This is called a filmcap, but this week it's a TVcap. I review four television seasons that either had season finales or I finished myself in this week. I give my input into the first critically-panned AMC show, rave about a show more about community than "Community", compare a fantasy show to the Arab Spring, and talk about why comedies have a harder time being good than dramas.
(I was out of the country for about two and a half weeks hence the lateness for this post and the reason no posts were published in the last few weeks. I watched minimal films in the weeks after this post and so I'll probably be getting more posts up in the next couple weeks before school starts at a more hurried pace than normal, which will hopefully make up for the lost time).
The Killing: Season One (Veena Sud, 2011): A lot people seem to hate "The Killing". It was not the worst show ever made, but because it was so promising in the beginning and continued having great moments or scenes everyone thought it was going somewhere or had potential, and that potential was never reached, it actually got worse as the season went on. I'm not as angry with the finale of the show as others are (that may be because I don't usually get angry over anything). I did find the show very disappointing, but I might still catch the second season, just to see what happens. But here's the thing, I mostly watched the last three quarters of the first season of this show for that reason, just to see what happens. I only had to wait a week though. This time I'm going to have to wait almost a year, and when the premiere rolls around, there is a very good chance I will skip it because I won't care at all by then.
This was a really good show in the first couple episodes, then it was kind of consistently good for a few more. There's a moment though somewhere around 7th or 8th episode that is where it all went crazy, when a certain something was deemed everything that happened in the last few episodes to be wastes of time. After that, once I knew to stop looking for good things about the show, is when all the flaws of the show started glaring at the audience. The great atmosphere is what I loved in the beginning, but then the plot started getting silly, and we never learned anything about the characters, and it started to become one of those shows where you just watch to see what would happen. I got less and less invested in it. But then, came the 11th episode of the 13-episode season. That episode had nothing to do with the case, it was a story meant to flesh out the two lead characters. That's all it was, and it was probably the best episode. That was also the worst episode for the series. With that episode the low expectations for the show that developed over the season became high expectations again, but we were let down again. It went back to the same old after that. Random coincidences and repetitive storytelling. The one pretty good thing about the show was its displaying of parental grief after their child's death. Again, great storytelling mixed with horrible storytelling. Not a good mix.
Lastly, the finale. This is not an important spoiler (though I doubt most of you will watch this show anyway), but the killer is not revealed at the end of the season. The investigation continues into season two. It's not a bad decision to keep the investigation going, but the cliffhangers were stupid. Arguably, the main plot twist/cliffhanger feels like it was written for the sake of toying with the audience, not because it makes a lot of sense and was hinted at all. Very few characters had any sort of character development on this show, and rendering the development of the best character moot was a very bad decision. I wish this show was good. It's on AMC and it's set in Seattle. I wanted to like the show, but it's done too many things wrong. In the process it has taken AMC's good will down with it, which is very unfortunate. As I said, I may be back next year (depends on reviews probably), but in the meantime I consider "The Killing" to be a failure. It's too bad, because I was rooting for its success.
Grade: C-
Deadwood: Season One (David Milch, 2004): This western is set in a time in which the United States has been established for a 100 years already, but it's just following up the civil war. It's a time of reconstruction and a time in which the federal and state governments are trying to get things back into an established order. The city of Deadwood though, is on Native American land. No laws apply to Deadwood, at least not yet. The show deals with the beginnings of a community and by extension the establishment of organization. It goes into how the many individual parts of a community come together to the point that they can't function without each other. This first season is not necessarily about government (though it is mentioned during times that probably foreshadow future seasons), it's more about community. It's about how the many individual pieces need each other to join together and create something new that would not be possible if they had worked on their own.
Party Down: Season One (John Enbom, 2009): There are few comedies that succeed at being anything more than funny (many don't even succeed at being funny). It's a difficult task, mostly because it's difficult to sustain a consistent level of comedy while delving into human and social issues which are serious issues. It's possible to talk about them in a comedy certainly, but it is difficult to do that over the course of a long period of time and still be funny every episode. Many great dramas have had many hilarious moments, for example the beginnings of "Breaking Bad" and "Lost", but they weren't comedies and so they didn't have to consistently be funny. They could be funny when they wanted, when the story and situation dictated a funny situation is warranted, which is more like real life. For that reason, I tend to appreciate dramas more than comedies. Life is funny, but it's usually not as funny as a television comedy. "Party Down" is a comedy that is just a comedy. For most of the first season it doesn't do a lot more than be funny. But towards the last few episodes, especially the penultimate episode, the characters starting getting out of their shells. They started to become real people with problems that we could see.
Deadwood: Season One (David Milch, 2004): This western is set in a time in which the United States has been established for a 100 years already, but it's just following up the civil war. It's a time of reconstruction and a time in which the federal and state governments are trying to get things back into an established order. The city of Deadwood though, is on Native American land. No laws apply to Deadwood, at least not yet. The show deals with the beginnings of a community and by extension the establishment of organization. It goes into how the many individual parts of a community come together to the point that they can't function without each other. This first season is not necessarily about government (though it is mentioned during times that probably foreshadow future seasons), it's more about community. It's about how the many individual pieces need each other to join together and create something new that would not be possible if they had worked on their own.
One of the great things about the show is how all these pieces are individualized so well. All the characters are developed and examined with such detail, and examining the many characters actually ends up solidifying the overall commentary on the community. The show is a true ensemble, focusing on many different character at different times. The two main characters are probably Al Swearengen and Seth Bullock, but when you actually look at screen time they don't have much more than the others. Both of those characters though drive the show. They're both flawed men dealing with their own ambitions and demons, but they're both fundamentally different. Swearengen is almost the de facto mayor of the city, he's at the top of his game, and this first season is about his efforts to stay at the top during the creation of this new community. Bullock is a newcomer, a former sheriff, who has recently moved to the town of Deadwood to start a new life. Most showrunners would have Bullock be the moral center of the show, the guy trying to make things right in a town gone wrong. But in "Deadwood," David Milch creates him into a man who has some pretty deep issues. He loves the law and he believes in the law, but in a town without the law, he sometimes has to take things into his own hands and that is when he and you realize why the law must exist.
The thing about the first season of this show is that you don't really get all of this until the very end of the season, and only then if you're really paying attention. I've seen the first few episodes of the second season and that's helped my thoughts on the first season. There is not a whole lot of narrative momentum in the middle batch of episodes, instead there is a lot of setting up. The whole season sets up all the players in this community, and by the end of the season moves them a bit, but not radically. Based on what I've seen of the second season I expect a lot more change to come, but much of this first season serves as a wonderful introduction to an amazing world of unique and complicated characters. The quality of the show is almost flawless. The performances by Ian McShane and Brad Dourif are two of the best performances I've ever seen on television. The dialogue and language by Milch is rich, textured, and sophisticated, and the best part is that there are multiple swear words a minute. His writing is one-of-a-kind, and the show is worth watching just to see what the characters say. I'd definitely recommend the show, but the first season can be a bit slow. But watch the whole thing. Once you get to the season finale, you'll definitely want to keep going.
Grade: A-
Game of Thrones: Season One (David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, 2011): When I initially reviewed the pilot episode of this show for The Daily Evergreen (website seems to be down so no link), my consensus was basically that it's too early to really get a grasp on how the show will be but that its ambitions seem to be unparalleled on television. After watching the full season now, I certainly agree with what I said about its ambitions and can say that the show only got better as the show went on, especially towards the end of the season, to the point where I can easily say it's one of the best shows on television. It dismantled the traditional fantasy genre that feature the likes of "Wizard of Oz," "Harry Potter," and "Narnia," and created what some call an anti-fantasy, or what I called in my review, a realist fantasy. It's more like "The Godfather" than "Lord of the Rings."
It transplants our brutal history of power and politics to the world of Westeros. It's a place that looks nothing like our world today, sort of looks like our world of the past, but still retains small fantastical elements. The amount of violence, sex, and pure brutality even in the storytelling, was oft-putting at first, but by the end of the season it is clear that there is a reason for it all. It lets us know that in a world where men are drunk on the hope of power, people will get beheaded, women will get raped, and destructive wars will be fought. There are many characters in this show, certainly over 30, but few of them can be called heroes. In a bold move, one of those heroes ended up in a place at the end of the season that represented the death of nobility and rise of ruthlessness. With the context of the Arab Spring and the actions dictators have been taking in Libya and Syria recently, the events of the (mostly) second half of the season come with an even more real world parallel. The whole second half is about the amoral things a king/family will do to keep and control power. The shows asks the question of whether or not a moral and nobel person can succeed in an environment like this without getting himself killed.
Due to its multi-story narrative, and lack of episodic structure, the first season of "Game of Thrones" is best watched as a whole in large chunks. The show is novelistic in its structure, it takes some time to get going, but when it gets going is when it proves to be amazing television. There is a lot of exposition and set-up in the show, especially in the first five episodes, but on this show, once you have a grasp on the world, the exposition does not feel like exposition. It feels like part of the story and world, and you want to know more, not only about the world they live in, but about the character who are telling you. The show improved drastically as it went on, and in hindsight it is better than I gave it credit for even in the early hours. As the final moments of the show brought a development similar to the invention of the atom bomb during WWII, I can only look forward to what is coming next. The continuation of the high-stakes nature of the show is probable, and now that the world and that many of the major characters have been introduced and somewhat developed, the events in the battle for the throne by the rivaling families will take precedent. The world of governance is a dangerous place, but "Game of Thrones" puts those real dangers into a world we do not know and makes us finally look at them with a concerned and horrified eye.
Grade: A-
Party Down: Season One (John Enbom, 2009): There are few comedies that succeed at being anything more than funny (many don't even succeed at being funny). It's a difficult task, mostly because it's difficult to sustain a consistent level of comedy while delving into human and social issues which are serious issues. It's possible to talk about them in a comedy certainly, but it is difficult to do that over the course of a long period of time and still be funny every episode. Many great dramas have had many hilarious moments, for example the beginnings of "Breaking Bad" and "Lost", but they weren't comedies and so they didn't have to consistently be funny. They could be funny when they wanted, when the story and situation dictated a funny situation is warranted, which is more like real life. For that reason, I tend to appreciate dramas more than comedies. Life is funny, but it's usually not as funny as a television comedy. "Party Down" is a comedy that is just a comedy. For most of the first season it doesn't do a lot more than be funny. But towards the last few episodes, especially the penultimate episode, the characters starting getting out of their shells. They started to become real people with problems that we could see.
The show is about would-be actors and writers in Los Angeles trying to make it, and as they wait for their big break they work for a party catering company. These are real problems, and a good set-up for a comedy. A bunch of people with similar issues who are at that age and point in their careers in which they are most relatable. One of the biggest aspects of the show that I enjoy is the fact that it never shows the outside-of-work lives of these characters. It's a true workplace comedy in which we know everything about our characters from their interactions in the workplace. It is the most similar to actually being their co-worker, because you don't usually get too close to all your co-workers in reality. More impressive is that towards the end of the season relationships between characters start to begin and it still is all in the workplace. The setting and situations of every episode are always golden and almost always provided the laughs for most of the first season, where the show will need to improve (and showed signs of in this season) is with character.
It's hard for most television writers to make characters in comedy that are more than just caricature, and at this point in "Party Down" there still are a few who are caricatures. You still have a guy who is the "geek" and the the guy who thinks he's a hotshot. They provide for laughs but there's not much connection there. The best written character is certainly Ron, the manager, and that's all because of the penultimate episode in which we see the humiliation he went through in life. It's dark, but also hilarious, and so it works brilliantly. I'm looking forward to more of the same when I finish season two.
Grade: B
No comments:
Post a Comment