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Archive for Netflix

Orange is the New Black

Jul29

oitnb_key_003_hTitle: Orange is the New Black

Genre: Prison Drama

Watched: July, 2013

Summary: first rate characterization

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Netflix has been very aggressive this year creating new content and I’ve taken the time to watch House of Cards, Hemlock Grove, and now Orange. The first was good. The second interesting (if flawed). And the third just plain excellent.

Orange is the New Black is the brainchild of Jenji Kohan, creator of the awesome (for 3-4 seasons at least) Weeds. While it retains the older show’s blended drama/comedy quality, Orange forsakes Weed’s satirical surrealism and shifts far closer to realist drama while maintaining a light touch.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nryWkAaWjKg]

Like much good modern long form television, Orange rejects the need to pigeonhole each episode into a classic dramatic arc. What it does is simple in concept, but hard in practice: build solid characters and put them through the ringer. The excellent mostly female cast is highly varied, and we, like Piper herself find them fairly opaque on first meet. The show deftly borrows the “Lost technique” to flesh out the personalities. Each episode (more or less) flashes back to reveal the character of an individual woman, showing who they are and how they got here. Structurally, this serves to take agents whose present time actions may be less than endearing, and build audience sympathy for them.

That 70s show star returns as the mysterious and sexy "Alex"

That 70s show star returns as the mysterious and sexy “Alex”

This is a powerful combination. Each backstory is vaguely tragic. Unfortunate circumstances and poor (if understandable) choices lead each character to their present miserable states. Nothing builds likeability like a checkered past. This depth of caring elevates the present-time drama above the norm. And it’s pretty good to start with. With the exception of the last two episodes, the twisting and turning is moderate, dramatic, and flowing from character. Orange mostly avoids the heavy-handed whiplash of  over-plotted dramas (Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, and the like).

Fundamentally, good story telling is about giving characters you care for difficult emotional choices — and Orange delivers on that front.

Plus, a woman’s prison is an inherently titillating setting (couldn’t resist). The writers use a light touch here while deftly exploring the ins and out of this weird world. This is a minimum security prison and things are unpleasant, but not overly so — and sometimes surprisingly casual and informal. The women themselves are a weird mix and it all serves to be quite interesting. And for the most part, they’re also all pretty good people. Realistic? I have no idea, but fun to watch.

Check out more TV reviews.

orange-is-the-new-black

Related posts:

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  5. Game of Thrones – Season 2 Episode 1 Clips
By: agavin
Comments (8)
Posted in: Television
Tagged as: Jenji Kohan, Laura Prepon, Netflix, Orange is the New Black, Taylor Schilling, Television, Television Review

Sons of Anarchy

Oct19

Title: Sons of Anarchy

Genre: Crime Drama

Watched: October, 2012

Summary: A dramatic juggernaut 10/10

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Sons of Anarchy could be loosely described as The Sopranos with bikers. Fundamentally  it’s a focused kind of gangland ensemble piece set in a fictional hick town not too far from San Francisco. But like anything, it’s execution dependent, and in this case the execution is pretty f***cking awesome.

Against all odds, the larger character structure is based on Hamlet. We have a prince, haunted by the ghost of his father (here, his dead dad’s writings). His mother married the new king. The prince is torn by doubts. There’s nothing wrong with classic structure. Hell, The Lion King did this too. It works and adds a helluva a lot of gravitas.

Hellboy and Peg Bundy make one fantastically naughty couple!

This show is impossible to put down. I watched all four and a half seasons in about ten days, staying up late into the night (enough that I was continually exhausted the next morning). The writing and acting are all fantastic. We have a lot of great characters here, and despite the fact that many of them are killers, you really care what happens. And what happens is a lot of bad shit! Most episodes end with a twisty cliffhanger that makes it really difficult to resist letting Netflix (which has the first three seasons) role into the next episode. NOTE: This feature, added perhaps two months ago, is a break-thru for TV watching.

Just as interesting as the characters is the whole biker milieu. In the same way that The Sopranos took you inside the modern Mafia, SOA opens up the inner working of the MC (Motorcycle Club). And unlike the Jersey Italian thing, I knew little to nothing about bikers. In the show they operate in a similar thugy fashion, but instead of being so strictly hierarchical, the biker gang functions as a kind of heroic democracy. And by heroic I don’t mean super hero, I harken back to the way in which men behave in warrior societies. This is a man’s world, where personal honor and toughness count for everything. A man’s ability to “protect his own” (be it women, property, or whatever) is paramount to his status.

Television exaggeration aside, these characters ring of truth. And isn’t that what great drama is all about?

Check out more TV reviews.

Related posts:

  1. The Sopranos – Season 1
  2. Breaking Bad – Season 1
  3. The Sopranos – Season 2
  4. The Sopranos – Season 3
  5. Breaking Bad – Season 2
By: agavin
Comments (8)
Posted in: Television
Tagged as: California, FX (TV channel), Motorcycle Club, Netflix, Sons of Anarchy, Sopranos, Television, The Lion King

Breaking Bad – Season 3

Jan31

Title: Breaking Bad

Genre: Contemporary Dramedy

Watched: Season 3, January 10-27, 2012

Summary: Even stronger

_

I got distracted by a lot of stuff (mostly involving the publication of my first novel) and stalled for a couple of weeks between the end of season 2 and season 3.

I really like how this show uses the section before the titles to foreshadow. In the second season this was mostly the coming plane crash, during the first half of the third this second is used primarily to characterize  the sinister Mexican twins. These two make one stylized, amusing, and downright creepy pair of assassins.

This first half season slowed the pace a bit to focus on character development. Part of the drag comes from the fact that Jesse and Walt are chronicled separately. Leaving me missing their interaction. There’s also a lot of family and Skyler time which — while well done — isn’t my favorite aspect of the show: The crime and the criminals. But things start to pick up when Jesse joins Walt in the lab and then at the midpoint the season goes into hyperdrive. After seven episodes of build up the showdown with the twins is no let down. Dean Norris is a particular standout.

The remaining seven episodes are pretty intense with the exception of the bizarre “fly” episode. And the last three hours is some of the best television I’ve seen in a long while. After having invested really heavily in character development the show cashes in with breakneck zigging and zagging that is all the richer. And the end leaves you breathless and clicking away to order Season 4.

Part of this show’s strength is the standout character writing and acting. Walt and Jesse are both awesome, but Hank also stands out, Saul is pure pleasure to watch reminiscent of Bill Murray in Wild Things, and I really love cleaner Mike and the coolest cucumber to walk the planet: Gus.

For more of my posts on TV, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Breaking Bad – Season 2
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  4. The Sopranos – Season 2
  5. The Sopranos – Season 1
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Television
Tagged as: Aaron Paul, AMC, Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston, Comedy-drama, Dean Norris, Jesse, Jesse Pinkman, List of Breaking Bad characters, Netflix, Television, Walt

Breaking Bad – Season 2

Nov21

Title: Breaking Bad

Genre: Contemporary Dramedy

Watched: Season 2, November 10-19, 2011

Summary: Even stronger

_

While the first season of this show was great, the second is even better! Spoiler warning. It starts off with a bang resolving the “Tucco situation” and then keeps rolling from there. The pre-titles scene for each episode employs the effective (when done well) TV device of cryptic flash forwards to the season’s last episode, leaving us with the “uh, oh, what’s coming?” and “how the hell are we going to get to that” feeling. Breaking Bad keeps this lean and creepy, without a ton of information. It doesn’t do the kind of sophisticated and deliberately misleading layering that say, Damages (another excellent show) uses.

Even in the middle of the season there are some intense moments, like when Walt and Jesse are stuck in the desert, or Jesse’s attempt to recover some stollen cash from two junkies, and even brother-in-law Hank’s explosive trip to Mexico. All the character’s are really solid. I’m particularly impressed by Jesse. His addictions and weaknesses feel very real, but he has some real good qualities that while not in full control, round the character out to make him very sympathetic.

The last third of the season is really really strong. We delve deeply into Jesse’s personal problems and to say things aren’t going well is an understatement. These all manage to wind themselves into the larger scale cataclysm of the finale. And while this leaves us with a slight taste of Deus ex machina, it really breaks up powerfully at the end. Very strong closer. People tell me seasons 3 and 4 are even better too!

For more of my posts on TV, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Breaking Bad – Season 1
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  3. The Sopranos – Season 2
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  5. Game of Thrones Season 2 Peek
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Television
Tagged as: Breaking Bad, Comedy-drama, Hank, High school, Jesse, Mexico, Netflix, Television, Vince Gilligan, Walt

Breaking Bad – Season 1

Nov12

Title: Breaking Bad

Genre: Contemporary Dramedy

Watched: Season 1, November 1-9, 2011

Summary: Darkly engaging

_

Friends kept recommending this show and — even better — it’s “free” (included) in my Netflix streaming subscription. The pilot opens with a serious bang, starting with the episode’s chaotic conclusion then flipping back to the turn of events that brought us there.

It’s an interesting premise: what happens when a nebbishy High School science teacher, dying of cancer, tries to take care of his family by becoming a Meth producer. At some level the concept isn’t far off from Weeds (another dark and delicious snack — at least for 3-4 seasons) but Breaking Bad is considerably bleaker and more realistic. Things devolve rapidly into the grim reality of crime and murder. No sexy latino dealers here.

The characters are well drawn and feel fairly real, despite the somewhat over-the-top scenario. And as usual, that’s what really matters in drawing in the viewers. The first season kept me fully engaged. It’ll be interesting to see where this goes.

Breaking Bad is typical (and yet not) of recent well executed serial television in that it doesn’t follow a neat and clean three-act structure or episodic loop (like say Terra Nova, which is a bit of a throwback). In some ways these newer shows have more in common with long novel series or old school Dickens-type serial pulp writing — just without as much cheese. Really, we’re about 10+ years into a golden age of long form visual drama. And I’m loving it.

For more of my posts on TV, click here.

Related posts:

  1. The Sopranos – Season 1
  2. The Sopranos – Season 3
  3. The Sopranos – Season 2
By: agavin
Comments (6)
Posted in: Television
Tagged as: AMC, Breaking Bad, Netflix, Television, Television program, Television Review, Vince Gilligan, Weeds

Skins UK – The First Two Series

Oct15

Title: Skins UK

Genre: Contemporary Dramedy

Watched: First Two Series, October 1-11, 2011

Summary: Surprisingly addictive character study

_

I wouldn’t have expected to like this — other than the promised nudity — but it was rather sly. Plus, being on Netflix streaming it was “free.” This ensemble show follows nine or ten British sixteen-seventeen year-olds studying, loving, and partying (not in that order) somewhere in nowhere Western England. Each episode picks a particular cast member to focus on, using them as a POV into the group dynamics.

While Skins borrows techniques from documentary and reality television, in that it has an extremely young and inexperienced cast and little in the way of sweeping dramatic arc, it still manages to be extremely gripping for one simple reason:

The characters are well written.

While there is plenty of drama and incident in their lives, and the show does touch on all sorts of issues (teen pregnancy, eating disorders, dysfunctional families, parental death, parental neglect, religion, sexuality — both orientations, race, drug use, health, relationships, etc. etc) none of it feels particularly forced. Not at all like the whiplash effect of an overproduced show like Gossip Girl where the writers strain every character to — and beyond — the breaking point of believability in their quest to feed the flames of constant conflict. In Skins, it feels more like the characters have separate identities that organically drive the plot. Which is as it should be. It’s a fallacy to think that conflict alone drives interest in a story. Sure you need the friction between desire and the character, but without believable — and likable — characters, conflict isn’t worth anything.

But all the Skins characters are pretty likable, and quite varied. We forgive them their idiot decisions, their wanton self-destructive behavior, because they have a certain naive goodness about them. But there is a lot of self-destructive behavior. One of the talked about things about this show is the pretty enormous amount of nudity, drug use, sex, and all that goodness. While the nudity is rarely very erotic, mostly consisting of boy butt or the occasional swinging nad-sack, there is a lot of it. And the drinking, smoking, and drug use is pretty constant (“spliff” is a favorite word). Even the fourteen year-old little sister is staying out all night and shooting heroin. But this stuff doesn’t dominate the story, instead adding a train-wreck fascination. Now I can only hope this isn’t a realistic portrayal of the “average” British teen, who I suspect probably won’t even handle that kind of youthful debauchery as well as even these flawed characters. But I have no idea. Another constant in the show are the broken families. While some of the parents are good and well meaning people, there is only one character (Dev Patel, in his  pre-slumdog debut) with a working pair of them. We have everything from single parents, to lunk-head parents, to pill-popping parents, to hippy-no-attention parents, to none at all. No wonder these kids have so many problems.

A final thing that made this show extra fascinating was the slightly exotic British factor. The semi-suburban 21st Century England depicted is an interesting reminder that America isn’t the only country with its decadent first-world problems. The accents are cute, the slang even more so, and the peculiar British youth fashions — looking as they do like technicolor hip-hop goes La Cage Aux Folles — endlessly entertaining. The directing is stylish too, with nice use of music and weird camera work to emphasize mental state. A favorite moment for me was when Hannah Murray’s fey character is amusing herself by walking her fingers along a guardrail. The camera keeps the fingers in focus at constant distance while the background swirls behind. You have to see and hear the effect, but it had a wonderful playful mood consistent with the POV. Also no wonder the actress was cast for Season 2 of Game of Thrones, as the equally crazy Gilly.

I haven’t checked out the short running and supposedly worse MTV version of this show, but I suspect it failed to capture that elusive formula from the original: good writing = good characters.

For more of my posts on TV, click here.

By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Television
Tagged as: Character, Dev Patel, Gossip Girl, MTV, Netflix, Skins, Television, Television Review, Writing
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