Judgement

This was a big week for television enthusiasts. Last Sunday saw the return of Mad Men, Monday brought us the finale of Better Call Saul and tonight sees the premiere of season five of Game of Thrones. Sandwiched between those blockbuster, monster shows, Netflix also released the first fruits of their partnership with Marvel Entertainment; Daredevil. By making all thirteen episodes public in the same week as the Better Call Saul finale, Netflix has managed a smooth transition from one popular show to another, keeping its subscribers hooked for another few weeks. Or at least a couple of days.

The story of Marvel’s Daredevil, in case you’ve blocked the Ben Affleck adaptation from memory, focuses on Matt Murdoch, a small time lawyer operating out of Hell’s Kitchen who was blinded by radioactive materials as a child. Borrowing from the popular myth, instead of blinding the kid, the loss of his sight elevates his other senses to the point where he can hear a person’s heartbeat just by standing nearby. His enhanced balance also allows him to execute martial arts techniques flawlessly. Murdoch, following the death of his boxer dad who refused to throw a fight, uses these newly developed abilities to fight crime and clean up Hell’s Kitchen.

So, Daredevil plays into a lot of the superhero tropes that we’re all familiar with by now; powers caused by exposure to an outside source, dead parent. But the Netflix series is very aware of that. While the show opens with a scene depicting Murdoch as a child having his sight destroyed, when we catch up to Charlie Cox as the adult superhero, he’s already fighting criminals and stopping human trafficking deals. It’s clear he has only just started but this isn’t his first outing in the costume. Which is nice. By now, viewers are getting bored with origin stories. It’s in the best interest of superhero media to show the origin in as succinct and concise as fashion as possible, which Daredevil does.

“It’s ok, I just bit my lip.”

Later episodes do develop Murdoch’s relationship with his father but in some senses this show was made for fans of the character. It doesn’t dwell much on the origin and comic book readers will recognise some of Daredevil most anti-heroic actions from Frank Miller’s run. But then it baffles me why Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin is treated as a secret for three episodes. Fans of the comics, especially those reading post-Miller, will recognise Kingpin as Daredevil’s biggest and most notorious foe. And Marvel already announced that he would be in the show. Therefore the only reason to hide his face is to make Vincent D’Onofrio’s appearance a surprise. But it’s just not. We’ve already seen D’Onofrio bald as Private Leonard Lawrence in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. And Wilson Fisk just looks like Gomer Pyle stole a few too many donuts.

Along with the lack of focus on audience, there is also a lack of focus on character. While the show is predominantly about Matt Murdoch and his adventures as Daredevil, he also has to share screen time with Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson, Debrorah Ann Woll as Karen Page and Fisk’s romantic storyline with Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Marianna. It’s good to develop supporting characters, and I actually like Foggy because he manages to be Murdoch’s partner without playing a wholly comic relief role, but at 50+ minutes, the episodes could benefit from being trimmed back slightly.

It’s not that I want the characters to be two dimensional or every scene to include Charlie Cox. However, I am sitting down to watch a show titled Daredevil so I do expect the character to be at the centre of the show. Instead I’m watching Fisk court his future wife. Yes it gives him a human side so that he’s not just evil for the sake of evil but it still detracts from the main character. Daredevil suffers from this in the same way that Fox’s Gotham devotes a lot of screen time to The Penguin and Fish Mooney as well as Jim Gordon. Gotham at least has the advantage of being about an entire city rather than just one man, but the problem is the same. I don’t want to see what the bad guys are doing. I want to see the good guy figure it out.

Not shown: a lot of recurring side characters.

Daredevil also suffers from a second structural issue but it’s one that seems to plague other Netflix original programming too. Daredevil, like House of Cards, and other shows that have all of their episodes released at once, episodes tend to lack a hook to entice the viewer to watch the next one. It doesn’t seem like a big deal if the viewer doesn’t watch another episode right away when all of the episodes will be available for months. But they’re looking at it wrong. Not watching the next episodes reflects a lack of interest. I can tell you now, if HBO released all of Game of Thrones at once tonight, I’d have the entire season watched by sunrise.

With Daredevil, I’m just not that eager and I don’t feel that the show is demanding to be watched in the same way other shows do. Even if the episode itself isn’t exciting a hook can still entice the viewer. Person of Interest does it all the time. A particular case might be dull but often the episode will end with a revelation or twist that will make me desperate to tune in next week. On demand shows are relegating this device, treating it as a remnant of weekly televised shows but its not. It’s a tool to draw the viewer into the next episode. Remember, there’s only a few seconds between episodes. The hook only has to stall them for that long and then the next episode can do the rest.

Most of the problems are structural. The acting is good, with Charlie Cox as the clear standout, and the choreography is great. It’s a joy to see a fight scene where the camera doesn’t move with every punch. I can actually see what’s happening. I like the neo-noir theme too; it fits the moral quandaries of the character. I’m hoping that the problems are due to producers or writers, as the series is created by Drew Goddard, the man who will direct the next solo Spider-Man. Otherwise I’m expecting good fight scenes but I’m a little worried that Aunt May might end up with as much screen time as our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

Maddening

Mad Men has been on quite the journey since 2007. Sure, it isn’t the suspense driven wish fulfillment that Breaking Bad was and it doesn’t have the stimulating tits and gore action that Game of Thrones provides, but it engages with viewers in a way that few other shows do. Whether it’s about fashion, historical events or how Don Draper is sabotaging himself this time, people talk about Mad Men. Which is strange because Mad Men has rarely peaked above three million viewers according to ratings. But impressive ratings do not make a show great. A lot of people could watch a terrible show just to watch it fail. What makes a show great is its ability to draw an audience time and time again, and time and time again Don Draper and partners have attracted consistent viewers.

When we last left Don Draper he was on the verge of being fired until Roger Sterling made a deal with advertising juggernaut, McCann Errickson to become an independent subsidiary. Part of that deal was a 5 year contract for Don, securing his position at the company for the foreseeable future. If the name McCann Erickson sounds familiar it’s because the company already tried to purchase Sterling Cooper, along with Putnam, Powell and Lowe, back in season three. At the time, Don, along with Bert Cooper, Roger Sterling and Lane Pryce conspired to sever their contracts and start their own agency.

So is Mad Men just retreading old ground? It might sound like Matthew Weiner has run out of ideas but the climate and the characters are very different three and a half seasons later. It was 1963 when Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce opened its doors. Six years have pasted in the story since then and a lot has happened since. Don has married and divorced again, had a break down, numerous affairs and almost been fired. The company merged with Cutler, Gleason and Chaough in season 6, bringing in Jim Cutler and Ted Chaough, the latter of the two then proceeding to have an affair with Peggy Olson. Guilty, he joins Pete in setting up an office in California to handle the Sunkist account. Pete Campbell had a kid and got separated, Roger took LSD and got divorced, Lane Pryce committed suicide and Bert Cooper died while watching the moon landing.

Ending with style.

In the words of Roger Sterling, “a lot’s happened in between. Most of it good, but some of it very bad.” But it’s the attitude of Don that has changed the most. Back in season three, when faced with the buy out, Don challenged the partners, stating a desire to build something of his own. In the interim years, Don has built Sterling Cooper & Partners. It’s not all down to his work, Peggy, Pete and Joan have been influential in the company’s growth but Don has been a catalyst for that growth more times than not. Now in season seven, Don’s desires have changed. He’s very much focused on getting back to work and the McCann deal allows him to do just that.

It’s a sentiment that he shares with Ted Chaough, who seemed suicidal at the thought of working in advertising any longer. And yet, Don convinces him to sign a five year contract. After seven seasons, its easy to forget just how persuasive Don can be when he’s on his game. Part of that, I believe, is the challenge. Season four displays some of the hardest work that Don has ever done on the show, aside for perhaps the first part of season seven when he writes tags and copy and feeds Freddy Rumsen lines. Don needs to feel that he is working for or towards something. When he becomes content or complacent, his work and home life suffers.

The big question hanging over season seven part two is how will it end for Don Draper. Over the years, the most prevalent theory has been that Don will commit suicide, overwhelmed by the effect of his actions of his co-workers and lovers, and unable to live with his self-loathing and unable to accept that he really is Dick Whitman. While I might have believed that to be a possibility a few years ago, the character has made many strides in repairing relationships, especially with Sally, and accepting his past. His breakdown at the end of season six may have hurt his career but revealing his true origins did ease his distress.

Advertising is really just one big song and dance.

Others have suggested that Bert’s musical number at the end of ‘Waterloo’ was signs of a brain tumor that will eventually kill Don. While the notion is interesting, I think that is reading too much into what was just a farewell for the character. Robert Morse was best known for his Broadway acting and singing before his role in Mad Men, and as such a musical number was a fitting tribute to both the actor and the character. This isn’t Better Call Saul where every little thing can be scrutinised as a sign of Breaking Bad things to come. In Mad Men, a musical number is just a musical number.

So how will it end? Honestly, I have no idea, Maybe Don will die or maybe he’ll walk off into the sunset. He could get back with Betty or Megan or meet someone new or rekindle an old romance with one of many paramours. Perhaps Roger will die. Peggy and Pete could finally get together. Harry Crane might finally make partner. There’s no telling how things will go because Weiner has consistently and constantly surprised audiences with the twists and turns that the show has made. Who could have predicted the merging of SCDP and CGC or the McCann Erickson would return to acquire the company? It’s a testament to the skill and talent of Weiner that even after seven season he can still surprise his audience.

The only thing left to do, if we can’t predict the end, is to sit back and enjoy the end of an era. Before Mad Men there was nothing like it. Now we have a number of period dramas about brilliant people or professions, such as Masters of Sex or The Hour. Some are better than others but none are the gem that Mad Men has become. The show could continue for years, twisting and turning, but its better not to run it into the ground and run the risk of becoming predictable. I’ll be sad to see the end but I’ll be happy to see it end on its own terms and end well.

LWYRUP

It feels like an age since rumours of a Saul Goodman spin off began circulating. In fact, mentions of the spin-off can found as far back as 2012, so the debut of Better Call Saul has been a long time coming. That’s not to say too long. Good things come to those who wait and Better Call Saul is a good thing and it’s been worth waiting for. It’s still hard to believe that Breaking Bad ended a year and a half ago. Watching Better Call Saul felt like slipping into an old, familiar bed.

Creating a spin-off of one of the most popular shows on modern television could have been a disaster. It’s not that I don’t have faith in Vince Gilligan’s abilities as a writer and director. But telling such a dramatic and captivating story can be hard to recreate, especially when treading back into the same universe and setting. Having seen Breaking Bad and becoming acquainted with Albuquerque, viewers come to expect a certain level of storytelling and character development. There will obviously be backlash if the latter doesn’t match up to the expectations created by the former.

Good news all round then. Fans of Breaking Bad and Vince Gilligan can collectively breathe easy. Better Call Saul is good. Only time will tell if it even glances the same greatness that Breaking Bad became but it is certainly off to a good start. It feels familiar without being a complete retread of previous material. This is the same affable, loquacious Saul Goodman that we know and love, but his name is James McGill and he hasn’t quite broke bad yet.

Before Saul Goodman, there was Jimmy McGill.

It’s interesting seeing Saul Goodman try to be an honest lawyer, defending his clients to the best of his legal ability rather than his criminal abilities. There’s shades of the man he will become, such as the scam he attempts to run on Betsy Keller to manipulate her into giving him their business but there’s still a conscience in there. Even knowing that he owes his life to Nacho, Jimmy refuses to participate in stealing the one point five million that the Kellers allegedly stole. The man he is then is a far shot from the man who helps Walter and Jesse distribute their meth and launder their money.

Furthermore, this is not a man trying to figure out where he went wrong. This is a man looking back at the good times. Let that sink in for a moment. Gene, the former Saul Goodman thinks of standing the desert, talking Tuco down from a death sentence to a couple of leg breakings, as a nostalgic moment. The opening to the first episode is some of the best cinematography that I’ve seen in any television show. Without a word, we see Saul Goodman as he is now, out of the game and hidden in Nebraska, baking bread and longing for the man he was. Maybe he’s looking back and wishing he’d never met Walter White, but he still wishes to be Saul Goodman with the cheesy late night commercials.

Better Call Saul casts Breaking Bad in a whole new light. It’s the ‘in media res’ of Saul Goodman’s story. We don’t have the full picture yet. We have the middle and the end but beginning is lacking, and that’s what Better Call Saul aims to tell. And in the telling, Breaking Bad becomes Saul’s comeuppance. Before, Saul was just some sleazy criminal defence lawyer, looking to make a fast buck any way he could. Here we see Saul on the straight and narrow, sitting at the crossroads to a darker path. It’s riveting viewing in the same morbid way that a trainwreck is fascinating.

What happens to Nacho between the events of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad?

Breaking Bad told the complete story of Walter White and his transformation from a mild-mannered chemistry teacher, whose life wasn’t what he had anticipated and felt he’d never got what he deserved, to a drug lord with a meth empire, willing to poison children and kill whoever he felt slighted him. From season one to season five, that was the progression. With each passing episode, Walter became more morally corrupt and eventually just became Heisenberg. But in the end, we saw that come back and bite him on the ass. His family were terrified of him, his son told him to die, his brother in law was killed due to an association with white supremacists, his partner was being held hostage and forced to cook, his former business partners were discrediting him on television and his cancer was back. Saul Goodman was a casualty of Walter’s downfall, forced into hiding at the same time. Now it seems that Walter’s downfall may have just coincided with Saul’s own.

It’s not without it’s flaws though. For one, the show does lack tension and intensity. While the series does seem to be a little more humorous in tone than Breaking Bad, it’s still not meant to comedic. The old Shakespearean category of ‘romance’ seems to fit best. Moments such as Jimmy, kneeling in the desert, begging for his life, are obviously meant to be dramatic and exciting but we know that Jimmy can’t die here. Tuco too, has to survive. That said, I did like the twist by having Jimmy haggle for the lives of the skaters, thereby keeping the peril of death in the scene and still maintaining Jimmy’s culpability.

With this creation, Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have shown that they are as talented as Breaking Bad made them out to be. They weren’t just fortunate to hit a run-away winner. And with Better Call Saul, they have the potential for another. It’s really good viewing, interesting and enthralling in imaginative ways, and it doesn’t require any previous viewing. It stands alone from Breaking Bad, intriguing because the implications but quality viewing in its own right. With a debut of 6.9 million viewers, Better Call Saul is the show to watch right now.

Family

Between the mid-season premiere returns and the new shows such as Agent Carter and Better Call Saul, you might have missed the return of another well known, award winning show. Whether you noticed or not, The Americans has returned for it’s third season with its unique blend of family drama and covert espionage. Few other shows can boast that kind of breadth of television drama. Yet, compared to The Walking Deads and the Game of Thrones of the world, The Americans is one of the less talked about, under-rated shows on TV.

The action in The Americans isn’t always as fast paced or as violent as you might see in other shows. It has its moments, of course, such as when Keri Russell’s character, Elizabeth Jennings, fights off two FBI agents, but much of the suspense comes from characters listening to messages, intercepting American intel, and relaying information back to Moscow. It doesn’t make for the most riveting viewing experience but there is a subtle, intensity to such scenes. It’s a very trivial action but its a matter of life and death. In that way, the show really encapsulates the essence of the Cold War.

I do feel bad for Keri Russell. Elizabeth Jennings tends to get the rough side of the deal in most of their missions. She gets shot and nearly beat up and what does she get in return? She loses the precious intel. Meanwhile, Matthew Rhys’ Philip Jennings is going around getting blowjobs and Kama Sutra sex and blackmailing Pakistani intelligence officers. Clearly things are not easy for women of the KGB and if that’s the kind of life that awaits Paige, it’s understandable that Philip may be a little reluctant to allow her to follow them down the same path.

Is Paige the American born Russian spy that the USSR have been waiting for?

Despite agreeing not to allow the KGB anywhere near Paige last season, Elizabeth does seem to have taken a step back to consider it. The Americans has been very clever with this Elizabeth and Paige storyline. The dynamic between mother and daughter and relating to your children as they grow up and develop their own, sometimes differing, ideals is a major theme in most television shows with families. But The Americans has broached the theme from a very different perspective. Elizabeth is trying remain close to her daughter and understand her as she grows from a child into a teenager and she’s doing it as a KGB agent. She’s actively trying to figure out if this is a person who would be interested in what the Soviet Union can offer.

It’s easy to forget, among all the politic and spying, that this is what the idea of sleeper agents was really all about. Yes, they wanted KGB agents acting as Americans but it was their American born children, indistinguishable from the kids next door, who were to be true agents. There would be no need for subterfuge. They are exactly who they say they are, except their loyalty would lie with Russia. In theory, that’s fine. As parents, that must be a difficult call to make. Elizabeth and Philip are on opposite sides of the fence, or so it seems. Elizabeth is such a skilled liar that it’s difficult to know who she’s telling the truth to. No one has asked Paige what she wants but I doubt anyone cares.

Along the same mother-daughter theme, Elizabeth’s mother is dying. Of course, we don’t see her because she’s back in Russia and Elizabeth can’t see her, but even seeing Elizabeth’s tears as she listens to a recorded message about her is enough to convey the levity of the situation. Often, Elizabeth can come across as hard and unemotional, who generally thinks of her country (her actual country) first. Over the course of the show, she’s begun to think more for herself and her children but she still commands a rather tough presence. This storyline has given her some vulnerability, which is nice to see because she takes getting face planted on a car like a champion. It’s also clear from her story about becoming an agent that it was her mother who instilled that ‘country first’ idealism in her mind. It’ll be interesting to see, when her mother does die, if Elizabeth can take the emotional punches in the same stride that she takes the physical.

This is not part of the Kama Sutra.

Despite that hardened outer demeanor, it’s clear that Elizabeth is very affected by her own mistakes. She internalizes them. Having lost the list of CIA names, she rushes to correct the mistake at the first opportunity. Philip is much more likely to display his feelings but he’s also a big picture kind of guy. If something bad happens, he makes the best of it. Elizabeth doesn’t take failure well and is much more likely to take a risk to fix it. That’s probably why the FBI have her picture while Philip manages to sleep with an FBI supervisor’s secretary with no one being any the wiser.

Oleg is trying to save Nina from a Soviet labour camp using his familial connections, whilst Stan Beeman continues to deal with the separation from his wife. Both are foils for the Jennings and their family relationships. Of course, there are other storylines, such as the FBI housing a defector, but those political plots are side stories to the main heart of the series which is all about family. Family relationships and how those influence the actions of parent and child. It’s easy to imagine that the revelation of her parents will horrify Paige, but there’s also the notion that she won’t want to disappoint her family. It’s natural to want our parents approval and to make them proud.

If The Americans was a straight political thriller it might never have reached its third season but the theme of family that runs through the series gives it heart and meaning beyond its Cold War setting.