Although PBS is airing the last episode of Downton Abbey's second season (er, "series") tonight, Brits got to watch it in 2011. Our cousins across the pond were kind enough to inform us Yanks that, with the exception of tonight's Christmas special, the second series as a whole wasn't that good. And while it hasn't been unwatchable, they've got a point. Compared to the first series, the second series of Downton is incredibly frustrating to watch. The show breezed through three years (including most of World War I) in eight episodes - a pacing completely foreign to fans of Lost and The Wire - and hung unfortunate plotlines on beloved characters. Noble Mr. Bates suffered indignity after indignity thanks to his ex-wife, who was seemingly airlifted in from Melrose Place. Matthew Crawley's fiancee Lavinia existed solely to fail the Bechdel Test. And speaking of Mr. Crawley, I wouldn't be surprised if the legions of Matthew/Mary shippers were yelling at the presumptive soulmates by the eighth episode to JUST HUMP EACH OTHER ALREADY.
Downton had such promise. You either took to its upstairs/downstairs look at life in a lavish manor house immediately or found out you couldn't care less about the white people problems of the British nobility; I fell into the former category. Like Mad Men or The Hour, it offered a look of How Different Things Were Back Then, focused on the character arcs of upwardly mobile women struggling to find a voice, and let the viewer see the inner workings of a complex organization. The first series had some soapier moments, to be sure - Mr. Pamuk, or Lady Grantham's pregnancy - but they were in moderation. Series two, however, went full soap.
That brings us to the ABC drama Revenge, a very loose modernization of The Count of Monte Cristo in its first series (wait, season). I am not the first person to point out the similarities between the two shows but it's a convergence that has become increasingly obvious as of late. Even at its worst, Downton is still twice the show that Revenge is in terms of writing and characterization. I'd gladly ship Declan and Charlotte off to the WWI trenches, and Ashley is somehow more useless than the lowliest chamber maid. Some of the dialogue is painfully on the nose (when Charlotte tells Emily "I always wanted a sister" I nearly threw a shoe at my television).
However, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that, as both shows currently stand at this moment, Revenge is more satisfying television than Downton Abbey.
Downton doesn't know what it is right now. It's either a soap gussied up in Masterpiece Theater's clothing, or it's a thoughtful period piece that got drunk on its own fame and decided to slum it.
Revenge, on the other hand, is aware of its own goals, expectations, and limitations. It's trashy, it's soapy, it's mindless entertainment aimed squarely at a female audience, and it's never denied these charges. The villains ham it up and the writers give them dialogue to match. It's a show where a character is actually committed to a Hospital for the Criminally Insane, which I'm pretty sure hasn't happened in any sort of fiction since the 1950's except for Batman comics. Downton and Revenge both have amnesia plotlines but it's only in the latter where it fits into the larger narrative. In Revenge the main character has a revenge sensei and it TOTALLY WORKS because, well, why not? It's Revenge. I'm fine with the show being purely plot-driven and I couldn't care less about any character besides Nolan and that's just because he's the droll wiseass. Any emotional heft would serve only to be icing on the cake.
Poor Downton has actors with gravitas and storylines that once upon a time meant something, and now that it's stumbled down a few wrong turns it's struggling to find its bearings again. Revenge: no meaning, no bearings, no problems.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
It's Groundhog Day. Again.
Some films stick out in your memory for certain reasons. You don't just remember when you saw a certain movie but where you were, who you were with, what you did afterwards. You know a movie is special to you when you know the history behind the first time you watched it.
I don't know why I never saw Groundhog Day in the theaters. My mother hates with extreme prejudice parents who bring little kids to movies, so it shouldn't surprise me that I didn't see a movie in a theater until I was 8 or so. My mom wanted to see it, too, but for some reason, when it came out on video, I chose to rent Surf Ninjas instead.
So circa 1994, I'm on Spring Break in Florida, and I'm fairly sure we went to Universal Studios and Sea World that year. The special thing about Spring Break for me back then was that the hotels had cable, which I didn't have growing up, including HBO, which is like, super cable. And, as luck would have it, Groundhog Day was on the first night we were in Florida. So we watched it. I've loved it ever since.
I did a project about it for AP English my junior year of high school where I traced the Jungian principle of the anima and the animus through Bill Murray's character arc. My memory is a tad hazy but I'm pretty sure I got an A because, obviously.
The funny thing is, I've only owned it on DVD for maybe a year, and it's still in the shrinkwrap. I guess I've seen it so many times already I know it by heart, and I'm not in dire need of seeing it again. My family taped it off TBS once. We had to fast forward through the commercials while watching it. Funny how my parents are okay with that but would never torrent anything.
It was filmed in Woodstock, IL, instead of Punxsutawney. If I had a car I'd totally road trip there.
Upon further reflection, Groundhog Day might have even impacted me as a cinephile. The scenes were Bill Murray is trying to save the homeless man from dying are the first where I can remember being strongly moved by a film. I didn't really get hooked on movies until I saw 2001 a few years later, but Groundhog Day likely planted the seeds.
Now that I'm older, I recognize more things. Like Stephen Tobolowsky's performance. When he dies, ten bucks says the obituary headline lists him as "Groundhog Day actor." Or how only a few years ago, I understood what Bill Murray meant when he says a character "makes noises like a chipmunk when she gets *real* excited." Remember, I was young when it first came out.
For a long time, whenever somebody asked me what my favorite movie was, I'd always say Star Wars because I loved the original trilogy when I was growing up. It didn't hit me until college that, purely in terms of the movie on its own merits, it was Groundhog Day. Recently, there have been some pretty good contenders - Wall-E, anyone? But I have to go with my childhood favorite. Don't worry, Groundhog Day. I got you, babe.
I don't know why I never saw Groundhog Day in the theaters. My mother hates with extreme prejudice parents who bring little kids to movies, so it shouldn't surprise me that I didn't see a movie in a theater until I was 8 or so. My mom wanted to see it, too, but for some reason, when it came out on video, I chose to rent Surf Ninjas instead.
So circa 1994, I'm on Spring Break in Florida, and I'm fairly sure we went to Universal Studios and Sea World that year. The special thing about Spring Break for me back then was that the hotels had cable, which I didn't have growing up, including HBO, which is like, super cable. And, as luck would have it, Groundhog Day was on the first night we were in Florida. So we watched it. I've loved it ever since.
I did a project about it for AP English my junior year of high school where I traced the Jungian principle of the anima and the animus through Bill Murray's character arc. My memory is a tad hazy but I'm pretty sure I got an A because, obviously.
The funny thing is, I've only owned it on DVD for maybe a year, and it's still in the shrinkwrap. I guess I've seen it so many times already I know it by heart, and I'm not in dire need of seeing it again. My family taped it off TBS once. We had to fast forward through the commercials while watching it. Funny how my parents are okay with that but would never torrent anything.
It was filmed in Woodstock, IL, instead of Punxsutawney. If I had a car I'd totally road trip there.
Upon further reflection, Groundhog Day might have even impacted me as a cinephile. The scenes were Bill Murray is trying to save the homeless man from dying are the first where I can remember being strongly moved by a film. I didn't really get hooked on movies until I saw 2001 a few years later, but Groundhog Day likely planted the seeds.
Now that I'm older, I recognize more things. Like Stephen Tobolowsky's performance. When he dies, ten bucks says the obituary headline lists him as "Groundhog Day actor." Or how only a few years ago, I understood what Bill Murray meant when he says a character "makes noises like a chipmunk when she gets *real* excited." Remember, I was young when it first came out.
For a long time, whenever somebody asked me what my favorite movie was, I'd always say Star Wars because I loved the original trilogy when I was growing up. It didn't hit me until college that, purely in terms of the movie on its own merits, it was Groundhog Day. Recently, there have been some pretty good contenders - Wall-E, anyone? But I have to go with my childhood favorite. Don't worry, Groundhog Day. I got you, babe.
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