A new 20 second teaser for the fifth season of Downton Abbey has been released. The drama is set to come back in the fall on ITV in the UK, while the US has to wait until January every year for the PBS run. I'm wondering just how long Downton can keep going at this point, seeing how Julian Fellowes writes every episode himself. Can the house last into the 1930's?
REVIEW: "Fargo" Season 1
It sounded like a very risky idea to attempt to adapt Fargo, the Coen Brothers' 1996 masterpiece, into a television series, even one that would be entirely self-contained and limited to a 10-episode run. But Noah Hawley, creator and writer of all ten episodes, pulled off the impossible. Not only was Fargo a wonderful tribute and homage to the film, but it was also its own creation, a universe filled with unique and memorable characters, dialogue and relationships- and played by some terrific actors giving tricky and credible performances, some of which are sure to be Emmy-bound in the near future.
The idea of the limited series run seems to be a new trend, with True Detective another example of a show that's going to try to pull off this one story-one season deal, coming back with an entirely new cast and mystery next year. Fargo is attempting this as well, but in this case that's almost disappointing because I'd like to see another season that involves police officer Molly Salverson (now promoted to chief) and husband Gus (Colin Hanks), even though he's now technically a mailman. The two served as our protagonists on the side of good this season, nearly helpless in the face of ultimate evil, embodied by the devilish Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) and the deteriorating, weaselly Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman). The show set up the main conflict in the the first episode, when the picked on and beaten down by life Lester (the stand-in for the William H. Macy character in the film) finally snaps, accidentally coming in contact with Malvo at a hospital, which sets him off on a course he cannot turn back from. He kills his nagging wife in a moment of lunacy and from that point on becomes more and more malicious and truly, truly evil, going from a pathetic man leading a boring and unsuccessful life, to an effective and even clever one as he embraces his dark and twisted side. That's where he differs from Macy of course, who was only ever bad at the crimes he attempted to accomplish, while Lester learns from his mistakes and progresses to be quite good at living the bad life, better than he ever was at the other one. He frames his brother for the murder he committed and nearly pulls everything off, that is until fate finally catches up with him in the finale. Martin Freeman gave an excellent performance in this everyman turned antagonist character, and though his was a lot more subtle than his fellow criminal Thornton, it ended up being all the more impressive for slowly turning the audience from pitying him to thrilling in his successes to finally hating and despising this man and wanting to see him pay for his misdeeds more than we ever wanted to see, for example, Walter White pay for his.
On the other hand we have Billy Bob Thornton, who very clearly stole the show as the purely evil and uncomplicated Lorne Malvo, a con man and drifter of a kind, who waltzes into town, kills whoever he wants, delivers the best lines and casually saunters off, never worrying or paying for anything. This is the kind of villain audiences easily warm to, as he's simply entertaining throughout the series and it's almost fun to watch what he's going to do next (he reminded me of a funnier version of Javier Bardem's character from No Country For Old Men actually, right down to the ridiculous haircut). His entanglement with Lester leads directly to the events of the rest of the series, but my one serious problem with him is that he's a little too infallible. Seriously, they made him practically the devil, as he even says himself in the penultimate episode. With everything Malvo gets away with on this show, it seemed nearly impossible to bring him down, and yet spoiler alert, that's exactly what happens in the end, which we'll get into in just a second.
First we've got to mention the supporting cast, which includes Alison Tolman as Molly (yes, she's the Frances McDormand stand-in), who's of course the smartest cop in town, the only one who sees what's going on, and virtually the only person who figures out exactly how Lester and Malvo are connected to the mysterious murders plaguing the town of Bemidgi, Minnesota. But she's shunned by the police force, the chief played by Bob Odenkirk, who is so willfully ignorant and belittling towards her that it's very nearly distracting, because there is no reason whatsoever for her to be the only cop in the entire town that actually tries to do her job. The entire force is corrupted by buffoonery and stupidity, which for me was a little too over the top and is the only reason that Billy Bob is able to get away with everything that he does. For example, in the episode where he poses as a fake priest in a nearby town- why does absolutely no one think to fingerprint him? I'm not a cop obviously, but is this not standard procedure when you bring somebody into the station? Frankly, the complete ignorance of the police on the show felt like it was essential simply to move the plot forward and for that it did scream of subpar writing, unfortunately.
Now, we have to get into the finale, where in plot driven limited event series, it's more important than ever to stick the landing, because that's what people are going to remember. Sadly, I was let down by this ending, which I thought handled three things in completely backwards, unsatisfying fashion, which is all the more disappointing because I mostly loved the show until that point. I'm going to have get into this here, so read no further if you don't want to know spoilers. First, after setting Malvo up as the devil himself for nine weeks, he turned out to be way too easy to kill in the last episode. But overall, fine, if that's the way they wanted to do it, I guess it's a minor complaint on my part. Second, Lester's fall through the ice and subsequent death was wholly unsatisfying to me, because I desperately wanted to see him arrested and dragged away kicking and screaming, forced to face up to what he did instead of going out very nearly on his own terms (sure, he probably didn't want to fall through the ice, but at that moment he'd obviously made up his mind to die running away if he had to, so it was anti-climactic). And third, (and this was the worst), Molly, our heroine, is completely and utterly shortchanged in this finale by having no part in the action in either Lester or Malvo's comeuppance. After doing all the police work herself and finally being recognized for being right last week, she was pushed to the side so that her loser husband Gus, of all people, who ordered her to stay put, can go and take care of Malvo himself, to redeem his cowardly actions at the beginning of the season. Worse still, he's the one who finds the tapes of Lester's involvement and handily presents them to her, so that she has virtually no part in the resolution of her own case.
I was pretty infuriated by that, as Molly was clearly the hero of this series until the last episode, in which she was tossed away in favor of redeeming Gus, who I really had no desire to see redeemed (he could have died himself for all I cared about his character), and to have her grudgingly accept being ordered to "stay put" so that her man can go out and be the hero was like rubbing salt in the wound. Badly, badly done, Hawley. Marge Gunderson would not have stood for that shit, let me tell you. So, despite the amazing production values, incredible acting, mostly good writing, and colorful characters, I was so upset by the ending of the series that I'm ultimately conflicted on whether to recommend it. I fully loved the vast majority of the show, so does a bad ending ruin the entire thing? There are plenty who were satisfied by how things wrapped up of course, so I feel that I have to grade it on the whole and not by how sucker-punched I felt by the finale, and for that I've got to give it close to top marks (I even liked it better than True Detective overall). But if I was on that writing staff, boy would I have blown a fuse at the decision to sideline the only woman in the cast and protagonist of the show in favor of all manly action so that the "little wife" can stay home and be protected. Oh, but let's go ahead and make her chief as a pat on the back. Ugh, it still stings a week later.
Grade for the whole season: A-
Grade for finale: D
RECAP: 24 LAD "7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m."
Well, looks like those who doubted the authenticity of the non-silent clock last week were right. Yes, it turns out that President Heller is NOT dead after all, Chloe instead having broken into the system at the last minute and altered the video feed so that it only looked like Heller was on the field. Sneaky, sneaky, 24. I would be annoyed at the cop-out but the truth is it was still an exciting episode, as the A-plot was resolved and the B-plot involving Cross, Navarro and Jordan has now morphed into the true threat for the remaining three episodes. It starts off with Margot and Ian destroying the drones as promised, while the Prime Minister, Audrey and the rest of the staff mourns Heller's "death," but hang on a minute, at the last second Ian catches the glitch in the video feed and realizes they've been duped. Jack has smuggled Heller out of the stadium without telling him the plan he and Chloe had all along, and now he hands him over to the care of Belcheck, who'll keep him "dark" until Jack can track down Margot. Chloe tells Jack that Margot realized what happened and are now heading the last drone back towards London, so Jack's got to race to their location. He calls to tell everybody at the Prime Minister's office what happened, and Audrey's so grateful she gives the speaker phone the most loving look possible as she thanks Jack while Mark sulks. But there's no time to waste as Jack takes off in the chopper and Belcheck drives off with Heller until this is over.
Jack calls in to the CIA to tell Kate he needs backup sent to Margot's location, and she and Erik take off with Navarro still dodging Kate's questions about Jordan. Chloe tries to narrow down Margot's hiding spot further and she needs Cross to do it, so she calls him and pretty much begs him to help her, which he does, hoping it will score him another chance. Chloe gets the exact building while Margot and Ian arrange for the drone to hit Waterloo Station, but now the government can see exactly where it's headed back at the office, so they try to evacuate in time. Jack lands the chopper on the building while Kate and Erik engage in a shootout with Margot's henchmen on the outside. Ian wants to leave now that the drone is set, but Margot won't let him, threatening to shoot him if he tries (again, world's worst mother here). The mother-son duo stay put as Margot creepily tells Ian she loves him, but Jack is now scaling down the wall of the building, having tied himself to the top of it with a rope-wire. Ian spots him out the window and shoots out the glass, but when he goes to have a closer look Jack pulls him out the window and he falls to his death. Margot cries out and Jack awesomely swings in through the open barrier and shoots her in the shoulder, taking control of the drone at the last minute. With Chloe's help he diverts it into the river at the last possible second and everyone's relieved back at Downing Street, the plan having finally been foiled. Margot yells that Jack's responsible for all the deaths that occurred today but Jack just says grimly the only death he's responsible for is hers, and then he picks her up and tosses her out the window as she falls screaming to her death next to Ian. AWESOME! Seriously, maybe one of the best 24 moments ever right there.
So now everything's okay, but we're only halfway though the episode, so of course more shit's going to go down. Belcheck brings Heller back to the residence and he repays him by letting him go, before reuniting with Audrey and thanking Jack for everything on the phone. Jack's now bringing the override device into the CIA, where he wants Chloe to take a look at it, but Chloe tells him over the phone that she's not coming in, although it was good to see him and like old times before saying good bye. Jack protests but Chloe hangs up and gets into a car outside the cafe with Adrian, who's happy she's giving him another chance. Meanwhile, Kate gets a call from her police contact, who's found Jordan dead in a warehouse with another guy. Kate and Erik head down to the crime scene and report back to Navarro, who's only concerned that the dead hitman could easily be traced back to him. He calls Cross to ask for help in getting out of the country (and I like how he feels free to do this practically out in the open in front of everyone after having to hide in a basement room the first time), but Cross demands that Steve steal the override device and deliver it to him first. Navarro asks what for but Cross won't answer, insisting he needs it if he wants to leave.
When Jack comes in with the device, Navarro could not possibly be acting more suspicious as he tries to figure out how to steal it. Kate calls in to tell Jack what happened with Jordan and Jack immediately tries to get an ID on the hitman's fingerprints using a CIA contact. This takes almost no time, and while Jack's on the phone Steve's brilliant plan is to choke the techie examining the device into a sleeper hold and just bolt out of the room with the thing. Jack soon finds the connection between Steve and the assassin and looks up to instantly see Steve on the run. He goes after him, chasing him through the corridors and underground lair that is the CIA station in London, knocking out a guard without even trying to explain what's happening (lol) and gets into a mini-shootout with Steve, who gets away by the skin of his teeth. As Adrian and Chloe are driving away, Adrian talks to Steve and tells him a place to meet him while Chloe appears to be in the bathroom of a gas station or something (I have no idea what she was doing actually, she just wasn't in the car for a minute) and when she gets back in she and Adrian kiss as she asks where they're going. I think this was supposed to be a surprise reveal, but I had assumed they were together since Adrian told her he loved her a few weeks ago, so Chloe and Cross being an item was not a shock to me. And that's where we end it guys. The terrorists are dead, but the Big Bad this year is Adrian Cross, who wants that mysterious override device for his own nefarious deeds. I just hope Chloe doesn't get caught in the crossfire and is the real sacrificial lamb to be disposed of this season. They wouldn't really kill her off, would they? Here's hoping not, as just three eps remain of Live Another Day (and they still haven't jumped through time yet, so I don't know what's going to happen). See you next week.
REVIEW: "Louie" Season 4
Season 4 of FX's Louie was even more experimental than usual, with Louis C.K. taking over a year off since the pervious season and coming back with an even more ambitious, stretching-the-bounds-of-television anti-narrative in these 14 episodes that aired this spring. Unfortunately it was a lot more hit and miss than a typical season of Louie, and even worse, he seems to have completely abandoned the notion of trying to be, you know, funny.
It's not that I don't respect the ambition and "artistry" at work- I've often thought of this series in terms of what Woody Allen might look like if he was working class. Louis C.K. can very often go off on tangents and bouts of surrealism on purpose, and those include some of my favorite episodes (I adored his late night date with the mysterious Parker Posey character from last season), but this time his approach was far more serious and autobiographical, and some of that just wasn't very entertaining or insightful. I'll take the biggest miss as the primary example here- the six part arc he constructed called "Elevator," which played as a nearly feature length movie if you squeeze all the episodes together, wherein he romances a visiting Hungarian woman named Amia who speaks zero English. There's really nothing going on in these episodes besides that and Louie having occasional trouble with his daughter Jane's behavior at school. It's just a very rambling story arc that did not need six episodes to tell (the relationship with Amia goes nowhere), and may even be a little boring. And the thing is, six episodes is nearly half the season and a lot of that just felt wasted to me.
Other material this year was better though. The three part arc that finished the season was called "Pamela," which saw the return of co-writer and producer Pamela Adlon (yay!), who I admit I absolutely adore, even though a lot of people probably hate her. To me she's a completely awesome nut whose every word is hilarious and unique. The storyline was actually pretty dark though, as it explored Pamela and Louie's unhealthy and kind of toxic relationship, as Pamela loves to verbally abuse Louie and needle him just to see how much he'll take. That doesn't sound particularly funny, right? It's not, but to me it is fascinating, because as is my common complaint with female characters on television, they are very rarely allowed to be antiheroes or shown with as many complex shadings to them as men, and hardly ever allowed to be villainous either. There always has to be some redemptive or sympathetic core to them, even when dealing with men for whom that's never an issue. But Pamela is somebody with no soft center in the slightest and completely and totally unapologetic about it, much to Louie's frustration, and for that I kind of love her. But the portrayal of this relationship is weird, squicky territory (there's a purposely uncomfortable scene in the first episode of this arc that dares the audience to question whether Louie was trying to rape Pamela), and even though it was interesting, again, very few laughs (unless you laugh at everything Pamela says, which I do, but I'm sure just as many wish she'd shut up already).
So, given that I didn't like the 6-part story, and the 3-part story was uneven, what else does that leave? Well, it leaves the 90-minute episode he attempted that played as an hour long special on the dangers of teenage marijuana use. Yes, I'm serious. It wasn't cheesy, but it also wasn't anything new. It was clearly autobiographical as Louie flashed back to his childhood when he spent a few months getting high and going through the pains of adolescence due to his inability to cope with his parents' divorce (triggered by his adult discovery that Lily is now getting high with her friends). Even though the mini-movie was well-acted (Jeremy Renner is great as a drug dealer young Louie gets involved with) it still felt too on the nose in the end. The very best episodes of the season were the first few standalone ones, actually, which coincidentally, were also the funniest. The episode where Louie accidentally punches rich blonde Yvonne Strahovski in the face was terrific and also the one where he dates an overweight fellow comedian (Sarah Baker) who gives the great monologue about why guys like him don't like to date "fat girls" like her. These episodes felt more like classic Louie, which is probably why I liked it, while the more experimental stuff fell flat occasionally.
So yeah, a mixed bag this year, but the show is still like nothing else on TV, although I'm not sure how it can justifiably be labeled a "comedy" either- hardly anything was funny this season and that was by design. I look forward to it coming back, although I wonder whether some of the praise Louis C.K.'s gotten for being such an "auteur" and breaking new ground has gone to his head so that he doesn't feel the show's worth making if he's not doing that every time. He ought to remember that it's really not such a bad thing to just be funny sometimes, especially because he's so good at it when he is. The best episodes this year were just those kind, and maybe when you reach a little too high it's that much more disappointing when you miss the mark.
Grade: B-
REVIEW: "Game of Thrones" Season 4
Game of Thrones remains one of the most consistent shows on television. It's so consistent that even its premieres and finales don't often do too many surprising things, instead dropping you right back into the action and picking up with its sprawling cast of characters, most of whom are ever on the move and headed towards one destination or another. It's one of the most plot driven shows on TV, only ever asking the audience to keep up with the cast of characters and not so much with the complex ambiguities of said characters (although showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff occasionally do try to inject some shades of grey into them, but often that will end up leading to confusing motivations when the set in stone plot twists must ultimately occur). I thought the third season was the best of the show's run, but this year for me was decidedly more uneven, and most importantly, simply spent too much time with some peripheral characters that I've never been all that interested in.
We'll start with the place that always been my favorite setting on the show- King's Landing. This is of course where Peter Dinklage's Tyrion resides, as well as the rest of the Lannisters, all of whom no matter how treacherous and shady they may be, have always been the most interesting people on the show. Whether it's the evil Cersei (Lena Headey, who seemed to have less screen time than ever this season), the villain turned good guy Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), the sometimes evil but supposedly family oriented patriarch Tywin (Charles Dance), the slickly smooth Lord Varys, and of course the charismatic and lovable Tyrion himself- I could honestly spend all of every episode at King's Landing, and the time that we do spend with almost any other group of people, I'm always looking forward to getting back to the soap opera-esque plotting and scheming of the Lannisters. For example, the two very best episodes this year in my estimation were the second episode that spent the vast majority of its time on the Purple Wedding (where we saw the squirming and overdue death of the nasty boy king Joffrey) and the episode that dwelled mostly on Tyrion's trial where he faces up to the two-faced citizens who all lie about his involvement in Joffrey's death. In particular, that twenty minutes or so is so memorable and dramatic that I don't even remember what else happened in that episode! Even Joffrey's death, which fans have been clamoring for for years, while satisfyingly gruesome and deserving, was almost too bad because of the loss of the worst and yet most entertaining villain throughout the show's run. Even now, as I think about it, an entirely separate show could exist that takes every character who inhabits King's Landing and spends all of our time with them, relishing in the devious plots and machinations to take over the reigns of power from within.
Unfortunately we do have to spend lots of time with lots of other characters in this massive ensemble, not all of whom are terribly intriguing. The worst has got to be Theon Greyjoy, the awful traitor to the Starks who spent all of last season being tortured at the hands of Ramsay Snow, to now become his pet and slave toy...ugh. This is the worst ongoing plot on the show, both characters are awful and every time we see them I count the minutes until they leave. Then there's Danaerys of course, Mother of Dragons, Breaker of Chains...you know the rest. Emilia Clarke's good as always, but Khaleesi's storyline is so isolated and so far away from everyone else's that her screen time has always been a problem on the show. Last year proved to be an exception as they figured out a way to give her more interesting material to work with (although that was probably simply the case in that particular book), but this year was back to business as usual, with Khaleesi reigning over her freed city of Bravos while accomplishing nothing of any significance to the plot, at least from what I could tell (aside from banishing Sir Richard from Downton Abbey for his early and long forgotten betrayal of her back in the first season). Her actual last scene this year, the climax of her storyline, was sadly locking her now grown up dragons in the dungeon, lest they accidentally kill any more babies while flying around breathing fire. Yeah, that was not the most dramatic stuff.
Faring better was little Arya Stark's ongoing travels with the Hound, the bounty hunter who took her as his kind of prisoner last year in order to bring her back to her aunt, and this was only good because the two actors worked well and had a funny odd couple chemistry together- but of course before we get too attached the Hound is killed off (or at least it looks like he was) and Arya's off on her own again, so whatever purpose that plot actually served in the end is lost on me. Finally, we come to the "action" at the Wall. Sigh, the Wall. I have never cared about anything that's happening at the Wall or with the Night's Watch (ok, so I kind of like Sam, who at least gets a girlfriend in Gilly this year), and this season spent the entire penultimate episode with the guys at the Wall while they struggled to fight off the incoming Wildlings (another group of people I couldn't care less about), ala the battle of Blackwater in the second season. Except, you know why Blackwater was more interesting, show? Because it involved the people at King's Landing, of course! Tyrion, Cersei, Joffrey! This episode on the other hand was impressive filmmaking, yes (hugely impressive for a television show), but it really didn't mean anything to me and wasn't worth spending an entire hour with people I don't care about (don't even get me started on Igritte's death- I hated her character and that demise was long overdue).
I don't mean to sound overly harsh, but for me a lot of this season's material simply wasn't as compelling as it should have been. The technical aspects, the production values, the acting, all of that remains top notch and a level above anything else on TV- I don't think it will ever falter in that regard (wish we could see more of the Whitewalkers this year though). Still, whether you like certain characters or not is not the fault of the show, which has to follow these books no matter what happens. But there were some strange decisions on the writer's part regarding certain character's motivations this year that made the actions they must eventually take feel not particularly organic. The first example was the infamous Jamie-Cersei "rape" scene in the third episode- fans were outraged at Jamie's actions, but the way it was depicted in the book was never construed as rape in any way, so the decision to make the character's relationship more ambiguous really didn't serve any purpose, especially because the aftermath was never dealt with or even acknowledged.
Another example was Tyrion's killing of his father, the climax of his time in King's Landing after his trial, but again the show for some strange reason chose to make Tyrion's goals in the scene unclear and wavering, along with Tywin's, and the manner in which Tyrion ultimately takes him down seems oddly reluctant and regretful, when his blind rage in the book seemed to make more sense as to how he could go through with it. So in the end the climax of Tyrion's storyline this whole season was wrapped up in frankly unsatisfying fashion, dogged by underdeveloped and murky character motivations, as though meant to make Tyrion a "nice" murderer, if he had to be one at all. And the betrayal of Shae was out of left field and totally unexplained, along with how she came to be having an affair with Tywin in the first place, something that I sure would like to have known. Finally, the introduction of Prince Oberyn, another compelling new character in the King's Landing canon of creepers, was apparently built up for most of this season for nothing but his brutally gruesome death in the third to last episode, seemingly for shock value alone. So I guess the lesson there is not to get too attached to any new character they bring in, no matter how hard they work to develop him, huh? It's starting to get a little predictable after a while, guys. I mean really, why bother to make him interesting at all if he's not even going to stick around a full season (which is only ten episodes anyway?)
All in all, even though Game of Thrones is still a good, solid series, the story this year left a little to be desired, and frankly with Tyrion, Tywin and now Varys gone from King's Landing, I'm a little worried about how the show will fare as some of the bigger characters spread out next season and we lose the solid environment that had been settled for so long in that part of the seven kingdoms. Is it going to mean more Danaerys instead? Or worse, the guys at the Wall? The thought of it doesn't thrill me. But hey, I'm four seasons in with this thing, I won't be ditching it anytime soon. And with Weiss and Benioff likely set to deviate even more from the books as they now realize there is no way they won't pass the point where George R.R. Martin has already written, I should probably learn to give them even more leeway as they make their way to the finish line with various inevitable improvisations. And they've brought us this far, so I say they've earned our trust, don't you?
Grade: B
'Breaking Bad,' 'Orange is the New Black' and 'Fargo' Win Big at the Critics Choice TV Awards
Really great slate of winners from the Critics Choice awards this year. Orange is the New Black won in Comedy, while Fargo dominated in Miniseries and they didn't forget that the last season of Breaking Bad has still been better than any other drama that's aired so far since. Plus, yea for Tatiana Maslany for Orphan Black! Could an Emmy nomination be next?
Winners:
DRAMA
• Supporting Actress: Bellamy Young, Scandal
• Supporting Actor: Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
• Guest Performer: Allison Janney, Masters of Sex
• Lead Actor: Matthew McConaughey, True Detective
• Lead Actress: Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
• Series: Breaking Bad
COMEDY
• Guest Performer: Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black
• Supporting Actor: Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
• Supporting Actress: (tie) Kate Mulgrew, Orange is the New Black; Allison Janney, Mom
• Lead Actor: Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
• Lead Actress: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
• Series: Orange is the New Black
TV MOVIE/MINISERIES
• Movie: The Normal Heart
• Miniseries: Fargo
• Lead Actor: Billy Bob Thornton, Fargo
• Lead Actress: Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Coven
• Supporting Actor: Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart
• Supporting Actress: Allison Tolman, Fargo
REALITY/VARIETY
• Reality Series: Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
• Reality-Competition Series: Shark Tank
• Host: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
• Talk Show: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon
• Animated Series: Archer
Other wins I love here are Fargo's Allison Tolman and Billy Bob Thornton beating Julia Roberts and Mark Ruffalo for The Normal Heart (although I wouldn't expect that to happen at the Emmys) and Cosmos deservedly taking Reality Series and Host. These awards don't traditionally mean much for the Emmy nominations (at least not yet), but we'll see if they can break through this year because they really went with some great picks. Aside from one, which was honoring Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show (ugh- he's so bland and brownose-y that it makes me queasy to even watch him). I'd take a thousand wins for The Daily Show over that mess.
REVIEW: "In the Flesh" Season 2
In the Flesh, the zombie series created by Dominic Mitchell, continued to explore the effects and interactions of PDS sufferers with their friends and families as they cope with the ongoing struggle of fitting into a society that fears them and doesn't want them around. As opposed to The Walking Dead, this is a thoughtful and melancholy show that takes a serious and intelligent approach to the idea of zombies in the real world, and obviously the allegorical take on the subject provides for all kinds of nuances within the issues that PDS and non-PDS must face in dealing with each other.
First off, I'd better explain the whole PDS thing. In this universe (the show is set in the town of Roarton, England) a rising has taken place in the near past, where of course the dead all rose from their graves and went on the typical mass slaughterfest, but that all happened offscreen (save for some traumatic flashbacks occasionally), and now doctors have figured out a way to treat the undead, causing them to more or less regain their human soul, even if they still look like zombies on the surface (you know, the ghostly skin, the yellow eyes, and the no longer eating or aging thing). This has caused there to be a whole new class of people who suffer from PDS, or "partially deceased syndrome" (clever, huh?) and it's given loved ones back to their families as long as they receive their daily doses of medicine to keep from going "rabid" (yeah, that's pretty important, can't have that).
The show takes pains to develop the characters in this town, PDS and living alike, into real, intelligent and thoughtful people, playing up the allegorical aspects of a society that shuns and fears the "diseased," (or in this case, deceased), but also those who think they they ought to be welcomed back into society, or at least tolerated. This season gets into the burgeoning war between the groups, as extremists on both ends take center stage, those who want all PDS destroyed and PDS members who crave a "second rising," in which the dead will take over the living world for their own (yes, we get into all the religious metaphors this season as well). Our lead character is Kieran (Luke Newberry), a teen who would be a unique enough protagonist even if not for the fact that he's dead. Kieran is a sensitive, intellectual, calm and rational hero- unlike the extremists who inhabit the town, he's the center of moral clarity and intelligence, not a crazed or particularly troubled anti-hero, who also happens to be gay (amazingly never treated as a defining character trait, which is so nice to see on TV- it's obvious that being dead is a much more pressing issue at the moment).
Kieran wants the two groups to get along, the way his own family is able to love and accept him. One of the great things about the show is the way he, his parents and his sister interact, with the conflicts and affections between them never depicted in melodramatic fashion, just matter of fact, even if his sister Jemma is suffering post traumatic stress and night terrors from her experiences during the Rising, when she was forced to hunt down rabids and see her own brother in his untreated state gnawing on murder victims. This season developed the established characters and their relationships in deeper fashion, while introducing some interesting new ones in the form of Maxine Martin (Wunmi Mosaku) an MP from the Victus party who comes to Roarton wanting to segregate and discriminate against all PDS sufferers, but who turns out to have ulterior motives of her own, and Simon Monroe (Emmet J Scanlan), leader of the Undead Liberation Army with designs on and an attraction to Kieran.
In the Flesh deepened its complexities in its second season, but like in the first, just when things are getting more entangled and becoming more interesting, the season ended way too early (a scant 6 episodes were all that made up this second "series," as they call it in Britain). I'm sorry, but this show should at least get 10 episodes to structure itself properly, and there's too big a cast with too much going on to cover everything in just 6 hours. Which isn't to say that it had no missteps this year either- Episode 3 was a total misfire in the way we spent the entire hour with two characters we'd only met very briefly back in the first season, and then never saw again for the remainder of this one, and Maxine Martin's ultimate motivations in the finale reveal the actions she takes in her first episode to be completely illogical and sort of bewildering, as though the writers had no idea what her secret was going to be until right before it happened (which can't possibly have been the case with only six episodes, can it?)
Still, the good stuff this season was very, very good, and it was only getting better before ending too abruptly. Kieran and Simon's romance was just starting to blossom, as well as Amy and Philip's, two characters I almost didn't like last year, but grew to adore when the show paired them off together this time- the sweetness and sincerity that disgraced former Council member Philip displayed toward the undead Amy was adorable to watch unfold, as Simon's statement about the eccentric and flamboyant Amy early on in the season ("she's somebody who needs to be loved") turned out to be all too tragically true. I hope In the Flesh comes back for a third season sooner and with more episodes, as the world these characters inhabit only grows more intriguing the more time we spend with them, and a lengthened season would benefit the series greatly overall.
Grade: B+
TRAILER: "The Knick"
Here's the full first trailer for the Cinemax series The Knick, starting August 8th. From Steven "how's that retirement going" Soderbergh, and starring Clive Owen as a doctor in the early 20th century. Looks pretty good but I wonder if the excitement of slicing people up in primitive ways medicinally will be as appealing to those who like all the blood and gore that comes from the more ordinary violence on shows like Game of Thrones. This one might actually be more sickening in some ways.
RECAP: 24 LAD "6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m."
Well, they finally did it. Hard to believe, but as I noted last week, after several seasons worth of unsuccessful sacrificial suicide attempts, President James Heller finally pulled it off in the somewhat shocking final minutes of this episode tonight. Or did he? That will of course be up for debate since Heller wasn't treated to 24's typical "silent clock" in the final countdown when a significant character dies, but if they want to maintain the boldness of the moment, I think they ought to stick to it (and if next week's promo is anything to go by it looks like they really did).
Simone is hauled into the CIA medical facility after last week's drone chase, and Kate is watching over her as she tries to push the doctors into the old "get her conscious routine," while Jack is still waiting to convene with Heller, who called him to his office for a secret meeting. Jack's impatient though, and yelling at Kate on the phone to do everything she can to interrogate Simone, even saying so be it if she dies. Amusingly the secret service guy in the hallway gives him a weird look as he presumably wonders whether this guy who practically just ordered somebody dead might maybe be a threat to the president? But security for fictional 24 presidents is always a joke anyway. Heller finally calls Jack in and shows him the video of his bargain with Margot, where he agreed to surrender himself alone at Wembley Stadium on the swearing of her word that she'll destroy the rest of the drones if he does. Unsurprisingly Jack is not a fan of this plan, protesting that they can't negotiate with terrorists as U.S. policy (since when is Jack worried about official U.S. policy?) but Heller's thought of everything this time, saying he's already written a letter of resignation that will be effective in an hour when the VP (still unseen but I'd be goosed if it turned out to be Mike Novick- please be the case, show!) will inherit the office. Jack doesn't want to be part of this whole thing, but Heller finally tells him he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and his mind will be gone in a year anyway, so he wants to go out on his terms. So Jack finally agrees to deliver him to Wembley and tells him all the steps he needs to take, which includes bringing another person in on the plan to help from the inside.
Heller chooses Mark, who protests vigorously, but is ultimately convinced to do it, and though it's kind of awkward when Jack and Mark are forced to work together in the service of making sure Audrey's dad gets blown up, he makes sure to get them everything they need. That includes calling a staff meeting, which is apparently the one thing that will leave the president completely unguarded in order to escort him out of the building. Heller really seems to think Margot will keep her word, since her whole claim to this plot is about revenge against him personally, and it seems like that might actually be the case, as Margot tells Ian before they leave their hideout that she does plan to get rid of the drones if Heller really shows up. Ian is the one who seems dubious though, so I smell a betrayal coming. Heller goes through all the steps of getting ready to die for his country, including saying goodbye in his own way to Audrey (who he doesn't let in on the plan), and having Jack surgically remove the transponder in his arm and hilariously cover up the one inch deep gaping wound with a band-aid (yeah, that'll fix it). Meanwhile Kate finally holds a gun to the doctor's head and forces him to wake up Simone when Jack calls again and tells her of Heller's plan, awesomely saying they're out of time and she needs to "wake the bitch up NOW" (ha!). So Simone is shot full of some kind of wake up drug and finally gives up Margot's location, even though they already left, so she gives her the next best thing- the disk drive that Naveed hid under the floorboards. Kate quickly sends a team over to dig it up, but time is running out, as Jack secures Heller out of the residence through the back stairways, knocking out a guard in the process.
As all this is going on, Steve is still trying to make sure Jordan died, which of course he didn't, and he gets a call from poor stupid Jordan himself, who yells at him that he needs help. Steve gets his location and immediately informs the hitman to finish the job, but Jordan manages to get the drop on him after he's lured to his hiding place in a nearby storage locker. Even though Jordan's bleeding out all over the floor he grabs the guy's gun (this has got to to be the worst assassin in 24 history) and tries to get Navarro's true intentions out of him, but the dude attacks and stabs him in the chest before Jordan pumps him full of lead. Jordan sure looks like he won't make it now, but we cut away before seeing him die, so he'll probably manage to warn Kate somehow, who's now suspicious of where he is and questioning Navarro, who dodges. When Kate gets the disk drive uploaded from the field team (who had a MUCH easier and quicker time sending that then Jack did with the flight key plan hours earlier) she sends it over to Chloe, still in the public cafe (or maybe it's a pub?), who lets Jack know she's doing everything she can to hack into the drone program, which is all conveniently right in there for her. She also gets an annoying call from Cross, still whining about her leaving him and asking her to come back to their new hideout, but Chloe refuses, pissing him off more by saying she has to help Jack. Cross sulks in response.
Audrey then finds Heller's goodbye note in his office and Mark must tell her he knew the whole time, and she's rightfully horrified, screaming that she'll never forgive him for this. Mark defends the decision though as Audrey cries and Jack finally gets Heller into the helicopter he secured and flies them to Wembley Stadium, with Margot and Ian standing by to see if he really shows. As the two march into the stadium, Jack tries desperately to get Chloe to move faster, but she says she needs more time. It's too late though, as Heller's mind is made up and he tells Jack he gave him a presidential pardon from the whole Russian thing plus any crime he might have committed in getting him there (can you actually pardon someone for crimes not yet committed?). He then walks out onto the field, defying Jack's calls to wait. Margot and Ian are stunned to see that it's actually him and Margot insists on doing it herself. She takes control of the remote and shoots the missile, which does indeed go right into the field and proceeds to blow up President James Heller (and it should have been Jack as well, considering he was standing just feet from him, but of course he'll be fine amidst the wreckage). And there he went, folks. A heroic death to be sure, but did he really die? The final shot of Margot's face is ambiguous, as we don't quite know if her reaction to getting what she wanted will actually be to keep her word, but whatever the case, Chloe's into their system now and Jack will be looking for payback no matter what. Can't wait to see what happens next week! See you then, as the final four episodes commence.
REVIEW: "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey"
In this time of active and ignorant science deniers who seem to make it their mission to want to screw over the earth and therefore our children's futures for short term political gain, what better gift to give the world than this 13-part documentary series aimed at cutting through the misinformation and lies that permeate out current climate, and maybe, you know, getting the truth out there to anyone still willing to believe in it? Neil deGrasse Tyson and producers Seth MacFarlane and Ann Druyan did just that with this comprehensive series called Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, the sequel series to the show that first aired in 1980 when it was hosted by Carl Sagan (then named Cosmos: A Personal Voyage). Now, it's time for a new generation to re-learn what should have been old and long-absorbed information about our universe, but has now, thanks to the idiotic rabble-rousers out there, become sadly new again.
Not to diminish the series itself, however. Neil deGrasse Tyson makes an amiable host for the new Cosmos, which took the Ship of Imagination through the various subjects that Sagan once covered himself- subjects such as the birth of our universe, evolution, the cosmic calendar, the galaxies and solar systems that we know of, the history of science and the progression of our scientific discoveries throughout the time that we've inhabited this planet. Each episode is infused with the wonder and passion that Tyson personally brings to his field, and fills the audience with the sense of importance and significance in discovering our place in the universe (which of course, is infinitesimal). Tyson's voice doesn't have the cadence of Sagan's classic professorial speaking style, but he's an engaging and warm presence that guides us through the areas of the cosmos so that we feel we're in steady hands.
There are some different approaches to Cosmos now- for one thing, instead of re-enactments for historical segments of the great scientific discoveries of people like Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday and Clair Patterson, there is now animated footage that draw out these parts of the story as something akin animated shorts. This kind of stunt may prove polarizing for some (perhaps if you're a person who can't accept animated storytelling as serious in any way), but I found it to be a more interesting method of communicating what could have been narrated as a dry history lesson, and it's also kind of fun to pick out the various celebrity voices recruited to be famous historical figures (I caught Patrick Stewart, Richard Gere and Seth MacFarlane himself). Also new of course is the mass improvement in graphic effects since 1980- this new Cosmos looks incredible (especially on an HD TV) and the glimpses of the planets we go to make you feel as if you're traveling in space yourself.
Another much appreciated factor in the series is Druyan (Sagan's widow) and Tyson's willingness to explain frankly, clearly and with a sense of urgency the dangers facing our planet now with regard to the rapidly increasing climate changes occurring every year. It's a running theme throughout the show and they are not afraid to condemn the voices attempting to halt any action whatsoever on the issue, and even use historical examples of corporations and business interests who did everything in their power to stop the progression of science when it interfered with profits, even with regard to public safety (the best example of this is the episode that explained the evolution of the public debate over the safety of lead, which ultimately led to government-mandated restrictions against the protests of oil companies).
The entire series is a public service and will likely be shown on channels like PBS and The Discovery Channel for years to come. I think it ought to be shown in schools as well, a part of every teenager's science class curriculum. The more we can do to educate and depart actual facts on the willfully unknowing public, the more this issue can be highlighted and not allowed to disappear from the public eye before it's too late. Anything that can be done in this area is of value and in the public's interest- and we need to shout it from the rooftops if necessary, so that eventually the voices of ignorance that insist on living in the dark ages will be drowned out by those who are enlightened and responsible enough to demand that we do better. This is a good start.
Grade: A
