Sulphur on 23/6/2010 at 12:02

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A precariously balanced centre speaker which reminds me that I could be watching something much better on a DVD or Blu-Ray instead.

SubJeff on 23/6/2010 at 14:15

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Zylonban'd

Rug Burn Junky on 23/6/2010 at 19:09

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I know you've said elsewhere that you're not sure about Mad Men, but it's worth sticking with, and convinces your wife to do the same if at all possible. It really is a brilliant show for a number of reasons.

For one, it utterly nails that 50's/60's Madison avenue supersexy swinging sounds vibe. As a period piece, you can't help but goggle at the effectiveness. It makes you want to go out and bang an airline stewardess right now.

Second, Draper is a compelling character. He's truly opaque, so as you learn about his background, you feel you know him less and less. It's an interesting trick that they pull off. The show very much plays around with the public veneer that society requires and how that can be manipulated, and Draper is the very embodiment of this, because of the disconnect between who he appears to be and who he is. More impressive is the way they pull this off while maintaining Draper as sort of an emotional Black-Box. Normally the authenticity of a character requires understanding his motivations and rectifying his actions against these motivations. Shows often fail because this relationship isn't true. Mad Men completely antagonizes this relationship by actively obscuring Draper's motivations.

Finally, the complexity of the show is amazing. The stakes aren't life and death the way they are in Sopranos, Breaking Bad, or Deadwood, but they may as well be. The subtle repercussions and political machinations add a depth that adds tension to even the most seemingly mundane scene. There are a lot of pull-the-thread type moments that are tucked in and only become apparent on multiple viewings. The kudos it's received are well-warranted.

That's really the operative question, isn't it? I'm still digesting the finale, but I'm not sure what defines it. Knowing Simon, I wasn't expecting big payoffs and hit you over the head moralizing, but I feel like I wanted a little more of a cohesive, connected third act to the season. But then I feel like it's exactly that sort of lack of closure that makes it powerful. It's a clusterfuck, and nothing gets solved, nothing is finished and the season kind of reflects the tumult that the characters' lives are thrown into. Along the way, however are some of the most powerful emotional moments I've seen. Across the spectrum: sadness, disappointment, hope, gratitude. Little moments that wrecked me, like when BunkAntoine loses his trombone after getting beaten by the cops. The pleading look on his face when he explains to his lawyer how much he needs that instrument is heartbreaking. I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it.

It's really about how life tries to move in the aftermath of utter disaster, in fits and starts, highs and lows. It couldn't have built to a crescendo simply because nothing he could have built would have been worthy of comparison to Katrina itself. So you're left with existentialist vignettes about the recovery. And they work, including the most amazing meta moment ever when David Simon appears in a cameo as a bus driver bringing gawking tourists through the neighborhood and gets sternly warned about the impropriety of doing such.

Plus, the music helps take it to another level. I probably appreciate this more than most, because I cut my teeth playing trumpet on New Orleans jazz standards. It doesn't hurt that when faced with a piano, the first thing I play is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRjT4h7F_jw) Basin Street Blues. One of my favorite songs, which shows up time and again. I've got a fair amount of N.O. in my collection - The Meters, The Neville Brothers, Dr. John - and probably got about 60% of the little nods to N.O. history. It's the first show that routinely had me singing along under my breath just because the music was so infectious. YMMV.

Related to that are the cameos, and there were TONS. McCoy Tyner, Roy Hargrove, Stanley Crouch, Alvin Toussant, Dr. John, Irma Thomas are just the beginning from a jazz standpoint (all of whom, by the way, I've seen live - with the exception of crouch, the writer), but then you throw in the stupendous Bourdain, Collichio, Chang, Dufresne drop in, and I was pretty much smiling the whole time. (At the cooking class I took with Wylie Dufresne last week, he was asked about Benton's hams - he loves them, but Simon wrote that line. I thought it would have been better delivered by Chang, the known pork-o-phile)

So yeah, all in all, highly recommended. But more than other shows, it's about the journey, not the destination.

The first few episodes are cringeworthy, since they really are just a regular procedural. I can see why they did this - so it doesn't turn off viewers who didn't watch from the beginning, but they almost lost me. But the second half of the season builds into a great arc.

It's somewhat disappointing - it lacks the humorous punch that you expect from Leonard. Tim Olyphant is somewhat of a let down, if only because Raylan Givens feels like he's trapped in a directionless cross between Deadwood and Get Shorty. To me, Walton Goggins rescues the series. He's just unbalanced enough to be ominous, and his scenes with Olyphant are truly the highlight. He doesn't quite reach the level of a Swearengen, but he gives Olyphant someone to play off of to create that same sort of tension filled vibe. It's watchable, it has potential for the next seasons, and there are enough moments that keep your interest, even in the early season episodic sequence (Alan Ruck as a bad-ass dentist redeems an entire episode).


You're going to throw out GTA, really? Are you really that guy? Hast thou neverst seen Hamlet?

I've gone through my feelings on Anarchy before. It's pulp, but well done. Very much a poor man's Shield - lots of good "holy shit" moments and cliffhangers. The tension is created by each and every character having conflicting obligations, and it's sort of piled on, but works. Plus, some pretty good acting even at the moments when it's in spite of the material (Perlman and Katey Segal both do great jobs, and Kurt Cobain is fantastic as the lead. I'm looking forward to Silas Adams being more visible next season). I much prefer it to Justified, but would tackle Treme and Mad Men before anything.

I'd also throw out Rescue Me as a lighter, fun series. If only because it has the best theme song since the Fresh Prince, every woman is batshit insane, Michael J. Fox's arc last season was amazing (as a hard drinking, bad-ass wheelchair bound former daredevil who's fucking Leary's ex-wife) and it's the best thing that Denis Leary has ever done that he didn't steal from Bill Hicks.

Turtle on 23/6/2010 at 21:54

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Unless it's a male.

Rug Burn Junky on 24/6/2010 at 00:42

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If that's the reason then she definitely needs to watch it. The misogyny doesn't get toned down, but it does get its righteous come-uppance. Next to Draper, the two (arguably three) strongest leads are female, and they very definitely win their fair share of battles.

I'd say that's probably about right, but I'll still go to bat for Treme as something you shouldn't miss. The others have their charms but aren't anything you'd kick yourself for skipping. They are all, however, better than Dexter.