Wayward Pines – It’s Like You Know

May 16, 2015Kay Gardella Memorial TV Review BlogWayward Pines episode 1 recapMarion

Welcome to Wayward Pines. It’s got a two word title and northwestern exposure like Twin Peaks, people are stuck in a mysterious place like Lost, and it has secret agents like The Prisoner. The only things missing are humor, originality, wit and irony. But it’s produced by M. Night Shymalen, the Ed Wood of the 21st century so what did you expect?

Let’s open with an eye opening because if you make it more bloodshot than Jack’ eye on Lost then it totally isn’t a rip off. It’s homage. Also while the character is wearing Jack’s suit, he’s upside down so that’s original! Who does the eye belong to? Matt Dillon, a man who hasn’t been in a movie anyone’s seen for so long that his brother is now famouser than he is. Welcome to television, Matt! Hey wouldn’t that be an interesting concept? Over-the-hill actor is driving with his assistant. They get into a car accident and the actor wakes up as a character in the world’s most hackneyed television program. He keeps trying to call his agent to get him out of there, but they’ve taken away his phone and everyone refers to him as the character, and they won’t let him leave the set. Oh shit! I didn’t just guess the ending, did I? (Please read the rest of this at HNTP where TV is your friend.)

Mad Men Penultimate Analysis: The Milk and Honey Route’s Roots in Season 1

May 11, 2015Kay Gardella Memorial TV Review BlogMad Men penultimate analysis, Mad Men The Hobo Code and The Milk and Honey RouteMarion

images-3 — Cigarettes -- Kill quickly and slowly in this episode.

If Mad Men has taught us anything, it’s taught as that as the man sang, “You can’t always get what you want.” In my previous post, I wrote about my fantasy penultimate/finale storyline. Of course, my hopes were dashed and [SPOILER ALERT] I was as blindsided as anyone by Betty’s diagnosis though god knows someone had to die of cigarettes. It’s also a nice shout back to the death of the original Don Draper who died because Dick Whitman was a smoker. Who would have guessed the gun on the mantel piece was actually a cigarette, and Betty would take a bullet.

My recap of S7 E13, The Milk and Honey Route will be appearing shortly on HNTP. In the meantime, here is an explanation of how the penultimate episode parallels S1 E8, The Hobo Code.

Last night’s episode, ends with Don doing something unexpected. He not only drives Andy to the bus stop, he gives him his car and is last seen sitting with a blissful expression, waiting for the bus. What motivated this extraordinary act of generosity, especially as it was aimed at someone whose actions led to Don’s getting beat up?

Continue reading Mad Men Penultimate Analysis: The Milk and Honey Route’s Roots in Season 1 →

My Mad Men Dream Ending

May 10, 2015Kay Gardella Memorial TV Review BlogMad Men, Mad Men finale speculation, Mad Men penultimate speculation Does Don Draper become Dick Whitman?, Man Men Season 7 speculationMarion

Wanted to post this BEFORE the penultimate episode of Mad Men airs on Sunday, May 10th (which of course I’ll be recapping for HNTP).

imgres-1 — The next creative director at McCann-Ericsson?

Mad Men is the biggest tease on television. It frustrates us by throwing out hints about where things are going, and then not going there. This constant business of creating expectation and then subverting it is at the same time awesome. It’s sweet and sour. It’s slap and tickle. It’s like the entire series is one long Pine Barrens episode. Hell, many of us are still waiting for the return of Salvatore Romano. There’s no question that the showrunner, Matt Wiener, is aware of the various theories and enjoys misdirecting us and/or acknowledging our speculations.

The Draper icon falling through the air in the opening credits has led to speculation that sooner or later someone – most likely Don though for a while it looked like it would be Pete – was going to go out a window or fall off a terrace. But now Don works in an office where the windows don’t open, and he’s sold the apartment with the terrace. It’s not going to happen. We can also pretty much rule out Megan’s either being Sharon Tate or being killed in a Sharon Tate like manor. It’s 1970 and the Manson family has been mentioned, so Megan’s Tate-identical tee-shirt, and comments about her isolated Valley home were all part of an elaborate con. We know that Don is not Continue reading My Mad Men Dream Ending →

Blood Will Out — Your Thursday Book Review

May 7, 2015book reviewsBlood Will Out, Blood Will Out review, Clark Rockefeller, Walter KirnMarion

The main problem with Blood Will Out is Walter Kirn, who comes off as a guy you really wouldn’t want to be stuck in an elevator with. He’s never heard a name he didn’t want to drop. I couldn’t figure out by the end if he was actually a very canny writer, aware of his vanity, narcissism, and obliviousness and meant to portray himself as an unreliable narrator, or whether he really doesn’t get it and thinks his “friendship” with “Clark Rockefeller” and gullibility are great mysteries he hasn’t quite solved. The thing is at first “the relationship” angle is what drew me in. I was interested in the meet cute story of driving a disabled rescue dog across the country, partly as a favor, an partly to meet an eccentric scion of a wealthy well known family. In retrospect Kirn’s obliviousness to the animal’s suffering is an early clue to his own character — or lack thereof. By the time, I got to the part where “Clark” describes himself as resembling Niles from Fraser, and Kirn uses that to tell us more than we needed to know about his Continue reading →