The Strange World of Thomas P. Coombe

What I've Been Watching: "Why Can't You Be More Like Game of Thrones" Edition

 
Dear Pillars of the Earth,

My girlfriend was/is on your side, and she and I are usually simpatico when it comes to TV shows. But I suspect that may change when she finally sees Game of Thrones, which did the whole medieval political intrigue much, much better.

What's that you say? Game of Thrones isn't really "medieval" because it takes place in a fictional universe?

Too bad. Putting aside the fact that it's based on the "War of the Roses," GoT's universe still feels more real and authentic than yours, dragons and direwolves and all.

Honestly, there were times I felt like I was watching a Dickens adaptation. You gave us heroes who are impossibly noble, villains who are eeeeeeeeeeeeevil, long-buried secrets, a sprawling cast of characters, and (spoiler alert) an ending in which the wicked are punished and our heroes prosper.

That's fine for Dickens, less so when adapting a novel written 22 years ago.

And it's not like I wanted a Game of Thrones clone, just more nuance in your characters, and much, much more tension in your story. It seemed like any time a problem was introduced or a plot was formed, it would be resolved/put into motion in the next scene.

You assembled an impressive cast: Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell, Hayley Atwell (above), plus Donald Sutherland and a wasted Alison Pill and stuck them with weak material.

The intersections of power/religion/war/politics/art/lust could have made for a powerful series. What we got was pandering nonsense that I thought TV had left behind decades ago.

 

 

The Best TV Shows of 2010

It was a pretty good year for TV, but for me, a bad year for TV watching. I spent the second half of 2010 buried in work, which meant I didn't have much time for this blog. But with the year winding down, it's worth remembering the cream of this year's TV crop, whether I wrote about them or not.

1. AMC -- At least one of this network's program's -- Breaking Bad -- was an obvious contender for the top spot before the year was halfway over. Then came Mad Men's fourth -- and best -- season, followed by Rubicon and The Walking Dead, and by the time November arrived, it became clear AMC was TV's new king of quality TV shows.

No network has had a year like this since 2005, when The Wire, The Sopranos and Deadwood (not to mention Rome, Carnivale, Six Feet Under and Curb Your Enthusiasm) were all part of HBO's line-up.

The Walking Dead proved to be the network's biggest hit so far, a comic book-inspired horror/drama that managed to transcend its roots by the time its six-episode season was over. 

 Rubicon's low ratings, slow pace and complicated storyline pretty much doomed it early on, but it was still fascinating to watch, and heartening to see AMC take this kind of risk, even for just a season. In the end, the show's conspiracy plotline wound up being less interesting than its characters -- the fascinating, funny villain Truxton Spangler justly inspired a fake Twitter feed -- and it's those people, rather than the answers we did/didn't get, that makes me sorry Rubicon won't be returning.

I'd been a little underwhelmed by Mad Men's second and third season, but its fourth was brilliant, taking us deeper into the mind and soul of protagonist Don Draper while also giving us a compelling look at an ad agency struggling to keep its head above water. But put all that aside, and Mad Men rises above most of its contemporaries on the strength of "The Suitcase" episode alone.

The king of the AMC mountain this year, however, was Breaking Bad. In three seasons, it's gone from "interesting" to "must-watch" to "comparisons to the Coen Brothers are not unwarranted."  

In the article I linked to above, TIME's James Poniewozik ties Coen movies like No Country For Old Men and Fargo to some of Breaking Bad's larger themes. It's an apt comparison, but I'll take the connection in a different direction: just as the Coens can jump from No Country to Burn After Reading to True Grit, Breaking Bad can be a different kind of show every episode. One week it's the most tense thriller you've ever seen, another it's a tragic-comedic "bottle show." And it does all of those things well, helped along by a brilliant cast and the most beautiful cinematography on TV. The finest show in production now.

As for the rest...

Mad Men, Breaking Bad and AMC's Amazing Year

  Maybe I'm still reeling from last night's amazing Mad Men/Rubicon double-bill, but it's unreal, the year AMC is having.

 I don't think any network has had a line-up like this since 2005, when HBO had The Wire, The Sopranos and Deadwood in production -- if not on the air -- all at the same time.

 (Not to mention lesser but still top-quality programming like Rome, Carnivale and Six Feet Under.)

I'm always updating and revising my mental list of the best TV shows of any given year, and for the last three months, Breaking Bad has been firmly planted in the number one spot. It managed to take a phenomenal second season and built upon it. Each week was like a little movie: sometimes a dark, Coen Brothers-style comedy, some times an action movie (watch it again. I'll wait.) and sometimes a slow-moving character study. But always excellent, anchored by the justly-praised Bryan Cranston, who was backed by great supporting players like Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn and Dean Norris.

 But now I'm thinking it should share that spot with its sister shows: Mad Men -- which is on its way to its strongest season since it premiered, aired one of its best episodes ever last night -- and Rubicon a paranoid thriller that gets better each week as it focuses more and more on its supporting cast.

 (Although with each week that passes, I'm straining to see why we need Miranda Richardson's story at all. She's probably the most recognizable name in the cast, but there's just nothing interesting about the plotline. I'd rather spend that time with Will's team, or with Spangler and Kane, his frightening -- for different reasons -- superiors.)

 Hell, I'll even throw in The Walking Dead. It hasn't actually premiered yet, but you need to give AMC credit for trying to adapt such an ambitious comic book series, and for giving it a second season before the first one even airs.

 But it's Mad Men I'm most impressed with these days. I still think it lacks the punch that makes Breaking Bad so strong, but other than a stumble a few weeks back, season four with Don Draper and company has marked the show's best run since the first season. 

 And last night's episode really was among Mad Men's finest. It's what an episode like "Walkabout" or "Ab Aeterno" was to Lost. (I don't use "The Constant," because, frankly, it just doesn't do it for me. Sorry, Lost fans.)

"The Suitcase" has a simple premise: Don and Peggy stay late at the office working on an ad for Samsonite. It's pretty much just them for the entire episode; we see a bit of Pete, Harry, Joan, etc., and Roger has two brief, hilarious cameos, but most of this hour's weight falls on Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss.

 And dear lord, do they carry it, fighting, bonding, marching each other through emotional mine fields. It's a great showcase for both of them and one of the show's best uses of a product as metaphor for the characters. In this case, the tough Samsonite suitcase, which symbolizes Peggy and Don's hard outer-cores, and Don's hobo code past. When their long, hard night -- which included a break-up for Peggy, some vomiting and almost-fight with Duck Phillips for Don -- is over, they seem closer than ever. 

  Other thoughts:

•  This show does small moments beautifully. One that caught my eye last night: the very brief look of fear on Don's face as the phone rings. One that I wish I'd caught: Don taking Peggy's hand as a call back to the pilot, where she tried to do that to him and he rebuffed her.
• Here's a measure of how good "The Suitcase" was: my girlfriend hasn't watched Mad Men since maybe midway through the second season, and she was enamored. I think Ms. Blankenship helped with that...
• ...as did Don and Peggy listening to Roger narrate his memoirs. That could be its own spin-off.
• Harry to Danny: "You're such a Jew." It's still very much 1959 for Mr. Crane.
• Note that Pete seems to be the only person at SCDP who thinks Clay can beat Liston, just as, years ago, he saw JFK defeating Nixon.

 Tom Coombe

The Emmys: Filled With Glee. (Tom: Somewhat Pleased)

  Some quick thoughts on the Emmy nominations:

•  I'm not at all surprised at Glee's 19 nominations. It's fairly well-liked by critics, brought something unique to TV, and is hugely popular. But one of the best comedies of the year? Actually, I'd put Glee on the list before The Office and 30 Rock, which had really, really weak years. A better list would've left them off and replaced them with Parks & Recreation and Community, so that the Best Comedy nominees would, you know, actually include the best comedies. (Incidentally, Modern Family is a close third to these shows, and I was happy to see so much of its ensemble nominated.)
•  I'll confess: I'm wayyyy behind on my Friday Night Lights viewing (read: I've seen one and a half seasons). But by all accounts, the show has only gotten better over time, and it would've been clear to anyone who saw only the first few handful of episodes how good Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler were in the lead roles. So it's nice to see them finally being honored for their work. 
• Nominations that made me happy: Aaron Paul for Breaking Bad, Terry O'Quinn, Michael Emerson and Matthew Fox for Lost; Amy Poehler for Parks & Recreation.
• Nomination that surprised me, and made me happy: Martin Short for Damages, a great performance in a little-seen show.
• Omissions which really bugged me: John Noble for Fringe, the fact that  no one Sons of Anarchy or Justified made the cut (thinking specifically of Katy Segal from the former and Walton Goggins from the latter.)
• Who I'm pulling for in the main categories: Breaking Bad, Modern Family, Matthew Fox (for making us like Jack again), Connie Britton, Aaron Paul, Christina Hendricks, Larry David, Amy Poehler, Ty Burrell and Sofia Vergara.

 Tom Coombe

Breaking Bad Finale: Push Comes to Shove

  Before I get into Breaking Bad, I wanted to say a few quick words about Rubicon, the new AMC series that the network chose to preview after last night's finale.

 An unwise choice, really. Rubicon seems like a solid show, and I'm very curious about where it's heading. It unfolds rather slowly, but I get the feeling that, maybe three or four episodes in, we'll be hooked.

 But airing it directly after Breaking Bad's stunning third season finale? Not  a good idea. As a commenter on Alan Sepinwall's blog put it, it was like trying to play chess after being chased by a grizzly bear. 

Breaking Bad: Barbaric Yawp

 I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable. I sound my barbaric YAWP over the rooftops of the world. -- 

 Walt Whitman, Song of Myself

 That's Whitman's second appearance this year on Breaking Bad.

 He first showed up in the episode "Sunset," when Walt's former lab partner Gale quoted "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer." He was illustrating his antipathy for academia -- something he shared with Walt -- and comparing what they were doing for Gus to a kind of alchemy.

  And during that brief period, Walt could fool himself into thinking he'd entered a magical world, where cooking an addictive poison supplied by a ruthless drug lord was reduced to a matter a pure science.

 This week, Whitman appeared as a clue when Walt and his son watch Jeopardy! and the phrase "barbaric YAWP" reminds Walt of his current, frequently untamed lab partner, and the serious trouble he's in as the episode comes to a close. Of course, saving Jesse from himself means Walt needs to run wild himself, to "break bad" in a way he never has before, in a scene that -- like the ending of "One Minute" a few weeks back -- leaves us shaken.

Breaking Bad: When Skyler Met Saul

 Freed from the confines of the lab for most of this week, Walt and Jesse spend "Abiquiu" embarking on new business ventures, neither of which is as simple as they'd like them to be. 

 For Walt, that means introducing Skyler to Saul, in what turned out to be one of my favorite Breaking Bad scenes so far.

 Saul's sweating out his unctuous brand of charm, jumping from flirting with Skyler to solemnly calling the wounded Hank "an American hero."

Skyler can barely believe her husband trusts this guy, whose long term plan involves Walt laundering his money by investing in a Laser Tag franchise. (His rationale: Lasers = science, and Walt's a scientist, right?)

 She's already dubious of Walt's method of funneling his meth money to pay for Hank's therapy. And who wouldn't be? "My guy is a top...guy" isn't the most compelling argument. (Showing up with a check cut by something called "Ice Station Zebra Associates" doesn't help much either.)

Breaking Bad: Place Your Bets

  It's not just Skyler's fictionalized version of Walt that's into gambling. It seems like everyone in this week's Breaking Bad is rolling the dice.

 For Marie, it means threatening to go around her insurance company to find physical therapy for Hank, a move that could put her hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. 

It's yet another unintended consequence of Walt's decision to cook meth: it's allowed Marie to think it's possible to pay for complex medical care without insurance and still scrape by.

 For Skyler, it means taking a pretty significant risk and telling Marie about Walt's money, this saving her sister from making that big leap. Sure, she lies about how he got it -- a great scene by the way, and more on it below -- but by telling Marie this story, she's potentially given Hank/the DEA a reason to look at Walt.

 Walt's big gamble: telling Gus his -- correct -- theory about how the Hank vs. the Cousins shoot-out went down, then asking Gus what happens when their three month arrangement is up.

Breaking Bad: The Chicken Man Can

Last week's Breaking Bad ended on a tense, terrifying note, but there's no way the show can sustain that level of tension every week.

 So we got to relax a little this week, even as the White family holds its miserable hospital vigil for Hank.

 It's a claustrophobic episode. Walt needs/wants to get away and start cooking again. He's panicky, Jesse's calling him over and over, and there's a battalion of cops roaming the building, in part because of Hank, in part because one of the guys who shot Hank is still alive on another floor.

 Walt Jr. seems cold towards his dad, Skyler's suspicious of the calls Walt's getting, and Marie is simply losing it, lashing out at the DEA, at Walt -- who of course deserves all the scorn she has and more, just not for the reason she thinks -- at the cleanliness of the hospital silverware.

Breaking Bad: Lucky Shot

There are some episodes of TV that just wreck our vocabularies.  After we're done viewing them, the most we can come up with is "Whoa" or "Wow" or "Oh. My. God." or "uhhh...but...did...is she..."

  Think of Vic Mackey's confession. Don Draper shutting down Pete Campbell. Jack telling Kate "We have to go back."

  Breaking Bad, has had several of those episodes, including last night's "One Minute," which closed with a sequence that was as exciting and terrifying as anything the show has done.

 Of course, that's what I'm saying now. At the time, I could barely speak. My heart rate sped up, I was actually shaking a little, and the only words coming out of my mouth were "C'mon, Hank..."

 Let's watch it again. (And if you haven't seen the episode yet, wait. It's better that way, trust me.)