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Show Me a Hero “Parts 3 & 4” Review

“People just want a home, right? It’s the same for everybody.”

As Wasicsko makes clear during part 3, politics is about popularity. You’re trying to get as many people to like you as possible, but you’re also playing a game that’s every man for himself, that’s “personal” when all is said and done. “For the first time in my life, I feel like I am on the right side of something,” he tells Nay as they stand in front of a house he wants to buy. “And I am alone.” He goes a Nixon-esque route and tries to appeal to a “silent majority”, but it’s the “loud minority”–evidently the majority in this election–that ends up pushing him out of office in the end. And guess what? Progress still moves at a glacially slow pace. For all of Spallone’s talk, his inability to back up that talk is causing unrest among the Yonkers residents. This is a city whose politicians and inhabitants are both driven by fear, and that fear is clouding their desires to change or compromise.

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Categories Show Me a Hero, Television

Hannibal “The Number of the Beast Is 666” Review (3×12)

22 Aug

“If you play, you pay.”

In the third season premiere, the main question the show revolved around was “Observe or participate?” It was a question posed by Hannibal to Bedelia–and by extension, to the audience itself–and it returns in full force in “666”. This time, it’s Bedelia bringing it up with Will Graham after Dr. Chilton is set ablaze, and she says the following to the lamb sitting across from her: “You may as well have struck the match. That’s participation. Hannibal Lecter does have agency in the world. He has you.” The point here is that these characters don’t necessarily have to wield a weapon in order to facilitate a kill. After all, just look at Hannibal, someone who has essentially been calling the shots from inside a glass box these past several episodes. He’s been happily pitting Will and the Red Dragon against each other while presumably thinking happy thoughts about Will’s beautiful face, and his design is now unfolding before his very eyes.

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Categories Hannibal, Television

Mr. Robot “eps1.8_m1rr0r1ng.qt” Review (1×09)

19 Aug

“I’m Mr. Robot.”

Even though Elliot is pretty isolated from the rest of society, he still has a support system that’s been behind him since the beginning. At times, he may not know that that support system exists, but we see that he does have people in his life who care about him, who want what’s best for him. As different as their methods might be, it’s clear that Darlene and Angela will do what they can to help Elliot through his struggles, and it’s uplifting to watch the two forming a strong bond and working together as a result. As Darlene tells Angela: “I should be more open with you. You’re family.”

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Categories Mr. Robot, Television

Show Me a Hero “Parts 1 & 2” Review

16 Aug

“I’m just tired.”

The topic is certainly not what you’d think of as “conventional television”, but the show’s underlying themes are still very much playing out in today’s society. This is a miniseries rooted in our nation’s history, a slow burn exploration of the broken political systems running our cities into the ground. It’s a meditation on fear and greed and class and corruption, and although these first two hours are weakened by the initially disparate natures of many of the storylines, they will inevitably come together to (hopefully) deliver something challenging, moving, and necessary.

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Categories Show Me a Hero, Television

Hannibal “…And the Beast from the Sea” Review (3×11)

15 Aug

“Save yourself. Kill them all.”

“…And the Beast from the Sea” revolves around fear, around that all-encompassing, claustrophobic emotion that breeds resentment and separation and a desire for change. Hannibal Lecter is a master manipulator of those emotions, a constant voice in Dolarhyde’s mind advising and controlling him: “Don’t let fear leech your strength.” His Devil status is represented in this episode when we see his face above Dolarhyde’s shoulder, and we see him as both conscience and temptation, concerned human and callous monster. Hannibal’s playing off of Dolarhyde’s fear about “[giving Reba] the dragon”, and after he tells him that he “can always toss the dragon to someone else”, he sits back and watches his design unfold before him. And later on, whatever care he may actually exhibit toward Dolarhyde–with his “sympathetic ear”–is a two-pronged attack: in the ultimate dick move, he drops a “They’re listening” as Jack and Alana are listening, and it’s a moment that solidifies my love for how big of an asshole Hannibal is.

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Categories Hannibal, Television

Rectify “The Source” Review (3×06)

14 Aug

“I want to give it my best shot. It’s all I can do, right?”

It’s oftentimes difficult to accept a situation that’s less than ideal. When things don’t work out in life the way you’d envisioned, it’s completely normal to feel some bitterness, some resentment, some disappointment. It’s understandable why you might become stuck in the past, trying to make broken relationships work and trying to fix a kitchen that also happen to be a really big symbol for your life. It is in that broken pile of hopes and dreams that Rectify extracts the true beauty in life’s smallest, yet most precious, moments. It is there that we find the essence of this wonderful show.

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Categories Rectify, Television

Mr. Robot “eps1.7_wh1ter0se.m4v” Review (1×08)

12 Aug

“Do I even exist?”

The “Who is Mr. Robot?” question has lingered over the show since the very first episode, constantly toying with our minds and making its way into myriad interactions. And that’s a lot of what the show is about: the human mind itself and how it functions, how it forgets, how it distracts, how it frightens. In this episode, there are several huge bombshells dropped about Elliot Alderson’s mind, and we gain more insight into a pained, yet fascinating, character as a result. It’s the most intriguing and well-crafted hour of the series thus far, and it kicks things into high gear before the final two episodes of season one.

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Categories Mr. Robot, Television

True Detective “Omega Station” Review (2×08)

9 Aug

“We deserve a better world.”

Season two of True Detective seems to counter season one’s final line: “If you ask me, the light’s winning.” Yes, the story’s being told, Paul gets his own highway, and a new child is born, but there’s a cloud of darkness still hanging over these characters’ corrupt world. The cycle’s just going to continue in this city, beating people down into the dirt as others jostle for position in the ladder of society, and what this finale wants to make clear is that people who deserve a better world may not necessarily get one. What matters is how you deal with what’s placed in front of you, how you stay true to yourself and what you care about, how you can possibly avoid getting caught up in the wave of darkness.

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Categories Television, True Detective

Hannibal “And the Woman Clothed in Sun” Review (3×10)

8 Aug

“Extreme acts of cruelty require a high level of empathy. The next time you have an instinct to help someone, you might consider crushing them instead.”

“And the Woman Clothed in the Sun” takes a look at the mind of the individual and at the ways our subjective experiences inform our actions and perspectives, our empathy or compassion or lack of either. During a lecture at the beginning of the hour, Bedelia says the following: “What we take for granted about our sense of self–everything we see, everything we remember–is nothing more than a construct of the mind.” This construct idea is something we’ve seen play out with Will and Hannibal before, and we continue to see it develop throughout this episode with Bedelia. During her talks with Will, we hear a back and forth, a push and pull; for example, whenever Will poses an idea, it’s met with a lob straight back at him, a differing perspective on the same thought. Very little in this Hannibal world seems concrete because so much of it exists in the perpetually changing mind, a location where there exists “the alchemy of lies and truths”.

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Categories Hannibal, Television

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart “Series Finale” Review

7 Aug

“Rather than saying goodbye or goodnight, I’m just going to say: I’m going to go get a drink. And I’m sure I’ll see you guys before I leave.”

Jon Stewart signed off on the night of the first GOP primary debate, an event filled to the brim with the “bullshit” he went on about near the end of his show (he was channeling George Carlin there). And that, to me, was one of the main draws of The Daily Show: its ability to intelligently evaluate and criticize the bullshit in our society, to trust its audience to recognize it when it popped up around us. Stewart was there for 16 years to point a lot of it out, but as he made clear last night, it was all just a part of an ongoing conversation. He’ll move on and we’ll move on, but informative discourse in our country will–and must–go on. He’s like a teacher and a friend and a parent saying “Go free, children. Be careful.”

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Polar Bears Watch TV

Show Me a Hero “Parts 3 & 4” Review

Show Me a Hero “Parts 1 & 2” Review

Hannibal “…And the Beast from the Sea” Review (3×11)

Rectify “The Source” Review (3×06)

Mr. Robot “eps1.7_wh1ter0se.m4v” Review (1×08)

True Detective “Omega Station” Review (2×08)

Hannibal “And the Woman Clothed in Sun” Review (3×10)

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart “Series Finale” Review

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