Recaps/Reviews

Fall

Netflix’s The Fall returns for a third season? Does the acclaimed drama match its intense first two seasons?

We open the third season of the so-far acclaimed, but somehow still under the radar, British drama The Fall with serial killer Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan) driving and then crashing. Hasn’t he been through enough? Nah, fuck that, he’s a killer of women – and a man – and a generally awful person. We closed Season 2 with Paul laying bleeding to death in the arms of his hunter, police superintendent Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson). So the driving / crashing sequence was a mind mirage, a thought process of the semi-conscious Spector. It’s an odd choice as the first two outings offered no fantasy scenes or at least sequences that delve directly into the thoughts of the characters for its audience to see. A later scene with Spector in a dark tunnel hearing his the voice of his mother, and then his daughter, kind of confirms this dream-like notion. The dynamic shift is a little distracting in all, but does not carve a huge dent in your attention span. Some of the out-of-reality scenes don’t quite fit here, given the down to Earth, gritty realism of the first two seasons. Perhaps it would have been a worse thing to simply draw the story out, omitting such fallacies. Perhaps not.

Fall
(Photo: Helen Sloan/Netflix)

Once the initial dust has settled, the hospital, Belfast General I believe, becomes the main setting. Spector and Anderson – another detective who was cuffed to the killer at the time – both were shot. And Rose Stagg, the poor woman captured and tormented by Spector, is also in hospital following her ordeal. Stella’s concern for Spector is alarming at this point, considering a fellow member of the police force, Anderson (who she fucked I might add), was also shot, and Rose lies out elsewhere in the hospital. Anderson later asks why Stella ran to Spector after the shocking shooting, and he has a point. There’s hardly a lot of empathy with this in mind when Stella’s role in the investigation is put into jeopardy. So much attention given to Spector’s revival (I mean, he is not the Prime Minister) is somewhat diverted by the head surgeon’s over the top, know-it-all commentary. The same character later appears a hard-working family man. Did I misjudge or did the writers cool it on the elaborateness?

So Spector, then. He is having memory problems it seems, questions asked to him, and his answers, suggest his head is a few years behind. Maybe six. It is not clarified. When his legal representatives explain the police charges to him, the murders of women, Spector is either playing one of the strongest poker faces ever seen on TV or he is discovering he is in actual fact a monster via his amnesia. We can’t read him, what is going on in his head, what he intends to do, or how he feels. And this is a credit to the character of Spector, more than we can praise the performance of Dornan.

There appears to be a gender behavioral distinction too here, as well as the emergence of marginal characters and sudden back-stories. As Stella often plays the woman card or claims to know what a man would do in this scenario or how a woman would act in that scenario. Gillian Anderson is playing the clearly wounded woman much more sedate as her voice is low and soft, often a little hoarse, practically whispering at times. It is still a stellar performance from Anderson. Stella is picked and poked at by colleagues and the like for her apparent negative influence on the whole affair, which means her character appears and acts worn down and often nonchalant – an effective persona for a deep-thinking, smart detective, but we know there is more to her than that.

There are many nooks and crannies either pasted over or left too open. As a huge fan of the first two seasons, I don’t want to be negative critically. Many of these what’s and why’s are merely observations on the third season’s ever-so-slight experimenting with dramatic dynamics when it could have just left well alone. It is glaringly obvious that the night nurse by Spector’s bedside is a brunette, very much his type of victim – a spitting image of Rose too. But this is not addressed further than the audience perhaps noticing that. And the psychiatrist-type flown in to evaluate Spector is a so-called expert, and the Scandinavian accent just feels synonymous with clinical healers stereotypes. There’s more. New evidence in the forms of journals suggesting there could be nine other murders by Spector seems like a back-track. A confession from Rose later also feels like a history rewrite. Much of the back-story heads the drama a little in the rear direction rather than moving things forward.

Fall
(Photo: Helen Sloan/Netflix)

There is also hefty attention given to the discovery of another killer, Alvarez, who attended the same school as Spector and seems to follow the same patterns. When Anderson receives a call from the assistant chief constable Burns (who is well on his way to losing his own shit), it is made apparent that the institute that held Spector and Alvarez when they were boys subjected them to acts of masturbation and other such sex crime horrors. As information for the viewer, and the characters of the story, it feels just a little too much. The Fall has gradually lost much of its subtlety and composure, but you can’t forget that this is still a solid drama in its own right.

And what of Katie, the teenage girl with whom Spector had sexual relations? When Katie finds out about Spector’s shooting she flips out, a much more understandable reaction of concern (than, say, Stella’s). Her involvement is far more subtle, a teenager with a poetic, crushingly unhealthy love for Spector having pushed aside her friends and family for the idea of this man. Her final appearance as Stella gives her a life lesson in self-harm and wounds of the heart and is sweet enough but gives no closure whatsoever to Katie. She may be a big fool for love, but she deserves much more credit and respect than that.

While some of the dialogue is following a crime genre formula, there are some truly captivating moments on show here. For instance, Stella’s reassuring monologue to Tom, Rose’s husband, is a great moment both for acting and writing. And there are several of these. This is certainly not a dull affair. Generally good performances right across the board, but Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan are handed a huge majority of the expectation to deliver high tension and maintain the grounded and compelling nature of the drama built in the first two seasons. And they do so. The problems are not with the performances or much of the execution, but rather the method in which the third season tries to change the colors of the pallet a little to keep the momentum.

The Fall‘s final episode sees the shaken can open and the fizz of violence and broken emotion spray all around. Not enough that perhaps the slow-paced first five episodes worked up to this, but he had to come or else the whole season would come away looking flat and uninspired. Such a shame that following some unexpected violence, the show concludes with a whimper rather than a bang. Stella didn’t want Spector dead because that would be too easy. He was meant to suffer for what he had done while he was alive. It is slightly unfortunate that neither Stella nor us, the viewing audience, got the justice we deserved.

Fleabag

Amazon’s Fleabag offers an amusing look at one woman’s struggle with grief

Amazon’s Fleabag is the best new comedy that you’re not watching. Hell, it might be the best new comedy that you’ve never even heard of. While the streaming network houses one of the most critically lauded comedies in Transparent, other Amazon shows fly very discreetly under the radar. Catastrophe has received acclaim, but only one Emmy nomination thus far, for example. Fleabag‘s dark humor is enough to bring people in, but if you dig into this short first season, you will find a complicated examination of one woman’s personal struggle with grief.

One of the things you’ll notice about Fleabag is how much its lead, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, speaks directly to the camera. Her character’s name is never uttered, but she shares the name of the series. Constantly talking to the audience is a device that grows tiresome in most shows (looking at you, early years of Sex and the City!), but you realize that you are not an audience she’s trying to impress or titillate. We, as an audience, are her friend. Fleabag winks at us while she flirts with guys on the bus, giggles at the comments she makes about her sister, and even comments mid-thrust on the sex she’s having.

The show is described as a young woman navigating her life through London, and that generalization might not interest the casual viewer. Waller-Bridge’s interactions with every single character is reason enough to watch Fleabag. While her hook up scenes are hilarious, the best back and forth is between her and Olivia Colman who plays her godmother. Colman’s grand artist invaded the family soon after Fleabag’s mother died and she married into the family. Fleabag now feels like a visitor in the home she grew up in, and Colman’s sugary sweet smile is present almost every moment on screen. How did her face not hurt after filming her scenes? No disrespect to Imelda Staunton, but she makes a real case that she should have played Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter franchise.

fleabag
(Photo: Amazon)

While Fleabag is painfully and awkwardly funny at times, there is a sadness to it that permeates through the final two episodes. Our central character is flailing–her and her devoted (and too nice) boyfriend have recently broken up, her sister is up for a promotion in another country, and her business is floundering. She runs a guinea pig themed cafe, but after her business partner (and best friend) accidentally kills herself, she quite literally spends most of her workdays in an empty space with animal pictures plastered all over the walls. Any more about the plot would give too much away, so we will leave it at that.

At the glorious center is Waller-Bridge, a fiercely smart comedic talent. Adapting Fleabag from her own one-woman show, she is able to imbue her character with a lovable ease and charming bite. She’s the type of friend you’d like to have at a party when you don’t know anyone, but you’d subconsciously be watching how many drinks she downs. Fleabag has a tendency to wreak some havoc, but any observer might be taken back by her quick wit and dark delivery.

Fleabag‘s first season is only six episodes, but it has a totally packaged feel to it. If it didn’t continue with a second season, it would still be a well-done exploration of a young woman’s scrappy quest to find what makes her happy. Watch this show. Be a fleabag.

The Crown

Peter Morgan’s latest take on Queen Elizabeth II – The Crown – is a sumptuous and well acted awards contender.

Netflix’s latest prestige series, The Crown, comes to Netflix via the UK’s Peter Morgan. It lands with the dubious fanfare (much like The Get Down) of being a Very Expensive Series. The good news is that the money arrives onscreen backed by Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) and his amazing talent for royal dialogue. The Crown is an ambitious project – an expected six seasons will follow Elizabeth’s 60+ year reign. Based on the pilot, it will be completely worth the ride. Morgan’s significant contributions are backed by a excellent cast and stunning visuals. At this point, this series looks to be Emmy’s cure for the Downton Abbey blues.

The Crown begins with stuttering King George VI (Mad Men‘s Jared Harris) and his persistent, nagging cough which, of course, develops into lung cancer. Unaware of his condition, Elizabeth (Claire Foy, Wolf Hall) marries Philip (Doctor Who‘s Matt Smith) with all the expected pageantry of a royal wedding – a great way to start the series, honestly. Finally, we’re introduced to Winston Churchill (John Lithgow) as he regains the position of Prime Minister.

Directed by Stephen Daldry, the pilot offers a stately, deliberate pacing that you admire more than love. It almost certainly by intent lacks the juicy, gossipy thrill that propelled many through Downton Abbey Season 1. That and Dame Maggie Smith. Still, The Crown has all the markings of a potently binge-worthy series. While the set design, costumes, etc., all provide top-notch period sensibilities, it’s the cast that really reels you in. Foy manages to balance charisma with Elizabeth’s inherent reserved nature and timidity. She has a very nice moment during her nuptials where you can hear her nerves in her quick, shallow breathing. It’s the kind of thing that goes a long way toward humanizing such a legendarily stoic figure. I can only imagine that, as Elizabeth ascends to the throne, Foy’s stamina in the role will push her to the upper ranks of Emmy’s dramatic actresses.

(Photo: Alex Bailey/Netflix)
(Photo: Alex Bailey/Netflix)

Matt Smith provides an amusingly robust Prince Philip. Again, his characterization opens a window to the man always seen just behind the Queen of England. Plus, we find out that he sleeps in the nude, which is both bizarre and provides a fairly hilarious quick scene. The rest of the production is peppered with something of a “who’s who” of the British acting class. Best, for me, is American actor John Lithgow’s Winston Churchill. Initially, I feared he was playing to the rafters, making Churchill a gross caricature rather than a fully realized character. He quickly erased those concerns, though, as he assumes a surprisingly large role within the pilot. He was so prominently featured that I’m starting to wonder if he would place in Best Supporting Actor or Best Actor at the 2017 Emmys. Make no mistake, though. He will be there.

As will many of The Crown‘s cast and crew, I suspect. This series feels like it could prove to be everything we wanted it to be – an intelligent and elegant (but still a little soapy) exploration of one of the more fascinating women of the post World War II era. This series will undoubtedly unfold in insightful and intelligent ways. Let’s just hope it continues to pull back the British stiff upper lip from time to time. It could prove to be a major threat in coming 2017 awards season.

Tracey Ullman's Show

HBO’s Tracey Ullman’s Show offers another strong platform for Ullman’s incredible talents

Tracey Ullman’s Show provides further evidence that Tracey Ullman is an international treasure. More than just an impressionist, Ullman often creates odd and ultimately sympathetic portraits of her characters. This new series, airing on HBO after premiering earlier on the BBC, follows the same formula as her previous efforts. It affords Ullman the opportunity to continue to mass produce endearing portraits of female (and sometimes male) oddities. Based on the pilot, the show falls into the mostly amusing category if not outright hilarious. I’m fine with that, honestly, as it is always a pleasure to welcome Tracey Ullman onto network television.

The Tracey Ullman’s Show strongest sections offer her take on famous personalities. Nothing in the episode compares to the brilliance of her dead-on Dame Judi Dench characterization, although her Angela Merkel comes very close. Both portraits illustrate these powerful women in everyday circumstances and playfully poke fun at their inherent quirks. This show and Ullman’s talents remain more than just impressions – they’re real characters. No one does this quite as well as Tracey Ullman.

The rest of the episode features newly created characters. While there’s nothing particularly wrong with them, they’re not nearly as exciting as her take on famous persons. The pilot spends a lot of time with Karen who returns to the UK after a 28-year prison sentence in Thailand for being a drug mule. I didn’t find Karen particularly funny as this character squarely fits into the extreme pathos category. The episode closes with a well intended but awfully dry tap dance number in a shuttered library.

Twenty years ago, Tracey Ullman’s Show would garner its star another Emmy nomination if not a win. However, it remains to be seen how much of an impact this series would make given the altered TV landscape. Still, you could do a lot worse than spend a half-hour with Tracey Ullman’s genius comic talents.

Tracey Ullman’s Show premieres tonight at 11pm ET on HBO.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend returns with compelling character-based humor.

Premiering last Fall, The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend seemed an insane gambit. A musical comedy about a woman chasing an old summer fling, the show garnered bonus points for originality. Nothing else on television compared, and, like a flaming car wreck, you couldn’t look away. Funny thing, the show was anything but a flaming car wreck, and it eventually won the prestige-starved network two Emmys.

Now, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend returns with a second season set to answer one very important question. Can writer/star Rachel Bloom continue this insane high-wire act? Good news from the Magic 8 ball (and this reviewer). All signs point to yes.

We open 15 minutes after Season 1’s closer in which Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) foolishly confided in love Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez II) that she’d moved to West Covina, California, for him. Freaked out, Josh immediately starts pulling away. Rebecca relies on her shrew legal skills (and takes advantage of the amiably dim-witted Josh) to flip the script, and she convinces Josh he’s in the wrong. The bulk of the pilot explores the tenuous, awkward, and admittedly passionate relationship between Rebecca and Josh. Best friend Paula (the great Donna Lynne Champlin) watches from the sidelines with horror, addicted to the relationship drama. Meanwhile, ex-flame Greg (Santino Fontana) disappears after his drunken season finale escapade.

The biggest surprise

Donna Lynne Champlin
(Photo: Scott Everett White/The CW)

I love Crazy Ex-Girlfriend for exploring its characters’ neuroses. Not just exploring them, but pushing them into the limelight for all to see. These characters evolve and avoid the stagnation that often plagues sitcom stereotypes. Sure, Rebecca remains the catalyst for most of the action, and Rachel Bloom’s performance remains as sharp, funny, and poignant as ever before (damn you, Emmys). Yet, we also explore the frailties of Paula, Greg, and even the perma-sunny Josh Chan. Season 2 clearly wants to redefine its core characters in realistic ways, and that’s the hallmark of a great show.

The episode’s two musical numbers (the Beyonce-inspired “Love Kernels” and “We Should Definitely Not Have Sex Right Now”) are also pretty great – particularly “Love Kernels,” which balances the sexy and the ridiculous ridiculously well. It even offers an amusing meta commentary on the production budget.

To its dedicated fans, it will be no surprise that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend returns in Season 2 every bit the great comedy it was in Season 1. What does surprise, though, is the mature balance of comedy and emotional growth the show manages to sustain over its premiere hour. The hour was a welcome return to a show that continues to surprise and entertain. Bravo, guys. Bravo.

rocky horror 2016

Let’s get this out of the way first: I’m not a Rocky Horror Picture Show fan.

I made the mistake of watching the film—alone—before experiencing the theatrical production or watching it in a crowded theater, which is a mistake (and frankly, no fun). So my expectations for FOX’s Rocky Horror 2016 reboot, Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again, were pretty low.

Maybe it was my bleak antici-. . . pation. Maybe it was the fact that I felt like the real horror show happened the night before with the final presidential debates. But for whatever reason, I found FOX’s update to be a fun update on a cult classic. Sure, there are some awkward PC issues to deal with (will Middle America now confuse transgender actress Laverne Cox for a “transvestite?”), but overall, the two-hour movie celebrates the spirit and fandom of the original.

You can tell everyone in the cast is having a ton of fun, especially Cox. It’s nice to see her in a less dramatic role, as opposed to her darker Emmy-nominated turn on Orange is the New Black. She completely nails the voice of Tim Curry, who popularized the Dr. Frank-N-Furter role and also makes an appearance as the Criminologist Narrator in this version. Victoria Justice takes on the role of Janet, and while she gives her best Susan Sarandon, Ryan McCartan outshines her as Brad. Adam Lambert is a welcome cameo, filling the motorcycle seat of the ill-fated Eddie, who was played by Meatloaf in the 1975 film.

For devotees of the original, this version is not as gritty looking, more splashy and stylized, with an ending a little too drawn out to fill up that two-hour mark. It feels like one long music video instead of a bizarre sci-fi flick, which isn’t a bad thing. And while Rocky Horror 2016 has faced some criticism for looking like a filmed stage musical, director Kenny Ortega uses a lot of slick, interesting camera moves, as opposed to some of NBC’s productions, which just look like they stuck a camera on an on-stage turtle during a Broadway show. With Grease and now Rocky Horror, I would say FOX is seriously giving the Peacock a serious run for its money when it comes to the theatrical musicals.

Naysayers, give it a try. It’s just a jump to the left.

American Horror Story

American Horror Story shakes things up with ‘Roanoke’ Chapter 6… Spoilers ahead…

Proceed no further ye readers lest ye be spoiled of last eve’s American Horror Story: Roanoke revelations. Complain and ye blood be split to consecrate this land!

Ahem.

So, this season of American Horror Story differed significantly from previous seasons. It offered a toned-down, unplugged feeling. It offered a darker season that focused on real scares over scarily great costumes and set design. As a result to non-cynics, it’s felt like a complete breath of fresh air in a potentially stagnating series.

The one nagging question for many viewers was “What’s the point of the reality show structure?” At least one ADTV team member (Megan) felt the structure undercut the scares. If Lily Rabe and Andre Holland shared their story, then clearly they survived the events documented in “My Roanoke Nightmare,” the show within a show. But last night’s episode, “Chapter 6,” made clear the intent of the entire season, and now Roanoke becomes something completely different and potentially even more thrilling.

The action begins with reality producer Sidney James (Cheyenne Jackson in a role seemingly better suited to Veep‘s Reid Scott) proposing a sequel series to what was a huge hit in “My Roanoke Nightmare.” The new twist is that he proposes to ship the “real” players in the story plus their actor counterparts back to North Carolina to live in the same house during the blood moon. Cameras placed throughout the house would document their experience, jolted by a few purposefully placed fright triggers in case nothing happened. Seems that, when “My Roanoke Nightmare” filmed, nothing happened. Effectively, their guard is down.

This being American Horror Story, that is a foolish assumption. Carnage ensues. Think of it as a murderous Big Brother.

This twist, while somewhat predictable, does feel fresh and exciting. It gives the actors the opportunity to play their characters in a completely different light a la Vertigo or Lost Highway. The biggest beneficiary of this turn is undoubtedly Kathy Bates who layers a heavy degree of mental instability over her character who played the Butcher in “My Roanoke Nightmare.” But the entire cast feels jazzed by the shift, and it shows in their now more energetic performances. It does set up something of a high-wire act to balance scares with the logistics of having the entire house apparently wired and monitored by the unseen crew. Unless they’re all dead. 

But best of all, it’s really pretty scary. After a while, the scares of the first five episodes started to trend toward the hokey, particularly when Lady Gaga started running around the forest in that wild “woman of the woods” getup. Looking back, though, it all makes sense. I’d forgotten they were filming a hokey reality show. Now that the series approaches a linear timeline, the scares feel darker and more aligned with the best of American Horror Story.

Time will tell, but is Roanoke shaping up to be the best season yet? Early signs point to yes.

Chance

Chance puts star Hugh Laurie into a world of police corruption and draws viewers along for the ride

Hugh Laurie just can’t seem to keep away from the medical field, and that’s not a bad thing. This time, Laurie plays Dr. Eldon Chance on Hulu’s Original Streaming show, Chance. Any comparisons to his previous stint in House end there. The story is based on Kem Nunn’s novel of the same name. Based in San Francisco, Dr. Chance is a neuropsychiatrist who is going through a divorce and the father of a teenaged daughter.

His newest patient is Jaclyn Blackstone (Gretchen Mol). At first, we’re unsure of her issue, but we soon learn. Jaclyn is just one side of her multiple personalities. One day Blackstone ends up in hospital covered in bruises, and her abusive husband, Raymond (Paul Adelstein), might be to blame… Or is he? Speaking last night at the Los Angeles premiere screening, Mol said, “This is what fascinated me about the pilot script. I didn’t have a beat about who she was, or how truthful she was being.”

Dr. Chance pays a visit to Blackstone, and not only does he develop an interest in her, but he also reluctantly finds himself getting sucked into the world of police corruption and mistaken identity. With his personal life in a tangle, we see Chance make choices down a slippery slope. D (Ethan Suplee) is a thug who is prepared to do anything Chance wants but at a price that includes some shady back alley business and late night ventures in the city.

The first episode was directed by Room’s Lenny Abrahamson, and the first few minutes of the opening scene features a graphic incident where a character gets decapitated. Set in San Francisco, the setting pays homage to noir, namely Hitchcock’s Vertigo. There is a mystery, a feeling of suspense and a feeling of danger that Abrahamson captures alongside the stunning visuals of the San Francisco area, giving the show its mystery/thriller vibe. There’s no doubt the shots of the hills and sea serve as a metaphor to the story we’re watching.

Film producer and Chance executive producer Michael London said, “This was a book that, when I first read, it was my kind of thing. It was a  character study that had a lot going on about a character trying to find himself.” He adds, “I loved the idea about a doctor who’d always lived the life of the mind and has to figure out who he is in a dangerous world.”

Not having read the book, I know the stage is set for more mystery and unraveling and I want more. Viewers will be treated to a new episode each week on Hulu. The good news is that Hulu has already renewed the show for a second season.

Photos from the after party and trailer are below.

Chance premieres on Hulu Wednesday, October 19.

 

 

Divorce

Stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Haden Church make Divorce one worth enduring

You wouldn’t think that the topic of divorce would lend itself to genuine laughs in a comedy. There have been situations in movies and on television where squabbling is definitely amusing or a couple tries to one up the other and it can lead to some funny moments. Breaking up with someone is, at the core, a painful and awkward process. HBO’s new comedy, bluntly titled Divorce, proves that while emotions can get in the way, sometimes the best thing to do in this situation is laugh. The show gets off to a strong start thanks to the chemistry between stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Haden Church.

Parker and Church play Frances and Robert, a married couple with two kids, and things could be better. The first image we see is Frances gazing at herself in the bathroom mirror. Robert walks in and she clearly has no desire to talk or interact with him (even though he tells her that he took a dump in a coffee can because she’s been commandeering the bathroom for so long), so the show indicates the dark and humorous tone from the very beginning. In the pilot, they attend the 50th birthday party for their friend Diane (a broad Molly Shannon), and her marriage to Nick (an always welcome Tracy Letts) isn’t that great either. When Nick offers them a drink, he says, “I’d offer you wine, but Diane has sucked it all up.” Welcome to the party!

divorce
(Photo: HBO)

A dramatic incident at Diane’s party leads Frances to quickly evaluate her marriage, and she comes to the conclusion that she’s no longer happy with Robert–she asks for a divorce before the party is cleaned up. Indiscretions are discovered, and soon the claws are really out. One of the best things about Divorce is seeing how Parker and Church go at each other. Robert changes the locks so she can’t get back in, but she shuts down to him. As this show gets reviewed and talked about it’s very likely that Parker’s quieter performance will be compared to her iconic Carrie Bradshaw. Sex and the City was part if the first Golden Age of HBO, but Frances is so much stiller and internal than anything we’ve ever seen her play before.

It’s easier for people to side with Robert because of how loose and fun he is, and Church is so strong in this show. While he is very charming, Church’s Robert acts like a little boy when he’s hurt. They way he lashes out is reminiscent of how a teenager would react when his girlfriend breaks up with him. In one later episode (HBO provided 6 of the first season’s 10 episodes), Robert takes the blame for something in front of Frances’ parents so they won’t think less of her. It’s moments like these that remind us how complicated marriage and relationships are.

Could the show be lighter? Probably. There’s a lot of pain on display on Divorce, and creator Sharon Horgan is most known for her work on Catastrophe (she was Emmy `nominated for writing this year). That show succeeds on a different level because Catastrophe is broader and brighter. Her first show focuses on how a relationship unexpectedly begins and both people want to participate and make it work but both Frances and Robert both have seen the dead end and can’t find a way out (do they want a way out?).

While a serious subject, Divorce features some great dark laughs. Parker can make a dig cut deep and she’s joined by a game Molly Shannon and a droll Talia Balsam. If anything, Church should be checked off as one of the funniest leading men in a new comedy. If Frances and Robert can’t make it work, I’ll gladly keep Robert company.

Divorce premieres on HBO on Sunday, October 9 at 10:00 p.m. EST. The pilot episode is available for streaming now on HBO GO and HBO NOW.

Insecure

HBO’s Insecure is a surprising gem of a comedy full of rich detail and surprising moments

HBO’s Insecure offers some of the most surprising comic moments of the 2016 Fall TV season. The comedy stems from creators Issa Rae (Awkward Black Girl) and Larry Wilmore, and it feels like one of those pleasant discovery-type series that viewers need to savor. For whatever reason, it doesn’t come with much widespread buzz, but viewers who miss out on this great show do so at their own peril. Insecure invokes genuine thoughts, emotions, and laughs – far more than many of the artificial comedies plaguing network television.

Insecure stars Issa Rae as Issa Dee, an LA-based social worker with a talent for rhymes. Yvonne Orji plays her best friend Molly, a corporate attorney. One of my very favorite aspects of the series is the friendship between these two women. In a shocking turn of events, they’re not in competition with each other. They’re not “frenemies.” They’re genuinely in support of each other. They call each other out on their mistakes. The relationship feels like a revelation.

Also a revelation is Issa Rae as Issa Dee. This character feels so incredibly real, so authentic in her construction that it nearly approaches documentary filmmaking. Her exploits are all character-driven, orchestrated by her own faults and faulty desires. She also becomes the focal point in the series’ exploration of the “black experience” in Los Angeles. There are so many small moments to savor here, so many great conversations on which to eavesdrop. It’s just an enormous breath of fresh comedy air in a television world that sorely needed it.

Insecure as a comedy series is anything but that. It becomes a confident and intriguing portrait of a woman trying to navigate her life. And those feelings, I assure you, are entirely universal.

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