And... when he comes home, she's completely forgiving of everything Tony did. I just find her character fascinating in its contradictions.
Lastly, Big Pussy - who's already worried about Tony treating him differently - and Tony go do the hit on Matt. The hit itself is less interesting than the steak dinner they enjoy afterword. Pussy looks as comfortable as he will ever be in this entire season. Tony makes a funny joke and then he asks Pussy if he believes in God - which isn't exactly a conversation you expect two mobsters to talk about. (This also adds to my belief that Tony doesn't believe or at least is skeptical) And yet for whatever reason, this scene leaves me a little uncomfortable as there seem to be signs of Pussy's impending death.
This episode was unsurprisingly written by the creator himself, David Chase. There are implications and themes that resonate throughout the entire series and only the creator could have written such an episode. It's directed by Henry Bronchtein, his second directorial effort out of four. It's a bit surprising he directed any Sopranos episodes if only because his last two directed shows were Hostages and The Following, both terrible shows.
Grade - A
Surprise Guest Appearance
Judy Reyes, Carla from Scrubs in other words, is Paulie's girlfriend
Deaths
Dumbass #2 dies this week, Matt
Quotes
"Tell Tony and Paulie, 3:00" - Christopher's message from hell - I'm fairly certain this time is important foreshadowing, but not sure of any specific situation
"We're soldiers. Soldiers don't go to hell." - Tony's opinion on hell
"Do what you do with a girl you want to fuck. Make him love you" - Skip with words of advice towards Pussy
"Oh I got balls, and as long as I got balls, they will remain intact." - Tony on getting a vasectomy
Playlist
1. "My Lover's Prayer" - Otis Redding (played throughout episode)
2. "We Move Like the Ocean" - Bad Suns
3. "XXX 88" - MØ feat. Diplo
4. "Wasted Hours" - Arcade Fire
5. "Higher" - Classified feat. B.O.B.
Full Leather Jacket
After a few episodes of good, but ultimately B quality Sopranos episodes, "From Where to Eternity" is an episode that foreshadows, entertains, and questions. It's a wonderful episode that has all the men with short tempers and little memory pondering life itself and what, if anything, comes after it.
We start where the last episode ended, with Chris in the hospital recovering from his wounds. Chris is too vital a character, too unfinished a story for him to die yet. He dies for one minute and apparently goes to hell. That's... not exactly hard to believe. His version of hell is appropriately dark and funny at the same time. He has a message for Tony and Paulie from Mikey: "Three o'clock." I'm sure if you dissected every episode - and plenty of people have in fact done that - you'd find 3 am or pm is a very important time. I myself am on my second watch through the series so I cannot confirm that.
Tony mostly shrugs this information off, although he does bring it up in therapy meetings. Dr. Melfi uses this opportunity to ask if he thinks Chris will go to hell. Tony says you only go to hell if you're really evil: child molesters, genocidal monsters. Interestingly enough, given the amount of people Tony's killed, manipulated, or affected, I'd say he's in that category. No matter, it's definitely an interesting perspective. I sort of don't believe him though - I think he's more that he doesn't believe in God at all - like he tells Paulie - "none of this matters." (Less interesting: Melfi's guilt at pressing the issue.)
Paulie on the other hand, clearly believes in God. Paulie, you see, is a simple man. And when Chris tells him an ominous message from the dead, he believes him. So that time haunts him throughout the episode. Did he kill Mikey then? No, no he didn't. So he has nightmares over it until his onetime girlfriend - future Scrubs star Judy Reyes - tells him to go see a psychic. The psychic talks of Paulie's first kill - since is The Sopranos, we can pretty much take it at face value I think that this guy actually has a gift. Paulie's worries are seemingly solved when Tony tells him "Why would Mikey be the leader of all the heavy hitters you've killed?"
Anyway, that portion of the episode is largely played for laughs, although I have to say it's a little better than your average overtly comic Sopranos stories if only because it involves a character analyzing himself and death itself. The fact that it's Paulie is why it's hilarious. This is also, I think, one of the first episodes where it seemed like the supernatural would play a part in The Sopranos. I don't think there's been an episode yet that has been so blatantly riddled with supernatural elements that suggest what the characters experience really happened.
Meanwhile the Carmela plotline is fascinating in its portrayal of how Carmela functions. She prays for Chris to live and to have sight if he does live. She also finds out that Ralph (not Cifaretto who doesn't seem to exist yet) has a well-known gumar who has a baby. She chastises Tony for it and asks him to get a vasectomy.
Only she softens when he leaves in the middle of the night from a phone call from Big Pussy. The look on her face as he leaves the house suggest she knows he's killing who was responsible for attempt on Christopher's life. And... when he comes home, she's completely forgiving of everything Tony did. I just find her character fascinating in its contradictions.
Lastly, Big Pussy - who's already worried about Tony treating him differently - and Tony go do the hit on Matt. The hit itself is less interesting than the steak dinner they enjoy afterword. Pussy looks as comfortable as he will ever be in this entire season. Tony makes a funny joke and then he asks Pussy if he believes in God - which isn't exactly a conversation you expect two mobsters to talk about. (This also adds to my belief that Tony doesn't believe or at least is skeptical) And yet for whatever reason, this scene leaves me a little uncomfortable as there seem to be signs of Pussy's impending death.
This episode was unsurprisingly written by the creator himself, David Chase. There are implications and themes that resonate throughout the entire series and only the creator could have written such an episode. It's directed by Henry Bronchtein, his second directorial effort out of four. It's a bit surprising he directed any Sopranos episodes if only because his last two directed shows were Hostages and The Following, both terrible shows.
Grade - A
Surprise Guest Appearance
Judy Reyes, Carla from Scrubs in other words, is Paulie's girlfriend
Deaths
Dumbass #2 dies this week, Matt
Quotes
"Tell Tony and Paulie, 3:00" - Christopher's message from hell - I'm fairly certain this time is important foreshadowing, but not sure of any specific situation
"We're soldiers. Soldiers don't go to hell." - Tony's opinion on hell
"Do what you do with a girl you want to fuck. Make him love you" - Skip with words of advice towards Pussy
"Oh I got balls, and as long as I got balls, they will remain intact." - Tony on getting a vasectomy
Playlist
1. "My Lover's Prayer" - Otis Redding (played throughout episode)
2. "We Move Like the Ocean" - Bad Suns
3. "XXX 88" - MØ feat. Diplo
4. "Wasted Hours" - Arcade Fire
5. "Higher" - Classified feat. B.O.B.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
The Sopranos: "Full Leather Jacket"
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.
Happy Wanderer
Past Episodes
Big Girls Don't CryHappy Wanderer
If things were calm between Tony and Richie at the start of the episode - relatively speaking - then by the end, it's clear one of them will have to die. This is brought about by two dumbasses of the highest order and an extremely convenient coincidence (in writing, that would be called a contrivance.)
Tony tells Richie Aprile that he needs to give Beansie - the man who he ran over with a car - a ramp and make is house handicap-accessible. He takes offense to this and by the time he does come around to doing it, he has his guys leave in the middle of building the ramp. But that's pretty much the mindgames Richie and Tony have been playing all season so this wasn't a big deal.
Richie gives Tony a jacket - a jacket that evidently means a lot to Richie since he took it off a guy who was much bigger than him in a fight. It's not really clear what his true intention is with the jacket at first, but soon it becomes clear it's a genuine gift. When he sees that Tony gave it to his maid's husband, he gets extremely insulted. Now, I realize that he needed to find out that Tony gave it away for the purposes of plot, but man the way he found out was ridiculously contrived. He just so happens to be sitting down in the house and the maid's husband just so happens to walk in at the same time? I mean how many times does the husband even go into that house? I can't think of too many times.
Meanwhile, Meadow's applying to college, which the show uses to make Carmela look like a horrible person. Usually she's just willfully ignorant, but she had to know how it looked when she went into the office of Joan Cusamano. To make things worse, she even suggest she forget about the poor Dominican kid with a 5.2 GPA. WOW. I mean that kid will turn out alright probably anyway, but still. Also, she is just bad enough to throw a letter from Berkley away claiming the form was incomplete, but not bad enough to go through with. Meadow's no dummy though and noticed. (In AJ news, he wants to go to Harvard. HA!)
Resident dumbasses Sean and Matt steal some safes with Christopher and have to chalk up a percentage to Tony. Furio comes to collect and takes an extra grand because fuck it he can do what he wants. Sean and Matt create an excuse to meet Richie Aprile. Aprile talks shit about Chris and says "if you ever want to do a favor for me." (paraphrased)
Naturally, Sean and Matt somehow take this as a sign that Richie wants to kill Christopher. I mean he might WANT to, but that's probably just talk. A clueless Christopher gets shot a few times by them, but not before he kills Sean. Matt goes back to Richie trying to get protection, but Richie is having none of that. David Proval plays a pretty hilarious pissed off man.
Lastly, Tony realizes that on some level he had to have given Meadow her friend's car knowing she would know how he came to acquire it. Dr. Mefli takes this as a sign that Tony did a good thing subconsciously. I have no idea where she got that. Either way, Tony should have realized that it was a bad idea and he ignored it.
That's all I have to say about the episode, it was pretty short at 42 minutes.
Grade - B+
Deaths
Sean
Quotes
"How can I express how little I give a fuck?" - Chris - A question I find myself wanting to ask constantly
"And maybe when I'm over there, I can fuck his wife" - Ever the wordsmith, Richie says sarcastically upon the suggestion he build Beansie a ramp
"I'd like to break my dick off in that ass of hers." - Matt's attempt at casual conversation with Tony
"These two suck each other's cocks." - Furio in Italian about Sean and Matt
"You're going to be going off to a wonderful college. What right do I have to interfere?" - Seeing how she's acted this whole episode, this line of dialogue takes on a new meaning
"All these years, I've been shielding her and protecting her from certain truths. And now, what do I want to rub her nose in it?" - Tony about Meadow
Playlist
1. "Paris" - Little Dragon
2. "Soliloquy" - Isaiah Rashad
3. "Graffiti" - Maximo Park
4. "I'm Back" - Eminem
5. "You Get What You Give" - New Radicals
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Rewind: The X-Files S1
It's sometimes easy to forget that television shows used to not have much in the way of serialization. In the case that there was serialization, it was in the form of character development. That is definitely the case here, although there are "mythology" episodes which don't necessarily scare away newer viewers anyway because those episodes rarely answer anything. Thankfully, The X-Files was able to both use a formulaic structure while also making it necessary to start at the beginning.
To say I'm disappointed in The X-Files is not accurate, but it definitely didn't blow me away. I suppose the reason is because I had relatively high expectations. I really wasn't expecting two things that probably harmed my enjoyment 1) I knew this was basically a procedural, but I didn't know just how much it was a procedural. Most of the episodes follow the same structure and only a few tended to deviate from that structure. 2) Somewhat related to the former, but this season has quite a few forgettable episodes at best. That's part of the issue with procedurals - it's easier to have a long-running ongoing story than to create 25 new stories. So it's bound to have some clunkers.
I suppose it's just really hard to believe how far TV has come in the past 20 years. At first glance, 1993 does not seem like that long ago. But on my list of Shows that Changed Television (coined and created by Alan Sepinwall I must add), none of them were created before 1997. The only show that preceded this show that I absolutely need to see - if only because it's so annoying how much I read about its influence on shows I have seen - is Twin Peaks. My point is that context is everything. The X-Files came before it became common for good shows to have serialization.
With all that said, it's extremely unfair to call this a procedural show. It's clearly beneficial to watch from the beginning and watch it in order. The only difference from serialized shows is that you can probably make contact with an expert of The X-Files and ask them which episodes to skip without losing anything. Based off this first season, I'd say there's about 10 solidly skippable episodes. That's not to say they were bad - I really only had trouble finishing one of the episodes, and the rest, while kind of forgettable, are really enjoyable.
The best thing about this show is clearly the relationship between Dana Scully and Fox Mulder (great names by the way). Their burgeoning connection throughout the season as Scully grows more appreciative and less skeptical of Mulder IS the reason to watch it in order. And so far at least, Scully consistently questioning Mulder when she's usually wrong has somehow not made her seem like an idiot. It's a pretty tough line and the show has managed to both make her still stick to her values and make a good partner.
What's really great though about that aspect is that the relationship clearly follows a distinct, natural pattern to where by the end of the season, you see how they got to that point. It all perfectly culminates into the last episode where Scully apologizes to Mulder for being wrong (which I don't believe she had done yet) and sneaks illegally into a government building in order to save Mulder. If I were forming the episodes that needed to be watched, I'd pay close attention to any episodes where the dynamics of their relationship changed, and not just the obvious like the final episode and Tooms.
On that same note, Mulder's obsession with the extraterrestrial and government cover-ups has a nice arc. People call him "Spooky" Mulder - which honestly is kind of a terrible nickname since nothing about David Duchovny is spooky. The natural developments occur - eventually Mulder ends up embarrassing himself in "Tooms" when he tries to sell Eugene Tooms as a 100-year-old man in front of a jury. And while I'm sure it's not the last time he tries to sell an unbelievable story to someone who won't understand, it kind of ends in "Roland" when he tries to tell the special needs caregiver that Roland was psychically overtaken, and Scully cuts him off before he can get it out. She's looking out for him to make sure he doesn't make a fool of himself - even if Mulder seemingly has no capacity for being embarrassed or fooled.
Duchovny is good as Mulder - I remember having a bit of an issue with him for the first few episodes, but by the end, I'd forgotten all about those issues. And Gillian Anderson is incredible as Scully - it's a little hard to believe that the network objected to Anderson on accounts of her attractiveness (especially now). And Jerry Hardin is solid as recurring character Deep Throat. Anyways, I don't think I've ever written about a show with so few principal actors. So notable guest stars that stuck out to me would have to be the always creepy Doug Hutchison as Tooms, Xander Berkley in "Ice," Harriet Sansom Harris as Eve 6 and the always fantastic Zeljko Ivanek in "Roland" singlehandedly making that episode better than it had any right to be.
Speaking of the acting, one of the things that has not aged well is that sometimes the acting is painful. Not by any of the above, but a small, one-off character is sometimes played by someone who cannot act. That is one of the issues with having so many episodes rely on consistently having completely new characters. (That's one of the impressive things about the original Law & Order to me: very rarely is there bad acting. Perhaps because they unashamedly re-use actors) An actor needs to make an impression for you to remember them because they will soon be gone. In the case of Ivanek, impression made. In the case of most others, it's probably better if they didn't make an impression. It's not a big deal, but it's a little frustrating to have the quality of an episode dictated by whoever the new actor is.
And while I'm probably overstating the badness, I look at an episode like "Ice" and I think it's more of a matter of just being unconvincing than bad. In "Ice," I don't think that episode works near as well if the actors aren't Xander Berkley, Felicity Huffman, Steve Hytner, and Jeff Kober. While "Fire" isn't a bad episode, it probably works a lot better if Mulder's former love interest is more convincing as an actress. (That and if Mulder's fear of fire didn't seem so random)
I'm not going to create a list of the essential and inessential X-Files, but I will mention some memorable episodes for one reason or the other. The pilot of course is a great introduction to the series instantly setting the tone for what to expect. My favorite episode of the season was probably "Ice", where Scully and Mulder are stuck in Alaska with a creature that spreads paranoia and violence. Somewhat similar to that episode, "Darkness Falls" is another episode where they are stranded trying to find a way to escape that worked nearly as well. "Beyond the Sea" is great both for Brad Dourif and for making Scully the one who believes the impossible while Mulder is the skeptic. "Tooms" is actually a sequel to "Squeeze," but is much better than the first and "Roland" is worth watching if only for Ivanek's peformance. Lastly, the finale works better not knowing that the second season will probably return everything back to the status quo. It's daring, it's shocking, and it's a perfect capper to a season-worth of development between Scully and Mulder.
Episodes I would recommend wholeheartedly skipping would have to be "Ghost in the Machine," which is a computer hysteria episode that worked better when computers could do anything; "Space," improbably the most expensive episode of the season that is wholly uninteresting with bad graphics; and "Young at Heart." The rest aren't bad, although it's surprising just how many episodes are carbon copies of previous episodes with a few details changed.
Then there are the mythology episodes, which work effectively enough. They've mostly made more questions than answers. That's fine with me as the questions are usually more interesting than the answers. And from what I've read, the show ends up digging itself a hole ala Lost. I don't have a problem with that as the journey is what matters.
I find myself in the strange position of both understanding The X-Files love and kind of understanding how the show sort of went under the radar when discussing best shows of all time. I think this is one of those cases where having originally watched it when it first aired - I was less than one-year-old - would have made me realize its impact more. As it stands, it's an impressive character study with some very good episodes and some serious potential for me to look towards the next few seasons.
Season Grade - B+
I find myself in the strange position of both understanding The X-Files love and kind of understanding how the show sort of went under the radar when discussing best shows of all time. I think this is one of those cases where having originally watched it when it first aired - I was less than one-year-old - would have made me realize its impact more. As it stands, it's an impressive character study with some very good episodes and some serious potential for me to look towards the next few seasons.
Season Grade - B+
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