EmmyWatch: Will HBO Rule Dramas Again in 2016?

Will HBO repeat at the 2016 Emmy Awards?

It hasn’t even been a month since HBO took home the Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Comedy Series prizes at the 67th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Feels like months ago, doesn’t it? Even so, the Emmy eligibility window for 2016 started back in early June and with the Fall TV season in full swing, maybe there are some new contenders that will fill in some departing or ineligible shows or perhaps sweep out the cobwebs. One can only hope. And, yes, it is a rather foolish exercise to try and predict these things roughly a year out. Call me crazy, but let’s take a look at where the Drama Series race stands.

For those with short term memory, here were the nominations for 2015 Outstanding Drama Series:

  • Better Call Saul
  • Downton Abbey
  • Game of Thrones *winner*
  • Homeland
  • House of Cards
  • Mad Men
  • Orange is the New Black

So, we know a few things for certain right now. First, Mad Men ended its run, of course, so it’s not eligible next years. That’s one vacant slot. We also know the reaction to Orange is the New Black was more muted than with previous seasons, but there’s no reason to believe it absolutely won’t receive another Drama Series nomination next year. Let’s call that one on the bubble. Finally, we know what isn’t going to take the place of Mad Men. HBO’s True Detective Season Two is the butt of a national joke, famously becoming an Andy Samberg punchline in last month’s Emmy telecast. Even if some revisionist thinking takes place over the new few months, I sincerely doubt any small amount of goodwill could turn around the damage in time to merit a slot in the top seven.

So what’s looking good for slots roughly one year from now?

Sight unseen, of course, there’s no reason to think that Game of Thrones or House of Cards won’t repeat. Coming off the big win and a year where it received not only a record number of nominations for the series but also a record number of wins for any series in Emmy history, GOT will almost certainly repeat in the top seven next year, barring any shockingly steep drop in quality. Similarly, House of Cards is headed into a fourth season that could see Frank and Claire Underwood (Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright) pitted against each other in a scandalous (and potentially repetitious of ABC’s Scandal) separation / divorce storyline. If Season Four is the series’s last, then it could further guarantee attention. Better Call Saul is a lesser known quantity. Based on the successful first season and on Vince Gilligan’s tremendous talents, I am personally very confident in an equally successful second season, provided Gilligan finds a consistent storyline for his sophomore season.

Downton Abbey will be there too because it’s ending its series run in 2016. Will the Television Academy feel sentimental about it’s final season and start throwing it awards? Of course, it depends on the quality, but early buzz out of the UK (where it is currently airing) seems good so far. That brings us to Homeland which, in its fifth season, appears to be continuing with its series renaissance initiated by Season Four. So, assuming it doesn’t drop any deuces by the end of its season, that’s likely five slots locked with Orange standing close by – six slots already identified… a depressing thought.

So what takes the Mad Men slot?

Showtime’s The Affair has broadened its perspective in Season Two, incorporating Maura Tierney’s and Joshua Jackson’s characters in the he said/she said narrative. Early reactions to the second season have been largely positive, which is good given the widespread critical disappointment in the resolution of Season One. You do have the sense that critics are really holding their breath, though, and the Television Academy obviously didn’t recognize the show last year. Aside from the much-buzzed performance of Maura Tierney, The Affair would be fighting an uphill battle to make it into the top seven. You just don’t come back from a total shut out like that easily.

Similarly, HBO’s own The Leftovers‘ second season seems to have sparked critical love for the series that Season One never saw (an 80 on Meteoritic over Season One’s 65), but how much of a chance does it stand when Season One was also ignored by the Television Academy? The second season seems to have rebooted the storyline, focusing this time on a town untouched by the rapture, so that helps entry into the series for those unfamiliar with it previously. Empire and Penny Dreadful saw some Emmy play this year (less than many anticipated), and their second seasons are equally assured and beloved when compared to their first. The Walking Dead also seems to be prepping a sixth season that, by early accounts, may be its best yet. And Netflix’s Bloodline and Daredevil have second seasons in the works, but it is not yet known if they will air in time for the 2016 Emmy eligibility window. The same goes for Starz’s cult hit Outlander.

My money, though, is on a new series to fit that sixth or seventh slot. And HBO is (shock) right up there with candidates to fill them. Of the new series we know, PBS’s Indian Summers wants to be Downton Abbey 2 (or at least was anticipated to be as much by viewers), but I can count on my right hand the number of people I know who have watched beyond the languidly paced first episode. ABC’s Quantico appears to be a huge hit, but, like the Shonda Rhimes series that inspired it, it’s likely relegated to ratings victories over awards attention. Fear the Walking Dead had the highest first season rating of any comparable series in recent memory, but almost no one LOVED the show. And, if The Walking Dead couldn’t crack it, then what makes anyone think its spawn series could? Lifetime made waves this summer with its hour-long dramedy UnReal, but yeah… no. Finally, the biggest series of the summer had to be USA’s Mr. Robot, but USA has yet to prove an Emmy player. Plus, it’s chances seem much stronger with lead actor Rami Malek who will undoubtedly receive critical attention for his pivotal role and hypnotic performance.

So that leads us to shows that are relatively site unseen. I’m assuming that Fox’s The X-Files reboot competes in the Limited Series category, but if for some reason it’s ruled to compete in the Drama Series then it will likely show up there. Netflix saw strong critical notices (but almost no Emmy love) for its graphic and suspenseful Marvel series Daredevil, and early buzz about its lesser known property Jessica Jones seems strong. But that property has almost no name recognition outside of the Marvel faithful, and its strongest play may be in lead actress Krysten Ritter’s gritty performance.

No, my money is on one (or both) of HBO’s newest high-profile drama series: the Martin Scorsese-produced Vinyl (to air in January 2016) or the futuristic Western Westworld (premiere date TBD in 2016). Both have substantial talent behind them. Both have tremendous, awards-friendly casts. Both are already buzzed about for either their trailers (Vinyl looks like Boogie Nights hooked up with GoodFellas) or for their on-set antics (Westworld‘s extras were signed up to almost literally have sex on set). If I had to choose, then I would most likely put my money behind Vinyl given its pedigree and proven Emmy love for the creators of Boardwalk Empire. But that’s site unseen. It could completely underwhelm, leaving room for a surprise or two in the final seven.

So, at this point, roughly a year out, the Outstanding Drama Series race looks something like this:

  • Better Call Saul
  • Downton Abbey
  • Game of Thrones
  • Homeland
  • House of Cards
  • Orange is the New Black
  • Vinyl

The upcoming Golden Globes, DGA, and SAG seasons will certainly provide some attention as to which series continue to be in awards bodies’ favor. Those won’t have the benefit of rewarding new 2016 shows, though, so neither Westworld or Vinyl will show up there. It’s also very possible that Westworld won’t even debut until Summer 2016 after Vinyl and Game of Thrones have run their seasons, assuming HBO keeps their prestige dramas to Sunday nights. If so, then that would obviously push its Emmy eligibility off until 2017.

What else have we missed? Sound off in the comments if you think another dramatic series I haven’t mentioned here warrants mention as a possibility, and keep reading as we move ever closer to the 2016 Emmy season.

These things tend to show up faster than we realize.

X-Files Flashback: ‘Demons’

Season 4, Episode 23
Director: Kim Manners
Writer: R.W. Goodwin

The X-Files‘ “Demons” are the metaphorical kind – the kind of demons that constantly plague Fox Mulder, thanks to the childhood abduction of his sister, Samantha. This storyline is a strong tenant of the overall X-Files mythology, and the writers continue to tease us every so often with tiny advancements. Advancements is a strong word. Imagine a child’s plastic tub boat sitting in the ocean. Now, imagine The X-Files writers are trying to push that boat across the ocean using only their breath. That’s how it feels to follow an X-Files mythology episode. “Demons” isn’t much different.

The episode begins with Mulder waking from a psychedelic dream sequence in which he and his sister, Samantha, watching their parents argue downstairs. After awakening from the dream, a weary Mulder discovers he’s covered with blood. He calls Scully who finds him sick and missing memories from the past two days. Mulder is also in possession of a set of keys that belong to a missing couple who are later found dead in a house near his parents’ Rhode Island summer home. When the police investigate the deaths, Mulder is questioned and arrested because his standard-issue white starch shirt is stained with two types of blood belonging to the dead couple. At the police station, a police officer shoots himself, and Scully finds that both he and the dead couple have similar scars on their forehead. Scully also determines it is unlikely Mulder killed the couple

Because Mulder still has no memory of the missing two days, he and Scully pay a visit to a psychiatrist who was treating the dead woman with a radical memory recapturing treatment. Basically, the dead woman claims to have been abducted by aliens and entered into therapy to fully remember the experience. The treatment, however, causes unnatural behavior thanks to the hallucinations caused by the medication. Mulder continues to try and find his missing memories, visiting his mother and demanding to know her relationship with the Smoking Man and whether or not his father was really his father. That confrontation, of course, angers his mother, and she refuses to answer any of his questions. In the end, Mulder undergoes the controversial memory therapy just as Scully and other agents barge in to arrest the psychiatrist. Mulder eventually comes down, unable to fully recall the events of his childhood.

The cinematography and film exposure techniques used to dramatize Mulder’s memories are far and away the best aspects of “Demons.” Otherwise, they’re relying on the same old bait-and-switch techniques they’ve used in recent episodes where the first plot (in this case, the mysterious deaths and Mulder’s involvement with them) are but window dressing to the actual story (in this case, Mulder’s attempts to remember what happened to his sister). It’s a fair technique to throw people off the trail, but I personally find it extremely annoying. Particularly since The X-Files writers aren’t really very good at setting up the throw-away plots. They’re rapidly conceived, thinly developed, and ultimately an incredible waste of time.

As for the connection between Mulder’s mother and the Smoking Man, I in no way believe that a) she was having an affair with him or b) Mulder is his son. I don’t believe the Smoking Man would engage with people on an emotional or sexual level. He’s a one-man killing machine, dedicating his life to the government and deeply woven conspiracies. That’s what the “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man” episode taught us – he has nothing except his conspiracies and his writing. He has no interpersonal relationships on which to fall back.

“Demons” is a disappointing episode because it’s all about the tease from the title to the bait-and-switch storytelling. As we begin to but the forth season to bed, it’s time they started advancing the series in meaningful ways.

Review: ‘Final Girls’ Has a Bleeding Heart

I’ll tell you straight up front: The Final Girls isn’t going to deliver what you’d expect.

Based on the advanced marketing material and trailer, I expected a low budget horror-comedy hybrid, something that’s as brutally funny as it is brutal. But what is actually delivered is something significantly deeper and more emotional than anticipated. And that’s absolutely fine. While the film is moderately clever and, in spots, often very funny, The Final Girls is ultimately a bit of a wet blanket. Who wants feelings mixed in with their scares and gore?

The film introduces actress Amanda Cartwright (Malin Akerman) as a former slasher film star whose most famous film, the camp classic Camp Bloodbath, has typecast her in a scream queen vein. When Amanda dies in a car accident with her daughter Max (Taissa Farmiga), Max is invited to a special screening of the Camp Bloodbath films on the third anniversary of her mother’s death. After a fire breaks out in the theater, Max attempts to lead a group of friends to safety by using a machete to hack through the movie screen but opens a portal into the film itself. There, Max and crew engage with characters from the film, including the one played by her mother, as they sex it up and die. When the “final girl” – the remaining virgin girl who cuts off the killer’s head and ends the film – dies in a freak accident caused by their meddling with the events of the film, the survivors must figure out how to recreate the role of the “final girl” and end the film to return to real life.

My main gripe with the film is that it simply isn’t scary. Yes, there were a few jump scenes, but the problem with a “meta” horror film is that the characters are aware they’re in a horror film so they’re constantly undercutting the tension with snide comments and sarcastic banter. Wes Craven’s Scream danced in this territory but balanced the comedy with the horror in a much more successful way. The film was funny and referenced other horror films with a knowing wink, but it was also at its core a horror film. The Final Girls isn’t a horror film, ultimately, and the sooner you realize that the more likely you are to appreciate its good qualities.

As a comedy, it is fairly funny, particularly with the hyperactive comic performance of Silicon Valley‘s Thomas Middleditch as Duncan, an awkward horror obsessive who knows the rules of the genre and directs their actions. Middleditch gives a vibrant comic performance here that has a toe in the same geeky realm as his Silicon Valley character but is much more open and confident. He is the one actor who really seems to be having fun with the role aside from Adam DeVine (Modern Family, Workaholics) who does his usual routine as the sexed-up jock.

The main performances from Farmiga and Akerman are very strong, hitting emotionally resonant notes that you wouldn’t expect from the genre. A severely underrated actress, Akerman, in particular, succeeds in giving the stock slasher film character some nice nuance, particularly when she discovers that she’s a character in a horror film and is designed to die. The scenes between the two actresses are well written and, again, highly emotional, but they ultimately feel out of place within the horror-comedy genre. Max’s experience within the film teaches her to “let go” of her mother, a bit of a hackneyed conclusion in my opinion, and the message often threatens to sap the fun out of the film. Again, the sooner the audience realizes the true heart of the film lies within Max’s journey of accepting her mother’s death then the more likely people are to appreciate the merits of the film.

Finally, I do have to comment on the look and feel of the film-within-a-film sequences. The design of the camp is beautiful with its surrounding woods populated with impossibly beautiful and photogenic flowers, gorgeous lighting, and accomplished cinematography. The main cabin and nearby locales are so exactingly art directed that they appear to have stepped out of a Wes Anderson film. And it all makes for a surprisingly lush presentation, but isn’t that a bit of a cheat? If Camp Bloodbath is to echo the slasher films of the 1980s, then the set design needs to be toned down to reflect the low-budget roots of the genre. The camp here is way too sophisticated and cinematic to effectively recall its predecessors.

The Final Girls is now available on iTunes.

Review: ‘Red Oaks’ is a ‘Par for the Course’ Comedy

Even though it has big names like David Gordon Green (Eastbound & Down) and Steven Soderbergh behind it, Amazon’s Red Oaks isn’t doing anything new for comedy and television. In fact, it’s more of a rehashing of other films like Caddyshack and Adventureland.

Craig Roberts plays David, an NYU sophomore who gets a job as a tennis pro at the Red Oaks Country Club over the summer in 1985. There, he meets fellow head tennis pro Nash (Ennis Esmer), who serves as Ty Webb to David’s Danny Noonan. David needs this job because he doesn’t want to work for his father (Richard Kind), especially after his dad has a heart attack and admits to David that he should have never married his mother (Jennifer Grey) who’s most likely a lesbian (at the very least bi). This is a lot to take in, but Red Oaks never quite lets you know whether David feels anything about this other than weirded out.

The supporting “adult” cast is probably the best thing about this show, including Paul Reiser as Getty, the head of the country club, and of course, Kind and Grey, who provide most of the laughs in the pilot episode. But the “teenage” cast is what you’ve seen before in other teen TV and film comedies. There’s Wheeler (Oliver Cooper), the stoner who has a thing for the popular girl, and Karen (Gage Golightly), David’s aerobic instructor girlfriend who looks a little more costumey than other characters on this show (although it was the ‘80s when most people looked costumey).

It’s strange that this show is coming out in the fall when perhaps it would have found more of an audience in the summer, especially given the setting. On the other hand, times have changed. Summer has become a peak part of TV season, and if this show would have come out in June, it would have been up against the hype of Orange is the New Black. If it had more to offer in its pilot, that might not have been a problem.

But really, the only difference between movies like Caddyshack and Red Oaks is swapping golf for tennis, and originality for hackneyed teen comedy hijinks we’ve all seen before. It could get better with practice, but we all know where the follow-through is leading.

X-Files Flashback: ‘Elegy’

Season 4, Episode 22
Director: James Charleston
Writer: John Shiban

With “Elegy,” the X-Files writers clearly had a great idea for continuing the Scully cancer plot. By dropping hints and sinister omens, they seem to like to insinuate Scully’s pending death, something we clearly know isn’t going to happen. But the plot on which they hung the storyline was exceedingly… well… Honestly, it’s incredibly dumb, something The X-Files rarely traffics in.

“Elegy” opens in a bowling alley where autistic employee Harold (Steven M. Porter) is trying to wrap up re-arranging the shoes. The owner, Angie (Alex Bruhanski) tells him to go home, but Harold quickly lapses into a fit. Later, as Angie tries to close down the alley, one of the lanes begins to act strangely. Upon investigation, he discovers blood dripping from the top of the pin return and a seemingly dead body looking down at him. When he hears sirens outside, he runs out to find the police responding to another distress call, the discovery of a dead body with her throat slashed from ear to ear. The body is the same person that Angie recently saw inside the alley. Mulder and Scully begin to investigate and discover the words “She is me” scratched into the bowling alley floor.

All eyes look to Harold as the likely killer, but Mulder doesn’t agree. While washing in the restroom after a new nosebleed, Scully sees a girl standing behind her, also bleeding from the neck. The same girl was found dead nearby. Disturbed, Scully visits her psychiatrist and struggles with the dead girl vision. In the end of the episode, it is revealed that people who are near death are seeing recently deceased ghosts, including Harold. When it is revealed that Harold’s nurse (due to some bizarre medicine issue) actually killed the girls, the nurse attacks Scully, nearly killing her. Scully shoots the nurse just as Harold’s dead body is found nearby. We close with a deep conversation between Mulder and Scully as they struggle with the implications of the episode – that Scully is likely near death.

The openness and personal exchange between Mulder and Scully is hands-down the best component of “Elegy,” and it’s clear that the writers had this central nugget of an idea and wanted to pursue it. How to tie it into an X-file though? Well, the choice they made was a poor one. The story as it stands is confusing, random, and meaningless. The final wrap-up is exceptionally mishandled given the subplot about Harold refusing to take his meds, allowing the nurse to take them instead which, in turn, makes her crazy and homicidal. Of course it does. That section of the story, I could do without, but the brief, cancer-based scenes between Mulder and Scully as she faces death are classic material. I especially loved the line where Mulder admits that they’re both afraid of the same thing.

The closing scene shows Scully crying silently in her car as she glimpses a dead man in the rear-view mirror. She is frightened, but the man is not there. It’s the right kind of mixture between emotional content and old-fashioned scares. Too bad the rest of “Elegy” doesn’t follow suit.

X-Files Flashback: ‘Zero Sum’

Season 4, Episode 21
Director: Kim Manners
Writer: Frank Spotnitz, Howard Gordon

The X-Files‘ “Zero Sum” has a hard time shaking the reputation that it is nothing more than a filler episode while Gillian Anderson took a week off to make a film (The Mighty in case you asked). Rather than focus exclusively on David Duchovny, the episode gives the supporting characters – the “B team” – a chance to shine, specifically Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner and Laurie Holden as Marita Covarrubias. A nice gesture, but they’re saddled with a secondary script that dabbles in mythology but fails to move the story forward satisfactorily despite the plentiful usage of the bees.

Oh and there’s the huge revelation – Walter Skinner wears a mighty pair of tights whities.

The episode begins when a postal employee takes a smoke break in the bathroom. While she’s squatting on the toilet, a swarm of bees seeps into the room through multiple holes, eventually attacking and killing her. The next 15 minutes are something of an X-Files rarity: Director Skinner spends 10+ wordless minutes erasing all details of the bee-related death and uses Mulder’s identity to do the work. Mulder starts investigating still, but Skinner approaches the Smoking Man angrily, wanting to know why he had to cover up the death. Skinner is doing favors for the Smoking Man because he claims to be able to cure Scully.

After deciding to investigate on his own, Skinner returns to the postal facility and discovers massive honeycombs in the wall. He takes a section of the honeycomb to a forensic scientist for identification, but the bees reach maturity and kill the scientist. Skinner also reaches out to Mulder’s U.N. contact, Marita (Holden), for additional information on the Canadian bee farm Mulder discovered early in Season Four. Meanwhile, the Smoking Man meets with the Syndicate and informs them that a plan is in place to test the bees. Cut to a school yard in South Carolina where bees begin attacking innocent school children with multiple casualties. In the end, Skinner face the Smoking Man in his apartment, nearly killing him but choosing not to do so to save Scully’s life. The Smoking Man’s phone rings, and it is Marita with an unknown man listening on the same line. The Smoking Man tells Marita to tell Mulder what he wants to hear. Fade to black.

“Zero Sum” does offer opportunity to showcase the great Mitch Pileggi and the future star of The Walking Dead Laurie Holden after both have been relegated to the sidelines for multiple episodes. However, the mystery of the bees is an improbable and elaborate mess that the series fails to wrestle into a coherent whole. Why does the Syndicate believe this is a good way to spread the reborn smallpox virus? Where do the bees go when they attack and kill the postal victim and scientist? How can these bees be controlled? Why are they looking to spread smallpox again? Perhaps I’m supposed to know the answers here, but honestly I have no idea. What I can tell you is that the schoolyard scene in which bees attack the children is a pretty compelling sequence full of natural, vivid horror – especially when a surviving boy watches his teacher die in the sand.

That sequence is great stuff, but I wish there were more of it within the episode. “Zero Sum” is technically a mythology contribution, but it again offers nothing in the overall scheme of things. It’s a shame because that bee attack scene was compelling and frightening. It’s the kind of sequence The X-Files should employ further.

Review: ‘Homeland’ Season Five Premiere

After two critically hailed seasons and a drastic tumble in its third year, Homeland was reinvigorated last year with fans and critics becoming engrossed in the story of Carrie Mathison once again in its fourth season. In fact, Showtime’s efforts were so accomplished last season, Homeland gained attention from the Emmys once again with an Outstanding Drama Series nomination. Now that it has earned everyone’s trust back, there’s pressure for Homeland to deliver in its upcoming season, and “Separation Anxiety” is a good starting point for the show to fulfill its promises.

When we last saw Carrie, she had professionally failed in Islamabad, rejected Quinn’s romantic advances, and witnessed Saul’s morally compromising decisions. From season four to season five, the timeline has jumped ahead two-and-a-half years, and Carrie has relinquished her responsibilities with the CIA, carrying pejorative feelings about working for the government. Season five is the most domesticated Homeland’s audience has ever seen Carrie. Now living in Germany, she’s focused on being a mother to Frannie, with a committed male partner, and working at the Düring Foundation.

“Separation Anxiety” begins the season with Düring Foundation’s intentions to travel to Lebanon in order to acquire charitable funds for a refugee camp, but Carrie disagrees with the plan, assuming it’s too dangerous of a mission. Meanwhile, the Berlin’s CIA base was hacked, including the leak of over a thousand classified files about United States’ surveillance of Germany and the role the German government has played in bending its own laws. One of the documents is received by a journalist working for the Düring Foundation who plans to publish a piece revealing the disruption privacy.

The episode is a worthy premiere, but it’s rough around the edges. “Drone Queen” kicked off season four last year and completely recreated the show’s post-Brody storyline with its own time jump, new location, and fresh storyline, all of which “Separation Anxiety” tries to do for season five. There’s timeliness and prestige dripping from the new season already, but it doesn’t ignite the same levels of excitement that was found last year. In fact, in the expository scenes describing the current setting for the “Homeland” gang are insipid. The writing in particular is at fault for not introducing the new characters or the new situations for the old characters in a thorough and intimate manner. (Many backstory questions were left unanswered, because presumably they will factor into the season at a later time.)

“Separation Anxiety” is plot heavy and, with the exception of the climax, relies on its characters sitting in a room dissecting the CIA’s hack or the foundation’s trip to Lebanon. Assuming from the trailers and TV promos, the action and drama will begin to boil soon, now that the writers have positioned the plot basics for the rest of the season to run with. The trailer shown after the credits of the premiere depicting makes the rest of the season look stunning, especially when coupled with the groundwork we learned in this past week’s episode.

The most interesting thing “Separation Anxiety” brought to the table from a character standpoint is Carrie’s newly developed faith; she attends church twice during the premiere, an uncharted area for the character up until this point. Throughout the episode, a theme of redemption is presented in Carrie, directly resulting from her guilt about Islamabad’s massacre and her lost faith in Saul and the CIA. She’s channeling her remorse through religion, which is a fascinating development for the character a bold move by the show. And as always, Claire Danes fastens her seatbelt for an emotionally unpredictable ride as Carrie; the brilliance of her performance in the series, on display in the premiere, is how she intensely embodies Carrie’s vulnerability and strength at the same time.

Homeland remains as the most technically savvy of a show (not based in fantasy) currently on the air. The directing has been resilient since day one and was the highlight week in, week out, accentuating the show’s setting, the plot’s tension, and emotion among the character’s relationships. Homeland did not have as much of a chance to capitalize on that in “Separation Anxiety” except for some aesthetically beautiful shots such as the opening scene, where Carrie waits for communion in Mass, and the dually plotted climatic sequence with Carrie’s brief kidnapping and Quinn’s discrete assassination in a German apartment building. Both of these events set up the next chapters for the two storylines this season: Carrie was granted access to the Syrian refugee camp after a successful meeting with people who captured her, and an undercover Quinn will continue the United States’ work taking out German threats without the surveillance program.

Review: Living It Up at the ‘Hotel’ Cortez

First and foremost, the American Horror Story anthology series as piloted by Ryan Murphy has always been a massive exercise in style over substance. Here, in the Hotel entry, the fifth in the anthology series, the centerpiece Hotel Cortez is certainly the most elaborate design and probably the finest piece of cohesive style Murphy has offered yet. With its Shining-inspired hallways filled with Shining-inspired children and lined with Shining-inspired carpets (there’s a theme there), the art deco hotel has an ominously empty and dead feeling, perfect for the series. It’s obvious a great deal of passion and attention went into the set design. The other aspects of the series are less well defined, requiring more evidence to gauge its ultimate success over the scattered pilot.

As written by Murphy and Brad Falchuk, the pilot, “Checking In,” is effectively a series of vignettes designed to establish threads of stories that will run through the season tied together by the refrains of The Eagle’s “Hotel California,” which rather obviously closes the episode. We are first introduced to the hotel through the eyes of Swedish tourists who run afoul of the hotel’s residents. Kathy Bates plays Iris, the front desk clerk. Sarah Paulson plays Sally, the local drug addict. Denis O’Hare plays Liz Taylor, the transgender (I think) handyman. The second series introduces Wes Bentley as John Lowe, a police detective investigating a series of gruesome mutilations, and his estranged wife Alex, played by Chloe Sevigny (bringing the emotional hard center). And then, finally, there are Lady Gaga as The Countess and Matt Bomer as Donovan (also Iris’s son) who are apparently vampires of some sort. There are tangents all over the place, but those are the core players from the pilot.

So what to make of all of this?

I literally have no idea.

My first impression is that the series has definitely eschewed the lighter, campier texture of Coven and Freak Show for the darker, more straightforward horror approach adopted in Murder House and Asylum. Personally, I think that’s definitely a step in the right direction, particularly with Murphy’s Scream Queens camping it up over on Fox. One of my disappointments with the pilot is that Hotel isn’t particularly scary save a quick jump shock in the opening scenes. It also doesn’t really appear to generate any sense of dread of foreboding. Instead, it relies on heavier doses of gore and risqué sex scenes (Max Greenfield’s anal rape by pointy steel dildo feels like a harsh punishment for The New Girl) to convey the horror. It also seems to have blown its wad / spilled a few of its secrets directly in the pilot, which will not be revealed here for those who couldn’t watch in the dark tonight. And closing the pilot with “Hotel California” didn’t help either. Go look up the lyrics if you didn’t follow that one, although, if you did miss the reference, then you’re likely to find Hotel a fresh and original concept. Good for you.

Aside from the stunning set design, the actors all seem to be well suited to the characters they play with Paulson, Bates, and (to a slightly lesser extent) Sevigny predictably early frontrunners for Best in Show. However, I was surprised in the dedication and focus Wes Bentley brought to his performance. As an actor who never really seemed to fit in after his breakthrough American Beauty performance, Bentley has risen far above his Freak Show silliness with a real character that apparently has real emotions – a rarity in the Ryan Murphy horror universe. And what of Lady Gaga? The jury’s out on her simply based on the pilot. I can say this: she definitely wears clothes well, which is a good thing given that I don’t think she wears the same outfit twice in any given scene in the pilot. She apparently has more lines and a bigger presence in the rest of the series, but, again simply based on the pilot, her appearance is more of an entity than a character. Yes, she reads dialogue well enough, but the character already feels so larger than life that it will be difficult to determine whether or not Lady Gaga can actually act. Clearly, we’ve never had this problem with Jessica Lange. Although now I’m trying to imagine Lange in a 4-way with Matt Bomer and two random actors…

Ultimately, I’m definitely mixed on the pilot. I personally felt that Freak Show had a stronger beginning with more sheer terror around the Twisty the Clown character. But then again, it was saddled with random freak characters who were ultimately more archetypes than actual full-fledged human beings. Hotel has yet to define a “Twisty” for its run, yet, so there aren’t as many immediate scares. However, I can see Hotel delivering a stronger payout as the season continues where Freak Show and, in my opinion, Coven petered out at the end. I also have the sense that, given our collective fascination with the hypnotic oddball that is Lady Gaga, Hotel will never be boring or leave you wanting for more.

It just may not reach the heights Ryan Murphy intends.

Netflix UK: October’s New Arrivals

First airing on ABC in America, this is that crime drama that has held the marvelous Viola Davis aloft in many a conversation of esteem lately – How To Get Away With Murder (available 22/10). Just a few weeks ago she also made Emmy history as the first African-American actress to win the Lead Actress Drama prize. Davis is Philadelphia law professor Annalise Keating who with a bunch of her students become embroiled in murder investigation. The first season is 15 episodes, and any visitors of Awards Daily TV will know how highly talked about this is.

MTV’s Scream TV series, based on the late Wes Craven’s tongue-in-cheek horror by Kevin Williamson (who has no input here this time around) aired Stateside in June. It is the usual set-up, a bunch of teenagers, here played by relative unknowns, becoming directly involved in some bloody encounters – touching on the more modern subject of cyber-bullying. Already green-lighted for a second season, I won’t say don’t read the reviews for this one perhaps, but give it a shot and make your own mind up instead.

There’s also some rather badly cooked food-for-thought in the reissue on Netflix UK of the American version of Hell’s Kitchen with the illusive Gordon Ramsay. As rivetting as this kind of cursing-angerball-chef and plate-thrown-in-garbage shenanigans are, you will have to make do with the first two seasons only at the moment. And you’ve probably already seen them, right? Might be the perfect entertainment though to stick on the box while you have your microwave cooked dinner on your lap.

Based on a video game, which is evident from its refreshingly impressive Adobe Flash software animation, this is Wakfu. The animated series is a huge phenomenon in its domestic France, but if you’ve neither heard of nor been a part of this cult success then this may be news to you. The 26-episode first season is landing on Netflix shortly with it’s vibrant multitude of characters and adventures. Is it for kids? Let’s find out.

What may be more suited to get your nippers to bed is Shushybye, also the entire first season, which is essentially a dream-fueled kiddie show set in various comfy-sounding villages like Slumber Heights and Nap Valley. There’s also a bit of song and dance, including some jazz and country to lure the adults and educate the kids. I have a 3 year-old daughter who will be sampling both of these shows shortly. As soon as she is done with Sons of Anarchy.

An array of Nova documentaries broadcast on PBS show up on Netflix UK too this month. I won’t artfully hustle you like a Seattle market fish monger and throw them all at you, I’ll just put four of them out there. Feel free to take a look yourself, the documentary is a somewhat under-appreciated genre (wrongly so) and there are tons of them on Netflix. Rise Of The Hackers explores the scientific investigation into our security as well as our natural paranoia as we live a life in the digital world. This of course means a life with crime, online hackers (didn’t that used to be a much more fun term?) taking what is ours and jeopardizing our cyber-safety. Time to catch these invisible bad guys. Why Planes Vanish delves deep into that very enigmatic question in light of the mysterious vanishing of the Malaysia Airlines flight 370, which was meant to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, in March 2014. Featuring interviews with expert aviators and engineers, and produced by Emmy winner Miles O’Brien, this is a fascinating account for all to absorb.

The film-makers behind Killer Landslides intended to give “a greater appreciation for the potential for rapid and unexpected earth movement in geologically unstable terrain” as the focus hits one of the deadliest landslides in recent American history in Oso, Washington. The film documents the search and rescue mission, touches on similar, larger events in Afghanistan and Nepal, as well as trying to fathom why landslides happen at all. What else? According to paleontologists around 100 years ago, which is not a long time really in a 65 million year span, the fossil bones of a dinosaur named Spinosaurus meant there could well have been a creature walking the Earth that was Bigger Than T-Rex. The film attempts to put the pieces together to reconstruct the great Spinosaurusis as new hope follows bone destruction from World War II when further discoveries arise in Morocco.

Finally, for now, two wonders of entertainment comedy that really don’t need any introduction at all. Richard Pryor: Icon shows how the misfit genius altered the face of comedy as we knew it with his own stirring, no-holds-barred brand of stand-up humor. Revealing his often troubled, tough life behind the comedy, yet showing how those very experiences filtered through it, the documentary features remarks from those that both knew and admired the icon. Robin Williams Remembered – A Pioneers Of Television Special is an hour long tribute to the great man, taking snippets from a late Williams TV interview as he talks about his early work on TV and on stage, his longing to entertain – not just comedy, but drama. Again featuring warm words from those he knew including Pam Dawber (Mindy), Penny Marshall (director of Awakenings), and Whoopi Goldberg, among many, many others. You have no excuse to miss these.

X-Files Flashback: ‘Small Potatoes’

Season 4, Episode 20
Director: Cliff Bole
Writer: Vince Gilligan

I did not see who wrote the screenplay for The X-Files‘ “Small Potatoes” until I started to prepare for writing this piece. I should have known the balance of great writing, playful tone, and character-focused storytelling that typically comes from the brilliant mind of Vince Gilligan. The episode is one of those episodes that eschews the traditional X-Files tone and reworks its quirks and eccentricities into a brilliant new creation.

The episode begins with a woman going into birth. When asked the identity of the father, she claims the baby was conceived by an alien man, and you think you know exactly where this episode is headed. Particularly when the baby (and four others) are born with small monkey tails. However, when Mulder and Scully investigate by questioning the mother on her previous statement, she claims to have been impregnated by Luke Skywalker. Yes, that one from Star Wars. Mulder and Scully decide to question the physical who delivered all babies and potentially inseminated the others but are interrupted by a small mob of parents who claim he botched the procedures. The agents then spot a nearby janitor who appears suspicious. After tackling him when he attempts to flee, Mulder discovers a scar where a tail used to be on the janitor, Eddie Van Blundht (Darin Morgan).

Van Blundht (the “h” is silent) is revealed to be a shapeshifter, able to contort his physical appearance into anyone else he wishes. He has used that ability to escape from jail, impregnate five women, impersonate his dead father to maintain the Social Security checks, and countless other unknown persons. Yet, he has the most fun when he impersonates Mulder himself, allowing Van Blundht to grow close to Scully – so close that he nearly kisses her and almost gives The X-Files fanatics what they’d always wanted. The real Mulder bursts on the scene, knowing Van Blundht impersonated him, just before the two kiss. Van Blundht is imprisoned and given muscle relaxers to prevent him from changing shape, but the most surprising turn is Mulder’s realization that Van Blundht may not have the looks but definitely has a joy for life that Mulder sorely lacks.

Vince Gilligan gave David Duchovny an amazing gift with “Small Potatoes.” The script asks Duchovny to break from his usual deadpan FBI agent delivery and employ a goofy, relaxed approach to approximate the impersonated Mulder. And it works brilliantly. There are beautiful moments of comic joy interspersed throughout the episode – “Mulder’s” breaking of Van Blundht’s father’s monkey tail, “Mulder’s” dissection of Mulder’s personal life and apartment, etc. All of it culminating in a sequence between Duchovny and Gillian Anderson in which Van Blundht becomes the better Mulder that Mulder could never be. Aside from the comedy of the episode, the inherent sadness within the character of Van Blundht – the lovable loser who wants to be anything but himself – and Mulder’s revelation that he’s considerably less suave and important than he thought he was crescendo into an amazing climax.

Gilligan’s ability to reshape and poke fun at the core values of The X-Files makes “Small Potatoes” a small potatoes gem of an episode. The unexpected turns it takes are both breaths of fresh air and amazingly poignant glimmers of comic gold. The episode may not be incredibly advanced or intricate, but it doesn’t have to be. Instead, it doubles-down on Duchovny’s ability to poke fun at himself and reaps significant benefits.

Bravo.