When I started this blog, I tended to give my thoughts on each season of whatever show I was watching. For classic television shows, that doesn't make sense, because it is only relatively recently that writers have distinguished seasons from each other. Consider these type of posts indicative of my thoughts on the show as a whole.
Seinfeld never had a chance with me. I realize that now. I think Seinfeld is a good show. I want to make that clear. It wouldn't rank particularly high on my favorite comedies nor would it rank that high if I were to make an "objective" best comedies ever list. That is to say, if I decided one day to list the ten best comedies in my opinion, Seinfeld wouldn't be on it. I actually have no idea where it would rank, but I'm guessing "shockingly low" would be the answer.
All shows are dated in some way. I happen to think time was particularly cruel to Seinfeld. This is honestly a hard argument to make. The vast majority of people who watched Seinfeld consumed it at the time or they grew up with Seinfeld. I fully acknowledge that Seinfeld at the time was definitely worthy of its distinction. The thing is though - that brilliance isn't lost upon multiple viewings once you've seen it in the time and context it was meant to be seen. If you rewatch an episode that you first saw in 1994, it puts you back in 1994 and all those great memories return. For the people around my age who "grew up" with the show (basically watched it all the time as a kid and throughout their teens), it sort of has the same effect.
To use an example from my own personal life, I grew up with Friends. I find it much funnier than Seinfeld in a way that I simply cannot explain, but I assume it has something to do with watching and rewatching the show all throughout my childhood. Friends doesn't exactly have the greatest critical reputation - to say the least. If I started watching Friends for the first time tomorrow, I might still like the show, but I really doubt I'd love it. Who knows though?
Being that Seinfeld is primarily an observational comedy, it probably wasn't ever going to age all that well, but technology has made it worse than it otherwise could have been. The things Seinfeld observes pretty much don't apply now. Some do. Not many, but some do. There are legitimately episodes that only apply to living in New York specifically in the 1990s and no other time in history. That's not a complaint, but it makes it hard for me to love the show, especially with its emphasis on never developing its (unlikable) characters.
I'm going to look at another sitcom that crossed paths with Seinfeld as a comparison point to help illustrate my point. I'm going to ignore Friends, which I've already established I cannot look at objectively given that I grew up with the show and have literally spent thousands of hours of my life watching. The show I'm talking about is Cheers, which for me, would probably make a list of top ten sitcoms of all time. (Probably is only there because I've never given serious thought to make a top ten list at all)
First off, Cheers took the time to get you invested in the characters. They are way more likable even though they aren't necessarily "good" people. For the purposes of my argument, assume Cheers ended after five seasons. Sam is a sleazy womanizer. Norm is an alcoholic who neglects his wife. Diane is a pretentious asshole. Cliff is a pontificating know-it-all who actually knows jack shit. I will not say anything bad about Coach or Woody. Everyone loves a well-meaning buffoon. I haven't seen the show Frasier yet, but Frasier on Cheers has a book-worthy amount of issues you can unpack.
I think one key element between the shows is the acting. The acting on Cheers is just better. Julia Louis Dreyfuss and Jason Alexander aren't a problem, but Jerry Seinfeld is a terrible actor and Michael Richards* plays Kramer like he's on a different show from the rest of the leads. For whatever reason, I didn't enjoy about half the guest stars' acting either. It's not limited to people who can't act either. I didn't think Bryan Cranston was very good in his episodes. One example where this is an issue with me is Elaine's boyfriends, who frequently lack any charisma and look dopey in whatever 90s haircut they have.
*I'm going to admit that it's easier to hate on Michael Richards after what's come out on him. Similarly, Jerry Seinfeld seems like a huge jackass in real life to me. That's not an issue if the actor is good enough at acting to make you ignore real life, but Seinfeld is not. He might even admit that.
As a side note to the acting, I don't really want to harp on this too much, because it's not really what my post is specifically about, but I have to talk about how minorities and gay characters are portrayed on here. It's...pretty bad. For "comedies" sake, they usually went with the exaggerated, stereotypical, and borderline offensive accent, which would be less of a problem if that wasn't the only time the characters were represented.
I hate to bash on what is essentially the premise of the show, but... yes it got pretty old seeing Jerry and George date women way out of their league, only for the two of them to break up with them for some nitpicky reason. I'm not saying the nitpicky reasons weren't sometimes funny, but that's not something that you can sustain for 173 episodes - in my opinion anyway. It obviously worked best when you could understand the reason even though it's stupid, and you can only come up with so many stupid reasons to break up with someone that you sort of get.
Secondly, the combination of the "no hugging, no learning" strategy coupled with what I find to be mostly uninteresting characters leads to the entire episode completely dependent on how funny it is. George is really the only character that feels distinct and original from the others. I'm sure Seinfeld fans could do it, but I'm having a hard time trying to define either Elaine and Jerry as characters. JLD is a strong enough actress that it's not really a huge problem with her, but I legitimately find Jerry Seinfeld to be an awful actor. Kramer's a somewhat typical sitcom character - a character broad enough that they can write just about any storyline for him and it would be plausible. You can have one of those characters, but he's just not very interesting.
Seinfeld, in addition to being an observational comedy, was sort of a trial run of sorts to what Curb Your Enthusiasm became. There's three seemingly unrelated stories that may or may not come together at the end for maximum humiliation for one of the main characters. For example, Elaine buys her ex-roommate a bra out of spite because she never wears a bra. George finds that simply leaving his car at Yankee Stadium means everyone think he's working hard. The car gets bird shit all over it so they need to drive it to a car wash so nobody at Yankee Stadium is the wiser. They walk by the ex-roommate, who is wearing just a bra, which causes them to crash George's car.
I don't think Seinfeld started as that type of show, but eventually this type of plotting happened just about every episode. And... it sure makes New York City seem like the smallest fucking place in the world. To use the above example, Kramer and Jerry are really driving by Sue Ellen walking in her bra at the exact same time? IT'S NEW YORK FUCKING CITY. Do you know how big that place is? Or how many people are in it? Again, this is something that is fine to wave away sometimes, but it happens a lot. Granted, this is also somewhat of an issue with Curb Your Enthusiasm, but it's easier to wave away because it's a bunch of show business people probably going to the same places and the plotting is much tighter and better written.
That leads me to my last point. I don't find Seinfeld funny enough to overcome these flaws (to be a great show.) As I said, the show's lack of interest in developing its characters and my lack of interest in the characters themselves mean it's all up to the episode to be funny. It would not be inaccurate to say that a large part of the show's humor is observational humor, which goes back to one of the first points I made: it's dated particularly poorly. Now, I'm being unfair because I'm not going back and watching the rest of the sitcoms that aired in 1989. I'm sure I'd have a greater appreciation for Seinfeld if torturers Clockwork Orange'd me into watching every show it was up against. I'm comparing it to the classic comedies.
In that respect, I think I've at least watched enough of the shows that aired at similar times - to be able to declare that I just will never think of this as the classic many do. It's not as good as Cheers. It's not as good as The Simpsons. It's not as good as The Larry Sanders Show. I think Curb Your Enthusiasm is vastly superior in terms of Larry David shows (which to be fair has a whole bunch of advantages over Seinfeld by virtue of being on HBO and airing in 2000).
Seinfeld holds it place for me as a good, not great show. If I gave my honest opinion to people who hadn't seen the show on whether or not they should go back and watch Seinfeld, I'd say if there's a rerun on one of the channels and nothing else is on, sure go ahead. I would not suggest going back and watching the entire show. It's just not quite good enough to justify that to me. The reruns give a good sense of what type of a show it is. If you love it, well then my answer changes. If you felt like I did: "This is pleasant, a mild distraction from everyday life, but I don't get what the fuss is about" - it's really not worth it.
To be clear, I'm grading this show against other classic, best of all time shows, because that's how it's perceived. I don't consider Seinfeld "timeless" in the way the best shows do. Obviously, you'll recognize when just about any television show was made immediately, but timeless shows have a way of maintaining their quality years later. I can't possibly explain why I think Cheers is timeless and Seinfeld isn't*, but as Justice Potter Stewart once said, "I know it when I see it." Again, Seinfeld was kind of always doomed on this front, just because the writers couldn't possibly have seen what technology was about to bring, not to mention Larry David and writers were not concerned what someone in 2018 would think about the show. But it's simply not timeless.
*Though here's a short attempt. The Diane Chamber years of Cheers covered a truly timeless sitcom staple: will they/won't they. Season two of Cheers is one of the greatest seasons of television and every episode checked in with Sam and Diane's relationship. The character-based work and focus on whether or not a relationship will work? That's always going to be present in shows. If the Rebecca Howe years were considered a separate show, however, I would not consider that timeless.
Am I judging this too harshly for what it was? Yes absolutely. But to me, a classic television show would hold up to these questions and survive. M*A*S*H was a classic (which I hope to write about one day, but I've only seen the fantastic first season so far). Cheers was a classic. The Simpsons - the show that got cancelled after 11 seasons - was a classic. Seinfeld? A good, but not great show.
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Sunday, February 11, 2018
Patriot S1 Review
Patriot did something remarkable that I did not expect when watching the last scene of the last episode. It made me want to keep watching through season two. This is somewhat frustrating to me. I had become at peace with stopping Patriot after one season. It is a perfectly average show, with some rather glaring flaws that were hard for me to ignore. These flaws were too much for me to continue. But that last scene ended on a cliffhanger, and it's a cliffhanger that does intrigue me. Weirdly, I do not expect to like or be satisfied by the conclusion of this cliffhanger, but nonetheless curiosity killed the cat as they say.
Patriot is a show about John Tavner, an absolutely miserable human being and I do not mean miserable in the sense that he is a terrible human being, I mean he is legitimately miserable. He is one of the saddest characters I've ever seen in a television show. He is a spy who has been forced to do terrible, awful things that eat at his soul. I watched the 10 episodes over a period of a couple months, but there may have been one or two times total that this guy was even remotely happy. You can probably sense that I had a problem with this and I kind of do, but not necessarily in concept. He was just so sad sack ALL OF THE TIME.
My solution to this problem would be one of two things. You have to make him charming or clever or good with people. Something. He does not hide his depression. He is not good with people. He's not really even that good at his job since absolutely nothing goes right for him. Characters being excellent at their job is like the easiest way to get the audience on their side (Side note: that's pretty weird right? I mean it's absolutely true, but weird.) . I mean it's certainly implied that he's good at his job. I think we're meant to think it. I just saw no evidence of it throughout the season. He didn't even do fucking paperwork for the job. My second idea is to do flashbacks of him being normal and happy. I need something to compare his miserable self to in order to see how far he's fallen.
I'm going to be unfair here and I'm doing this to illustrate my points. I'm going to compare this show to what I consider the best show on television. The Americans is also about spies who are undercover, pretending to be someone they are not, who are constantly forced to do things they don't want to do, things that cause them to be miserable. Phillip, in particular, is probably as miserable as Tavner is. But he starts the show relatively normal. He's good with his kids, he's good interacting with people, and he's also really fucking good at his job. When he kills people or kidnaps them, the show makes it clear that's he forced into this situation. He wasn't prepared for this to happen and there wasn't anything he could have done (usually).
Tavner, on the other hand, doesn't really seem like he tries... like at all. He has a running tally of problems that accumulate over the course of the season, but he barely tries to address them or fix it. He's just constantly putting it off so that all of them can converge in the penultimate episode. For example, the easiest fucking problem he has, is paperwork. I swear the HR guy asks him to do paperwork so that he can, you know, legally fucking work there for like five episodes. Just do the god damn paperwork John. He keeps getting on the bad side of Leslie (well-played by Kurtwood Smith), but that's because Leslie is the type of character who appreciates hard work. Tavner wants to get on Leslie's good side. I think anyway. He sort of half-heartedly tries at it, but it's clear he couldn't give less of a shit.
This is not a particularly well-plotted show. I honestly don't care about that, for the most part. But things don't really feel natural to how things would go in these situations. It's clear Steven Conrad, the creator, wanted all of John's problems to accumulate at the same time in the final episodes. But it was just an overly absurd amount of coincidences for that to happen. For instance, John murders a guy, so the police are on his tail. That's a natural conclusion. I can accept that. The paperwork is just contrived though. That could be solved in a hour. Why did he not do it for so long?! Because that was just another problem he needed to have.
One of the best parts of the season though is something that snuck up on me and when I noticed it, I felt dumb for not noticing it sooner. Tavner's dad, as played by Terry O'Quinn, is a very good character. He's very manipulative. He's kind of painted as the villain. I appreciate that. He's not a mustache twirling villain either. Just a guy who's willing to let his son deteriorate his soul, because he's willing to do literally anything for his country. He's that type of guy. He'll justify any decision if he thinks it's good for his country. He's one of those stubborn guys who probably will never be convinced he did anything wrong. When I realized this, it painted John in a whole new light. He was manipulated into this life. I still wish he showed anything other than outright depression for more than two seconds, but it shaped his character more than anything else for me.
The actors in general are all pretty good. I don't really fault Michael Dorman for his character because I'm fairly certain that's how he's intended. Michael Chernus provides some much needed levity to this program. Kathleen Munroe is... fine I guess. She is given literally nothing to do so I have no way to know if she's a good actress or not. She gets like five minutes of screen time per episode and in that time, pines for his husband and doesn't really do anything else.
Patriot is listed as a comedy drama and I think that sums up a large part of my issues with this show. It's not a hilarious show. It has a dark humor to it, which produced few laugh out loud moments. But the comedy to a certain extent undercuts the drama of the situation. It may not for everyone, but it did for me. I never really felt tension when watching the show. It's a spy show. I feel like I should feel nervous about what might happen, but I didn't. I'm not saying the show should lose the comedy, but it's toeing a very difficult line, one I don't think it quite achieves.
(Sorry James. I didn't mean for this review to sound as harsh as it came out, but when the words start flowing, I can't stop myself)
Grade - C+
Patriot is a show about John Tavner, an absolutely miserable human being and I do not mean miserable in the sense that he is a terrible human being, I mean he is legitimately miserable. He is one of the saddest characters I've ever seen in a television show. He is a spy who has been forced to do terrible, awful things that eat at his soul. I watched the 10 episodes over a period of a couple months, but there may have been one or two times total that this guy was even remotely happy. You can probably sense that I had a problem with this and I kind of do, but not necessarily in concept. He was just so sad sack ALL OF THE TIME.
My solution to this problem would be one of two things. You have to make him charming or clever or good with people. Something. He does not hide his depression. He is not good with people. He's not really even that good at his job since absolutely nothing goes right for him. Characters being excellent at their job is like the easiest way to get the audience on their side (Side note: that's pretty weird right? I mean it's absolutely true, but weird.) . I mean it's certainly implied that he's good at his job. I think we're meant to think it. I just saw no evidence of it throughout the season. He didn't even do fucking paperwork for the job. My second idea is to do flashbacks of him being normal and happy. I need something to compare his miserable self to in order to see how far he's fallen.
I'm going to be unfair here and I'm doing this to illustrate my points. I'm going to compare this show to what I consider the best show on television. The Americans is also about spies who are undercover, pretending to be someone they are not, who are constantly forced to do things they don't want to do, things that cause them to be miserable. Phillip, in particular, is probably as miserable as Tavner is. But he starts the show relatively normal. He's good with his kids, he's good interacting with people, and he's also really fucking good at his job. When he kills people or kidnaps them, the show makes it clear that's he forced into this situation. He wasn't prepared for this to happen and there wasn't anything he could have done (usually).
Tavner, on the other hand, doesn't really seem like he tries... like at all. He has a running tally of problems that accumulate over the course of the season, but he barely tries to address them or fix it. He's just constantly putting it off so that all of them can converge in the penultimate episode. For example, the easiest fucking problem he has, is paperwork. I swear the HR guy asks him to do paperwork so that he can, you know, legally fucking work there for like five episodes. Just do the god damn paperwork John. He keeps getting on the bad side of Leslie (well-played by Kurtwood Smith), but that's because Leslie is the type of character who appreciates hard work. Tavner wants to get on Leslie's good side. I think anyway. He sort of half-heartedly tries at it, but it's clear he couldn't give less of a shit.
This is not a particularly well-plotted show. I honestly don't care about that, for the most part. But things don't really feel natural to how things would go in these situations. It's clear Steven Conrad, the creator, wanted all of John's problems to accumulate at the same time in the final episodes. But it was just an overly absurd amount of coincidences for that to happen. For instance, John murders a guy, so the police are on his tail. That's a natural conclusion. I can accept that. The paperwork is just contrived though. That could be solved in a hour. Why did he not do it for so long?! Because that was just another problem he needed to have.
One of the best parts of the season though is something that snuck up on me and when I noticed it, I felt dumb for not noticing it sooner. Tavner's dad, as played by Terry O'Quinn, is a very good character. He's very manipulative. He's kind of painted as the villain. I appreciate that. He's not a mustache twirling villain either. Just a guy who's willing to let his son deteriorate his soul, because he's willing to do literally anything for his country. He's that type of guy. He'll justify any decision if he thinks it's good for his country. He's one of those stubborn guys who probably will never be convinced he did anything wrong. When I realized this, it painted John in a whole new light. He was manipulated into this life. I still wish he showed anything other than outright depression for more than two seconds, but it shaped his character more than anything else for me.
The actors in general are all pretty good. I don't really fault Michael Dorman for his character because I'm fairly certain that's how he's intended. Michael Chernus provides some much needed levity to this program. Kathleen Munroe is... fine I guess. She is given literally nothing to do so I have no way to know if she's a good actress or not. She gets like five minutes of screen time per episode and in that time, pines for his husband and doesn't really do anything else.
Patriot is listed as a comedy drama and I think that sums up a large part of my issues with this show. It's not a hilarious show. It has a dark humor to it, which produced few laugh out loud moments. But the comedy to a certain extent undercuts the drama of the situation. It may not for everyone, but it did for me. I never really felt tension when watching the show. It's a spy show. I feel like I should feel nervous about what might happen, but I didn't. I'm not saying the show should lose the comedy, but it's toeing a very difficult line, one I don't think it quite achieves.
(Sorry James. I didn't mean for this review to sound as harsh as it came out, but when the words start flowing, I can't stop myself)
Grade - C+
Sunday, January 7, 2018
2017's Top Ten Comedies
I doubt that you have been on the edge of your seat awaiting my top ten, but this top ten is severely delayed. I originally planned to post this two days after my top ten dramas, which was a little over a week ago. Well I hadn't written a word when Thursday night rolled around because I forgot about it. The weekend, New Years Eve, and New Years Day were all out for drinking reasons. During New Years week, I felt under the weather most of the week, which ended up affecting me more than I thought as I found myself tired all the time. But better late than never.
#8 Master of None - Netflix
Model Episode - "Thanksgiving"
A tough show to place on a list such as this because of its inconsistency. On the one hand, episodes like "Thanksgiving" were among the best any television had to offer, providing a completely unique and engaging story that you can't see anywhere else. On the other hand, boy did a lot of this season just not work. Francesca is not a well-rounded character whatsoever. There's more chemistry in the first episode with Dev and his failed love connection than there is between Dev and Francesca. It really drives a lot of the season down. Dev getting a job as a food host also mostly didn't work that well.
But when they had a fantastic episode, it was among the best there was in 2017. When I'm looking at shows and what to place on this list, I tend to focus on peak more than overall consistency. That's why Master of None's second season made this list despite probably being worse than a few shows not on the list. Because it had a much, much greater peak than a B+ level show usually does.
#7 The Good Place - NBC
Model Episode - "Dance Dance Resolution"
This was not as tough to rationalize as Master of None, as The Good Place had arguably zero weak episodes in 2017. Keep in mind that I'm grading only episodes that aired in 2017, so we got the thrilling conclusion of season one and the batshit insanity of what happened at the beginning of season two. There was a few episodes there in a row where I wonder "how in the fuck will they keep this up" and they kept answering that question with great episodes. It's slowed down a bit since then, but I have complete faith in Michael Schur and the writing team to surprise us again at some point.
I'm going to make this one shorter just because I'm avoiding spoilers since this is a show particularly prone to spoiler ruining fun so I can't exactly specifically explain plot points I loved.
#6 American Vandal - Netflix
Model Episode - "A Limp Alibi"
I spent the first episode too confused as to how it was so good to appreciate what I was watching, so the second episode "A Limp Alibi" is really when I fell in love with this improbably fantastic show. There's no reason this show should be as good as it is, and it certainly falls squarely under the "I'm really doubting that can even come close to matching this in the second season." But wow. I'm going to avoid talking in detail for two reasons mainly. The first is that it's fucking impossible to try and explain how this show is good in a way that doesn't make you sound insane. The second and much more minor reason is spoilers.
So go watch the show and find out who drew the dicks and yes that is an example of how I sound insane when I say it is good.
#5 Review - Comedy Central
Model Episode - "Co Host, Ass Slap, Forgiveness, Helen Keller"
This is all the way down to #5 for a very simple reason. It aired three episodes. This is the highest I could reasonably justify putting it. This is a stacked year for comedy. While all three Review episodes were straight A quality, nearly every comedy on this list did manage to make three A quality episodes. I'm giving Review extra points for making EVERY episode a straight A and telling a perfect conclusion to a show that did not appear to need a third season. I mean I wanted a conclusion, but it wasn't strictly necessary.
Forrest MacNeil is a delusional host of a meaningless program that he has convinced is more important than it is. In fact, it's his whole life. You really need to watch the first two seasons in order to understand that, but Comedy Central is next to FX in making their programs inaccessible without paying for it, which... fair enough, but in the golden age of streaming TV, people just are just going to skip the show instead of pay for it. I was just going to recommend watching it on Hulu except it appears that is no longer the case. Ugh I'm sorry for those who didn't get to watch it.
#4 Bojack Horseman - Netflix
Model Episode - "Time's Arrow"
One thing I really appreciate about Bojack Horseman for the purposes of this list is that it's really great episodes - and really great episodes are an essential part of how I form this list - are really obvious when looking at the episodes because they all seem to knock you on your ass. "Time's Arrow" in particular - I just can't imagine anyone not being hit hard by that episode. This is mostly a comedy, but then there's episodes like this where you have a greater than average chance of cutting onions while watching the episode. If you were affected by the penultimate episode of season three - I won't spoil, but if you watch it, you should know the event I'm talking about - well I was hit much harder by the penultimate episode of season four. Goddam.
Anyway, Bojack Horseman is another example of a show that really shouldn't work as well as it does when you look at it on paper. But it straddles dark comedy, silly comedy, pun comedy, and unbearable sadness and depression really well. This obviously could only exist in cartoon form and I kind of appreciate that.
#3 Broad City - Comedy Central
Model Episode - "Witches"
In reality, I could have picked five different episodes. There's a great episode about their origin story, which is the first episode of the season. They conclude it with a celebration of their friendship which gives Broad City nice bookend episodes. There's also an episode where "Ilana can't orgasm in Trump's America" is a literally accurate headline for what the episode is about. I mean if you read that headline and you're not in, don't watch Broad City because it's not for you.
For whatever reason this was my favorite season of Broad City. I'm not sure I can tell you it was the best, although I am literally telling you it was the best in my opinion. I just have not quite been in tune with Broad City fans in the past so I'm not sure if that's the popular consensus. But I really loved this season.
#2 Rick and Morty - Adult Swim
Model Episode - "Pickle Rick"
Much like Broad City, I could have picked any number of episodes, but I have to give it to the episode where the creators make its main character a pickle for nearly the entire episode. It's an insane episode and probably not the best of the season, but I admire the audacity too much not to put it in my model episode.
There are two responses to my ranking, which are probably "Ugh why does everyone love this show" and "Ugh why is it not #1?" and I'm not sure there's many who are in between those reactions. I slightly am, although it is worth pointing out that the vast majority of the latter response, statistically speaking, do not watch the #1 show. Which brings me to....
#1 Nathan for You - Comedy Central
Model Episode - Finding Frances
With most model episodes, I intend to give you a portrait of what makes that show great. It's also usually the best episode of the season, although not in all cases. "Finding Frances" is why this show is on this list. This season is seven episodes long, but the seventh is "Finding Frances," and it's the length of a feature length film, which is fucking incredible if you've ever seen this show. It's not easy to imagine this show as a feature length film. Until you've seen Finding Frances.
Once again, Nathan Felder is somehow able to use real people's responses to his deadpan suggestions and create a narrative of a lonely person at the center of it. How in the fuck he does that, I will never know? But Nathan Felder is genuinely a character in this show. An awkward, sympathetic, hopelessly lonely character who just wants to make friends and find love. If this show sounds improbably more profound than a docu-reality series should be, well you're right. It doesn't make sense. That's why it's the number one show for me.
Honorable Mentions
Brooklyn Nine-Nine - This was my 11th show. Ultimately, B99 has a few too many forgettable episodes to place on this list and not quite enough "peak" but that's not a knock on the show. By my ridiculous standards, it's nearly impossible for a network comedy to fall on this list.
You're the Worst - This sure fell from grace. I didn't think the 4th season was bad, but it was a definite downgrade from seasons past. Part of the drop has to do with the amazingness of the shows around it, but it played its part in it for sure.
Silicon Valley - I'm in a perpetuating cycle with Silicon Valley at this point. I didn't place it in my top ten the first year, and I'm not really finding the show topping it self so I find it hard to justify placing it in a top ten. Either way, it was going to be impossible for Silicon Valley to find it this year. But I will give it a shout out because it's the best show that's never made my top ten.
Insecure - I definitely think this show suffered from not having as clear of a narrative structure as the first season, but most importantly, its down here because everything else raised their standard around it.
Glow - Ultimately, this was felled by the fact that I only really considered two episodes of this "really great" and those were the wrestling episodes. If I could have put it in the top ten, I would have, I just couldn't justify it to myself over these other shows.
Catastrophe - Going over the honorable mentions just makes me realize what a fucking impossible task this was. I fully intended to include this in my top ten at some point, but look at these shows! Plus, there's only six episodes and I kind of penalized it for that.
Veep - I finally caught up to Veep! And it probably put in its worst season yet. Go figure.
Sorry for typos and poorly written sentences. I wrote the majority of this rushed and will go over it after I post it to fix mistakes, but you first time readers get my ALL of my mistakes right off the bat. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.
I mentioned in my previous post that the comedies may have arguably been better than the dramas. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but I found myself having tougher cuts. I found more shows were worthy of a top five and a top ten than there were spots to fill. Most of the honorable mentions legitimately belong on this list, but I just didn't have room.
#10 It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - FXX
Model Episode - "The Gang Turns Black"
There is no better testament to the quality of this list than It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia being the tenth show. I promise you. It got the tenth spot mostly because it would be weird if one of my favorite comedies of all time didn't make this list while having about the same quality as it usually has. It's not a perfect measure, but I don't think the 12th season was appreciably worse than the 11th season, and the 11th season placed #4 last year.
Either you're in or you're out at this point. It's been 12 seasons and until recently it was on Netflix for the past 5+ years. It was not hard to figure out how to watch the show. Most people reading this are probably internet savvy and have interacted with people who praise the show. So if you've gone on this long without deciding to watch It's Always Sunny, well you're probably not ever going to watch it. That's fine. I think you're missing out, but I understand the time value of picking your shows. For people who do watch it, I probably do not have to sell you on this ranking.
#9 Vice Principals - HBO
Model Episode - "The Union of the Wizard and the Warrior"
Danny McBride and the writing team evidently filmed both the first and second seasons back-to-back before the first season ever aired. They planned out a two season show, filmed it, and then the first season aired. This was rather surprising to me when I learned that. I watched season one and came away without much of an opinion on it. I liked Walton Goggins hamming it up, but as for the show? It was fine. The second season was like a show responding to a mild response to the first season and improving mightily. But... the show wrote and filmed season two before there was even a response to the first season. Like I said, I was surprised when I found that out.
There's much more emotional grounding in the wackiness that occurs this season. They delve deeper into Gamby's psyche and Goggins is able to provide some shading to Lee Russell as well. Plus, they got a classic whodunit, which provides a central mystery to the second season. This is just a well done dark comedy. I also enjoyed the focus on character - as outlandish as the two main characters can be - showing the two main characters respond differently to adversity. I'm not going to spoil, but I'll just say that on a character level, it was pretty great where they took the characters. In hindsight, it's clear that season one was part one of the story - and setup isn't as interesting as when the action happens (and you get action aplenty in the final two episodes of this season)
#8 Master of None - Netflix
Model Episode - "Thanksgiving"
A tough show to place on a list such as this because of its inconsistency. On the one hand, episodes like "Thanksgiving" were among the best any television had to offer, providing a completely unique and engaging story that you can't see anywhere else. On the other hand, boy did a lot of this season just not work. Francesca is not a well-rounded character whatsoever. There's more chemistry in the first episode with Dev and his failed love connection than there is between Dev and Francesca. It really drives a lot of the season down. Dev getting a job as a food host also mostly didn't work that well.
But when they had a fantastic episode, it was among the best there was in 2017. When I'm looking at shows and what to place on this list, I tend to focus on peak more than overall consistency. That's why Master of None's second season made this list despite probably being worse than a few shows not on the list. Because it had a much, much greater peak than a B+ level show usually does.
#7 The Good Place - NBC
Model Episode - "Dance Dance Resolution"
This was not as tough to rationalize as Master of None, as The Good Place had arguably zero weak episodes in 2017. Keep in mind that I'm grading only episodes that aired in 2017, so we got the thrilling conclusion of season one and the batshit insanity of what happened at the beginning of season two. There was a few episodes there in a row where I wonder "how in the fuck will they keep this up" and they kept answering that question with great episodes. It's slowed down a bit since then, but I have complete faith in Michael Schur and the writing team to surprise us again at some point.
I'm going to make this one shorter just because I'm avoiding spoilers since this is a show particularly prone to spoiler ruining fun so I can't exactly specifically explain plot points I loved.
#6 American Vandal - Netflix
Model Episode - "A Limp Alibi"
I spent the first episode too confused as to how it was so good to appreciate what I was watching, so the second episode "A Limp Alibi" is really when I fell in love with this improbably fantastic show. There's no reason this show should be as good as it is, and it certainly falls squarely under the "I'm really doubting that can even come close to matching this in the second season." But wow. I'm going to avoid talking in detail for two reasons mainly. The first is that it's fucking impossible to try and explain how this show is good in a way that doesn't make you sound insane. The second and much more minor reason is spoilers.
So go watch the show and find out who drew the dicks and yes that is an example of how I sound insane when I say it is good.
#5 Review - Comedy Central
Model Episode - "Co Host, Ass Slap, Forgiveness, Helen Keller"
This is all the way down to #5 for a very simple reason. It aired three episodes. This is the highest I could reasonably justify putting it. This is a stacked year for comedy. While all three Review episodes were straight A quality, nearly every comedy on this list did manage to make three A quality episodes. I'm giving Review extra points for making EVERY episode a straight A and telling a perfect conclusion to a show that did not appear to need a third season. I mean I wanted a conclusion, but it wasn't strictly necessary.
Forrest MacNeil is a delusional host of a meaningless program that he has convinced is more important than it is. In fact, it's his whole life. You really need to watch the first two seasons in order to understand that, but Comedy Central is next to FX in making their programs inaccessible without paying for it, which... fair enough, but in the golden age of streaming TV, people just are just going to skip the show instead of pay for it. I was just going to recommend watching it on Hulu except it appears that is no longer the case. Ugh I'm sorry for those who didn't get to watch it.
#4 Bojack Horseman - Netflix
Model Episode - "Time's Arrow"
One thing I really appreciate about Bojack Horseman for the purposes of this list is that it's really great episodes - and really great episodes are an essential part of how I form this list - are really obvious when looking at the episodes because they all seem to knock you on your ass. "Time's Arrow" in particular - I just can't imagine anyone not being hit hard by that episode. This is mostly a comedy, but then there's episodes like this where you have a greater than average chance of cutting onions while watching the episode. If you were affected by the penultimate episode of season three - I won't spoil, but if you watch it, you should know the event I'm talking about - well I was hit much harder by the penultimate episode of season four. Goddam.
Anyway, Bojack Horseman is another example of a show that really shouldn't work as well as it does when you look at it on paper. But it straddles dark comedy, silly comedy, pun comedy, and unbearable sadness and depression really well. This obviously could only exist in cartoon form and I kind of appreciate that.
#3 Broad City - Comedy Central
Model Episode - "Witches"
In reality, I could have picked five different episodes. There's a great episode about their origin story, which is the first episode of the season. They conclude it with a celebration of their friendship which gives Broad City nice bookend episodes. There's also an episode where "Ilana can't orgasm in Trump's America" is a literally accurate headline for what the episode is about. I mean if you read that headline and you're not in, don't watch Broad City because it's not for you.
For whatever reason this was my favorite season of Broad City. I'm not sure I can tell you it was the best, although I am literally telling you it was the best in my opinion. I just have not quite been in tune with Broad City fans in the past so I'm not sure if that's the popular consensus. But I really loved this season.
#2 Rick and Morty - Adult Swim
Model Episode - "Pickle Rick"
Much like Broad City, I could have picked any number of episodes, but I have to give it to the episode where the creators make its main character a pickle for nearly the entire episode. It's an insane episode and probably not the best of the season, but I admire the audacity too much not to put it in my model episode.
There are two responses to my ranking, which are probably "Ugh why does everyone love this show" and "Ugh why is it not #1?" and I'm not sure there's many who are in between those reactions. I slightly am, although it is worth pointing out that the vast majority of the latter response, statistically speaking, do not watch the #1 show. Which brings me to....
#1 Nathan for You - Comedy Central
Model Episode - Finding Frances
With most model episodes, I intend to give you a portrait of what makes that show great. It's also usually the best episode of the season, although not in all cases. "Finding Frances" is why this show is on this list. This season is seven episodes long, but the seventh is "Finding Frances," and it's the length of a feature length film, which is fucking incredible if you've ever seen this show. It's not easy to imagine this show as a feature length film. Until you've seen Finding Frances.
Once again, Nathan Felder is somehow able to use real people's responses to his deadpan suggestions and create a narrative of a lonely person at the center of it. How in the fuck he does that, I will never know? But Nathan Felder is genuinely a character in this show. An awkward, sympathetic, hopelessly lonely character who just wants to make friends and find love. If this show sounds improbably more profound than a docu-reality series should be, well you're right. It doesn't make sense. That's why it's the number one show for me.
Honorable Mentions
Brooklyn Nine-Nine - This was my 11th show. Ultimately, B99 has a few too many forgettable episodes to place on this list and not quite enough "peak" but that's not a knock on the show. By my ridiculous standards, it's nearly impossible for a network comedy to fall on this list.
You're the Worst - This sure fell from grace. I didn't think the 4th season was bad, but it was a definite downgrade from seasons past. Part of the drop has to do with the amazingness of the shows around it, but it played its part in it for sure.
Silicon Valley - I'm in a perpetuating cycle with Silicon Valley at this point. I didn't place it in my top ten the first year, and I'm not really finding the show topping it self so I find it hard to justify placing it in a top ten. Either way, it was going to be impossible for Silicon Valley to find it this year. But I will give it a shout out because it's the best show that's never made my top ten.
Insecure - I definitely think this show suffered from not having as clear of a narrative structure as the first season, but most importantly, its down here because everything else raised their standard around it.
Glow - Ultimately, this was felled by the fact that I only really considered two episodes of this "really great" and those were the wrestling episodes. If I could have put it in the top ten, I would have, I just couldn't justify it to myself over these other shows.
Catastrophe - Going over the honorable mentions just makes me realize what a fucking impossible task this was. I fully intended to include this in my top ten at some point, but look at these shows! Plus, there's only six episodes and I kind of penalized it for that.
Veep - I finally caught up to Veep! And it probably put in its worst season yet. Go figure.
Sorry for typos and poorly written sentences. I wrote the majority of this rushed and will go over it after I post it to fix mistakes, but you first time readers get my ALL of my mistakes right off the bat. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
2017's Top Ten TV Dramas
Welcome to my third annual top ten list where I cover both dramas and comedies in separate lists. I split these up for a very good reason: I have absolutely no ability to distinguish quality between a comedy and a drama. If you asked me to compare the fifth season of The Simpsons with the first season of The Sopranos, I would be utterly incapable of ranking them against each other. It's like two different languages for me. Plus, I tend to favor dramas whenever I do force myself to compare it and I just don't want to make a list with 15 of 20 shows being dramas. The fact is that dramas have more stakes and more stakes mean I have more investment in what happens, and that leads me to deeming a certain show better. I don't want to do that.
With that said, this is probably one of the first years where there would be a very real danger that I'd have more comedies than dramas in a top 20 list. I can't be certain of course. But I really struggled to create a top five for drama, partly because I just didn't feel passionate about five shows that were worthy of a top five ranking. I'd go through the list and sort of mentally note "top five," "back half of top ten," and "potential top ten show." For comedies, I legitimately had seven shows that I thought were worthy of a top five placement and for dramas, I ended up labeling a ton of shows as back half and not many in the top half.
Anyway, this is just an odd year to me at least. A fair number of shows that appear on most end of year lists were shows that I thought were good, not great - or great, but with glaring flaws. Some of those shows will make my list still. I've introduced this long enough, and so I'll get on with the post.
#10 Jane the Virgin - CW
Seasons 3-4 (20 episodes)
Model Episode: "Chapter 61"
Jane the Virgin wins out on the #10 spot for essentially two reasons: the first is that it has more episodes than the other shows I was considering and maintained quality in those extra episodes. You'd be surprised at how few episodes most of the seasons on this list have. 20 is by far the most of any show on this list. The network drama is dead, that is except if it airs on the CW. (With that said, this is the lone representative from that network and only one other show was seriously considered, but I do watch SEVEN shows from this network)
The second reason is that they handled a major death of a character in pretty much the best way possible. It is a little annoying that this character had to die simply because that was always the plan, BUT they did one of the more fairly smart narrative choices I've seen. They skipped ahead three years. Long enough to where the pain was mostly gone, but they still dealt with the death in a smart way and found a way to seamlessly put it into the story. The model episode above is one such example. I also included that episode because it is deals with the grandmother being an illegal immigrant in a thoughtful way.
#9 Fargo - FX
Season 3 (10 episodes)
Model Episode: "The Law of Non Contradiction"
Two years ago, season 2 of Fargo found its way on my list. It was the second best show on my list and really, it very easily could have been #1 on my list no problem. 2015's top ten dramas was an enormously and inconceivably stacked year. There is absolutely no way that the third season of Fargo would have made that list. The third season is a clear step down from the first two seasons in my opinion, but clearly it's still a very good show!
If I were to pinpoint my main two issues with this season, it would be the villain and the police chief. Both were played by wonderful actors who were in no way at fault. VM Varga, played brilliantly by David Thewlis, was an obnoxious villain in exactly the way the show intended. But he was too omniscient and too brazen. He knew everything and he would do everything in broad daylight. It makes you wonder how the fuck the guy has never been caught. He's not charming. He's not fun to watch. Basically, the way he acted was at odds with what happened. If it was revealed that it was all a ruse, that this guy was no master criminal, it would have made a lot more sense to me. And the police chief, as played by Shea Whigman, was the worst kind of plot device. He literally only existed because if he didn't, Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon) would have figured out the whole thing in two episodes. So that's why it's all the way down to #9 for me.
#8 Stranger Things - Netflix
Season 2 (9 episodes)
Model Episode: "Chapter Six: The Spy"
Usually, when a season of television goes so off the rails as "Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister" does, it would cost the show a spot here. I'm curious as to how I would rank this if it weren't for that episode to be honest. But I decided to keep it in because I admired the ambition and I do think it was a genuine need on a character basis for Eleven to have. The fact that it was largely not very good doesn't harm the show as much as it could have for those two reasons.
If I had to pretend that episode didn't exist - and for rewatch purposes I will - the second season is just as good as the first season. I have a few little quibbles with the show like Dustin's stupidity driving the plot instead of it making sense and the probably realistic but still irritating behavior of the boys towards Max. Overall though, it's thrilling. It probably peaks in Chapter Six, which makes the random detour in Chapter 7 all the more blunt and unwelcome. Still, I'm mostly along for the ride with this show and it's a pretty great ride.
#7 The Handmaid's Tale - Hulu
Season 1 (10 episodes)
Model Episode: "Late"
The Handmaid's Tale was a season of two halves. The first half was legitimate "best show of 2017" quality. The second half... would not be on this list at all. Thus, a tough conundrum for myself seeing as most shows more or less remain consistent throughout seasons. This season was somehow simultaneously great and makes me think a second season won't be very good. Because - having not read the book - apparently the show struggled when it deviated from the book and it deviated from the book largely in the 2nd half of the first season.
But that's next season. This season taught me that Alexis Bledel can act. No joke there. I didn't know she could before "Late" and now I at least know that she can with the right part. (I haven't seen Gilmore Girls so my opinion is based off her appearances in Sin City and Mad Men). Anyway the first half is fantastic. If I could, I'd probably edit the first season down to six or so episodes and then just pretend it was a great miniseries. Unfortunately the further expansion of the world building past what was in the book just left more questions than answers.
#6 FEUD: Bette and Joan - FX
Season 1 (8 episodes)
Model Episode: "And the Winner is...(The Oscars of 1963)"
I'm not sure that Feud would be on this list if it weren't for Susan Sarandon. I haven't seen that many Bette Davis movies and I am not familiar with how she acted in real life so I'm not exactly qualified to say this, but she seems to embody the spirit of Davis near perfectly. Jessica Lange isn't bad, but she's more or less competent. Where I can't imagine Davis being played by anybody else, I can fairly easily see somehow else playing Joan Crawford just as effectively. But I digress.
Anyway this is basically a classic feud, the perfect subject of what I imagine Ryan Murphy wants to do every season. Two enemies who are more alike than different who nonetheless let the few differences between them consume them and transfer it into hate. One big difference that is probably accurate but makes it very easy for me to take a side is that Crawford was more concerned about looking like a movie star and Davis was more concerned about the craft. The show was also able to use the time period to examine the sexism that contributed to their feud. And I can't forget about the wonderful work that Alfred Molina does as Robert Aldrich in this series.
#5 Legion - FX
Season 1 (8 Episodes)
Model Episode: "Chapter 5"
Calling Legion a comic book series - which it technically is - doesn't seem to do it justice. I don't say this because comic book series aren't capable of greatness, but the differences between this and, say Arrow, are so great that they don't seem to belong in the same genre. Legion is a commentary on mental illness disguised as an X-Men series. It is an expert use of the unreliable narrator, which I think is a very difficult point of view to capture in a way that's not endlessly frustrating. Our main character's mind is so unstable that we can't truly know what's real and what's not.
Like I said, that has the potential to be ridiculously frustrating, but it's all in the execution. Legion is something that couldn't have existed effectively 10 years ago. I've been watching Pushing Daisies, which aired on a major network and largely looked fake as shit. This series has some of the best special effects ever seen on TV. I can't imagine they have a large budget either. I have to give special props for the performance of Aubrey Plaza in this season. If you had any suspicions that her character on Parks and Rec was her not really acting, just watch this series and see her be amazing in it. Dan Stevens, a true bore in Downton Abbey, is also genuinely amazing here.
#4 The Leftovers - HBO
Season 3 (8 episodes)
Model Episode: "It's a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World"
It feels a bit weird for me to include The Leftovers here. I have typically been separated from the popular critical opinion on this show. I almost don't know what to do with myself now that I don't have to explain why this critically beloved show is off my list. I genuinely think a few things changed though. This is an altogether weaker year than normal for me. And The Leftovers cut the crap. They stopped focusing on the Guilty Remnant, a huge burden for me from fully embracing the show. Basically, in the first season there was the good parts of The Leftovers and the parts that I tolerated. In the second season, there were more good parts and still parts that I tolerated. There wasn't much that was just tolerated in the last season.
I still feel like I'm more down on this show than the people who love it, a weird thing to think since I placed it #4. I've always absolutely loved the episodes that was from the perspective of a single character ever since the show started. I believe the first ever one of those episodes featured Christopher Eccleston's character, Matt Jamison. So it's only fitting that my model episode in the last season is also focused on him. But in reality, most of the main characters get a comparable episode, even an unexpected one focused on a tertiary character, Kevin Garvey Sr.
#3 Alias Grace - CBC
Season 1 (6 episodes)
Model Episode: "Part 2"
Remember when I said that The Handmaid's Tale would stand a good chance of being near the top of my list if it was condensed into a 6 episode miniseries? Well, here's an example done right. Developed and written by former actor Sarah Polley - who seems to have stopped acting seven years ago at only 31-years-old despite being the lead in a fair number of movies, this series didn't have as much choice admittedly. Watch the series and you'll understand why it's a miniseries.
It's a little difficult to explain the appeal of Alias Grace because I want to share as little as possible. It's no spoiler that in the second episode, Alias Grace explores the difficulties of being a woman in the 19th century, even for a smart one who knows men are up to no good. I mean that's essentially what the whole series is about for the most part, but this one has a harder punch. The ending of the series is also bound to be at least a little divisive - at least for the people going in who haven't read the novel like myself. Like I said though, I'm purposefully sharing as little as possible here so you can experience it like I did.
#2 Better Call Saul - AMC
Season 3 (10 episodes)
Model Episode: "Chicanery"
Better Call Saul remains two different prequels and thus almost like watching two different shows. It works though because both characters are going through a moral deterioration. Granted, I probably would have come up with a different title, because it makes it sound like it's only Saul Goodman's show. It's also about Mike, the lovable cleaner for Gus Fring in Breaking Bad. Both of their worlds are getting closer and closer throughout the third season. I wonder if at any point, it will feel like the same show no matter whose perspective its from?
I obviously have no issue with the two different shows part of Better Call Saul since it is #2 on my list. The main conflict - and most emotionally engaging - remains Chuck vs Jimmy. And I think the series high occurs during "Chicanery" which is the courtroom episode of the third season. I'll be interested to see how many more seasons this show has in it, but they appear to be more than halfway done based purely off how Jimmy has slowly progressed into Saul.
#1 The Americans - FX
Season 5 (13 episodes)
Model Episode: "Dyatkovo"
Sigh. You know I really do want to put a different show here for once. I'm starting to approach fanboy territory. It's just I can't physically put another show here as long as The Americans remains at the top of its game. This show is just on my wavelength at all times. It didn't help that any show competing with The Americans for the #1 spot had less episodes. I feel compelled to give shows that have a harder responsibility - making more excellent episodes and following through with it - more props than shows that "just" need to make eight excellent ones. No worries though. The Americans only has one more season in it and I actually really do hope that it keeps the #1 spot.
Here's a fun fact. There have been two - TWO - shows that have been on my top ten for all 3 years of me doing this. The Americans has been #1 all three years. The other show? Jane the Virgin somehow. I'll feel some pressure to keep those streaks going for next year (I can't imagine The Americans not at least making an appearance even if it's not #1 again, but Jane the Virgin has its work cut out for it)
Honorable Mentions
Could Easily Be On This List
The Deuce - This show probably suffered most from not really having identifiable episodes to distinguish from each other. In making this list, I looked at standout episodes to determine a peak and with the exception of a shocking ending to one of them, the whole show just kind of morphed together for me.
MINDHUNTER - Call it the weak pilot effect. I was engaged in the pilot because of David Fincher's direction, but the show didn't really get interesting until episode two. There was just a whole lot of exposition to go through in the pilot episode that probably could have been condensed. Listen, my reasons for excluding these shows are flimsy as hell, but that's why they're on this section.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - It's sort of tough to grade a show like this against the rest of the shows since I'm only including 2017 episodes. So I'm not actually grading a full season, but the end of one and the beginning of another. You can see how that would be a negative towards landing on this list.
Just Didn't Have Enough Great Episodes
Big Little Lies - If I could pinpoint why this show didn't make my list, it's probably The Leftovers problem (pre-season 3 at least). Parts of it REALLY worked and other parts weren't all that compelling. Reese Witherspoon is very good in here, but her character just pales in comparison to the abuse storyline - well both abuse storylines. And she's not a minor part of the show!
Mr Robot - I kind of feel bad that I left season one off my top ten back in 2015 because I was truly as into Mr Robot as every other big fan. Then season two kind of left me cold. I thought season three was in an improvement, but I'm just not as into this show as I once was. This season weirdly peaks in the middle.
Game of Thrones - Oh boy. The tight narrative plotting of George RR Martin is nonexistent in this latest season and I say this as someone who got through half of the first book and gave up. I've never thought of Game of Thrones as a turn off your brain show, but it kind of is now. You just can't think too hard about anything happening or it falls apart for me. Certain individual one-on-one scenes still work as well as they always have and the battle scenes are amazing so it's got that going for it.
Other shows of note
These shows were never truly in consideration, but I feel they are good enough to be worth mentioning.
Sneaky Pete - Got a Justified hole in your heart? Well here's a show that's not as good, but the names involved alone should sell you on it: Bryan Cranston, Margo Martindale, Graham Yost is the showrunner.
The Crown - This show's greatest weakness is ironically the reverence it has for the crown, thus making it incapable of ever truly criticizing the principal players or analyzing them too deeply.
The Girlfriend Experience - The creators did something truly interesting this year and that's having 7 episodes following one person and 7 episodes following another story. It wasn't as good as the first season, but I admire the audacity.
That takes care of my top ten TV dramas for 2017. I'm sure there's a show you like that I did not mention and the chances are either don't watch that show or I didn't get a chance to watch it in time. For example - not that I think it would make my list - I am not caught up to Shameless at the moment so it wasn't considered.
With that said, this is probably one of the first years where there would be a very real danger that I'd have more comedies than dramas in a top 20 list. I can't be certain of course. But I really struggled to create a top five for drama, partly because I just didn't feel passionate about five shows that were worthy of a top five ranking. I'd go through the list and sort of mentally note "top five," "back half of top ten," and "potential top ten show." For comedies, I legitimately had seven shows that I thought were worthy of a top five placement and for dramas, I ended up labeling a ton of shows as back half and not many in the top half.
Anyway, this is just an odd year to me at least. A fair number of shows that appear on most end of year lists were shows that I thought were good, not great - or great, but with glaring flaws. Some of those shows will make my list still. I've introduced this long enough, and so I'll get on with the post.
#10 Jane the Virgin - CW
Seasons 3-4 (20 episodes)
Model Episode: "Chapter 61"
Jane the Virgin wins out on the #10 spot for essentially two reasons: the first is that it has more episodes than the other shows I was considering and maintained quality in those extra episodes. You'd be surprised at how few episodes most of the seasons on this list have. 20 is by far the most of any show on this list. The network drama is dead, that is except if it airs on the CW. (With that said, this is the lone representative from that network and only one other show was seriously considered, but I do watch SEVEN shows from this network)
The second reason is that they handled a major death of a character in pretty much the best way possible. It is a little annoying that this character had to die simply because that was always the plan, BUT they did one of the more fairly smart narrative choices I've seen. They skipped ahead three years. Long enough to where the pain was mostly gone, but they still dealt with the death in a smart way and found a way to seamlessly put it into the story. The model episode above is one such example. I also included that episode because it is deals with the grandmother being an illegal immigrant in a thoughtful way.
#9 Fargo - FX
Season 3 (10 episodes)
Model Episode: "The Law of Non Contradiction"
Two years ago, season 2 of Fargo found its way on my list. It was the second best show on my list and really, it very easily could have been #1 on my list no problem. 2015's top ten dramas was an enormously and inconceivably stacked year. There is absolutely no way that the third season of Fargo would have made that list. The third season is a clear step down from the first two seasons in my opinion, but clearly it's still a very good show!
If I were to pinpoint my main two issues with this season, it would be the villain and the police chief. Both were played by wonderful actors who were in no way at fault. VM Varga, played brilliantly by David Thewlis, was an obnoxious villain in exactly the way the show intended. But he was too omniscient and too brazen. He knew everything and he would do everything in broad daylight. It makes you wonder how the fuck the guy has never been caught. He's not charming. He's not fun to watch. Basically, the way he acted was at odds with what happened. If it was revealed that it was all a ruse, that this guy was no master criminal, it would have made a lot more sense to me. And the police chief, as played by Shea Whigman, was the worst kind of plot device. He literally only existed because if he didn't, Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon) would have figured out the whole thing in two episodes. So that's why it's all the way down to #9 for me.
#8 Stranger Things - Netflix
Season 2 (9 episodes)
Model Episode: "Chapter Six: The Spy"
Usually, when a season of television goes so off the rails as "Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister" does, it would cost the show a spot here. I'm curious as to how I would rank this if it weren't for that episode to be honest. But I decided to keep it in because I admired the ambition and I do think it was a genuine need on a character basis for Eleven to have. The fact that it was largely not very good doesn't harm the show as much as it could have for those two reasons.
If I had to pretend that episode didn't exist - and for rewatch purposes I will - the second season is just as good as the first season. I have a few little quibbles with the show like Dustin's stupidity driving the plot instead of it making sense and the probably realistic but still irritating behavior of the boys towards Max. Overall though, it's thrilling. It probably peaks in Chapter Six, which makes the random detour in Chapter 7 all the more blunt and unwelcome. Still, I'm mostly along for the ride with this show and it's a pretty great ride.
#7 The Handmaid's Tale - Hulu
Season 1 (10 episodes)
Model Episode: "Late"
The Handmaid's Tale was a season of two halves. The first half was legitimate "best show of 2017" quality. The second half... would not be on this list at all. Thus, a tough conundrum for myself seeing as most shows more or less remain consistent throughout seasons. This season was somehow simultaneously great and makes me think a second season won't be very good. Because - having not read the book - apparently the show struggled when it deviated from the book and it deviated from the book largely in the 2nd half of the first season.
But that's next season. This season taught me that Alexis Bledel can act. No joke there. I didn't know she could before "Late" and now I at least know that she can with the right part. (I haven't seen Gilmore Girls so my opinion is based off her appearances in Sin City and Mad Men). Anyway the first half is fantastic. If I could, I'd probably edit the first season down to six or so episodes and then just pretend it was a great miniseries. Unfortunately the further expansion of the world building past what was in the book just left more questions than answers.
#6 FEUD: Bette and Joan - FX
Season 1 (8 episodes)
Model Episode: "And the Winner is...(The Oscars of 1963)"
I'm not sure that Feud would be on this list if it weren't for Susan Sarandon. I haven't seen that many Bette Davis movies and I am not familiar with how she acted in real life so I'm not exactly qualified to say this, but she seems to embody the spirit of Davis near perfectly. Jessica Lange isn't bad, but she's more or less competent. Where I can't imagine Davis being played by anybody else, I can fairly easily see somehow else playing Joan Crawford just as effectively. But I digress.
Anyway this is basically a classic feud, the perfect subject of what I imagine Ryan Murphy wants to do every season. Two enemies who are more alike than different who nonetheless let the few differences between them consume them and transfer it into hate. One big difference that is probably accurate but makes it very easy for me to take a side is that Crawford was more concerned about looking like a movie star and Davis was more concerned about the craft. The show was also able to use the time period to examine the sexism that contributed to their feud. And I can't forget about the wonderful work that Alfred Molina does as Robert Aldrich in this series.
#5 Legion - FX
Season 1 (8 Episodes)
Model Episode: "Chapter 5"
Calling Legion a comic book series - which it technically is - doesn't seem to do it justice. I don't say this because comic book series aren't capable of greatness, but the differences between this and, say Arrow, are so great that they don't seem to belong in the same genre. Legion is a commentary on mental illness disguised as an X-Men series. It is an expert use of the unreliable narrator, which I think is a very difficult point of view to capture in a way that's not endlessly frustrating. Our main character's mind is so unstable that we can't truly know what's real and what's not.
Like I said, that has the potential to be ridiculously frustrating, but it's all in the execution. Legion is something that couldn't have existed effectively 10 years ago. I've been watching Pushing Daisies, which aired on a major network and largely looked fake as shit. This series has some of the best special effects ever seen on TV. I can't imagine they have a large budget either. I have to give special props for the performance of Aubrey Plaza in this season. If you had any suspicions that her character on Parks and Rec was her not really acting, just watch this series and see her be amazing in it. Dan Stevens, a true bore in Downton Abbey, is also genuinely amazing here.
#4 The Leftovers - HBO
Season 3 (8 episodes)
Model Episode: "It's a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World"
It feels a bit weird for me to include The Leftovers here. I have typically been separated from the popular critical opinion on this show. I almost don't know what to do with myself now that I don't have to explain why this critically beloved show is off my list. I genuinely think a few things changed though. This is an altogether weaker year than normal for me. And The Leftovers cut the crap. They stopped focusing on the Guilty Remnant, a huge burden for me from fully embracing the show. Basically, in the first season there was the good parts of The Leftovers and the parts that I tolerated. In the second season, there were more good parts and still parts that I tolerated. There wasn't much that was just tolerated in the last season.
I still feel like I'm more down on this show than the people who love it, a weird thing to think since I placed it #4. I've always absolutely loved the episodes that was from the perspective of a single character ever since the show started. I believe the first ever one of those episodes featured Christopher Eccleston's character, Matt Jamison. So it's only fitting that my model episode in the last season is also focused on him. But in reality, most of the main characters get a comparable episode, even an unexpected one focused on a tertiary character, Kevin Garvey Sr.
#3 Alias Grace - CBC
Season 1 (6 episodes)
Model Episode: "Part 2"
Remember when I said that The Handmaid's Tale would stand a good chance of being near the top of my list if it was condensed into a 6 episode miniseries? Well, here's an example done right. Developed and written by former actor Sarah Polley - who seems to have stopped acting seven years ago at only 31-years-old despite being the lead in a fair number of movies, this series didn't have as much choice admittedly. Watch the series and you'll understand why it's a miniseries.
It's a little difficult to explain the appeal of Alias Grace because I want to share as little as possible. It's no spoiler that in the second episode, Alias Grace explores the difficulties of being a woman in the 19th century, even for a smart one who knows men are up to no good. I mean that's essentially what the whole series is about for the most part, but this one has a harder punch. The ending of the series is also bound to be at least a little divisive - at least for the people going in who haven't read the novel like myself. Like I said though, I'm purposefully sharing as little as possible here so you can experience it like I did.
#2 Better Call Saul - AMC
Season 3 (10 episodes)
Model Episode: "Chicanery"
Better Call Saul remains two different prequels and thus almost like watching two different shows. It works though because both characters are going through a moral deterioration. Granted, I probably would have come up with a different title, because it makes it sound like it's only Saul Goodman's show. It's also about Mike, the lovable cleaner for Gus Fring in Breaking Bad. Both of their worlds are getting closer and closer throughout the third season. I wonder if at any point, it will feel like the same show no matter whose perspective its from?
I obviously have no issue with the two different shows part of Better Call Saul since it is #2 on my list. The main conflict - and most emotionally engaging - remains Chuck vs Jimmy. And I think the series high occurs during "Chicanery" which is the courtroom episode of the third season. I'll be interested to see how many more seasons this show has in it, but they appear to be more than halfway done based purely off how Jimmy has slowly progressed into Saul.
#1 The Americans - FX
Season 5 (13 episodes)
Model Episode: "Dyatkovo"
Sigh. You know I really do want to put a different show here for once. I'm starting to approach fanboy territory. It's just I can't physically put another show here as long as The Americans remains at the top of its game. This show is just on my wavelength at all times. It didn't help that any show competing with The Americans for the #1 spot had less episodes. I feel compelled to give shows that have a harder responsibility - making more excellent episodes and following through with it - more props than shows that "just" need to make eight excellent ones. No worries though. The Americans only has one more season in it and I actually really do hope that it keeps the #1 spot.
Here's a fun fact. There have been two - TWO - shows that have been on my top ten for all 3 years of me doing this. The Americans has been #1 all three years. The other show? Jane the Virgin somehow. I'll feel some pressure to keep those streaks going for next year (I can't imagine The Americans not at least making an appearance even if it's not #1 again, but Jane the Virgin has its work cut out for it)
Honorable Mentions
Could Easily Be On This List
The Deuce - This show probably suffered most from not really having identifiable episodes to distinguish from each other. In making this list, I looked at standout episodes to determine a peak and with the exception of a shocking ending to one of them, the whole show just kind of morphed together for me.
MINDHUNTER - Call it the weak pilot effect. I was engaged in the pilot because of David Fincher's direction, but the show didn't really get interesting until episode two. There was just a whole lot of exposition to go through in the pilot episode that probably could have been condensed. Listen, my reasons for excluding these shows are flimsy as hell, but that's why they're on this section.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - It's sort of tough to grade a show like this against the rest of the shows since I'm only including 2017 episodes. So I'm not actually grading a full season, but the end of one and the beginning of another. You can see how that would be a negative towards landing on this list.
Just Didn't Have Enough Great Episodes
Big Little Lies - If I could pinpoint why this show didn't make my list, it's probably The Leftovers problem (pre-season 3 at least). Parts of it REALLY worked and other parts weren't all that compelling. Reese Witherspoon is very good in here, but her character just pales in comparison to the abuse storyline - well both abuse storylines. And she's not a minor part of the show!
Mr Robot - I kind of feel bad that I left season one off my top ten back in 2015 because I was truly as into Mr Robot as every other big fan. Then season two kind of left me cold. I thought season three was in an improvement, but I'm just not as into this show as I once was. This season weirdly peaks in the middle.
Game of Thrones - Oh boy. The tight narrative plotting of George RR Martin is nonexistent in this latest season and I say this as someone who got through half of the first book and gave up. I've never thought of Game of Thrones as a turn off your brain show, but it kind of is now. You just can't think too hard about anything happening or it falls apart for me. Certain individual one-on-one scenes still work as well as they always have and the battle scenes are amazing so it's got that going for it.
Other shows of note
These shows were never truly in consideration, but I feel they are good enough to be worth mentioning.
Sneaky Pete - Got a Justified hole in your heart? Well here's a show that's not as good, but the names involved alone should sell you on it: Bryan Cranston, Margo Martindale, Graham Yost is the showrunner.
The Crown - This show's greatest weakness is ironically the reverence it has for the crown, thus making it incapable of ever truly criticizing the principal players or analyzing them too deeply.
The Girlfriend Experience - The creators did something truly interesting this year and that's having 7 episodes following one person and 7 episodes following another story. It wasn't as good as the first season, but I admire the audacity.
That takes care of my top ten TV dramas for 2017. I'm sure there's a show you like that I did not mention and the chances are either don't watch that show or I didn't get a chance to watch it in time. For example - not that I think it would make my list - I am not caught up to Shameless at the moment so it wasn't considered.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
The Americans "The Midges"
"Should we tell Paige about this?"
Well, I'll say that The Americans achieved just about the most natural exposition-delivering device I've ever seen on television. In an obvious development between the relationship of Paige and her parents, Phillip and Elizabeth tell Paige an update on their latest mission. Not only is it an important plot point, but boy did I need that update. Sometimes these plots can be too dense for me to follow and having a literal newbie to this thing get it explained to her was helpful. Granted, this is certainly not the first show or movie to have characters deliver exposition to a "new" character, but I don't think I've ever seen it done where it was, you know, a plot development and the natural next point in a relationship.
Paige can only handle so much though, at least right now. I have absolutely no idea what the endgame plan is for Paige - she turns to Russia, she rejects her parents, she dies? - I feel like literally anything could happen at this point. Her parents tell her this to distract her from Matthew with the theory being that she'll be so concerned with their mission, Matthew will seem unimportant. Which is true and is what happened, but damn: Paige is going to be even more stressed out than before. (Hypothetically, imagining what her parents are doing could stress her out more though than getting told what they are doing, even if they aren't strictly telling her the whole truth.)
They tell her for obvious reasons. The potential problem, as Elizabeth and Phillip understand it, is literally life or death for Russians. They don't need to pretend at all here. They are genuinely trying to prevent a disaster from happening. It's also the next logical step in gaining Paige's trust. Share specific details about a mission after trying the whole "be as vague as possible" strategy.
Paige seems to be trusting her parents more too. She employs the thumb trick when evading Matthew's question about what's wrong with her (with a helpful update on the progress of Stan and Laurie Holden's relationship - still going strong, Stan's crazy about her). She finds it remarkably easy to lie, even though she feels gross doing it. Like I said, this could go in about a million different directions and I'm honestly not sure in which direction that will land.
Phillip and Elizabeth get a lead from Gabriel to go to Oklahoma to further investigate the bugs. I'm not entirely sure they made much progress. The bug is a type of midge that destroys grain, but they found that out from Gabriel. Randy, that poor, poor guy, said that it was a weed killer and that they shipped 400 eggs to a location we are not currently privy to. But honestly, it's possible it's just a weed killer. Then again, it was curious at how top secret the whole thing seemed to be, which would certainly indicate there's something to their worries.
We also find out more information about Alexei, the apparently main source of this season. He unexpectedly left the country without telling his son or wife. So he's probably a traitor to the USSR. That's not a surprise in the slightest but it does help explain why neither his son or wife are happy with their move. Once again, he talks shit on Russia again and Elizabeth manages to not immediately strangle him on the spot.
Unless I missed it before, we find more details about Tuan too. He's from Vietnam so he is definitely very angry with the US for damaging his country. He seems weirdly convinced that the US is definitely going to destroy the USSR, which I found odd. You'd think he would think the US would lose given whose side he is on. He has an extreme hatred of Alexei. Honestly, I think it's about time to place bets on who kills Alexei between him and Elizabeth. I'll take Elizabeth.
In Russia, Oleg is trying to avoid being a traitor in his country and it's unclear if he'll succumb, but for now he knows the Americans have something on him. He missed his meeting with a secret agent, but they found him and placed a tape of him in his pocket that would probably not go over too well with his superiors. At least it seemed like he was good at his job, sweet talking the grocery store manager into giving up her source for the good groceries. She definitely seems like she's going to rat that person out. Stay tuned for the extremely slow burn on: food corruption in Russia.
Lastly, Stan and Aderholt try with little success to talk to a man involved with the Amtorg Trading Corporation. Wikipedia is not very clear on what the organization does, but it seems as if it was mostly dead during this part of the Cold War and became extinct when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1988. So I have no idea how this is relevant. Again, slow burn of The Americans happening here.
Notes
- We got a very quick flashback to Phillip's childhood. Matthew Rhys did that thing where he just stares at a mirror and with his eyes alone you can tell what he's feeling. Honestly it was a quick enough flashback that I'm not entirely sure what that scene was about except to point out how poor he was when growing up. I expected flashbacks to be a recurring thing throughout the episode, but nope. Just that two minute flashback.
- MARTHA IS ALIVE. That is literally all we get. She's shopping at the same place Oleg is.
- More slow incremental progress on Mischa coming to America - He needs to go from Yugoslavia to Austria and his mom's source has gone to prison, so he's dealing with an unknown here. This guy seems perfectly willing to screw over Mischa.
- "You think it would be fair to put that burden on him?" Man Elizabeth is good. It's not that it would be wrong to tell him the truth, but THINK about how Matthew would feel? As if Elizabeth gives even a single shit about Matthew. I also thought Elizabeth gave some pretty bad advice to Paige about relationships, but I suppose it's not terrible advice in the spy business.
- Phillip somewhat agreed with Alexei about why Russia has such problems growing their own grain and Elizabeth responded with tenderness instead of lashing out. Those two are in a good place right now.
- Ok I can't be the only one who laughed at that final line right?
Playlist
"Old Flame" - Alabama - 1981 country song that accompanied some good ole fashioned banging
"More Than This" - Roxy Music - 1982 pop song that accompanied some good ole fashioned murdering
Well, I'll say that The Americans achieved just about the most natural exposition-delivering device I've ever seen on television. In an obvious development between the relationship of Paige and her parents, Phillip and Elizabeth tell Paige an update on their latest mission. Not only is it an important plot point, but boy did I need that update. Sometimes these plots can be too dense for me to follow and having a literal newbie to this thing get it explained to her was helpful. Granted, this is certainly not the first show or movie to have characters deliver exposition to a "new" character, but I don't think I've ever seen it done where it was, you know, a plot development and the natural next point in a relationship.
Paige can only handle so much though, at least right now. I have absolutely no idea what the endgame plan is for Paige - she turns to Russia, she rejects her parents, she dies? - I feel like literally anything could happen at this point. Her parents tell her this to distract her from Matthew with the theory being that she'll be so concerned with their mission, Matthew will seem unimportant. Which is true and is what happened, but damn: Paige is going to be even more stressed out than before. (Hypothetically, imagining what her parents are doing could stress her out more though than getting told what they are doing, even if they aren't strictly telling her the whole truth.)
They tell her for obvious reasons. The potential problem, as Elizabeth and Phillip understand it, is literally life or death for Russians. They don't need to pretend at all here. They are genuinely trying to prevent a disaster from happening. It's also the next logical step in gaining Paige's trust. Share specific details about a mission after trying the whole "be as vague as possible" strategy.
Paige seems to be trusting her parents more too. She employs the thumb trick when evading Matthew's question about what's wrong with her (with a helpful update on the progress of Stan and Laurie Holden's relationship - still going strong, Stan's crazy about her). She finds it remarkably easy to lie, even though she feels gross doing it. Like I said, this could go in about a million different directions and I'm honestly not sure in which direction that will land.
Phillip and Elizabeth get a lead from Gabriel to go to Oklahoma to further investigate the bugs. I'm not entirely sure they made much progress. The bug is a type of midge that destroys grain, but they found that out from Gabriel. Randy, that poor, poor guy, said that it was a weed killer and that they shipped 400 eggs to a location we are not currently privy to. But honestly, it's possible it's just a weed killer. Then again, it was curious at how top secret the whole thing seemed to be, which would certainly indicate there's something to their worries.
We also find out more information about Alexei, the apparently main source of this season. He unexpectedly left the country without telling his son or wife. So he's probably a traitor to the USSR. That's not a surprise in the slightest but it does help explain why neither his son or wife are happy with their move. Once again, he talks shit on Russia again and Elizabeth manages to not immediately strangle him on the spot.
Unless I missed it before, we find more details about Tuan too. He's from Vietnam so he is definitely very angry with the US for damaging his country. He seems weirdly convinced that the US is definitely going to destroy the USSR, which I found odd. You'd think he would think the US would lose given whose side he is on. He has an extreme hatred of Alexei. Honestly, I think it's about time to place bets on who kills Alexei between him and Elizabeth. I'll take Elizabeth.
In Russia, Oleg is trying to avoid being a traitor in his country and it's unclear if he'll succumb, but for now he knows the Americans have something on him. He missed his meeting with a secret agent, but they found him and placed a tape of him in his pocket that would probably not go over too well with his superiors. At least it seemed like he was good at his job, sweet talking the grocery store manager into giving up her source for the good groceries. She definitely seems like she's going to rat that person out. Stay tuned for the extremely slow burn on: food corruption in Russia.
Lastly, Stan and Aderholt try with little success to talk to a man involved with the Amtorg Trading Corporation. Wikipedia is not very clear on what the organization does, but it seems as if it was mostly dead during this part of the Cold War and became extinct when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1988. So I have no idea how this is relevant. Again, slow burn of The Americans happening here.
Notes
- We got a very quick flashback to Phillip's childhood. Matthew Rhys did that thing where he just stares at a mirror and with his eyes alone you can tell what he's feeling. Honestly it was a quick enough flashback that I'm not entirely sure what that scene was about except to point out how poor he was when growing up. I expected flashbacks to be a recurring thing throughout the episode, but nope. Just that two minute flashback.
- MARTHA IS ALIVE. That is literally all we get. She's shopping at the same place Oleg is.
- More slow incremental progress on Mischa coming to America - He needs to go from Yugoslavia to Austria and his mom's source has gone to prison, so he's dealing with an unknown here. This guy seems perfectly willing to screw over Mischa.
- "You think it would be fair to put that burden on him?" Man Elizabeth is good. It's not that it would be wrong to tell him the truth, but THINK about how Matthew would feel? As if Elizabeth gives even a single shit about Matthew. I also thought Elizabeth gave some pretty bad advice to Paige about relationships, but I suppose it's not terrible advice in the spy business.
- Phillip somewhat agreed with Alexei about why Russia has such problems growing their own grain and Elizabeth responded with tenderness instead of lashing out. Those two are in a good place right now.
- Ok I can't be the only one who laughed at that final line right?
Playlist
"Old Flame" - Alabama - 1981 country song that accompanied some good ole fashioned banging
"More Than This" - Roxy Music - 1982 pop song that accompanied some good ole fashioned murdering
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
The Americans "Pests"
"They used to have a Lincoln. Now they have a Reagan"
Due to the nature of the Cold War, both the Russians and Americans are developing technology and toxins that would destroy the other side in unconventional ways. Usually in a war, it's relatively simple: shoot the other guy. Sure, it's more complicated than that and you still have to be creative in order to win, but you can be direct. Here both sides had to get extremely creative in ways to destroy the enemy.
In 1984 - at least in this particular show, which is usually based off facts - it's now a war on food. According to intel by the Russians delivered via Gabriel, the Americans are trying to infect food with a deadly pathogen. Phillip and Elizabeth are both aghast at this revelation, because it was understood that there were unspoken rules in this cold war. But if one side is willing to contaminate food - and let's face it the Russians are 100 percent also willing to do the same - then it leads nowhere good.
I confess: I really love Alexei Morozov. I am as certain as one can be that he is going to die, probably at the hands of a seething Elizabeth, but for now, I'm glad he's alive. He's got an infectious enthusiasm for all the options he has for food. He probably loves America as much as the most patriotic Americans. Anyway, this scene was kind of a rehash of last week's scene: he praises the food options, talks shit on Russia. We do find out his son, Pasha, really misses living in Russia. It's teenager talk, but he'd rather die there than live in America.
We also get a bit more backstory on Tuan, whose entirely family was murdered. It usually takes me two or three times to understand everything going on, but basically I don't actually know where Tuan is from and whether his country was bombed by Russia or America. Sorry. He had an earlier scene where he explained "he's one of them" because "have you seen what communists did to my country?" which implies that it was Russians, but I don't really know why he'd be spying for them if that were the case. Either way, there's his motivation. He also calls Pasha weak and that he can get him to do anything he wants. He's definitely a good addition to the cast.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth checks out a farm and sees... something. She doesn't know either. She breaks into a greenhouse and discovers crops as far as the eye can see. She's browsing through and eventually finds herself by a collection of crops with bugs everywhere. Literally everywhere. I got itchy just watching that scene. This seems to be proof enough that the Americans are tampering with the food. Whatever rules the Cold War had before, the goalposts have moved.
The Americans are breaking the unstated rules in other ways too. Stan and Oleg had a good rapport, understanding, and due to that, both were able to avoid a disaster. Oleg has moved to his home country, investigating fraud among the very rich - no real news on that yet - but the FBI has taken this as a sign that they need to turn him as an agent. This suddenly and dramatically lowered Oleg's odds of living past this decade. Stan is pissed at this, and understandably so. Oleg essentially just saved the fucking world and in return, he's going to get fucked. They are going to use his humanity against him.
In other Stan news, the pathetic grade school pining last episode has morphed into a full blown relationship with at least one great date. Due to the fact that the show talks about Stan's love life a ridiculous amount in these two episodes - like seriously who gives a fuck - and that she's played by Laurie Holden and, let's face it, she's out of his league - something tells me she's way more important than simple love interest would suggest.
The most obvious route to go is that she's an agent too, which would make sense. It'd be weird if they didn't tell the Jennings this though. But honestly, his dick already got him into hot water with Nina so that appears to be the way to make Stan vulnerable. Then again, remember how that ended. He ultimately chose his country. The show reminds us here that Stan is a good agent too. He notices that Paige is not happy. He loves the relationship between Paige and Matthew, but he picks up on her general "off-ness."
You know who does not love the relationship between those two? Phillip and Elizabeth. They are fucking terrified of it in fact. They have reason to worry. Paige and Matthew have progressed to boob-touching. I don't know if it's because the show has put me so effectively into Phillip and Elizabeth's shoes or what, but I do not feel comfortable watching those scenes. The making out is painfully realistic - natural, but very awkward looking for two teenagers - and that goes a long way towards making me want to move the fuck on to the next scene.
All things considered, they are taking it pretty well. The self-defense classes continue and they are going to start teaching her ways to not accidentally tell him things. The rubbing of the thumb and index finger seems particularly helpful if you want to calm down. Funny how that works. I might actually do that the next time I'm stressed. They apparently don't care if she has sex, which I find weird, but makes sense because of how they use sex for their job. In all, I do think this was a lesser episode of The Americans - but that's still pretty good for most shows.
Notes
- I've never actually taken self-defense classes and the creators attention to detail is good enough that I trust this is actually a technique, but the casually swinging your arms and hitting that target does not seem useful to me.
- Also, I think in TV (and movies of course), sound effects are added after production - what you hear is not necessarily what you would actually hear if you watched the scene being filmed in the background - and the strength with which she was swinging her arms was considerably weaker than the noise that was supposedly coming from her hitting the target. I don't know if I was the only one noticing that.
- IMDB informs me that Holden is in six episodes of this show. She's probably a more important character than Stan's last girlfriend (who was also considerably out of his league. Sorry Noah Emmerich)
- Interesting that this episode was written by the creators themselves. Usually more important things happen when creators write an episode. Oh well. It was directed by Chris Long, his second straight episode of the season.
- I suspect the people who found the digging scene boring will not like this episode either. Just a guess.
Due to the nature of the Cold War, both the Russians and Americans are developing technology and toxins that would destroy the other side in unconventional ways. Usually in a war, it's relatively simple: shoot the other guy. Sure, it's more complicated than that and you still have to be creative in order to win, but you can be direct. Here both sides had to get extremely creative in ways to destroy the enemy.
In 1984 - at least in this particular show, which is usually based off facts - it's now a war on food. According to intel by the Russians delivered via Gabriel, the Americans are trying to infect food with a deadly pathogen. Phillip and Elizabeth are both aghast at this revelation, because it was understood that there were unspoken rules in this cold war. But if one side is willing to contaminate food - and let's face it the Russians are 100 percent also willing to do the same - then it leads nowhere good.
I confess: I really love Alexei Morozov. I am as certain as one can be that he is going to die, probably at the hands of a seething Elizabeth, but for now, I'm glad he's alive. He's got an infectious enthusiasm for all the options he has for food. He probably loves America as much as the most patriotic Americans. Anyway, this scene was kind of a rehash of last week's scene: he praises the food options, talks shit on Russia. We do find out his son, Pasha, really misses living in Russia. It's teenager talk, but he'd rather die there than live in America.
We also get a bit more backstory on Tuan, whose entirely family was murdered. It usually takes me two or three times to understand everything going on, but basically I don't actually know where Tuan is from and whether his country was bombed by Russia or America. Sorry. He had an earlier scene where he explained "he's one of them" because "have you seen what communists did to my country?" which implies that it was Russians, but I don't really know why he'd be spying for them if that were the case. Either way, there's his motivation. He also calls Pasha weak and that he can get him to do anything he wants. He's definitely a good addition to the cast.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth checks out a farm and sees... something. She doesn't know either. She breaks into a greenhouse and discovers crops as far as the eye can see. She's browsing through and eventually finds herself by a collection of crops with bugs everywhere. Literally everywhere. I got itchy just watching that scene. This seems to be proof enough that the Americans are tampering with the food. Whatever rules the Cold War had before, the goalposts have moved.
The Americans are breaking the unstated rules in other ways too. Stan and Oleg had a good rapport, understanding, and due to that, both were able to avoid a disaster. Oleg has moved to his home country, investigating fraud among the very rich - no real news on that yet - but the FBI has taken this as a sign that they need to turn him as an agent. This suddenly and dramatically lowered Oleg's odds of living past this decade. Stan is pissed at this, and understandably so. Oleg essentially just saved the fucking world and in return, he's going to get fucked. They are going to use his humanity against him.
In other Stan news, the pathetic grade school pining last episode has morphed into a full blown relationship with at least one great date. Due to the fact that the show talks about Stan's love life a ridiculous amount in these two episodes - like seriously who gives a fuck - and that she's played by Laurie Holden and, let's face it, she's out of his league - something tells me she's way more important than simple love interest would suggest.
The most obvious route to go is that she's an agent too, which would make sense. It'd be weird if they didn't tell the Jennings this though. But honestly, his dick already got him into hot water with Nina so that appears to be the way to make Stan vulnerable. Then again, remember how that ended. He ultimately chose his country. The show reminds us here that Stan is a good agent too. He notices that Paige is not happy. He loves the relationship between Paige and Matthew, but he picks up on her general "off-ness."
You know who does not love the relationship between those two? Phillip and Elizabeth. They are fucking terrified of it in fact. They have reason to worry. Paige and Matthew have progressed to boob-touching. I don't know if it's because the show has put me so effectively into Phillip and Elizabeth's shoes or what, but I do not feel comfortable watching those scenes. The making out is painfully realistic - natural, but very awkward looking for two teenagers - and that goes a long way towards making me want to move the fuck on to the next scene.
All things considered, they are taking it pretty well. The self-defense classes continue and they are going to start teaching her ways to not accidentally tell him things. The rubbing of the thumb and index finger seems particularly helpful if you want to calm down. Funny how that works. I might actually do that the next time I'm stressed. They apparently don't care if she has sex, which I find weird, but makes sense because of how they use sex for their job. In all, I do think this was a lesser episode of The Americans - but that's still pretty good for most shows.
Notes
- I've never actually taken self-defense classes and the creators attention to detail is good enough that I trust this is actually a technique, but the casually swinging your arms and hitting that target does not seem useful to me.
- Also, I think in TV (and movies of course), sound effects are added after production - what you hear is not necessarily what you would actually hear if you watched the scene being filmed in the background - and the strength with which she was swinging her arms was considerably weaker than the noise that was supposedly coming from her hitting the target. I don't know if I was the only one noticing that.
- IMDB informs me that Holden is in six episodes of this show. She's probably a more important character than Stan's last girlfriend (who was also considerably out of his league. Sorry Noah Emmerich)
- Interesting that this episode was written by the creators themselves. Usually more important things happen when creators write an episode. Oh well. It was directed by Chris Long, his second straight episode of the season.
- I suspect the people who found the digging scene boring will not like this episode either. Just a guess.
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
The Americans: "Amber Waves"
"Nothing scares those two." - Gabriel
"Everything scares those two." - Claudia
Welcome to the fifth season of The Americans, the greatest show currently on television. The show wastes no time in the premiere episode of the penultimate season. Here's a show completely unafraid to throw you into the proceedings with no context and little indication of what exactly this has to do with the show we love. It trusts the viewers to put the pieces together. That could lead to a slightly frustrating experience when first watching it, but believe me when you rewatch the show, you'll be grateful they didn't hold your hand. Also I'm bringing back my episodic reviews of The Americans. Obviously.
The fifth season starts with an unknown, later revealed to be Tuan Eckert. He befriends a lonely Russian transfer student, who can barely speak English. He clearly does not want to be there as being a Russian who can barely speak English in the middle of the Cold War is high on the list of undesirable places. Pasha plays son to Elizabeth and Phillip in this episode. For maximum confusion, he comes home to them and calls them mom and dad and to make matters weirder, both are wearing disguises. Actually, it would have been weirder if they weren't.
It seems clear that they are targeting the Russian transfer student because of his father. He hates the ever living shit out of Russia. I actually thought Elizabeth would strangle him on the spot. He also touts the beauty of being able to get food wherever you want in America. This dude is not long for this world. Anyway, he has something to do with agriculture. Russia's farming in the post-credits scene does... not look good. It looks like food within the Soviet Union would be an important plot point throughout this season. The Jennings cultivating (sorry) a source that is connected with agriculture and Oleg investigating food corruption.
Speaking of Oleg, this episode is just an introduction to his new digs. He decided to come home to comfort his mother, who has still not gotten over the death of her son. He is living in Moscow, specifically Lubyanka, which is the headquarters of KGB. His new boss seems nice. His boss (whose name I did not get) will be primarily investigating popular people who use bribery, extortion and such to take control of food. He believes it is the "chief threat against the Soviet Union." So we'll guess we'll be getting an inside look at the self-destruction of the Soviet Union for the rest of the series that's mostly just been hinted at so far.
Paige does not appear to have improved her relationship with her parents whatsoever since she saw her mother kill a mugger in front of her. She's having nightmares. Elizabeth's solution is to teach her basic self-defense. I'm not actually sure this will help her with her nightmares, but it's a good idea nonetheless given that they are spies. Neither parent wants her to be with Matthew, but that does not appear to deter her much.
Speaking of which, there's a really weird dynamic going on between the Beeman family and the Jennings family. Apparently, both Henry and Paige started eating with Stan on a semi-regular basis for dinner. Stan also just comes over with beer later in the night to discuss how great it is that Matthew has Paige. Stan is happy, because Matthew is happy and because he has a crush on a girl at the gym. Stan has never seemed like a high school boy more than there with his "I met someone" actually meaning "I handed her a cup of water."
Lastly, Gabriel gives them a job and the show sure takes its time with this job. It's a simple job, but it takes forever and is highly dangerous. I guess no job is truly simple if it's really dangerous. They figure out the location of William's body (from Gabriel) and dig it up. It is dug really fucking far into the ground. The show expresses this point by taking about 8 minutes for the digging scene alone, though I did not count. They eventually get to him and CUT OFF A PIECE OF HIS SKIN. Jesus. Poor William. He didn't want to give this disease to the Soviet Union because he knows what it can do, which is probably part of why he was willing to kill himself and yet it gets out anyway.
All is going well until, Hans falls into the hole and cuts his hand on William. Hans was a minor character with no character development, but the actor portrayed with a naive innocence that made him sympathetic. So I was sorry to see him go. He somewhat stupidly was delighted at how it didn't hurt and didn't realize that he was going to need to die. Like I said, the actor did a good job giving him a naive innocence that was obviously an intentional part of his character. He sure went out like an idiot though.
Notes
- Mischa is on the way to America. For an idea of how good The Americans are at this, there's a tense scene where he needs to get past airport security. Despite the fact that he's obviously getting past it, I still felt tense. Not to mention, as a person rooting for the Jennings to somehow get out of this and live happily ever after stop laughing at me, it's probably better if the son doesn't reach Phillip.
- Claudia and Gabriel are aware that Mischa is missing and think he might be visiting Philip. They do not tell Philip this. I'm sure this will go splendidly for all.
- There's a great shot when Oleg is with his mother. The camera zooms in on a picture of his brother, but in the background is a mirror with Oleg and his mother talking right above it. It's a good way of expressing that neither of them have put his death behind them.
- The AV Club review of this mentions that the, well, mention of the Sarajevo Winter Olympics places this episode around February 1984.
- Any bets on how quickly the Russian father dies? The Americans tends to zig when I expect it to zag, but I'd still find it hard to believe he makes it out of the season.
- I was promised more Henry. I do not actually care if Henry is confined to one scene for the rest of the series. But I was promised.
- "What's the right time?" - Elizabeth ponders to Phillip about when to go back to Russia. Yeah you guys are never stepping foot in that country again - I'm guessing.
- Paige is reading The New Hotel Hampshire by John Irving (1981), which appears to be a coming-of-age novel. I haven't read this book, but sometimes shows like to make points about the show with quick shots of books or TV series reflecting the characters' reality.
- RIP Hans
Soundtrack
- "That's Good" - Devo
- There also appeared to be a Russian sung version of "America the Beautiful"
"Everything scares those two." - Claudia
The fifth season starts with an unknown, later revealed to be Tuan Eckert. He befriends a lonely Russian transfer student, who can barely speak English. He clearly does not want to be there as being a Russian who can barely speak English in the middle of the Cold War is high on the list of undesirable places. Pasha plays son to Elizabeth and Phillip in this episode. For maximum confusion, he comes home to them and calls them mom and dad and to make matters weirder, both are wearing disguises. Actually, it would have been weirder if they weren't.
It seems clear that they are targeting the Russian transfer student because of his father. He hates the ever living shit out of Russia. I actually thought Elizabeth would strangle him on the spot. He also touts the beauty of being able to get food wherever you want in America. This dude is not long for this world. Anyway, he has something to do with agriculture. Russia's farming in the post-credits scene does... not look good. It looks like food within the Soviet Union would be an important plot point throughout this season. The Jennings cultivating (sorry) a source that is connected with agriculture and Oleg investigating food corruption.
Speaking of Oleg, this episode is just an introduction to his new digs. He decided to come home to comfort his mother, who has still not gotten over the death of her son. He is living in Moscow, specifically Lubyanka, which is the headquarters of KGB. His new boss seems nice. His boss (whose name I did not get) will be primarily investigating popular people who use bribery, extortion and such to take control of food. He believes it is the "chief threat against the Soviet Union." So we'll guess we'll be getting an inside look at the self-destruction of the Soviet Union for the rest of the series that's mostly just been hinted at so far.
Paige does not appear to have improved her relationship with her parents whatsoever since she saw her mother kill a mugger in front of her. She's having nightmares. Elizabeth's solution is to teach her basic self-defense. I'm not actually sure this will help her with her nightmares, but it's a good idea nonetheless given that they are spies. Neither parent wants her to be with Matthew, but that does not appear to deter her much.
Speaking of which, there's a really weird dynamic going on between the Beeman family and the Jennings family. Apparently, both Henry and Paige started eating with Stan on a semi-regular basis for dinner. Stan also just comes over with beer later in the night to discuss how great it is that Matthew has Paige. Stan is happy, because Matthew is happy and because he has a crush on a girl at the gym. Stan has never seemed like a high school boy more than there with his "I met someone" actually meaning "I handed her a cup of water."
Lastly, Gabriel gives them a job and the show sure takes its time with this job. It's a simple job, but it takes forever and is highly dangerous. I guess no job is truly simple if it's really dangerous. They figure out the location of William's body (from Gabriel) and dig it up. It is dug really fucking far into the ground. The show expresses this point by taking about 8 minutes for the digging scene alone, though I did not count. They eventually get to him and CUT OFF A PIECE OF HIS SKIN. Jesus. Poor William. He didn't want to give this disease to the Soviet Union because he knows what it can do, which is probably part of why he was willing to kill himself and yet it gets out anyway.
All is going well until, Hans falls into the hole and cuts his hand on William. Hans was a minor character with no character development, but the actor portrayed with a naive innocence that made him sympathetic. So I was sorry to see him go. He somewhat stupidly was delighted at how it didn't hurt and didn't realize that he was going to need to die. Like I said, the actor did a good job giving him a naive innocence that was obviously an intentional part of his character. He sure went out like an idiot though.
Notes
- Mischa is on the way to America. For an idea of how good The Americans are at this, there's a tense scene where he needs to get past airport security. Despite the fact that he's obviously getting past it, I still felt tense. Not to mention, as a person rooting for the Jennings to somehow get out of this and live happily ever after stop laughing at me, it's probably better if the son doesn't reach Phillip.
- Claudia and Gabriel are aware that Mischa is missing and think he might be visiting Philip. They do not tell Philip this. I'm sure this will go splendidly for all.
- There's a great shot when Oleg is with his mother. The camera zooms in on a picture of his brother, but in the background is a mirror with Oleg and his mother talking right above it. It's a good way of expressing that neither of them have put his death behind them.
- The AV Club review of this mentions that the, well, mention of the Sarajevo Winter Olympics places this episode around February 1984.
- Any bets on how quickly the Russian father dies? The Americans tends to zig when I expect it to zag, but I'd still find it hard to believe he makes it out of the season.
- I was promised more Henry. I do not actually care if Henry is confined to one scene for the rest of the series. But I was promised.
- "What's the right time?" - Elizabeth ponders to Phillip about when to go back to Russia. Yeah you guys are never stepping foot in that country again - I'm guessing.
- Paige is reading The New Hotel Hampshire by John Irving (1981), which appears to be a coming-of-age novel. I haven't read this book, but sometimes shows like to make points about the show with quick shots of books or TV series reflecting the characters' reality.
- RIP Hans
Soundtrack
- "That's Good" - Devo
- There also appeared to be a Russian sung version of "America the Beautiful"
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