I admitted last week that I didn't know anything about this movie, but I gotta say, the trailer makes me want to watch not only the original film, but this series as well. It looks hilarious! I think I might be in on the basis of this preview alone, even if I don't make it to the movie from 2001. All episodes are dropping on July 31st.
Showtime Teases the Return of 'The Affair'
Apparently this show proved itself pretty divisive (among those who actually watched it), with some loving it and others unable to stand one second of it, but I have to admit being in the former camp. I thought it was an addictive guilty pleasure and done really well for what it was, so I'm looking forward to its return this fall. Rumor has it we'll see the POV from Maura Tierney and Josh Jackson's characters this season, so for those who hate Alison and Noah, you'll be getting a break from them (although I can't imagine why you'd even watch the show if you do).
Stephen Colbert Lauds Marriage Equality
On this historic weekend, it's nice to have Stephen Colbert chime in with a viral video ridiculing the conservative justices dissents on the landmark Supreme Court decision they handed down on Friday. Now that same sex marriage is legal in all 50 states, he delivers a message that would not have seemed out of place on The Colbert Report, to tell you the truth. I wonder if his Late Show is going to prove to be not all that different from the Report after all- it'd be nice to have one politically minded, intelligent late night host on network television still.
REVIEW: "Orphan Black" Season 3
The first half of this season of Orphan Black, one of my favorite shows, was nothing less than tragic to watch. Tragic because it seemed that this show had pulled a Broadchurch Season 2- that is, taken on a storyline that was doomed from the very beginning and filmed all the episodes before they aired, so that no changes can occur as the season played out, but rather this year was almost certainly destined to be a waste of time no matter what happened in the end.
That storyline was the teaser from last year's cliffhanger ending, with Ari Mullen introduced as the soldier boy clones. I knew from the moment we met him that whatever this "boy clone" situation was, the only way it could possibly work was if Mullen somehow possessed the same talent for playing multiple characters that one Tatiana Maslany had when she created Sarah, Alison, Helena and Cosima, and within about 15 minutes of the premiere, the answer very clearly became a resounding no. No, he does not. So from that point on we are saddled with a dreadful, boring, inexplicable plotline involving the same guy with the same haircut in a bunch of different outfits, going around stalking Sarah for whatever impossible to understand reasons involving the mysterious Project Castor, the brother to Project Leda, and you know what? It's not even worth talking about. This story was sunk the second it was realized that Mullen cannot distinguish between any of the clones he was playing, and the "big bad" of Season 3 was a massive failure.
This led to at least five terrible episodes in a row, despite the fact that Maslany still plays her characters well, and the supporting cast around her does a bang up job themselves- we still love Fe, Mrs. S, Donnie, Scott and Delphine, but none of that matters because SO much time is wasted on Castor and what they're doing and why they're doing it, and even though I did sit through those episodes, I couldn't tell you a single thing about what's happening in any of them. At the best of times, the mythology of this show was always incomprehensible, but this year it became pure gibberish. I was this close to quitting Clone Club, guys. And then we got to episode six, and suddenly the boy clones are gone. Just like that. And we get an episode of all Tatiana Maslany going between Beth, Sarah, Helena and back again. The one after that it's time for suburban hijinks with Alison and Donnie, but with Cosima thrown into the mix and more focus on a love triangle with Delphine and new flame Shea. I was pulled back, as I always am, by Maslany and her amazing ability to interact with completely different versions of herself, and then they introduce Crystal the ditzy manicurist, another new Maslany clone, who crackles with Felix in a hilarious con job act, and before I knew it I was back in. Episodes six through ten were good enough and fun enough and such a massive 180 turnaround from what had been the main arc of the season that I almost got whiplash.
So what happened here? A season that was going down the toilet suddenly saved itself midstream, even though this series had all been filmed ahead of time? My guess is that the Castor storyline was such a complete misfire that it became obvious during production, and the writers decided to shut it down as best they could and use Maslany to salvage what was left of the episodes. By the time the finale rolls around, the characters of duplicitous Delphine and murderous Helena and been boosted to be the most useful they ever have been, while Mullen is all but pushed off to the side, only to be brought back when absolutely necessary to wrap up what I suppose they felt was important about the Castor situation. I have to give them credit for managing to right the ship, because they did a pretty good job of it in the handful of final episodes. Helena moving in with the Hendrix's led to some outstanding scenes with her and Donnie, and since Donnie and Alison's drug dealing business had mostly been tangential anyway, the writers used it to bolster the material in the last few episodes, and precarious state of their marriage. And Delphine helps lead the always murky conspiracy story back to Leda and Neolution (the mysterious villains from the first season) and away from the god awful Castor stuff, while also keeping up with the character relationships and drama with Cosima and Scott (with an appearance or two from Rachel, the now one-eyed evil clone of the bunch).
So the show managed to win me back with the remainder of the season, which was every bit as good in places as the best of Orphan Black, but boy is that first half dire. I guess everyone makes mistakes, huh? At least Graeme Manson and John Fawcett were smart enough to realize that before it torpedoed the season completely. Still, the only good thing that happened in the first half was the shipping off of Keira, the forever in danger daughter of Sarah, to Iceland with her dad Cal (that was long overdue), and so I would honestly give this schizophrenic season two separate grades. An F for the first part and a solid B+ for the second. What does that average out to? I guess I'd say a C, only because if you are a fan of this show, get through the first five eps, and I promise you it will get better. And I think because of that we have the proof that the writers kind of know what works and doesn't, and that next season will have a more balanced approach. At least I hope so. Because Maslany still rocks, and the more you give her to do, the better the show becomes. No more boy clones, guys. Ever again.
Grade: C
'The Flash,' 'Hannibal' Win Big at Saturn Awards
The Sci-Fi Academy also honors genre television, which gets even less recognition than genre films (you won't see any of these shows at the Emmys, even if they deserve it, and only occasionally at critics awards). They went for some very deserving stuff though- you know I'm a big fan of The Flash, and it's nice to see it loved someplace, since it's certainly bound not to happen anywhere else. Also, I don't understand what makes Game of Thrones a "limited run" series, since it's been on for five years now. Because it only has 10 episodes a season? As opposed to Hannibal's thirteen or The Walking Dead's sixteen? That doesn't seem to make any sense.
Best Network Series: Hannibal
Best Syndicated/Cable Series: The Walking Dead
Best Limited Run Series: Game of Thrones
Best Superhero Adaptation Series: The Flash
Best Actor: Hugh Dancy, Hannibal; Andrew Lincoln, The Walking Dead (tie)
Best Actress: Caitriona Balfe, Outlander
Best Supporting Actor: Laurence Fishburne, Hannibal
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McBride, The Walking Dead
Best Guest Star: Wentworth Miller, The Flash
Best Performance by a Younger Actor: Maisie Williams, Game of Thrones
Breakthrough Performance: Grant Gustin, The Flash
Best Youth-Oriented TV Series: The 100
Special Recognition: Continuum
Andy Samberg Battles Kit Harington in '7 Days in Hell'
This Andy Samberg spoof about a 7 day tennis match does look pretty funny. It reminds me of a Christopher Guest movie, with the talking heads, although it looks like they got real tennis players in on it too. I wonder if Kit Harington will end up having a bigger career outside Game of Thrones, considering what happened to his character in the finale (although there appears to be some debate about that- it looked pretty clear cut to me).
'Heroes: Reborn' Brings in New Heroes, Familiar Faces
I have no idea who was clamoring for a revival of NBC's Heroes, a show that was a first season sensation that flamed out really quickly (like Glee, Desperate Housewives, and The OC to name a couple of examples of series I started but fled during their first years, leading to my relative distrust of network shows to this day, although I'm slowly starting to get back into them). So this isn't for me at all, but I'm wondering if there really is a fanbase out there who's been waiting for this. Anyone?
'Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp' Trailer Takes Us Back to the '80s
Netflix's eight episode miniseries prequel to the 2001 cult film Wet Hot American Summer is launching July 31st, but I have to admit I never saw the movie, so this doesn't mean that much to me. In fact, I didn't realize it was such a cult thing- I've honestly never heard much about this at all, despite the insane cast, most of whom are returning for the series (Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Janeane Garafolo, David Hyde Pierce, etc). I don't know- should I bother to watch the movie, is it worth it?
'Fargo' Season 2 Teases a Harsh Winter
A new teaser for Season 2 of Fargo is here, and for some reason I didn't realize this was coming out as soon as September. I hope it can overcome the sophomore slump that's befalling True Detective, which is garnering some pretty harsh reviews for the second season ahead of its premiere this Sunday. I actually preferred Fargo to True Detective the first time around anyway, so I hope the new season can live up to the last, but it may be tough without Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton. It could be harder than it seems to pull off effective anthology series, seeing as you may only get lucky with the casting once, and regular shows get to keep their actors around for years.
REVIEW: "Game of Thrones" Season 5
So, Sunday night ended the season of sadism on Game of Thrones, and if you're thinking that could technically be every season, then you haven't seen the finale yet. It was a pretty stark, brutal, depressing year, and though it was still consistent and in the GoT wheelhouse...I don't know, I think I might just be getting tired of it.
It was yet another year of "people getting from one place to another," as Tyrion and Varys left King's Landing to make the long journey to meet up with Danaerys (we get several episodes of them bickering on the road, which isn't too bad because a lot of the wisecracking King's Landing crew are the some of the better characters to spend time with), and then Tyrion gets kidnapped by Sir Jorah, who's also set on taking him to Dany, so he can get back in her favor after being outcast for his betrayal. And you guessed it, that also takes up a few episodes of Tyrion and Jorah on the road, bickering, before finally getting to face the Queen herself, and we get a whopping two episodes of Dany and Tyrion, together at last after five seasons. It's kind of cool that they finally met, and it looks like Dany will hire Tyrion to be her new advisor, but then Dany gets attacked by the former slaves of Mereen and her rebellious dragon Drogon comes whooshing in to fly her to safety. This ends up stranding her in yet another part of the world, where it looks like she's back with her original Dothraki people, while Jorah and others will have to go looking for her on yet another road trip that will likely last all season next year.
And if that all sounded tedious, it was probably the storyline that I was most interested in this year, if only because Peter Dinklage makes everything he's in watchable. If this show was allowed to have one main character instead of the mass, sprawling ensemble, there's no doubt Tyrion would be it, but truthfully he had something of a smaller role this season than usual, and that's too bad, because I realized as we spent so much time with the other Game of Thrones cast this year how little I really care for any of them. I've always liked the King's Landing characters more than the others, because their deviousness and manipulations make them more entertaining, but this season Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) spent the whole season traveling as well, all the way to Spain (okay, it's not really Spain, it's Dorne, but that's where they filmed and all the actors there are Spanish, so it's like the Spain stand-in), to rescue he and Cersei's daughter Myrcella, who it turns out was perfectly happy to stay there and marry her prince. This entire plotline was contrived and boring, and the Sand Snake women acting in revenge for Oberyn's death were the least interesting villains the show (or books I suppose) have ever created.
Back at King's Landing, Cersei's story was a little better, as she spent her time empowering a group of religious zealots so she could use them to imprison Margaery and her brother, but of course it backfires on her and she herself finally gets what's coming to her, as she's thrown in prison and forced to confess and atone for her sins, resulting in a literal "Walk of Shame," naked, through the streets of King's Landing. That was a pretty good payoff for one of the show's best villains- if they can actually make you feel sorry for Cersei Lannister, that's quite an accomplishment. But we've reached the limit on the stories I find interesting now, as we must go through a laundry list of characters whose plights aren't compelling enough to stop me from becoming distracted by other thoughts as I watch, which is always a bad sign.
Jon Snow and his quest to recruit the Wildlings for Stannis. I yawn just thinking about it. I've never been enamored by Snow, even if I have grown to like him more, if not his storylines at the Wall, which I've never been exactly thrilled by. He went out like a champ though, as one of the season's big deaths in the finale, so hats off to Kit Harington for sticking around this long. Stannis and his quest to march through to the Iron Throne- all for naught apparently, and since I've never liked him either, I wasn't sad to see him finally struck down by Brienne of Tarth, after losing the battle to retake Winterfell. He was also the topic of one of the most controversial moments of the season, when he chose to sacrifice his daughter to the gods, burning her alive at the stake in one of the most awful moments in the show's history- after that, I guess he had to go fast and he did, so bye-bye Stannis. Sansa returning to Winterfell- horrible. This is mostly because after seeming to want to empower Sansa at the beginning of the season, with Littlefinger training her to become devious and manipulative, aware of the power she possesses, it comes to nothing when Sansa marries resident sadist Ramsey Bolton, who immediately rapes her (the other galling, controversial scene of the season) and keeps her as his prisoner wife, which so shocked fans that many wanted to stop watching altogether. My biggest beef with the storyline was that it ended up being a catalyst to gain Theon Greyjoy his agency back, after being tortured by Ramsey himself, and by the end of the season when he finally wakes up, it all ended up having more to do with him than Sansa, which is a little insulting, considering she was the one being abused this year. Also, Ramsey is the most disgusting, purely evil asshole on the show, which seems to be using him as the King Joffrey replacement for character you most want to see die a gruesome death. I'm sure we'll get there, but it doesn't happen yet, unfortunately.
Finally there's Arya, who met up with her pal who works for the Many-Faced God and spent the season attempting to be his apprentice and become a no-face herself. More yawns. I've never totally loved Arya's storylines, which have become more and more tangential to the plot, although I'm sure it'll come back around eventually, and her big revenge moment this season came on a character who apparently was on in the first or second year, but who I have virtually no memory of, which made his death less impactful than I think it was supposed to be. The one good thing about this year was that there was no Bran, who was last seen in the magic underground elf lair (I think, right?), and to be honest, he wasn't missed at all. The show is diverging from the books now, and by the time the next season comes out, the sixth book may or may not even be published. I'm not sure what that means for the quality of the episodes going forward (George R.R. Martin is still a consultant, so he of course knows what's going to happen), but I'm all but ready to start spending all my time with Dany and Tyrion as they finally make their way to King's Landing and take back the Throne, aren't you? I think it's time to start wrapping things up and getting rid of a lot of subplots that aren't going anywhere. This season was okay, but nothing wowed me, and when I feel the tediousness creeping in I start getting restless and thinking about something else to watch.
Grade: C+
