Welcome to a busy Monday newsletter. This week, I am looking at Fargo, the end of Lessons in Chemistry and the latest episodes of A Murder at the End of the World, The Curse and The Crown.
FARGO
Fargo is back for a fifth season and when I say back, I mean it literally and figuratively. I was one of the many who didn't finish the fourth season. I was super interested in the concept but found it to be horribly dull and misguided. But several years later, it seems as if the creative team behind the show realized their mistakes and the fifth season has a real "back to basics" approach that captures the vibe of the brilliant early seasons of the show: a healthy mixture of humor, violence and quirkiness.
The first two episodes premiered this past week. I absolutely loved the first episode. I was more mixed on the second one but I'm still excited to see where the season goes. The cast is full of stars who are giving great performances. Juno Temple traded in her British accent for a very thick Minnesota one and has been really interesting through the first two episodes. Jennifer Jason Leigh is a scene stealer (the guns for her family photo and the "slap him" line over the phone were laugh out loud moments). Lamorne Morris as a cop makes me think of the great Winston from New Girl but I'm always happy to see Morris in anything. And then of course there's Jon Hamm, fresh off The Morning Show, and ready to bring his usual strengths.
Something I really enjoy about Fargo is how it feels like it is serious but it's actually not taking itself seriously at all. It's like the reverse of The Morning Show, which takes itself more seriously than it should. Fargo probably could get away with being more important but it actively chooses not to be. There's suspense, there's murder, there's violence. Yet it's such a heightened reality and there's such absurd moments (another laugh out loud moment was the air horn in the convenience store) that it never crosses that line into trying too hard. I'm excited for the season to continue.
LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY "Introduction to Chemistry" (Finale)
Lessons in Chemistry wrapped up its run this past week and I have mixed feelings about the series as a whole. Let's start with the positive. Brie Larson was fantastic in this show. She was everything you'd expect and hope for when an Oscar winning actress takes on a role in prestige limited series. She gave a nuanced, interesting performance and fully embodied the character. Her supporting cast was also strong, particularly Lewis Pullman, Aja Naomi King, Kevin Sussman and the young Alice Halsey. The production values were also pristine. I don't know that there was much of a concept behind the technical design to aid the storytelling, but it absolutely looked expensively and intricately done.
My biggest criticism has to do with the storytelling. There was so much jumping around in time (a problem with too many streaming-era shows), major plots took over the show and then disappeared for episodes on end, and there were too many dangling threads (the show never really dealt with Elizabeth neglecting her daughter after making that a plot point as one example). It made me wish there was such a thing as a multi-season limited series. I don't think Lessons in Chemistry could have been an on-going series but it tried to do too much in eight episodes. The romance between Larson & Pullman's characters, the highway storyline with King's character, the cooking show and more all felt slightly underdeveloped and that's not even including the flashbacks. I don't know if that's the fault of the writers just not having enough time to do everything or not utilizing the time they had wisely. It's probably a little bit of both.
When I finish a show, I often think a measure of how much I liked it is "would I recommend this show to others?" I think for Lessons in Chemistry, I would give it a qualified yes. I think there's enough good things here but I just don't think it all came together as well as it could have.
A MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD "Survivors"
The third episode of A Murder at the End of the World continued to dig into the mystery while also building out the world. There were some really fantastic moments. Emma Corrin continues to be captivating and the scene where Darby followed a stranger out in the Icelandic night was captivating and beautifully shot. My biggest criticism with the show though is we are three long episodes in and I still feel like we barely know the other guests. The third episode gave us a little bit more as the other guests were discussed in more details but some of them have barely been on screen at all. If the killer is someone other than Clive Owen's Andy Ronson or Brit Marling's Lee Andersen, then we've barely gotten to know that character and we're almost halfway through the season. One of the best things about The White Lotus was that the murder mystery didn't really matter. It was so much more about the characters. But that's not the case here. This has set itself up as a true murder mystery. We need to know the suspects.
THE CURSE "Questa Lane"
The Curse continues to be the most interesting show on TV right now. I'm not saying it's my favorite or the best. But it's definitely the one I'm most curious to see each week of the shows currently airing. The third episode, "Questa Lane," continued to play to its strengths. Nathan Fielder is so good at playing the terribly aggrieved white man in a way that just makes you want to roll your eyes so far to the back of your head. The real MVP is Emma Stone though. What a get to have an actress like Stone in a show like this. She does so many things with her face and really makes the show. The series also has interesting filming choices but I'm not always sure what the point is for the filming choices. I'm just very curious what this show is building to.
THE CROWN "Dis-Moi Oui" & "Aftermath"
I watched the third and fourth episodes of the final season of The Crown (the rest of the season returns December 14). The third episode dealt with the day leading up to the death of Princess Diana while the fourth episode dealt with the aftermath of her death. Both had their problems. The third episode continued to be plagued by the problems of the first two episodes of the season - it barely felt like an episode of The Crown. It felt too sensationalized, too trashy in a way. The Crown was always very regal in its depiction of everything, much like the royal family, and the intricacies of the Diana and Dodi relationship felt beneath the show (and that's not even mentioning the cartoonish performance of Salim Daw as Mohamed Al-Fayed).
The fourth episode felt more regal as it pivoted back to the Royal Family. But the episode felt hellbent on making the Queen and especially Prince Charles look like the good guys in the situation. I get that the breathless media attacks on Charles in the 90s were probably not as nuanced as they could have been and maybe the show is trying to show a different side of the story. But they really did a lot of work to make Charles out to be very noble in this episode, probably more than he deserved. The show deviates from reality at times but the combination of Charles and a ghost Diana convincing the Queen to make a speech instead of the historical record of Tony Blair was an odd choice. And while we're at it, the "ghost Diana" and "ghost Dodi" were horrible, horrible choices.
SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
It's a quiet week of premieres to kick off a quiet month of premieres ahead of a busier new year. On Wednesday, Apple TV+ has the third season premiere of Slow Horses, a show that has its fans and has already been renewed for a fourth season. On Thursday, Netflix has the premiere of the action comedy Obliterated while Max has the premiere of the comedy Bookie, which features Charlie Sheen. Neither show seems to be getting much tracking but it's a slow week for premieres so who knows. Friday has the season premiere of Power Book III on Starz.
THOUGHT TO END TODAY
I planned to also talk about For All Mankind but truthfully, for a second week in a row, there wasn't a ton to talk about until the final ten minutes of a way too long episode. The show seems to be setting itself up for a lot of stories but we're now three episodes in so I hope the plot starts moving some more. I also am making my way through the second season of Julia. It's never been a homerun for me but I do think it fits the Maisel-sized hole in my life for a candy coated period dramedy.
No comments:
Post a Comment