I'm going to skip the week-in-review this week because I don't know how closely I was paying attention to my shows anyways. In short, Justified and The Good Wife are the best shows on TV, Margo Martindale deserves an Emmy for her amazing turn as Mags Bennet, Matt Czuchry also deserves an Emmy for not cracking up while talking to the Glenn Childs lion (seriously, The Good Wife is not only the best drama on network TV, it's also completely hilarious when it wants to be--I've got to get me one of those lions immediately), and I'm beyond thrilled to finally get The Vampire Diaries and Nikita back. Things are getting very interesting on Nikita, you know, for the 9 of us who watch the show... Oh, and speaking of small groups of which I am a member, I'm one of the very few who not only has heard of Reelz Channel, but who also gets it. I watched maybe 2 minutes of The Kennedys and that was plenty. Katie Holmes is simply atrocious as Jackie. Take a moment and let the shock wear off.
The Borgias
I had every intention of writing a thorough review of this one, but it hit right about the time my illness did. As such, here's the short short version, where I skip all the plot summary and in-depth character analysis. It's an impressively made show, and certainly has its assets, but it wasn't quite what I'd hoped it would be. For a show about sex, murder, betrayal, and power-plays, it was a bit dull in places. It doesn't rely on subtlety in any way, shape, or form, so it should have been an over-the-top guilty
pleasure, but it was rather more sedate than anticipated. Maybe the papacy just isn't my bad (shocking, I know), but I'm hopeful it'll draw me in more once I get to know the characters. I'm a huge fan of historical documentaries, but this is based in reality in only the most fleeting of ways. That said, I did learn that Pope Innocent VIII was rumored to have more than a dozen children just in time to get a Jeopardy question right, so it's not completely without historical merit. A couple of things I noted: Why the hell do they all sound English? A family of Spaniards, living in Italy, apparently sound like Jane Austen warmed over? Oookay. That always annoys the hell out of me. Especially when every single character has a different English accent, even though they're supposedly in the same family. I'm rather attuned to dialect, so this drives me nuts. Also of note, there's an obvious incest vibe between the eldest brother and his younger sister. I don't know why exactly, but not only am I totally fine with that, but I'm kind of eager to see those two crazy kids get together. How twisted is that? I think it's that the show did absolutely nothing to establish a brother-sister relationship before they had them interacting in a very non-brotherly-sisterly kind of way. Again, subtlety wasn't on the menu for this show, so they threw it out there with reckless abandon. So, to sum up the review of The Borgias... incest has never looked so appealing? Yeah, I'll give you two guesses as to the romantic pairing I'm talking about in the photo, and it ain't Jeremy Irons and the church...Pilot Grade for The Borgias: B-
The Killing
This one I'm particularly bummed about not being able to write a complete review. The Killing was beautiful, understated, and heartbreaking. As you'd expect from AMC, the writing it deliberate and engaging, and the narrative set-up isn't quite what you'd expect.
Even though this show centers on the death of young girl, a concept we've all seen too many times to count, it's done in a sobering, enigmatic way that draws you in without being over the top. Aside from the misguided and misleading promotional campaign for the show, there's very little to complain about. It's a lot slower paced and more depressing than your standard fare, so if you're looking for a sudsy whodunit, you may want to look elsewhere, but I think it's well-worth the effort. The acting is superb, and even though the lead actress looks like she should be winning the sixth grade spelling bee, not solving horrific murders, she totally pulls it off. I have written to my darling Matt Roush regarding the off-putting promotional tactics for the show as such:I was thrilled to see that you’re enjoying The Killing as much as I am. It’s dark and serious and understated, but utterly compelling. With the tone of the show in mind, I was wondering what you think of the interactive online fan-builder touted at the end of the show. Maybe I’m just taking the show too seriously, but I think it’s completely misguided, and although I realize that this is fiction, it almost seemed insensitive to the Larsen family in a way. Maybe it was just that the voice pitching the online features was too enthusiastic or something, but after a truly haunting couple of episodes, it struck me as extremely odd. I think the producers are kidding themselves if they think viewers who just watched the devastation of these characters (that phone call between Rosie’s parents was gut-wrenching to say the least) and who have
embraced the macabre nature of the subject matter would want to excitedly hop online to trade theories with other fans, view suspect profiles, and worse of all, take a virtual tour of Rosie’s bedroom. Seriously? How twisted is that? Take a tour of her room? You mean the room where her mother, near catatonic with grief, is huddled on her late daughter’s bed, clutching Rosie’s last earthly possessions because that’s all she has left? That room? Um, no thanks. I can understand where the producers (or the network or whoever is behind it) were hoping that The Killing might turn into watercooler gossip the following morning, with fans discussing “Who killed Rosie Larsen?” with as much fervor as the ad campaign clearly hopes, but I just don’t see that happening. This isn’t the bizarre fate of Laura Palmer, the soap opera pursuit of who shot JR, or even the quirky teen noir of Veronica Mars and I really can’t imagine gabbing with friends about the fate of Rosie Larsen. This production is a searing character piece with haunting undertones, looking at the ramifications of a young girl’s agonizing death, not a sudsy whodunit. Rather than a “watercooler fodder” type of show, it seems more like a “stare blankly out a window and ponder the cruelty brevity of life” kind of show. Am I just putting way too much gravity on this or do you think the advertising strategy is off the mark?I'll let you know if Matt responds in his column or if I'm just off my rocker and not worth addressing. Whatever the ad campaign, it's a beautiful show that I'm confident in recommending (to the right audience... this show isn't for everyone, that's for sure). A final thought, after watching one torrent of rain after another, I'm not sure which is more of a deterrent to living in Seattle: the grisly murder or the sogginess.
Pilot Grade for The Killing: A-
Chaos
What's that? You've never heard of this show? Yeah, neither had I until the day it premiered. Yeah, few people keep as close of tabs on this kind of thing as I do, so when a show catches off-guard, you know the network wasn't exactly behind it. The fact that it airs on Fridays doesn't exactly do it any favors either. Yeah, I couldn't even find a promotional poster for the show, and that picture right there is one of maybe three that popped up. Anyway, once again dispensing with any
recap, it was an okay pilot. I was entertained, if not completely enthralled. To harp on my attention to accents once again, Chaos offered one of the worst American accents I think I've ever come across. There's a notion out there that American actors simply can't do a convincing English accent, but more and more, I think the Brits are just as bad. It took all of about a sentence to determine that actress Carmen Ejogo wasn't going to pull this one off. Seriously, mere seconds after she opened her mouth, it was painfully apparent that "Whoa, she's English," and that it was going to be an annoying struggle from there on out. Terrible. Simply terrible. So terrible in fact that I'm starting to wonder if maybe her character is supposed to be English after all... That doesn't make a lick of sense for the show, but that's all I can muster as an explanation. Anyway, aside from that, the pilot was fine, I suppose. It's an action movie, basically, and is even directed or produced or something by Brett Ratner (which isn't exactly an endorsement I'd spread around if I were the show). I can't say it'll make my regular rotation, but hey, it was better than Breakout Kings. Friday doesn't exactly have a whole lot else to offer, so if you're in need, this one was an enjoyable, escapist diversion. Pilot Grade for Chaos: C+
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