Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much

I’m willing to bet that anytime you see The Price Is Right these days you are immediately transported to staying home sick. Is there anyone out there who hasn’t fantasized about studying up and having the game challenge YOU? What would happen if you were to catalog every item and its price ever put up for bid, then memorize said catalog? Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much answers this question. We watch fanatic Theodore Slauson as he recounts his many tapings and accurate bid guesses on The Price is Right. The story is absolutely thrilling. To witness someone ‘take the house’, so to speak, is even more exciting than playing the game. At a short and sweet hour and ten, Perfect Bid is a jaunty little documentary. It covers the topic well, has great interviews, and tickles your game brain. 

It’s interesting to watch someone really dive into an obsession…… Ted reminds me a lot of my dad, actually. HEY DAD I KNOW YOU READ MY BLOG -  HAVE YOU SEEN PERFECT BID/DO YOU AGREE??

Fleabag / Miranda

There’s been a big movement in the industry to show ‘real’ women full of flaws, questionable decision making, and ‘unlikability’. While it might be a horrific realization to men across the nation, women rejoice and breathe a collective sigh of relief. FINALLY, we are being portrayed in the media for qualities other than utter pleasantness! Phoebe Waller-Bridge writes and stars as Fleabag - a modern, single, insatiable British gal dating in London. We quickly form opinions after we see her delight in shoplifting. We watch her journey of theft, expert level negotiating, sex, and a puppet-like on and off again boyfriend whom she navigates through turmoil for her own amusement. 

The show is known for its flawless breaking of the fourth wall. This is when a character acknowledges the presence of a camera. Waller-Bridge is able to sweetly charm a suitor, deliver some contradictive sharp wit while she burns the lens, then snaps back into seduction with ease. She is an actress incredibly full of depth. She possesses an important trait every actor should strive for - surprise. Waller-Bridge pulls many mugs and faces at camera. While expressive, she manages to control even the slightest muscles in her face. The editing in Fleabag is a style worth studying. Quick cutaways and sharp edits keep the comedy feeling fresh and unforced.

I heard on the ‘gram that ‘Miranda’ is what some refer to as the originator of the BBC quirky quick-witted lens burner. So in an attempt to learn more I just got sucked into her 2009 sitcom on Hulu. And I must say, Miranda has me laughing more than Fleabag! While I do enjoy Fleabag, I think I’ll explore Miranda a little more….Miranda Hart looks straight into the camera to plead with viewers, desperately seeking encouragement during moments of social awkwardness. The live studio audience cackles at the various prat falls and silly antics of a single woman living alone and desperate to date. Miranda is at the butt of every joke. Like any great comedian, she puts the audience at ease by immediately poking fun at herself, her size, and overall appearance. Miranda’s show has me hooked. I’ve revisited it more than Fleabag, in fact. I can’t believe how much I’m actually cracking up at! I can see how this show would inspire a more polished take…

Both shows are fabulous! But as I’ve said before, what kind of American would I be if I wasn’t pitting women against each other?? Overall, I’d simply categorize Fleabag as a bit naughty and Miranda as a bit nice. Now go watch both and report back!

Game of Thrones - Finale

There’s a petition going around right now asking for HBO to remake season 8 of GOT with ‘competent writers’…..it has over a million signatures! And this is where we are in 2019. If you want a company to spend millions of dollars on you cuz they didn’t get it right the first time, a petition will do the trick!!! Surely HBO will bend the knee to its viewers. NOT. Ya’ll are morons. Anyone who is that butt-hurt about where the show has gone clearly set themselves up for disappointment. And no, they didn't have the books to fall back on, so yes, the show runners gained creative control over the ending of the story. Get over it.

Expectation is a funny thing in the TV world. When watching anything, it’s important to acknowledge your expectations going into it. At least monitor your excitement, preparedness, hesitation…..notice yourself gearing up in a certain direction about what you will view and how you think you already feel. Then assess yourself during your viewing - are you enjoying it? Are you getting let down? How can you adjust your mental course so you’ll still be happy in the end? Or can you?

When I thought about the options in my head, I feared we were headed toward a perplexing, disappointing ending (like the show LOST’s finale.) Let’s break it down a bit. Game of Thrones had a few choices of where it could end. We could end with a ruler we expected/wanted, or a ruler we didn’t expect/want, or we could end on a note that maybe wouldn’t polarize the audience TOO badly by bringing a roundtable of the bewildered leftover characters to give a giant shrug at the question of WHO SHOULD RULE??

This is essentially my biggest problem with the finale. After all these years, various journeys, bloodshed and battle to get to the throne, you’re telling me no one knows what to do?? No one had a backup plan? This was the least opinionated council of people I’ve ever witnessed, and I used to work in public involvement. It’s also funny to see them hint at democracy just to immediately shut it down, cuz that ending wouldn’t have been satisfactory either. It would have been too much of a political statement. I suppose I’m just baffled at the choice of Bran. After years of being told nothing gets done without hard work, I was pretty shocked to see the most listless, apathetic, lackadaisical character on screen win the throne. SO THERE’S HOPE FOR ME, MA! Where I once saw him as this all-knowing, humble, dazed and confused person who seemed so careless about the self, we learn that, in fact, every move Bran made led HIM to the throne. AND HE SAW IT COMING. Now he can say ‘I don’t want it’ all he wants, but……if this show has taught me anything about the concept of power…..I don’t think I believe him.

When you consider what the writers had to do, you kind of get why they did it. Try and think about where they were coming from and what feat they had to accomplish. It’s like we’ve spent years watching them painstakingly put together a giant 5,000 piece puzzle. And they did it well, too! In the words of Kit Harrington, “whatever critic spends writing about this season and makes their negative judgement on it, in my head they can go f—k themselves ‘cause i know how much work was put into this.” In this age of demand and consumption WAY surpassing supply, the viewer easily forgets the blood, sweat, tears, and MONEY it takes to make a show of this magnitude. If anything you should really be thanking HBO - they made it possible for you stare off into the screen, getting lost in Westeros with the boobies and dragons, in your battered sweatpants, wine-stained teeth and hazy cloud of cheeto dust.

Now that the watch has ended, we are all left with a gaping hole in our Sunday evenings. but remember to look back fondly and know that it was never about the destination, but the journey.

DRACARYS.

The Young Pope

The Young Pope is a story following the world’s first ‘young’ and American pope in his journey of discovering the true roll of the Catholic prophet, testing its boundaries, and baptizing the house of the holy. Jude Law is Pope Pius Xlll, aka Lenny Belardo, the first American pope and the youngest to have ever reigned. He’s somewhat of a contrarian, smoking in his office, refusing direction from his advisors, and rejecting his predecessor’s liberal views. Lenny feels like a typical power hungry leader, fueled by ego, doing as he wants once elected into office. (This sounds SO familiar….hmmmmm…HMMM) Akin to  Game of Thrones’ Joffrey, Pius Xlll takes charge in his own way much to the horror of those designated to guide his rule. The show is setting us up to be shocked and appalled by his actions, aaaaaand that is what I’m here for, personally. Who doesn’t love watching a dissenter stomp all over people? IN FICTION, LET’S BE CLEAR.

HBO has set a standard. I’m not aware of any big misses they’ve made. (Anyone?) Much like Westworld, the trailer has done an excellent job of setting me up to expect a HBO-level of flawless television. The Young Pope made it’s visual theme clear from the get go. We see extremely artistic imagery. This is not a typical American-made show crafted from the hands of big name Hollywood. The show is created, written, (with others,) and directed by the wholly Italian Paolo Sorrentino. No, you don’t know anything he’s made. He’s as Italian as my great-grandmother, who hails from Canavese, Italy. Clumsy comparison, but not untrue. This is not a Prego, Papa John’s, Bertolli version of Italian camera craft. This has not been watered down and American-ized for our pleasure. It is pure Fellini-core, with many moments and shots serving solely as visual allegory. And ohhhh do I WELCOME IT. It’s so refreshing to see “cinemaaahhhhhh” (as my british Film History teacher would declare) on the small screen. I really appreciate the heavy handed foreign/un-American look of this show. There’s a moment when the pope frees a Kangaroo from the giant warehouse of gifts he’s received, and we later see it peeking and lock eyes with someone in the vast Vatican garden. This moment doesn’t progress the story, it doesn’t make any immediate metaphorical connection to me, but it’s just beautiful and takes breath out of the character, bringing pause and beauty for the sake of pause and beauty. 

FLASH FORWARD SOME ODD EPISODES WORTH: I’ve finished The Young Pope Season 1. Much like HBO’s fellow newbie Westworld, the show left something to be desired, it peaked before it wrapped up, it held its viewers with its captivating style and intriguing plotline. I was giddy to see each week’s new episode for both shows. I was taken on a ride that was exciting and interesting. My problem with each is that they just…kind of fizzled out. Anyone agree? With Westworld I can blame Vanity Fair for their extensive dissections and fan theory break-downs being too tempting and ultimately spoiling everything for me. With The Young Pope I think I expected some grand, giant climax the size of the Catholic Church itself. All thematic elements, motifs, and visual splendor aside, when it ended it felt like “………well, ok, then.” I’m not hating or loving the characters, I’m not invested in their lives, I don’t care about them really, and I don’t think a Season 2 would really be necessary. I don’t think there’s much else about this Young Pope that we need to see, other than him shirtless, Jude Law. If the show will have a second season, they’ll really need to ramp up the drama. Pius can’t be bothered with slanderous attempts at blackmail, political brawls, or sexual advances. The only struggle he showed was an eagerness to fill the void where his parents should have been, having abandoned him when he was eight. Nine? Ten. He was ten. Was he ten??? He fights with this demon of abandonment. The problem with it, was that it was somehow just not compelling enough. 

The show only has a 75% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so, take it as you will. 

The Handmaid's Tale

When Hulu released clone-y handmaids marching in unison amongst the crowd at the South by Southwest festival this year, outlets labeled the effort as “creepy, terrifying, and unsettling.” So, what I mean here is, I found my next Halloween costume. Also that this was an impressive, unforgettable, therefore successful marketing effort. I’ve been avoiding writing about this one, cuz no show has made me cry as often as The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s rough. It’s a hard pill to swallow. (Warning: DO NOT BINGE.) I once heard a podcast that discussed evolutionary genetics - as in only the strong and smart survived eons ago, creating the genetic pool of who lives today. (THANK YOU, ANCESTORS.) The Handmaid’s Tale makes me think about this theory quite often. Because the only handmaids that will outlive their torturous realities and pass on their genetic superiority are the smart, sharp, quiet, determined, cunning survivors. 

The horror of watching women get fired from the workplace, pried from their families, brainwashed into servitude, raped under religious order, children ripped from their hands, silenced, forcibly channeling aggression through sanctioned beatings, withheld from books, internet, media, and even boardgames, all in the name of God, well, guys, it sucks. It’s painful. I’ve decided to call it ‘pain-watching’. The Handmaid’s Tale is a near-future dystopian hell based off of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel. Infertility has scarred current day and the righteous see it as a plague. A new uprising overthrows modern U.S. government and implements their own regime in an attempt at correcting humanity’s actions. There are ‘eyes’ always watching, rebellions rising, hypocritical leaders, and desperate, infertile wives. Only the submissive survive as they’re broken into color coded categories, the handmaid’s donned in a stark red while their purpose is to procreate for the barren leaders. There has been a lot of chatter about the timeliness of this show, and if you don’t see what everyone is talking about, you might be part of the problem. (See also: general women’s rights, reproductive rights, et al.) 

The story is non linear, showing peeks of life before the uprising, what normality used to be. This technique is always welcome as it defines precise manipulation of the story we watch and emotions we feel. The story is disheartening, sickening, passionate, sensual, and unique. (Also, have I mentioned? REALLY HARD TO WATCH.) The mise-en-scene captures these feelings perfectly. This neomodern society reverts its dress, attitude, and speak to a more primitive time, muttering confusing and seemingly arbitrary greetings in Shakespearean prose, along the lines of “The sun and dust, greetings to your hemline”, etc. Huh?? It’s a world where everyone’s bread is homemade and women are objects and owned, strapped into simple, painfully practical dresses. The Handmaid’s red attire and giant white bonnets glide cautiously down the plain streets punctuated by black clothed military men with automatic weapons comfortably glued to their hands, poised to uphold their beliefs through firearms within milliseconds. (Whoever does the color design in post production needs a raise.) The bonnets serve good imagery in their scale and brightness. They act as shields from the handmaid’s faces and conniving minds.

There are quite a few bird’s eye views in the permanently overcast atmosphere, the deeply cinematic shots reminding us of the ever present eye-in-the-sky. (I’m sort of obsessed with surveillance-esque cinematography, so this pleases me.) The periodic use of modern music is jarring against the vintage looking scenery. I am DYING for a shot of the handmaid’s in slow-mo pacing to Level’s iconic ’I Bet You Wont’ with mischievous looks on their faces. THAT would be a scene, and the show could use some light heartedness!

The score sets ALL the tones with its sweeping, dooming, aching chords. The piano sounds Chopin-chaotic yet meticulously plucked out. It certainly emphasizes how crazy these characters must feel. Sometimes the melodies are hopeful, sometimes they’re fearful. Sometimes they make you cry, like I do, almost every episode. There’s also a subtle siren-like groan throughout the show, a clear nod to the prison these women are kept in. Seriously though, if you don’t watch the show, PUH-LEASE listen to the music - The Handmaid’s Tale by Adam Taylor on Spotify.

Elizabeth Moss won the highly covetable, enviable role of June aka Offred. She carefully emanates Offred’s scheming mind through moments of facial pause with focused eyes, having to quickly calculate what she should say or what her next move should be. After all, her life is always depending on it. I would put a billion dollars down on her getting an Emmy nom. (Edit to add - she won, too!)The role is too good, she is too good, mark my words, it’s happening. Alexis Bledel, Samira Wiley, and Yvonne Strahovski shine in their roles as well. (Alexis carries an entire INTENSE...no, INSANE episode without saying a word!) The men are great too, but this is not their story. They mostly just glare with still mouths and brooding eyes, always looking pensive. And I’m ok with that. THIS ISN’T ABOUT YOU, GUYS. 

“Better never means better for everyone.”

“Ordinary is just what you’re used to…”

The Handmaid’s Tale is on Hulu and will start filming season two in September. I CAN’T WAIT THAT LONG?!

Better Call Saul

Confession: I’ve seen probably 5 episodes of Breaking Bad and I was just not a fan. It felt too dark and heavy, like a chore to me. When I saw them pull that kids body out of the dirt pile in the truck I was like OK I’M OFFICIALLY DONE TRYING, HERE. Better Call Saul, on the other hand, is an utter delight. Bob Odenkirk gets his hard earned time to shine thirty years in the making with an utterly inspired casting choice. This is one of those perfect trifectas of genius character, fine-tuned writing, and outstanding acting. Jimmy McGill (not yet taking on the Saul name) is one of the most entertaining characters on TV. A natural hustler, Jimmy makes things happen practicing law while tight-rope walking the ethical line. He fights with others and himself to justify the questionable things he does. If he does something morally dubious, it’s always for the benefit of someone else. Sure, he may tamper with evidence, but it’s because someone else’s life will be altered by it! 

The show is a study on characters. The plots are interesting and the situations hold tension, but what really stands out are the paths the characters choose to take. A strength of Better Call Saul is its unpredictability. You can never guess what someone is going to do. Even when a character is clearly making a certain decision, it is not laid out point blank for you to see. You are led on a bit of a goose chase, left on the edge of your seat. The characters are two steps ahead of us and it makes for enticing TV.

A hugely underrated actor, Michael McKean, portrays Jimmy’s mentally disturbed lawyer brother. Their relationship is tumultuous with a constant power struggle. The brothers each have a huge ego, constantly trying to one up each other as they have done all their lives. Michael’s character Chuck has worked hard at his law degree and is a brilliant book-smart lawyer. Jimmy woke up one day wanting to be a lawyer, got a chintzy law degree, and passed the bar without much effort. Jimmy has charisma and grit which wins people over immediately. For those reasons Chuck feels competitive with him. Chuck has a ‘condition’ called electromagnetic sensitivity. Basically it results in him depending on ice in coolers, gas lamps, and astronaut blankets. Leading a life as such makes practicing law very difficult for him, and his partners (see: leaving all cell phones and key fobs out of meetings. Well, ok, that’s not so difficult on paper, but, you know. It really is.) Chuck’s condition serves as an interesting story element and is both a figurative and literal lack of power over Jimmy. As a result of this problem the lighting team was given an even bigger one. I have never seen such an impeccably lit…ANYTHING. (I mean,…other than Kendrick Lamar’s new album but STICK WITH ME HERE.) Chuck’s home has no electricity in it, proving a major challenge in the lighting department. Have you ever tried to properly light something that’s dark on film? On your iPhone? Do you realize how difficult it is? Cuz I do. So much so, that I get distracted by the minuscule points of light in the scenes in Chuck’s home. It is impossibly dark and yet perfectly lit.

On the one hand we have this story punctuated with dark visual moments, and on the other we have the opposite. Mike Ehrmantraut (portrayed by Jonathan Banks) gets the privilege of being mysterious in his straight-faced badass role of the judge, jury, and executioner. While Mike has a darker storyline, it is oft portrayed in giant vast landscapes of high desert mecca assisted by extreme angles and long horizon lines. Lots of blue sky and red rocks. Where Jimmy’s work is done up close and face to face, Mike’s is tucked away in secret meeting places at a long distance. Mike is an ex cop and some sort of ex marine or something. And I think he’s an ex something else, too. He finds himself working in a parking toll and a hit man for the local gangs. Mike has an infinite knowledge of all things vigilante. While he also struggles with his moral conscience, he is keenly able to predict the nuances of a murderous situation with the affect of…I dunno,…Mariah Carey?? Someone unbothered, learned, collected, confident, and secure. That sounds like Mimi, right?? WORK THROUGH THE CLUNKY COMPARISON, I BEG YOU.

On to the rough part. I dunno if it’s cuz I seem to dislike women in general, (except Mariah?) but, Kim Wexler (by Rhea Seehorn) is the most middle of the line person on all of television, ever. When my class of 500 students was ranked by GPA my senior year, I seriously landed at like 252. THAT IS KIM WEXLER. She is neither hateful nor lovable. She has no outstanding qualities whatsoever. A friend pointed out she is “a powerful lawyer.” Well, ok. And what?? She has the personality of drywall. I believe her purpose is to be the dead leaf in the wind, floating throughout the storylines to serve as the characterless character propping up the other stories around her. I do think the acting contributes to this. Rhea makes choices, but they feel so….blah. Too neutral? I’m not sure. I’m having a hard time articulating how I feel about Kim, if you can believe that.

The show is a prequel to Breaking Bad, (the presence of flip phones a common reminder,) and that in itself makes for unique viewing. Better Call Saul is a modern show while emulating faux history, it’s genre blending abilities combining drama with a wink and a nudge. Dark, yet hopeful. BB fans know where our Jimmy ends up, so the show is one of a kind as it’s like solving a puzzle backwards. What happens to Kim? Chuck? Why does Jimmy shift to Saul? Is it a legal issue? Just how did he get so entwined in the local gangs?…

Better Call Saul airs on AMC and can usually be found on Netflix.

Big Little Lies

I’m moving to Monterey, California. Mallory has found me a 543 sqft apartment for $439,000 and quite frankly I think it’s a STEAL. Who’s coming with me?? The star of the show was not Nicole Kidman or Reese Witherspoon or Laura Dern or Shailene Woodley or my future wife Zoe Kravitz or the soundtrack. The star of Big Little Lies is THE HOMES. My gosh, I could live in any one of them. The location scouts and production design perfectly matched each character to her respective home. Nicole’s was dark, bruise-y in color, sexy, and fragile, Reese’s (my personal fave) composed, sturdy, standing high above the ocean, Laura’s both modern and exposed, Shailene’s humble, practical, and modest, Zoe’s a removed zen garden of jewelry-making bohemia and laissez faire attitude, every one awash in a hazy blue Instagram filter. 

Big Little Lies is based on a novel about privileged soccer mom drama taking place in a small community’s elementary school where parents are overly excited to greet their children at pick-up. Seriously though, has anyone else noticed that?? No one is THAT excited for their kids to get home from school. (I’m referring to a specific moment where it’s slow mo and everyone’s embracing their kid like they’ve just come home from war. Are they simply putting on airs? They must be.) The series is shown as an entire flashback, leading up to a dramatic murder of who - you don’t know - until the last ten minutes of the season.  We see talking heads of various townspeople spilling the tea about the main ladies to detectives. Turns out, everyone has motive against someone else. The relationships are as rocky as the scenery. The personalities are as big as the SUVs. Oh, and there’s a lot of staring at the ocean. A LOT. The kids endure typical conflict, including bullying, biting etc, but mostly their issues serve as a way for the parents to project their own battles onto the schoolyard… It reminds me of how when you have kids you get to avoid talking to other parents by just talking through your child. “Jimmy, tell Sarah you’re sorry…and her mom’s a jerk.” “Sarah, tell Jimmy apology not accepted and HIS MOM CAN SHOVE IT.” It’s not totally like that, but it reminds me of it. All y’all with kids know EXACTLY what I’m talking about.

It took me a few episodes to get into it. After the pilot I was disturbed by the kid-on-kid violence, (my least favorite theme of all time,) but I timidly peeked through my hands to indulge in the cat fights. To be honest, like a strong undertow, the homes DREW ME BACK IN. The show is certainly soapy, but it does pass the Bechdel test, albeit ironically at times. You know what else passes the Bechdel test? “OMG Becky, look at her butt.” So. Big Little Lies highlights aspects of female friendship you rarely see on television. These women are supportive, strong, vocal, and friendly  - when they want to be. They can be backstabby and vindictive, but, I find that to be an accurate representation of women. Reese’s character is the type of girlfriend I need to have - she has something I lack, courage to confront. All privilege, qualms, and social commentary aside, the women manage to come together in the end. AWWWWW.

HERE IS YOUR SPOILER WARNING. I’mma get into this piece.

Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgard play out an extremely volatile, heated, deep, sexy, intricate relationship full of physical abuse. When we typically see abuse in film and TV it’s very one-note, lacking depth and complexity. It’s as simple as he beats her = he’s evil. Big Little Lies dives into what I imagine is a lot of people’s reality in the situation, it’s quite messy and…complicated. The scenes are hard to watch and surely harder to portray. I just read how traumatic the whole experience was for the actors, and it’s like….YA. WE CAN SEE THAT. To view that level of intensity and consistency with abuse on screen is something I’ve never witnessed. It’s horrifying. The big problem the characters have is that their abuse is tightly wound into their passion. It confuses them and the viewer to have so much sexual pleasure derived from their power struggle and pain. It’s an extremely enthralling storyline, as hard as it is to see. (Alexander Skarsgard was serving some sort of visual resemblance to my husband so imagine MY confusion??) If you asked anyone who’s seen the show, it had us feeling some sort of way. Celeste (Nicole) makes a painfully compelling argument that her husband is a wonderful provider and the best father in the world, and as far as we can see, he is. It was suggested to me I’m more conflicted on the issue possibly because I too have children. This is probably true. I’m not saying I’d stay, hell-to-the-no, it’s just that, I can sort of hear her reasoning. You feel?? She’s convinced herself of these things to excuse his behavior and allow herself to go on with her situation. Watching their problem get unravelled with the aid of a therapist makes for intoxicating TV and standout performances.

Regarding the ending, I felt sort of befuddled by the culprit. We could all see the other stuff coming, and I like that the tension between Bonnie and Ed was left untouched, but I was a bit let down by the way it unfolded. After some light researching (i.e.; comment reading,) I learned that Bonnie had actual motive in the book. She explains that she saw her father abuse her mother growing up. I think that information would have been helpful in concluding the show. It didn’t need to be hinted at, they wouldn’t even have to write a line about it, personally I would do one of those silent flashback shots of Bonnie's traumatic memory in the last sixty seconds of the show as she stares off into the sea with her gorgeous jawline…

If they try a second season so help me. Everything’s been said, the story is wrapped into a big little bow, and any attempt to exploit the magic of the cast and success of the show will fail miserably in its lack of further story. What was needed to be said was said. Let’s leave it at that.

Big Little Lies airs on various HBO outlets.