This week, the death of Party Down, the birth of Pillars of the Earth, and the middle parts of True Blood, and The Thick Of It.
Pillars of the Earth: "Anarchy/Master Builder"
Nina Stone
I don’t now how we found out about it, because we don’t have Starz and have never, ever contemplated subscribing to it. But we were sitting on the couch and it suddenly came to my attention that Pillars of The Earth, one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE books, was now an eight part mini-series, produced by Ridley Scott, on Starz - and the first two episodes were on On Demand. !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so f***ing excited! In fact, the comment was made by my significant other that he might not have ever seen me so excited about anything on television, ever.
I loved this book so much. Have you read it? Last summer I submerged myself in the long-awaited (we’re talking something like 15 to 20 years of waiting) sequel.
So, how is it as a mini-series? Well, like all good books, it might not translate as well to screen. Follet’s vocabulary choices and descriptions of cathedrals, family bonds and character observations are possibly harder to translate into film then one might think. And there’s a lot to cover, plot-wise. There are several families to follow - from Tom Builder and his clan to the aspiring family of Shiring, the manipulative and self-serving Bishop, the earnest monk, the political corruption of the government and the church, etc., etc., etc. It feels almost like trying to keep up with names in Chekhov or Doestoevsky. And in book form, each chapter was told from a character’s point-of-view, if I remember correctly. Which is not as easily done via film.
But nevertheless, it’s thrilling to see my beloved book come to live. I love this genre and it’s got a fun cast. The first episode is a set-the-stage sort of thing, with an introduction to nearly every possible character and their particular objectives. So, it’s a lot to take in and follow. By episode 2, you can start to sink your teeth into the story a bit and begin to root for a few folks. Tom Builder is played by Rufus Sewell, and he's everything he seemed to be in the book, from the physical description to the humble confidence. The Bishop, played by Ian McShane - yeah, Al Swearengen from Deadwood! -- is perfectly slimy. Okay, so he’s basically playing his Deadwood character without the swearing and the fucking. But it’s still very similar. And so far, the most compelling performance is, of course, Matthew MacFadyen. I’m beginning to think that guy could recite Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and we’d all cry and reexamine our lives afterward. He’s amazing.
So, I’m totally on board. But of course I am, because this is totally my thing. I have a thing! I’m so excited!!
True Blood: "Trouble"
Nina Stone
So, I keep turning this on to watch it...and then I start multi-tasking and miss a bunch of stuff. But this season they seem to have done that classic "Luke & Laura" thing. (Reference: General Hospital circa the summer of 1979. And no, I just heard about it). You know, Bill and Sookie are together and making it work and then - Bam! they've been torn apart. This time, by outside circumstances. But it seems this is going to be the season where we keep rooting for them to get back together. Bill's been taken my Vampires to Mississippi. Some sort of shit is going down around the Queen selling V and using Eric who is using Lafayette, as a pawn. The dude (King?) in Mississippi wants to expose it all and for some reason has designs on making Bill Mayor of Mississippi. Which means he will have to be apart from Sookie. For good. It's hard to tell if Bill is doing this because he doesn't think he has a choice, or if he has really thought it over and decided to let Sookie go.
Sookie is crushed but does not give up. She somehow gets hooked up with this werewolf dude to take her to Bill. Werewolves are the driving subplot this season. And see, I should be able to fill you in on all sorts of fun facts...but I just lose interest. There's werewolves, Sam is reunited with his family of origin who had his shape-shifting ass up for adoption. Tara has found herself once again the victim of a lunatic. This time a vampire who keeps her tied up, like Kathie Bates Misery-style. And I write this all simply because I want to say: she did that light thing with her hand again!! Yeah yeah yeah! Sookie! Bill saw it! It's the same thing that she did to Maryann last season! Some crazy being tried to get to close to her and she pushes them right in the face with her hand, and this crazy force field of light comes out of her hand and jolts the receiver of said jolt, back. It's the coolest looking thing. More of that please. It's like, the last thing that happened last episode - and it's all I care about.
The Thick of It - "Episode Three"
Tucker Stone
"Remember that check you signed for at the beginning? That wasn't for being mute."
-James Smith, regarding Joanna Scanlan's lack of contribution to the episode commentary
The idea behind the third episode was to set the story completely in one hotel room, watching as Glenn, Olly and Nicola feverishly hammered out a speech she was to give later that day. From there, the idea snowballed into Malcolm Tucker making good on his oft-repeated threats of physical violence, the casual destruction of bloggers, and a memorable guest appearance by Miles Jupp. (Jupp's appearance as the serially incompetent John Duggan forms the primary focus of James Smith's commentary. Throughout the episode, Smith ridicules Jupp's performance, cruelly pointing out every moment in which he failed to stay in character--which is actually quite a bit of the episode.)
While these thirty minutes don't do much to move the general narrative of the season forward, viewing it with the knowledge of how the overall plot of Season Three concludes, you might make an argument that Malcolm's failure to prepare for this conference, as well as the moment when he loses his temper and punches Glenn in the face, indicate his general slide towards the upcoming collapse. For the most part, this is just a funny episode that showcases the strange uselessness of Nicola Murray's job, Terri Coverly's neurotic obsession with her own importance, and Malcolm's never-gets-old brilliance at saying things like this: "I read all the blogs. Because, basically, I'm an underemployed fat fucking loser with nothing better to do with my time than sit in my bedroom, like a fat space-hub in a track suit, reading inconsequential, un-spell checked shit fabricated by other fat, farting, fucking losers."
It's official - Nina is the best reviewer on this site.
Posted by: Lugh | 2010.07.26 at 17:32
'Betty even tells Don "we are all here because of you, all we want to do is please you".'
You mean Peggy. My analytical skills are best used pointing out typos.
Posted by: John Pontoon | 2010.07.30 at 07:05