Mad Men: Season Five (2012)

Creator: Matthew Weiner

 The 1960's are famous for having been the era of great social change, and Mad Men has been well aware of this during its run, but we haven't seen it manifest itself completely. Up till the fourth season it was mostly hints of what was to come. But now that we're in the second half of the 1960's we're seeing a lot more of the actual social change and seeing how it is affecting both the young and old characters. This season takes on this divide between the young and old workers head-on. The first half of the season is about the old making way for the new. We see people like Don Draper and Roger Sterling struggling to keep up with society's new trends, something that's pretty important to their jobs. The second half of the season we see their responses to that struggle, which ends up being denial. They have an increased ambition to keep up with the younger people and try to get back what they once had.

For the main character, Don Draper, we see this not only in his professional life, but his personal life as well. The beginning is the best of times for Don. He gets rejuvenated when he starts a new firm, a new account, a new family. But once that beginning ends, the dissatisfaction comes back, and a search for a new beginning begins once again. This season shows us the negative consequences that come with ambition, which is a constant sense of dissatisfaction. Mad Men goes deep into the human psyche like no other show has done before, and it does so in a sophisticated, artful, and subtle way. The show has created such complicated characters in a world that is so much like our own that makes it so easy to react to even the smallest of changes or events in their lives because we know exactly what they're going through. This is because Mad Men is a show about one of the most universal things there is, the endless pursuit of happiness. And what is Don's definition of happiness? "It's the moment before you need more happiness."

Grade: A

The Walking Dead: Season Two (2012)

Showrunner: Glen Mazzara

 The first season of this zombie show was only six episodes long, so this 13-episode season would really show people if this was a dud or a truly great series. For me, it did not do either. The show definitely is not great. The characters are all frequently annoying and put themselves into contrived situations. Their lack of consistency can also be frustrating. They are just not that compelling, and if the show had at least one truly fascinating, smart, interesting main character, it would be much better. There was also the really slow storytelling that was slow not because they were trying to prove some important point or anything, it was slow and unfocused with no real singular conflict.

But I still cannot call the show a complete failure, because I must admit, unlike the pretty bad first half, the second half of the season does pick things up. There is a real simple conflict between Shane and Jim, and that conflict is given time to get bigger and bigger, and the climax of that conflict is completely satisfying. The moral and ethical decisions were simple, real consequences were there, and real decisions were made. I will say though, the main reason I will continue watching this show is because there is and has been potential for The Walking Dead and so you never know when you might see some great storytelling that happen to include some great zombie deaths. I do hope they find that potential next season.

Grade: C

Filmcap: The week of Oct 9-16

Rumble Fish, Germany Year Zero, and the epic fourth season of Breaking Bad. Only three things this week, but they're all very top notch. Only one week after the long Deadwood Season three post, I come back with an even longer post that is almost as long The Tree of Life post, but still not quite. The review of Breaking Bad has no detailed spoilers at all, and there are some statements about the trajectory of the show, nothing should be that bad. If you want to be completely pure of any and all spoilers, like some of the complex characteristics of Walt, then you may want to stay away. Otherwise I hope it will convince most of you to watch the show. For those who have seen the show, I point you towards the last paragraph for my thoughts on what the show is about on a macro level. 

Filmcap: The week of June 19-26

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).

Filmcap: The week of May 1-8

Yes I am still very behind on these, you should probably get used to that now. In this post I include a great TV show that I've now caught up with, a spaghetti western (right when "Community" had their spaghetti western episode), a Woody Allen film, and brand new superhero movie of cosmic proportions.