"Black Mirror," Year Five-ish

Only three episodes have been released for the 2019 series of "Black Mirror," which is in line with what the first two series of the show did, back when it was being broadcast on the UK's Channel 4. And frankly, I'm all for it. If fewer episodes mean higher quality, and avoiding the show being watered down and Charlie Brooker getting burned out, great. I don't think the move made this fifth series, or season, or grouping of episodes, any better than the previous ones, but it's not any worse. "Black Mirror" has always had its ups and downs since the beginning. This year, we got a great episode, a mediocre episode, and an episode I'm having trouble quantifying. The nice thing about the small episode count is that I can spend this post going into all three of them in some detail.

First, the great episode. "Striking Vipers" stars Anthony Mackie and Nicole Beharie as Danny and Theo, a couple getting bored in their marriage. Danny reconnects with an old gaming buddy, Karl (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), through a VR game and the relationship takes an unexpected turn. The episode is a fascinating, mature look at a trio of people navigating changing sexual dynamics that have been brought about by new technology. This is one of those episodes where the technology is not the enemy - it wasn't designed for the purpose that the characters find for it - but that nonetheless opens up a whole can of worms as it creates new ways for people to interact and relate to each other. The performances, especially Nicole Beharie's, go a long way toward elevating the hour above a typical genre "what if" story. I especially like the complicated, but hopeful resolution.

On to "Smithereens," which sees a hostage situation play out with added complications from social media. The episode stars Andrew Scott as Chris, a rideshare driver, who abducts Jaden (Damson Idris), an employee of the social media company, in order to get to Billy Bauer (Topher Grace), the CEO. The story takes place in the present day, more or less, with current technology, and the tone is largely satirical. The episode takes a lot of current trends, such as distracted driving, ridesharing, online account memorialization, and privacy concerns, and tries to make a compelling narrative out of them. The result isn't bad, but it's not very strong either. "Smithereens" feels very derivative of other media about these topics, and there's not much bite to the humor or the commentary. Still, I like the performances of Andrew Scott and Topher Grace, and there are a couple of good zingers.

Finally, there's "Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too," which has drawn some ire for being a very atypical "Black Mirror" episode. Sure, it has scary new technology like mind-reading tech and toys that contain copies of a real person's personality, but it's all in the context of what is essentially a Disney Channel adventure, the kind that its star Miley Cyrus rose to fame with. The plotting initially suggests darker designs: shy teenager Rachel (Angourie Rice) is a fan of wholesome pop star Ashley O (Miley Cyrus). She's gifted a high tech new doll, the Ashley Too, who becomes her only friend, to the disapproval of Rachel's older sister Jack (Madison Davenport). However, the way things play out is very kid-friendly. It isn't just that the episode has a happy ending, but that its entire tone and attitude feel watered down. No matter the pointed jabs at the entertainment industry, Miley Cyrus getting meta, or Ashley's penchant for cursing like a sailor, it's hard to get away from the episode being a lot lighter and more positive in its handling of some of "Black Mirror's" favorite dystopian concepts than other installments have been.

In short, "Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too" plays like baby's first "Black Mirror" episode. It's watchable as an edgy tween caper, and even as a "Hannah Montana" spoof. On the other hand, it sticks out like a sore thumb when you put it next to the rest of the series. Charlie Brooker has talked about wanting "Black Mirror" to not only be disturbing and fearmongering stories about technology. I have to wonder if this might be course correcting a little too hard, however. "Cute" is not a descriptor I normally associate with "Black Mirror," and a little goes a long way.

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"Star Trek: Discovery," Year Two

Moderate spoilers ahead.

As any long term "Trek" fan knows, it takes a while for a new "Star Trek" series to find its groove, and "Discovery" is no exception.  Its first season had some good moments and good characters, but it often got tripped up by its own good intentions and some really bad choices involving the Klingons.  The second season has made some considerable improvements. It still has some rough edges, but it's a lot more self-assured. And a lot of this series' idiosyncrasies are starting to feel more like features rather than flaws.

First off, we have some major additions to the cast.  Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike and Ethan Peck as Lieutenant Spock are the big ones, but there's also Tig Notaro as the cranky new engineer, Jet Reno, and Alan van Sprang as Captain Leland, who works for a secret Federation outfit called Section 31.  Everyone's great, and I'm deeply unhappy that some of these new additions are only temporary. Pike and Spock are characters from the original 1960s "Star Trek" series, so this season of "Discovery" functions very much like a prequel. In fact, a few episodes are probably much more fun if you're a fan of Original Recipe "Trek" and are familiar with the future events being alluded to.

It takes a few episodes for the plot to be laid out fully, but the basics are that Discovery is assigned Pike as its temporary Captain while it investigates the appearance of several strange signals that have appeared throughout the galaxy, along the a figure that has been dubbed "The Red Angel."  Spock has a mysterious connection to the Angel, but getting to Spock is a complicated venture that requires Michael Burnham to rehash a lot of old childhood trauma. Spock is Michael's foster brother, and for various reasons their relationship has become very strained over the years. Also in play is the Federation's secretive black ops outfit, Section 31, which recruits Georgiou and Ash Tyler into its ranks.

As with the first season, "Discovery" is sticking with its serialized format and its more melodramatic approach to its characters.  That means a lot of Michael angst again, but it's more self-aware this time around. The addition of Spock is so good here, because it introduces a testy sibling dynamic that lets the show call Michael out for her flaws.  Meanwhile, Tilly continues to be peppy verging on annoying, and Stamets is still a grump, but they get some different people to play off of, and feel more comfortable in their roles. The presence of Anson Mount's charismatic PIke as an old school style "Trek" captain is very important as it makes all the standard "Trek" adventuring feel suitably Trek-y, even as the more unorthodox personal stories are playing out with other characters.

I like that the show has decided to lean into its silliness and very obvious progressive stances.  Michelle Yeoh's performance as Georgiou has become even more campy, and she gets all the best lines.  This makes me indescribably happy, even when it doesn't work. Stamets' love life continues to get more screen time than it reasonably should, and the number of female badass characters introduced or foregrounded this year far outweigh the male ones.  Jet, Po (Yadira Guevara-Prip), Airiam (Hannah Cheesman), Dettmer (Emily Coutts), Number One (Rebecca Romijn), Nhan (Rachael Ancheril), and a major spoiler are all given ample opportunity to shine.

At the same time, Discovery is more fully embracing its "Trek" roots.  In additional to the heavy presence of all the elements from the '60s "Star Trek," there are callbacks to other areas of "Trek" lore.  The Klingons are mostly back to normal. Sure, the effects are spiffier than ever and the social messages are a little different, but the earnest space adventure part of the equation is firing on all cylinders.  The show is clearly not trying to be "Battlestar Galactica" or "The Orville," though it may have picked up a few pointers from both.

Finally, there are a couple of bumps that are the result of CBS being in an awful big hurry to expand its "Star Trek" output, including a future Section 31 series.  There are also the "Short Treks," which watched about halfway through the series, that contain some interesting background stories relevant to this season's plot. And a totally irrelevant Harvey Mudd short that's the best of the lot.

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My Top Ten Episodes of "Game of Thrones"

To wrap up discussion of "Game of Thrones" on this blog, here are my top ten episodes of the series.  The installments are unranked and ordered by airdate.  Spoilers for everything lie ahead.  Here we go.  

"Baelor" - A defining  moment of the series was the death of Ned Stark in the first season.  The show had set itself apart early on by showing its willingness to maim small boys and depicting all kinds of sexual shenanigans.  Killing off your lead character, played by the biggest name in the cast, however, was something that hadn't been done yet. It's laid out out so perfectly too, with the reactions of Sansa and Arya, and the following episode essentially playing out like an epilogue.  Speaking of which...

"Fire and Blood" - This is still my favorite Daenerys episode.  We watch her decisively end one life and start another, truly taking on the role of leader for the first time.  And while Ned Stark got all the press, and most of the episode was spent watching how the news of the execution hit everyone else in Westeros, for me the death of Khal Drogo was just as meaningful and tragic.  We also see the start of massive character arcs for Sansa, Arya, Tyrion, and others that will span multiple seasons.

"Blackwater" - This was the show's first big battle episode, and the first to only feature one location and set of characters.  It was arguably Tyrion's finest moment, helping to defend King's Landing from Stannis and Davos. However the real fun was seeing the events unfold from all sides - the naval attack, the infantry defenses, and the surprise deployment of the wildfire.  Notably, this was a precursor to the bigger and more expensive battle episodes that would increasingly come to define the show.

"Second Sons" - Most will remember this episode only as the prelude to "Rains of Castamere," but it has some great moments in it.  I love it as a Tyrion episode, where he's humiliated at his wedding to Sansa, but shows his fundamentally decent nature in spite of it.  This is also the episode where Sam kills the White Walker, where Cersei threatens Margaery, and where Melisandre uses Gendry to curse three of the five kings.  It's also nice to see any episode where Joffrey gets smacked down in any capacity.

"The Rains of Castamere" - This is the one that almost didn't make the list, because even though the events of the Red Wedding are so important to the overall story of "Game of Thrones," and the depiction is so memorably awful, I was never all that invested with this particular group of characters.  Walder Frey makes a great villain, and Catelyn Stark has some interesting dimensions, but Robb and Talisa always bored me to death. I was actually a tiny bit glad they exited the narrative so quickly.

"The Laws of Gods and Men" - Tyrion's big trial episode.  Is it obvious that he's my favorite character yet? The storyline with Shae wouldn't have come off nearly so well if she was in a relationship with any other character, and the betrayal here is a showstopper.  Peter Dinklage was nominated for Emmys multiple times for playing Tyrion, but in my opinion this was the season where he really deserved to win one. The strength of this episode was also a big reason why the following one made the list too.     

"The Mountain and the Viper" - This is where "Game of Thrones" peaked.  This episode set up a wonderful showdown with one of the show's most charismatic, appealing characters squaring off against a loathsome brute.  Everybody was anticipating seeing justice prevail - and the show denied that in the harshest way possible. Pedro Pascal's performance as Oberyn was so good, I was really looking forward to the fifth season introducing more characters from Dorne.  But as I said, the show peaked...

"Hardhome" - My favorite of the show's big battle episodes, and the highlight of a very bumpy fifth season.  This one is designed to sell the full horror of the Night King's army, and it succeeds wonderfully. It gets us to care about several characters who only exist in this episode, sells Jon's continuing alliance with the Wildlings, and provides the opportunity for so many great visuals.  This is also the episode that first introduces Daenerys to Tyrion and gives Arya a significant costume change.

"Mother's Mercy" - The finale of the fifth season sees the final downfall of Stannis Baratheon, the assassination of Jon Snow, and the deaths of several others.  However, the really memorable event was Cersei's walk of atonement, which immediately became iconic. I've scoffed at the show's use of "sexposition," but it's the nudity that really gave the six-minute scene so much dramatic power.  The scale and the unflinching nature of it is something that only "Game of Thrones" could offer.

"The Bells" - Finally, I've been disappointed with the last few seasons of "Game of Thrones," which have had rushed storylines, leaned more heavily on spectacle, and put several interesting characters on the backburner.  However, I have to give it to "The Bells" for delivering a truly memorable action finale. Dany's turn could have been handled better, but it doesn't take away from the annihilation of King's landing, "Cleganebowl," or the bleakly ambiguous ending.   

Honorable mentions: "Winter is Coming" "The Wolf and the Lion" "And Now His Watch Is Ended," "The Bear and the Maiden Fair," "Oathkeeper," "The Children," "The Dance of Dragons""Battle of the Bastards," "The Long Night"

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"Game of Thrones," Year Eight (With Spoilers)

I thought so many more major characters were going to die.  I thought there would be so many more confrontations and dramatic clashes, more resistance from some of the bigger villains.  We had way too many characters at the end who felt like they really didn't have all that much to do. At the same time, parts of the narrative were sped up so fast that years of story were compressed to the point of absurdity.  

Over the last few seasons the sped-up timeline has increasingly been the norm, and that was true in the final season to a much greater degree.  Part of the problem was that it was so inconsistently done, to the point where an episode might spend half of its story on the events of a single evening, and the other half charting events that happened over the course of several months.  Other things were also maddeningly inconsistent - how strong the dragons are, how smart certain characters are, and how good anyone is at fighting. The fourth episode, where we move from the aftermath of "The Long Night" to Missandei's death, is an absolute mess.  Jaime and Brienne's relationship seems to last a few days at most. Euron downs a dragon like it's nothing, right before the episode where Drogon fries King's Landing to a crisp.

I'm seriously considering writing up an entirely separate post about Daenerys Targaryen, who went from heroine to final boss far too quickly.  I'm very sympathetic to the idea that they were trying to make her a tragic anti-hero in the vein of Walter White, but how the creators chose to do it left a lot to be desired.  Dany's descent into madness didn't necessarily need a whole season to set up, but it had to be more obvious and given more attention. An extra scene or two with Missandei and Jorah to hammer home their loss might have done it.  Instead, Dany snaps with seemingly very little provocation, and her mind and mental state remain a mystery for far too long. There weren't even have any close-ups of her on Drogon during the attack, which might have given Emilia Clarke a chance to fill in some gaps with her performance.

And it was the same, though to a lesser extent, with Jaime, with Cersei, with Varys and Bronn and Melisandre and many others.  I'm perfectly happy that Jon Snow didn't end up on the throne, and that he had a relatively miserable ending. Bran and Sansa becoming the rulers of Westeros feels perfectly acceptable, as does Arya's decision to quit the continent entirely.  Part of me was hoping that the show would do a "Veep" and end in a much darker place, but these weren't bad choices. However, there was so much that felt arbitrary, so much that felt unearned. Peter Dinklage's Tyrion spent most of the finale talking, convincing other characters (and the audience) to go with Dany's death and Bran's ascension.    

And thank heavens for the cast, who helped a lot of the really moronic material go down easier.  I can be upset that Sam somehow survived the Night King's forces despite essentially lying on the floor and waving a sword around, but I'm so grateful that John Bradley got to be in the finale and set up the best joke in the show.  Bronn ending up with Highgarden and all the money was outrageous, but I love how Jerome Flynn played it. And then there was Cleganebowl, which had several media watchers discussing the concept of fanservice in non-ironic terms. Frankly, I was never sold on the hype for Cleganebowl, but seeing it actually play out was pretty satisfying.

The part of me that loves spectacle thoroughly enjoyed the last season.  This is without a doubt the most gorgeous piece of media of the past several years.  The insane size and scale of the conflict, the quality of the production, and the artistry of so many talented people involved in "Game of Thrones" went a long way toward making me forget about my issues with the plotting.  Miguel Sapochnik's razing of King's Landing was a highlight. I suspect that "The Long Night" would have also been viewed much more kindly if the contrast had just been turned up a few notches.

So, overall the ending was massively flawed, but I had a good time watching it.  I'm sure someone will remake the series and improve on the finale someday.

But for now, our watch has ended.

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"Game of Thrones," Year Eight (Without Spoilers)

I had originally intended to write up reaction posts for each episode of the final season as they aired, but scheduling and access issues made that impossible.  Instead, I marathoned the entire season all at once, leading up to the finale. I'll spend the next post getting into what I thought of specific events in the show, but today I want to talk about the season in a more general sense, along with the show's legacy and its place in the pop culture.

I think it's going to be a long while before television sees a piece of event programming this momentous again.  Millions were spent on this season, particularly the two supersized battle-heavy episodes, with production values that rival anything we've seen in a theatrical film.  It was treated like a pop culture event on the same level as the the roughly analogous "Avengers: Endgame." The show got a ton of press coverage, a behind the scenes documentary, and dozens of brand partners.  I was tickled to find that an HBO show notorious for adult content was getting commemorative limited edition Oreos and Mountain Dew cans sporting Arya Stark's kill list.

However, as multiple critics predicted, there was no way that the show was going to be able to wrap up a story this complicated to the rabid fanbase's satisfaction with only six episodes.  And this was clearly the fault of the creators, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who turned down more seasons and higher episode counts in favor of ending the series more briskly. There were some grumbles over the first two episodes, but it was the third, "The Long Night," where the unfortunate reality really sunk in.  Keep in mind that this was one of the show's most expensive, elaborate installments that required eleven weeks of night shoots to film the big battle sequences. It was at the center of HBO's promotional efforts and massively hyped for months. It turned into the biggest blunder of the show's entire run, a combination of bad planning, technical issues, and a couple of unpopular artistic decisions.  Not only was one of the show's weightiest, most meaningful plotlines capped off with only a single episode, but the cinematography was so dark that nobody could see what was going on for good chunks of the running time.

Parts of the fanbase started turning on the show after that point.  Ratings victory was assured due to the tremendous hype, but the reactions became increasingly nitpicky and dissatisfied.  We spent several days after episode four talking about a misplaced coffee cup, and a goof with Jaime's prosthetic hand after episode five that turned out not to be a mistake after all.  I wound up getting spoiled for a few major plot points, but I think I actually enjoyed the season more, knowing that they were coming. Though I found "The Long Night" disappointing, I thought "The Bells" mostly made up for it in the spectacle department, and the ending - though clearly not to everyone's taste - felt mostly sound.  The payoff may have been rushed and left a lot of loose ends, but it was at least in keeping with the grim, untidy nature of the books.

I'm not interested in any of the spinoffs currently being prepped or the books that George R.R. Martin may never finish.  Frankly, I don't really count myself as a fan and haven't been truly invested in the story since around the fifth season. I'm glad I saw the whole series through to the end, but I view "Game of Thrones" much like I view "Harry Potter" - lots of fun and helpful for keeping on top of pop culture, but not a franchise that I ever really connected with.  I appreciate that it helped usher in the era of blockbuster television shows, and that it's done wonders for the fantasy genre, but in the end I thought it was far too preoccupied with sex and spectacle, and didn't do right by many of its characters. I knew we were in trouble when cataloguing how many important characters died in various episodes became a thing.

But I'll get into the specifics of that in the next post.

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"Booksmart" and "Always Be My Maybe"

Aside from being comedies and employing the talents of music producer Dan the Automator, these two movies don't have much in common, but I liked both of them, and I think they need more spotlight.

"Booksmart" is a teens behaving badly comedy, one that features best friends Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein). The two are straightlaced overachievers, who decide to throw caution to the wind and go to a wild party the night before graduation. Getting there, however, is another matter. So begins a "Superbad" style nocturnal journey that follows the girls through one detour after another as they search for their last chance at high school hedonism.

I identified with the leads in a way that typically don't in teen comedies. These two are aren't stereotypically cool or attractive and aren't obsessed with status. The people they have crushes on aren't the obvious catches either. However, they're smart, endearing, and have a lot of strong screen chemistry together. Frankly, the whole movie is refreshingly free of easy labels, and goes out of its way to subvert expectations for the few that do crop up. Amy is a lesbian, but it's a non-issue with her overprotective parents. The rich kid is an asocial loser and treated as such. The popular, promiscuous girl suffers the worst of the bullying. Nobody is subjected to a makeover. Everyone has to deal with rejection and gets called out on their flaws, Molly and Amy in particular.

Directed by Olivia Wilde with a cast full of up-and-comers, "Booksmart" feels very 2019. It's not just that the girls get around town by calling Lyft and follow party updates on social media. It's not that they drop recent pop culture references left and right and use "Malala" as an emergency code word. It's that the film doesn't make any apologies for or feel self-conscious at all about being a raunchy teen comedy starring teenage girls. The attitudes of everyone toward sex and alcohol and partying are more measured, and the girls themselves are largely happy in their own skins and identities. Wilde and crew don't do anything too noteworthy with the filmmaking, but they give Dever and Feldstein plenty of room to sell their banter, and there are some neat gags. The animated Barbie doll sequence is a special highlight.

Moving on, "Always Be My Maybe" is a typical piece of goofy, romantic-comedy wish fulfillment, one that happens to feature two Asian-American leads and takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ali Wong and Randall Kim play Sasha and Marcus respectively, who grew up together as kids and were briefly involved before going their separate ways for sixteen years. Sasha is now a celebrity chef, engaged to Brandon (Daniel Dae Kim), and comes back to San Francisco to open a new restaurant. Marcus is now dating Jenny (Vivian Bang) and looking after his aging father (James Saito). When the pair reconnect, the sparks are still there, but their lifestyles clash.

I went into this movie a fan of Ali Wong, and came out a fan of Randall Park too. Wong is fine in the movie, but her screen persona is distinctly more hard edged than the usual romantic comedy leading lady, and occasionally it feels like there's a bit of a mismatch with the cuddly tone. She's good with the more comedic material, but every time the movie wants her to be more heartfelt, it feels forced. Park, on the other hand, is a sitcom veteran and perfect schlubby, everyman, and feels far more comfortable here. The conceit of him fronting a band and writing nerdy hip-hop songs yields so many good things, including my favorite end credits song of all time.

Speaking of which, "Always Be My Maybe" is destined to be forever remembered for its celebrity cameo about halfway through the movie, one I didn't know was coming and was absolutely bowled over by. It is the best part of the movie by far and elevates it to a surreal high for about fifteen minutes. I don't feel that this spoiler is too objectionable, because knowing that a big cameo is coming will make more people want to see the movie. And the movie is worth seeing, if you're at all a fan of romantic comedies. Directed by Nanatchka Khan, best known for creating "Fresh Off the Boat," the plotting is familiar stuff, but there's a welcome subversive bent and cultural authenticity to it. And it's so good to see Wong and Park in starring roles that have been long overdue.



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Dead Links

Nothing on the internet is ever truly deleted, but it can feel like things disappear without a trace.  I was given a good reminder of that recently, when I ran across a Reddit thread parroting an old urban legend about Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."  The claim was that the artists had used real cosmetics while painting Snow White, putting them directly on the animation cels. I knew that Animationartist.com had an article disproving the story - except the site was gone.

Being the nerd that I am, this wasn't much of an obstacle for me.  Following a couple of links, I used the Wayback Machine to track down the original article, link to it, and use it as my proof that the anecdote was false.  However, anyone trying to fact-check the story, who didn't know that article existed, would have had a tougher time. I only remembered it because Animationartist.com used to be one of my regular internet hangouts fifteen years ago, when I was a more dedicated animation fangirl.  Apparently the site went offline at some point in 2018.

I've talked about some of my other old online hangouts quietly closing down over the past few years, like the Rotten Tomatoes message boards.  However, I'm more worried about articles and reviews from the more content-oriented entertainment sites disappearing, the dead links that don't lead anywhere anymore.  One of my favorite movie blogs, Cinematical, went offline in 2011, after its original platform was bought by AOL and a merger with Huffpost resulted in a disastrous reorganization.  All those reviews and thinkpieces posted over six years don't come up in searches anymore. And where are all those articles from The Dissolve? Grantland? Did anyone save all those years and years of podcasts from Spill.com before they went under?  

Even some sites that are alive and well will occasionally just delete content without warning.  My favorite, handy, go-to list of all-time great movie trailers was one compiled by IFC.com in 2009.  It's no longer on the site and the Wayback Machine doesn't have it, though a few articles and forums still have links pointing to where it used to be.  I can't help wondering what's going to happen when the sites hosting those articles and forums also become defunct and close down. They say you never really die as long as people remember you.  Maybe on the internet, you're never really deleted until the last hyperlink to you goes too.

Of course, that IFC list is long out of date in 2019, and there are tons of other trailer ranking features out there.  Of course, there are plenty of other entertainment sites and plenty of new internet spaces for cineastes and film nerds to congregate.  Film Twitter and Letterboxd weren't around back then. It can't and shouldn't be 2009 forever. And yet, I can't get over the sense that important things are being lost - or at least significantly misplaced - as we move forward.  It's not such a big deal that the "Snow White" urban legend gets spread around again, but what happens if we lose the means to debunk the more damaging, less trivial falsehoods?

And maybe it's folly to get attached to these online spaces, but losing them feels an awful lot like watching the downtown businesses in my city close up shop one by one.  The area is gentrifying quickly, and rents are going up too fast for many of them to keep up with. Others are losing business to online equivalents. The travel agency and the Costplus World Market have been the latest casualties.  Others have decided to remodel or expand and no longer look like themselves. It's hard not to compare it to the way Toonzone.net morphed into Animesuperhero.com at the end of last year, and now won't load correctly on my browser.

I guess it's all part of getting old, watching your constants depart with greater and greater regularity.  I thought I'd gotten used to this on the internet, where the speed of information is so rapid, and everything is old news in a flash.  However, I was also operating under the misguided assumption that everything was still easily accessible if you ever wanted to look back.  And I've had reason to look back more often as of late, as online misinformation grows more and more sinister by the day.

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