TV | watcheditforyou

Better Call Saul Season 2 – Episode 4

Posted on March 11, 2016 by samluellwitz

This week’s episode elects to give Jimmy’s plotline a minor intermission, and instead focuses mainly on Mike and his ‘next level’ work with Nacho. This is a welcome insertion, as Mike hasn’t had much to do so far this season and has been in danger of drifting into irrelevancy. Mike’s marginalization isn’t helped by his ceaseless stoicism, which make it difficult to glean much character motivation through the grunts and shrugs that make up the bulk of his dialogue in minor scenes. This continuous level of obfuscation by the series’ writers can sometimes make it difficult to sympathize with a character who so far has been defined by his professionalism and little else.

This all changes with the episode’s cold open, as every aching motion of Mike’s late night return home helps to humanize him in a way no scene of dialogue has yet done. Throwing the envelope of money on the table conveys the feeling of a job thankfully over, while a welcome draught of beer may be the first time we’ve seen Mike actually express satisfaction. An icepack to the face and a slow recline onto the couch show how much of a toll this kind of work weighs on a man of Mike’s age, with the true extent of this toll finally grasped with the reveal of his battered face. The money on the table and the damage to Mike’s face imply that the ex-cop has finally taken the leap from ‘muscle’ to hitman, and that we are now witnessing the genesis of the ‘no half measures’ Mike we know from Breaking Bad. Of course, we later see Mike circumventing the need to eliminate his target (Tuco Salamanca of all people!) through a plan that, as Nacho puts it, nets him half as much cash for ten times the work. As much as Better Call Saul is about the transition from Jimmy McGill to Saul Goodman, the series is also about Mike’s evolution from an ex-cop trying to provide for his family to the ruthlessly pragmatic ‘fixer’ of Breaking Bad. Mike’s ‘half measure’ of having Tuco arrested rather than killed shows he’s not at that level yet, but in this episode both he and Jimmy veer the closest towards the people we know they’ll inevitably become.

Jimmy’s moment of decision this episode comes not while looking down the barrel of a rifle, but after learning the consequences of his subversion at Davis & Main. At the meeting with the partners to explain his recently aired commercial, Jimmy truly can’t understand why his employers are so furious, while they in turn are amazed that the problem wasn’t obvious to him in the first place. This reciprocal lack of understanding illustrates the radically different perspectives the two sides hold. For Jimmy, the utmost priority is Sandpiper, and specifically his clients, while the partners at Davis & Main view individual clients and cases as simply components that can help, or harm, the overall health of their firm. Jimmy sees the commercial as way to help more clients and build his case, making it to him an unmitigated success. The partners however, are now at risk of losing their firm’s reputation for the sake of a single case, through a decision they were not even able to take part in. Jimmy went behind his bosses’ backs, and as any seasoned viewer of The Wire knows, breaking the chain of command never goes over well with the bosses.

From Jimmy’s blinkered perspective however, the potential consequences for himself are nothing compared to HHM’s punishment of Kim. For not offering her prior knowledge of Jimmy’s commercial to Chuck and Howard, Kim is banished to dock review- a basement storage closet that mirrors Jimmy’s nail salon startup from last season. Chuck’s influence in this sends Jimmy to his brother’s house in rage, but despite Jimmy’s righteous anger, it’s Chuck that ends up looking superior after this exchange, as Jimmy can only ineffectively offer the same rationalizations he used with the partners at Davis & Main. This unsurprisingly promotes Chuck to largely repeat Clifford Main’s earlier criticisms that Jimmy is ‘short-sighted’ and should be thinking about ‘the good of the firm’, and the symmetry between the two arguments helps to elucidate why Jimmy seems doomed to repeat his same mistakes. A general adherence to order, logical progression and keeping to the status quo are not only characteristics of Chuck and the partners at Davis & Main, but founding principles of the legal system. That Jimmy seems generally perplexed at the idea of following the proper procedures bodes poorly for his success anywhere in the legal field, and pushes the series closer to a transition from Jimmy McGill to Saul Goodman where Jimmy continues to fight tooth and nail for his clients, even as his methods push him further and further into the eventual abject obscurity of a strip mall law firm.

Ignoring these portends of the path he’s taking, Jimmy instead continues to focus on his commitment to Kim and in doing so, he steps the closest to Saul yet as he attempts to convince Chuck to commit extortion by offering his resignation in exchange for Kim’s reinstatement. Chuck refuses Jimmy offer to come ‘roll in the mud’ of illegality by stating he’s not ‘the bad guy’. Though from an audience perspective Chuck is the series’ major villain, this exchange frames the relationship between the brothers not as a two-dimensional clash of good against evil, but a struggle between a compassionate man who views the rules as an impediment and his brother who can’t appreciate that passion because for him the rules are what matter most. Though Jimmy’s plotline this episode is not nearly as dynamically rewarding as Mike’s, they both have equally weighted importance in addressing this question of whether a person’s goodness determined by their actions or their intentions. While both Jimmy and Mike stop short of crossing their moral boundaries this time, the path their intentions are leading them on will continue to test their limits until they both inescapably reach a place of ‘no half measures’.

Tune in next week for more Better Call Saul!

Better Call Saul Season Two – Episode Three

Posted on March 2, 2016 by samluellwitz

One of the best things about Better Call Saul is its exterior simplicity. Unlike the majority of ‘prestige TV’, there is a remarkable lack of the violence, murder, sexuality or corruption that forms the backbone of most other highly-acclaimed dramas. Saul’s biggest moments are instead internal, delivered to the audience through slight pauses and changes in facial expression. Instead of a blood-splattered, high-stakes finale of global importance, we know this series will end with a seedy strip-mall law firm. The question that drives TV’s best current drama (there I said it) isn’t what will happen, but how will it get there.

Take Jimmy’s story in this episode. From an outside perspective, it’s just a few days in the life of a lawyer struggling to succeed. No great losses that will fuel a quest for revenge or revelations that will reverse a power struggle of dynastic importance, just a trip to Amarillo and low-budget commercial that angers his superior. But from Jimmy’s point of view, these days are a rollercoaster of significant events that crystallize his ‘me against the world’ perspective. In the HHM boardroom, Jimmy expects his silver-tongued antics in Amarillo to bring praise (and a quick game of footsy under the table), but with Chuck now back to scrutinize his every move Jimmy can no longer attempt anything that may be construed as soliciting. This is allegedly to prevent their legal opponents from dismissing any part of their case, but from Jimmy’s perspective this is just another example of the deck being stacked against him, and that he’ll never be allowed to succeed as long as his brother has influence.

No longer able to speak with potential clients, Jimmy tries another classic medium of persuasion- advertising. Jimmy’s speech to Kim detailing his client’s viewing habits clearly shows he’s more qualified to take on this case than anyone, but Kim’s surprise that Clifford Main signed off on making a commercial, along with Davis & Main’s lackluster previous attempt at television, once again has Jimmy feeling he’s the victim of a conspiracy and pushes him to release the tape without approval. Despite the tape being a roaring success, Clifford condemns his insubordination and schedules an 8am review of his actions. If Jimmy goes to that meeting with the same attitude he’s been harboring this season so far, he may not be an employee at Davis & Main much longer.

For Jimmy, this string of events has enormous significance. He’s the one who brought this case to light last season, but was pushed aside when it became appealing for a major firm like HHM. This season he’s been brought back due to the demands of the elderly clients, but now the powers above him are preventing him from making contact with those same clients he connects with so well. It’s interesting to note that no one else at either firm has actually seen Jimmy’s connection with the Sandpiper residents in action. Howard has mentioned in incredulous tones how they keep asking for him, but without leaving the lofty confines of the head office he’ll never see the patience and respect Jimmy gives to each client. Jimmy’s conversation with Kim after the HHM board meeting highlights this difference in perspective. Kim wants Jimmy to do the ‘right’ thing, which in her mind is following the letter of the law in order to keep both their reputations intact. Jimmy feels he’s already doing the right thing by helping elderly victims as best he can, and that Kim’s perspective of ‘right’ is only getting in the way. This clash of ideologies and perspectives is the foundation of Jimmy’s movement away from the legal world and is of massive consequence, even if it may not appear so from the outside.

I haven’t addressed Mike’s plotline much yet in these reviews, mostly because I found the last two episodes’ H2/baseball card story to be more humorous than significant, but the overnight stakeout of his daughter-in-law’s house deserves some examination. Despite only the morning paper delivery interrupting the silent monotony of the night, Stacey regales him with a story of after-dark shootouts and even displays a chip in her wall as proof that she’s being targeted. This discrepancy in accounts might mean Stacey is starting to lose it, as moving across the country after your husband’s murder and being financially supported by mysterious envelopes full of cash from a tight-lipped father-in-law could easily do to someone. More pessimistically, she may be attempting to abuse Mike’s sense of responsibility, presumably for financial gain. Regardless of what she knows about Mike’s ‘next-level work’ and how much or little he believes her stories, the threat of retribution on his family hangs over his head, especially after he confronted Nacho at his father’s place of business in the previous episode.

All this pushes Mike to increase his secondary source of income as he moves his family into his home. Though he’s reluctant to cross any more moral lines than he already has, a personal request from Nacho, the man who may or may not be threatening his family, will force him to reconsider his code of ethics. Jimmy has already put his clients’ wellbeing above the legality of his methods, will Mike do the same for his family? All in all, this episode illustrates the pressures put on both protagonists much better than any high speed chase or ticking time bomb could, and without throwing a punch proves Better Call Saul’s position at the pinnacle of prestige drama.

Better Call Saul Season Two – Episode Two

Posted on February 25, 2016 by samluellwitz

Episode two opens with another reminder of past events as we revisit Chuck in his darkened, electricity-devoid home. As Jimmy’s brother struggles with a piano solo, the scene is shaped by our conceptions of Chuck from last season. Is this a sad look in on a man with a deteriorating mental state left to live alone in an empty house, or is it another example of Chuck’s compulsion for control as he struggles once again to make the things (and people) around him act exactly as he wants them to? Our impressions are likely formed by how we interpret the brothers’ falling out at the end of last season, rather than through an explicit cue given in this scene. Even after Howard arrives to gently break the news of Jimmy’s new position at Davis & Main, Chuck’s reaction is not as clearly negative as perhaps would be expected- we know what Chuck knows, but not how he’ll act on it. This ambiguity fits with the rest of the episode, which focuses on subtle developments in the relationships between the series’ major characters rather than bombastic reveals or confrontations. By raising more questions than answers, episode two is focused on setting up characters for future conflicts that will likely drive the series forward.

After such an opaque opener, Kim’s feelings about Jimmy’s new position at Davis & Main come across loud and clear, as she rearranges office chairs so they can play footsy during meetings, gifts him a mug for his travels between firms, and unconsciously shifts to ‘we’ when discussing Jimmy’s future. In the spirit of the episode’s recurring ambiguity however, two brief moments threaten to undermine the perfect work/life balance in which Jimmy has found himself. At the end of their conversation in the parking garage, a change in camera angle shows Kim’s car just slightly double-parked as another vehicle drives past looking for a spot. Does this hint towards some personality flaws for the so far upstanding Kim, or is this complete over analysis? Only time will tell (that it’s probably over analysis). The second shot, of the mug gifted by Kim not fitting in the cup-holder of Jimmy’s new Mercedes, is comparatively more direct, but is still more a subtle implication of the possibility of a future problem than a real issue itself.

Though the episode is filled with breadcrumbs that will presumably lead the way to future plot points, the biggest morsel comes with Chuck’s surprise return to HH&M. Dropping in on a Sandpiper meeting, Chuck seems uncomfortable with Jimmy’s new stature, and any question about whether he has returned to once again domineer Jimmy’s life is answered when he describes his unexpected arrival to Jimmy as ‘bearing witness’. While Kim’s presence gives Jimmy the initial emotional boost to cope with his brother’s reappearance, his response to a timely phone call from Mike shows how much agitation Chuck still causes Jimmy. Would Jimmy have agreed to a job of ‘moral ambiguity’ had his brother not just crashed in on his newly successful life? For Jimmy, fabricating evidence with a hilarious story about erotic pie-sitting is a way to spite Chuck’s manipulations and prove that he has control over his own life, something he can’t bring himself to explain to Kim when she asks him to explain why he would risk his career over some ‘squat cobbler’.

Upset over Jimmy’s hazy code of ethics, Kim makes him promise to keep any more of his illicit activities from her, an agreement that places Jimmy straight back into his same dilemma. Forced to choose last episode between quitting the law to be himself or sticking with it to be with Kim, Jimmy chooses Kim by taking the job with Davis & Main. In this episode, his decision originally seems to serve him well; he has an expensive new car, a beautiful new office with a guitar-strumming boss, and most importantly a quickly growing relationship with Kim. Going back into law was always going to raise Chuck’s attention however, and the return of the senior brother and his impossible expectations drives Jimmy back to the quandary of purpose that he thought he had finally overcome in returning to law. Kim and Chuck represent the positives and negatives of his legitimate future, respectively, and Kim placing herself outside of Jimmy’s struggle to overcome the negatives leaves him once again alone to determine what’s best for his life. This separation clears the way for another season of Jimmy hovering on the line of legality and sets the framework for the major issues ahead that will push him further from Jimmy McGill and closer to Saul Goodman.

Tune in next week for more Better Call Saul!

Better Call Saul Season Two – Episode One

Posted on February 19, 2016 by samluellwitz

Season two of Better Call Saul begins with another downbeat, monochrome flash-forward to the ultimate fate of lead character Jimmy McGill, otherwise known as Saul Goodman, as a soporific look at Jimmy’s forced anonymity at an Omaha Cinnabon reminds audiences how far he will inevitably fall from his professional peak as legal counsel to Albuquerque’s most powerful drug lord. After becoming trapped in the mall’s trash room while closing up shop, the cage Jimmy’s illicit past has built for him becomes literal, as he’s unable to use the emergency exit without summoning the police and risking his cover.

However, with the final opening shot zooming in on a diminutively scrawled ‘SG was here’, we’re shown that rather than try to escape the past, Jimmy embraces it and that, however his life may have turned out, he has no regrets about the choices that lead him there. Season two’s debut episode shares this same bold attitude, and the evolution from Jimmy to Saul already looks to continue at the same heights that garnered the first season such acclaim.

After reminding us of Jimmy’s future, the episode also reviews his recent past, including turning down a position with the law firm of Davis & Main and his reasons for doing so. “Ever since I’ve got here, all I’ve done is try to make Chuck happy” Jimmy explains to Kim, “I finally decided to be me”. The irony that ‘me’ for Jimmy is running up hotel expense accounts under someone else’s identity should come as no surprise at this point.

While Jimmy allows himself to lapse back into the familiar persona of ‘Slippin’ Jimmy’, the subplot involving pharmaceutical employee/H2 enthusiast Daniel Warmolt serves as a well-placed precautionary tale about the dangers of underestimating criminal activity. Warmolt spends garishly, acts far too chummy at a clandestine hand-off and forgoes Mike’s experienced supervision to save himself a few bucks. While Jimmy may not yet be brazen enough to conduct any illicit dealings with a flame-decaled sports utility vehicle and matching shoes, if he keeps ordering $50 tequilas on other people’s tabs and casing poolside Mafiosos he’ll quickly join Warmolt in being over his head and in need of Mike’s protection.

Even though such behavior will likely get him in trouble later, watching Jimmy work his magic on the blowhard stockbroker at the hotel is definitely the highlight of the episode. Jimmy’s relaxed, confident, and it’s easy to see why he enjoys it so much and why allowing Kim to see this self-assured side of him finally pushes their relationship to the next level. By involving the wonderfully quick-thinking ‘Jezel St. Claire’ in his scam, Jimmy gives Kim a glimpse of what he wants from life, but while she’s obviously drawn to this side of him, Kim is too invested in the ‘gambler’s fallacy’ that Jimmy rages against to ever share that kind of life with him. The next morning in Kim’s apartment, Jimmy watches her preparing for another day in the career he’s left behind, and knows that she’s worked too hard for too long to give it all up with him. If he’s going to leave the law behind, he’s going to have to leave Kim behind as well.

Despite Jimmy’s newfound ‘clarity’ in life, like many others who decide prematurely on a permanent vacation, the luster of a life without purpose fades quickly. A lack of direction, career, and most importantly companionship quickly drives Jimmy back to the world he thought he was free from. Having walked out abruptly on their original offer, Jimmy’s return to Davis & Main goes better than he could have imagined; he arrives at a beautiful building and is introduced to a variety of pleasant-seeming colleagues in a slow, serene montage. His office even has a stucco fireplace, a coco bolo desk on the way, and a mysterious wall switch with the admonishing label ‘Do NOT turn OFF!’

With this episode being titled ‘Switch’, it’s worth giving this final detail some extra consideration. Jimmy’s compulsion to subvert this imperious label could be a nod to the ‘SG was here’ graffiti at the episode’s beginning, adding yet another reminder that Jimmy will continue to fight the system, even from his relatively comfortable new position back within it. Another, darker interpretation is that Jimmy can’t resist attempting to sabotage his good fortune. If flicking the switch despite its warnings causes something to go wrong, he could be blamed and end up back in the hotel pool, confident in his earlier assertion that the whole experience was a waste of time. With either interpretation, this struggle between Jimmy’s developing personal code and the inexorable track his life is on continues the strong themes of the first season, and watching Slippin’ Jimmy’s balancing act between law and larceny should make this season of Better Call Saul just as successful.

Tune in next week for more Better Call Saul!

True Detective Season Two – First Half Recap

Posted on July 19, 2015 by samluellwitz

We’re now halfway through True Detective’s sophomore effort, and it’s still difficult to pin down an objective response to what we’ve seen so far. This is partially because of the series’ insistence on obfuscation and gradual reveals, but mostly due to the knockout success of its predecessor. This season follows one of the most exciting debuts in recent television history, with the perfect storm of creator Nic Pizzolatto’s existentialist script, Cary Fukunaga’s masterful directing and the chemistry between leads Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson resulting in the kind of limited series success we’re unlikely to see again for years, let alone the following summer. Despite the current season introducing a new cast, setting and director, as long as the title remains the same, this season and all that follow will be measured against the lofty heights of its first incarnation. With this in mind, it’s unavoidable that any review of this season will mostly be a comparison against the first, and by this measurement the four episodes released so far all feel so normal. From the characters to the setting to the narrative style, everything seems much more commonplace, which is a potentially fatal diagnosis for a show that’s at its best when it’s at its strangest.

Despite nominally being a procedural, True Detective is a character-driven series, and so it’s only appropriate to begin any comparison by looking at how the new batch of characters compares with last season’s power couple. When looking at the episodes so far, the first thing that jumps out is how much it feels like we’ve seen all these characters before. The hard-drinking detective, the woman fighting in a man’s world, the closeted tough guy, and the mobster in decline are all well-worn tropes, and it’s disappointing how much the show seems to expect us to invest in each character’s story individually rather than provide much in the way of illuminating interactions between them, which has so far been marginalized to make way for such an abundance of narratives. The first season’s characters were equally angsty and damaged (which more so than a murder investigation may be the true connecting theme between the two seasons) but while season one’s traumas prompted philosophical realignments that were openly espoused during long car rides, the events that have defined this season’s characters just drive the leads to erect sullen walls of silence between each other and subsequently leave the audience equally out in the cold.

Cold is also how this season’s locale has left me, despite the sunny setting of Los Angeles. Once again the series has abandoned the innovative for the familiar, leaving behind the southern gothic trappings of rural Louisiana bayou territory for Hollywood’s favorite set location: its own backyard. LA already has a long history with detective noir, from Chinatown and LA Confidential to Mulholland Drive (episode three’s dream sequence opener has been the most obvious David Lynch homage in a season full of them), and season two doesn’t help its chances of long-term recognition by drawing comparisons to such esteemed classic films. Certain aspects of the setting have been intriguing, such as Vinci’s industrial megaliths and the dichotomy between the overheard helicopter shots of clean, futuristic expressways and the ground-level scenes that reveal the multitudes of shanty-towns and prostitutes that congregate underneath them, but these avenues haven’t been explored enough yet to justify such an over-used setting, and the sooner True Detective leaves Beverly Hills and heads to the poisoned hills of the proposed Central Valley Rail, the better.

While the changes in characters and setting are the most obvious differences between the two seasons, arguably the most important alteration is that of the show’s narrative structure. The first three quarters of True Detective’s original season is an extended flashback to an investigation almost two decades prior, and by having the narrative switch between the events of the case and the two detectives explaining their actions seventeen years on, the audience is able to see firsthand the effect investigating these murders has had on the two characters. Marty has lost his family (as well as his hair), while Rust has completely given up on societal norms as his internal nihilism takes over his outward appearance. The characters in season two also have pivotal events that shape their current appearance and disposition: Ray’s murder of his wife’s rapist, Ani’s childhood in a cult, Paul’s time in the Middle East, and Frank’s rise into a criminal giant. However, as all these events occur before the season takes place, we only hear accounts of what these characters were like before, such as from Ray’s ex-wife and Frank’s cohorts. Without seeing for ourselves, we can only make assumptions about how these events created the people we’re watching now, such as what Ray’s morality was like before his wife’s rape or the reason that Paul has gone to such lengths to avoid his sexuality. Such a traditional structure does a disservice to a show that’s less interested in the progression of the present versus the unavoidable choking grip of the past.

After looking at the myriad of differences between the two seasons, it would be appropriate to examine their connecting thread; Pizzolatto’s writing. In the first season, Matthew McConaughey’s character Rust was a font of weighty proclamations, and his unique ideology made his personality the hook that drew audiences in as the investigation progressed at the slowest of burns. While Pizzolatto’s dense declaratives remain, this season lacks a character who can justify delivering such heady statements. In the series’ premier, gangster Frank Semyon describes Vinci as ‘a place built on a codependency of interests’ but later, when confiding to Ray his reluctance towards in-vitro fertilization, admits that he ‘ain’t excited about jerkin’ into no cup’. The series can’t have its characters be both tortured intellectuals and average Joes without the more enlightened moments seeming awkward and out of place. Semi-nonsensical statements like ‘time is a flat circle’ (what does the flatness have to do with anything?) worked so well in the first season because they sounded believable coming from a character with the extreme personal ideology to conceive them, and the utter lack of regard for others to deliver them unabashedly. Season two having more traditional characters doesn’t only reduce audience interest in their personal stories, but by being so believable the characters conversely make the series’ signature style less plausible.

Pizzolatto’s writing also comes off as more overwrought this season simply because this time it’s all taken at face value. In episode four, when Ani states to her sister that, when it comes to some memories, ‘you don’t look at them, they look at you’, this honestly absurd statement is accepted without question or comment. In season one, Woody Harrelson’s character Marty was the perfect foil for Rust, not only due to their opposing ideologies, but because Marty continually called out Rust for ‘spouting bullshit’ when his partner would wax pessimistically about the nature of the universe. Anyone who would care to attempt Pizzolatto’s more grandiose statements in their own lives would likely receive a similar reaction, and last season’s realism in reaction helped to both anchor and elevate the season’s more surreal moments, whereas this season often has the off-putting feel of working class characters reading random excerpts of Nietzsche over each other.

After reading this far it certainly seems like I don’t care for this season of True Detective at all, which isn’t true. The four episodes so far would rate a solid B or B+ if I gave letter grades to reviews, but they unfortunately have to contend with the fact that their predecessor was a smash-hit A that was both a critical and popular sensation. This season has continued some of the features that made season one such a success, such as dressing up a slow-burning murder mystery with occult elements and injecting almost every scene with a sense of unease that keeps viewers involved even when the characters are seemingly spinning their wheels, but it has discarded so many of the unique elements that made the first season stand out even in the recent overabundance of prestige television. To be fair, it’s difficult to make any kind of verdict before the season’s conclusion, especially with this type of show, which is less interested in an episode-by-episode growth of characters and story as much as a slow unveiling of an already completed bigger picture, like opening doors on an advent calendar. Things that may not work in one episode can be justified through later reveals, just as characters are less likely to follow arcs of development than slowly divulge the motives that have prompted their behavior and attitudes since their introduction. Until potentially the closing moments of this season I don’t expect any of the flaws discussed above to change, but once the eighth episode is finished we may look back and see some of these supposed issues in a different light. It may not excuse a slightly lackluster opening half, but it would do a lot to help raise this season from the derivative and mundane it currently is to the atmospheric and surreal we know True Detective can be.

Veep Season 4 – Episode 10 Review

Posted on June 17, 2015 by samluellwitz

In anticipation of Veep’s season finale, Dan Pfeiffer, a political commentator for CNN and a former senior advisor to President Obama, wrote an insightful article for Grantland last week about how Veep is television’s most authentic depiction of the nation’s capital. Pfeiffer backs this assertion up with three reasons: the humanity of the series’ characters, the banality of their day-to-day lives, and the absurdity that matches today’s political climate. While I agree completely with Pfeiffer’s statement, I would like to add a fourth reason for Veep’s place at the summit. Simply put, the show is a love letter to politics.

Yes Veep, despite its cynicism and crassness towards the American political system, is truly and completely infatuated with the excitement of politics. Its characters may be overworked, under-caffeinated, and constantly exasperated, but they’ve all willingly given the best years of their lives in service to the soul-crushing, thankless machine that is Washington D.C. for a reason. We don’t often get to see that reason, hidden behind each character’s emotional walls of skepticism and self-deprecation, but in this season’s finale, with election night in full swing and everyone glued to their TVs (and many, many tablets), we have the rare opportunity to experience the passion and exhilaration that allows these characters to take each week’s abuse and keep coming back for more.

‘Elections nights are my cocaine. It used to be election nights and cocaine were my cocaine.’

From the beginning we hear that this election is the ‘closest in living memory’ and the phrase ‘too close to call’ is repeated ad nauseam throughout the episode. At first this generic expression is derided as ‘transcendent bullshitting’, simply one of many clichés stammered out by Dan and Amy while co-commentating on CNN. But as the night goes on and the election literally does become too close to call, it becomes almost a rallying cry in defense of the emotional excitement of election night against attempts to coldly mathematize the proceedings through statistical models and projections, embodied here by blogger Matty Curtis, a Nate Silver analogue.

Over the episode, the difference between media outlets calling actual results versus assumptions based on projections becomes blurred, as Selina almost concedes over an unfavorable outcome that turns out to be a miscall. As news stations race to be the first on the mark and thus attract the most viewers, this dependence on forecasts rather than hard data makes everything unclear. As Tom puts it as he tries to console a despondent Selina, ‘These are projections, these are not real results.’ In highlighting this, Veep puts the spotlight back on the romanticism of the night; potential world leaders waiting on knife’s edge as results trickle out, forced to wait for the final decision just like the voters at home. Having the answers all mapped out before the counting even begins runs contrary to the spirit of the event, and while cries of ‘too close to call’ may often be just transcendent bullshit, it’s all part of the spirit of the proceedings that has the characters just as enraptured as the viewers.

‘I’ve spent a third of my life leading up to this night.’

Though she’s surrounded by the support of her entourage, Selina’s emotions are understandably all over the place, as she swings from exuberance to abject defeat depending on the most recent result. When the race finally ends in a tie, all the emotions come flooding out in a shocking monologue that summarizes all the frustration that’s been building over her time as president: ‘You do your best, you try to serve the people and then they just fuck you over, because they’re ignorant and they’re dumb as shit and that’s democracy.’ This eruption is balanced by more subtle and amiable character moments, such as her mother-daughter time with Catherine, which give Selina the depth of personality that’s needed to keep the audience invested in her success. A big performance tonight was definitely needed after two episodes relatively out of the spotlight, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus does an excellent job showcasing both the positive and negative aspects of Selina on the night where she may or may not become president.

Of course, Selina losing is never really an option with the series already on board for another season, but a victory would be overly predictable and continue to distance the show from its title. That the election ends in a tie is a masterful stroke by the writing staff, meaning the decision goes to the House, with Tom becoming President in the event of a second tie there. Finding such a creative (and legally accurate!) way for Selina to potentially end back up in the titular role of Veep adds true stakes to next season and shows that the series’ wit goes far beyond Jonah-directed insults (of which there were none this episode!).

‘The rulebook’s been torn up now, and America is wiping its nasty ass with it!’

Positioning Tom as Selina’s opponent in the upcoming season is another strong move. Selina has always felt threatened by his popularity, and more than once we’ve seen through Tom’s charming façade to the disdain he views for Selina’s success over his. The two becoming outright rivals, even while remaining on the same side, is a natural choice for a series whose one weak point is a lack of true competitors for Selina’s position.

Altogether this was an excellent finale, and a strong exit by series creator Armando Iannucci. The cast even receives a curtain call at the end of the episode as Selina calls them all onstage, a nice nod to all the work that’s been done over four seasons (Dan’s left out of the proceedings, but he does get his head projected onto a giant screen, which I’m sure he’s pleased about). As for the future, Iannucci seems to have respectfully left many things open-ended for his successor, David Mandel, whose previous work includes Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld. Selina’s campaign can continue on in any direction, Bill may or may not end up in prison, as he continually reminds everyone around him, and Amy might just have a place back on Selina’s squad. Iannucci’s final love letter to American politics is a smash success, and a crowning example of why, when it comes to political television, Veep truly is commander-in-chief.

With both Game of Thrones and Veep finished, I’ll be taking a summer holiday until mid-July. I’ll be back with a look at True Detective season two so far, with reviews coming weekly from there. See you then!

Game of Thrones Season 5 – Episode 10 Review

Posted on June 16, 2015 by samluellwitz

Season five of Game of Thrones goes out with a bang, though that could just be the sound of all our hearts breaking. After Thrones broke its mid-season slump with the surprise attack on Hardhome and then doubled down on the intensity with Shireen’s execution and Dany’s flight from the Great Games, viewers would have been excused for anticipating a more sedated finale; an orderly wrapping up of the season’s remaining plotlines and some pieces moved into place for next spring, but nothing too shocking compared to what had come already. Of course, House Benioff and Weiss’s motto has always been ‘expect the unexpected’, and what audiences got instead was a high-paced finale so jam-packed with plot twists and character deaths that it’s hard to digest everything we’ve just seen, let alone project towards the future.

Perhaps it’s best to start with the meatiest bit first, the death of Jon Snow. As we scramble together around water coolers and message boards to try and make sense of the series of knives plunged into Jon’s (and our) heart, we must remember that Game of Thrones has proven time and time again that none of its characters are safe, not even the young, the good, or the innocent. This is a show whose first episode ended with a boy being pushed from a tower after all. It’s easy to look at the blood pooling in the snow and see the end of some many things we thought were just beginning: the wildlings’ lives within the Wall, a call to arms against the White Walkers, and the rise of Thrones’ last unblemished hero. But, like an acolyte at the House of Black and White, we should see death not as a conclusion, but as a beginning.

Death is at the catalyst of almost every action made in Game of Thrones. Way back in season one, the mysterious death of Jon Arryn is the spark that brings Ned Stark to King’s Landing at the behest of Robert Baratheon. Ned’s own death ends the first season, but kicks off the series as we recognize it today by raising the stakes from palace intrigue to epic, continent spanning war between feuding armies and ideologies. After two seasons of conflict, Robb’s shocking death ends the fight for the throne and appears to set the stage for Lannister dominance, but Joffrey’s murder early in season four changes the scope again. His death (as well as Tywin’s later in the season) drives the ruling family apart, and open conflict is replaced by the fracturing of central power as the Tyrells circle like vultures and Tyrion departs to Essos and an ultimate alliance with Daenerys.

Altogether, almost every season has seen a major death that initially appears to resolve the current conflict, for better or for worse, but instead sets up a whole new set of difficulties for those left alive. Whereas a more simple narrative would have used one of these major deaths as a nice bow to tie together one side’s triumph and have the victors of the moment ride off into the sunset to rule happily ever after, Thrones is obsessed with examining what comes after a story’s end, and by doing so reveals the cyclic nature of power and violence. Just as Daenerys said to Tyrion last week, ‘Stark, Tyrell, Lannister, they’re all just like spokes on a wheel turning over and over again.’ Jon’s death, like Ned’s and Robb’s before him, gives the series an opportunity to rise to another level. Jon laments in this episode that he has no way to defeat the Walkers, and perhaps his death will clear the stage for someone who can.

And for those who need some hope of Kit Harrington’s return to cling to over the next nine months, the Mountain’s reappearance this episode reminds viewers that resurrection does exist in Westeros. Even more pertinently, back in season three we met Beric Dondarrion, the Lightning Lord of the Riverlands, who has been brought back to life time and time again thanks to Thoros of Myr, a priest of the Red God. If only there was a Red priest, or even priestess, that rode into Castle Black the night of Jon’s murder. Leave it to Thrones to potentially shock its audience by NOT killing a major character.

Though it’s easy to forget, there was a lot going on in this episode outside of Castle Black. The finale opens at Stannis’s camp, and for a few moments there seems to be validation for his daughter’s murder as the icicles drip and the road is cleared for his army to march forth. It doesn’t take long however, for the inevitable consequences of last episode to rear their heads. With his wife dead, Melissandrae on the lam, and the majority of his army gone as well, Stannis is simply going through the motions as he rallies what’s left of his men for a doomed assault on Winterfell. The eldest Baratheon brother leaves a mixed legacy- for a renowned strategist he’ll most likely be remembered for his failed assault at Blackwater Bay and tactical misstep of expecting his army to continue supporting him after burning his own daughter alive in front of them. At least Stannis seems to understand where he went wrong. His final words of ‘go on, do your duty’ portray a man who recognizes his failure, rather than someone who stills believes in his ‘destiny’ to rule. Interestingly, the scene cuts out as Brienne swings her sword, suggesting that Stannis’s time may not be up yet. If it is however, this was a speedy denouement for a character who truly died last episode as he watched his daughter burn.

While Brienne’s execution of Stannis (or not, yay ambiguity!) fulfills her debt to one lord, she agonizingly drops the ball on her more recent commitments as Sansa’s candle for help went unnoticed over the commotion of the impeding battle for Winterfell. Honestly though, even if Brienne had seen the candle, what was her plan for rescuing Sansa, storming single-handedly into a castle prepared for siege? No, Sansa’s best hope for escape was always from within, though to my frustration I mean within Winterfell rather than within herself. Yes, as feared it’s Reek who steps up to save the ever-helpless Stark, rather than Sansa developing any agency of her own. She even states, ‘if I’m going to die, let it happen while there’s still some of me left,’ which sounds honorable but when choosing between an arrow in the chest versus god-knows-what from Ramsay, the choice is, as Stannis would have put it, ‘no choice at all’. Ultimately Sansa may still get her wish, as the scene cuts away yet again as she and Reek jump from the battlements Thelma and Louise style. Once again, yay ambiguity!

While Sansa’s situation starts out bad and ends with at least some shred of hope, her sister’s experience in Braavos follows the opposite trajectory. While Arya’s murder of Ser Meryn Trant was a formality to be checked off this episode (though Arya certainly checked the hell out of it), the events after are an interesting twist that serve to enforce Jaqen’s teachings this season. Ever since Arya’s arrival at the House of Black and White, her personal quest for vengeance has clashed with her mentor’s insistence on becoming ‘no one’. When Arya uses the tools of the House to fulfill a personal vendetta, and revels in it by proclaiming her name and labeling her victim as ‘no one’, it’s only to be expected that there would be repercussions upon her return. Bonus points to Jaqen for having Arya’s punishment of blindness match her blinding of Trant.

Finally, Cersei’s walk of shame from the Sept to the Red Keep ended her storyline in the strongest way possible. Just as I’ve already maligned Sansa’s storyline in these reviews, I’ve also sung the praises of actress Lena Headey and in this episode she nailed it once again. In a series with so many over the top villains, to develop Cersei into a sympathetic character over five seasons has been an amazing feat for Headey and the rest of the staff. All season long viewers have been waiting for Cersei’s comeuppance and this episode obviously delivered, but then would not let go. In an episode with so many frustrating cutaways, having Cersei’s naked march through King’s Landing run on for uncomfortably long was the perfect way for the audience’s emotions to change from spite to sympathy. We walk with her every step of the way, experiencing every insult and every attack that she does, watching her expression change from proud strength to weakness. When Jaime lost his hand, he lost his defining feature as Westeros’s best swordsman, and only then did he begin to grow into an empathic character. Now that Cersei has lost the sexuality that gave her such power, she too has the opportunity to rebuild herself as someone better. Or she can just have her FrankenMountain go kill everyone. Either way, Cersei will continue to be a fascinating character.

Looking ahead towards next season, this episode didn’t drop many hints about what to expect. In Essos, we know that Tyrion and Varys will attempt to rebuild Meereen while Dany reunites with a Dothraki horde who may or may not remember her as their Khaleesi. Hostilities with Dorne will likely take place after Myrcella’s poisoning, though whether Jaime will return to King’s Landing for reinforcements or turn the boat around to take care of matters himself remains to be seen. As for the North, with the amount of cutaway deaths and the general dominance of evil over good, your guess is as good as mine. Bran will likely make a reappearance after a season’s absence, and Sam’s time at Maester University may make for a new plotline. Altogether, the conclusion of season five potentially sets the stage for a drastically new series of events in a way that hasn’t happened since, well, the first Stark was murdered. If Jon truly is dead, then he died for something. As for what that is, I’ll be there next spring to find out with the rest of you. See you then.

Tune in tomorrow for my review of Veep‘s season finale!

Veep Season 4 – Episodes 8 and 9 Review

Posted on June 10, 2015 by samluellwitz

Apologies for missing last week’s review, but on the day I was going to review an episode where Selina is stricken ill, I felt under the weather myself and decided to put off episode eight’s review and combine it with episode nine. This unexpectedly ending up working pretty well, as these episodes are linked together, both in subject matter and in their unconventional structures. Episode eight combines Selina’s general absence due to illness with the madcap efforts of her staff to tank the unpopular Families First bill. The following episode has her staff trying to cover up the events of last week at a congressional hearing while Selina, though no longer ill, is still largely detached from the rest of the proceedings.

For the series’ main character, Selina is oddly marginalized in both of these episodes, and hopefully this will be compensated by a memorable performance in the upcoming season finale. Her illness in episode eight deprives her of her usual scathing wit, though she’s gifted some physical comedy and make-up work befitting her deathly ill state. To be fair, it seems as though the writers acknowledged her criminal under-use by giving her a rapid barrage of voice memo jokes during the ending credit sequence. During the hearing her stature and know-nothing stance means she’s largely spared from questioning about the failed bill, and her news about Catherine’s break-up with her lobbyist fiancé works mostly due to the relationship we’ve seen play out between Selina and her daughter in earlier episodes, rather than her short segment here.

‘She sounds like an underwater Bob Dylan’

In Selina’s absence the rest of the cast takes the opportunity to shine, as their last-minute attempts to torpedo the bill showcase each character at their most manic while the congressional hearing lets us watch them squirm under the spotlight in a comeuppance that’s been building all season. Both episodes let each character’s personality shine, through their differing forms of incompetence while trying to kill the bill and their reactions while isolated and under scrutiny during the hearing. Gary becomes power-mad, ‘speaking’ for the President while she is ill and describing himself as a ‘pipeline’ directly to her head before backtracking and describing himself as a ‘nobody’. Mike attempts to distance himself from any information about the bill and tries to remain ignorant, which can’t be too hard for him, then solidifies his position as Veep’s worst liar as he stumbles deeper and deeper into a ridiculous story about ‘Knee-free’ cream. Even the normally dependable Ben loses his composure at the discovery of a paper trail linking the White House to Dan and Amy’s hiring to discredit the bill, though he’s back at his best while giving testimony, showing his elder statesman status by remaining relaxed and dictating proceedings while the other characters trip over themselves trying to duck away from the firing squad.

‘You know, there are probably fairer trials happening right now in the back of parking lots where the defendant is wearing a mailbag on his head.’

Ultimately, after seemingly everyone has had their turn passing the buck, Bill Ericsson is the one left holding the blame in order to prevent these various scandals from growing further out of control. Bill has been a strange character this season. Previous billed as a superstar campaign manager, he somehow was not even considered for the role after Amy quit, and never really displayed any of the skills to give him that reputation in the first place. Bill was still a very funny character as we learned that icy cool demeanor did not extend towards dealing with the media or the general public, and he certainly leaves the show on a high as he manically attempts to plead his innocence against the mounting accusations against him (‘do you want me to take off my shirt so you can see all the knife handles sticking out of my back?), but he was conspicuously absent from more than a few episodes this season, and I wonder if other commitments minimized the amount of time he was able to spend with the show and facilitated his axing before the season’s end. In any case, we must bid the giver of ‘unfriendly friendly hellos’ an unfriendly friendly ‘goodbye’.

With the various scandals that have dominated this season of Veep possibly taken care of, the Families First bill dead in the ground, and Selina’s election campaign not given much airtime so far, the subject matter of the season’s finale episode is really up for grabs. This upcoming episode being the final one helmed by creator Armando Iannucci, such narrative freedom should give him, and the series, the flexibility to end this season on a high. Unfortunately for Selina, a high for the series usually means a low for her administration, so we can only imagine what disaster awaits her on Sunday.

Game of Thrones Season 5 – Episode 9 Review

Posted on June 9, 2015 by samluellwitz

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff’s gigantic tail
Noble kings and princes would bow whene’er they came
Pirate ships would lower their flags when Puff roared out his name

Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea…

With so many significant topics in this episode, it’s probably best to get the Dornewood deadwood out of the way quickly. Jaime and Bronn’s continually underwhelming escapades down south came to a shrugworthy conclusion befitting their misadventure so far. To recap, our heroes are released from their arrest with naught but an elbow to the face, their enemies the Sand Snakes are forced to give up their quest for vengeance, and Myrcella is free to return to King’s Landing. Other than the provision that they bring the young Dornish Prince Tristane with them (to restore the small council’s quota of saucy southerners) Jaime’s whole quest for redemption has been resolved so neatly and without consequence that it could have simply been mentioned as an aside during one of Cersei’s politicking scenes back at the capital. Honestly, other than offering a look into Dorne as a location (admittedly a welcome change from the series’ normal settings of snow and dust), what development actually came from Jaime and Bronn’s buddy cop / road trip caper? Jaime continues to get away with murder –literally and figuratively- thanks to his surname, and neither character has really changed or grown at all from the end of last season. Without any emotional advancement or heightened drama, the whole experience feels like a waste of time, though knowing what is to come later in the episode has me wondering whether to criticize the writers so much for trying to give audiences a bit of light-hearted fun.

Yes, there’s nothing like the sounds of a little girl being burned alive in front of her parents to make you wish you were back in the doldrums of Dorne. What is it about the allure of seizing Winterfell that makes good men go bad? First we had Reek, back in the heady days when he was still Theon Greyjoy, betraying his adopted family to seize the north, and now Stannis has given up his own child in order to fulfill his ‘destiny’. We should have known something foul was afoot when Stannis sent Davos back to the Night’s Watch, and if that seems like the benefit of hindsight, there may as well have been soldiers stacking hay bales in the background when Davos stopped off to say goodbye to Princess Mireen on his way to Castle Black. Just as Ser Barristan Selmy reflected warmly on the past with Dany before his death at the hands of the Sons of the Harpy, any sharing of simple humanity between two characters has basically become akin to a death wish. So from now on, watch out for anyone experiencing a heartwarming moment of character bonding or even just enjoying a cool breeze, for in the world of Thrones pleasure can only be found through drinking, fighting, or sex, and for crimes against this narrative code any offenders are likely to be impaled on a spike by the episode’s end.

Game of Thrones is a show about a cruel world, and as George R.R. Martin has stated in an interview with EW, he intends for his books and the series to display the dark sides of medieval history, rather than ‘Disneyland Middle Ages’. While this cruelty is nothing new, with the Red Wedding still remaining the series’ defining moment in pop culture, such misfortune needs to keep audiences engaged, rather than push them away. Robb’s shocking death back in the second season was so enjoyable because it subverted audience expectations of how the story’s progression was ‘supposed’ to play out. Robb, as the heroic challenger for the throne, was expected to suffer through many hardships but eventually emerge victorious, just as all fantasy action heroes before him. His death, even moreso than Ned’s at the end of the first season, established the world of Thrones as a no-holds-barred environment that destabilized the classical foundations of the genre. By not knowing how everything would end, audiences were hooked.

Now that audiences have come to expect death and misery at every turn, it was Stannis’s growth as a father that caught our interest earlier in the season. In a world where military commanders and would-be kings are a dime a dozen, Stannis stood alone as the lone positive father figure in the series. (Honestly, there are no good fathers in this show, someone should probably check in on George R.R. Martin’s relationship with his dad.) Having Stannis give up that distinction in order to join the already swollen ranks of miserable old men doing terrible things to gain power seems like a net loss for the series, regardless of any benefits that come from pure shock value.

Another example of the showrunners overemphasizing the bleak nature of the show’s universe came in Arya’s storyline, and it actually has nothing to do with the youngest Stark girl training to become a faceless killing machine for a cult worshipping the god of death. One of the best things to come from this season’s divorcing from the books has been the writer’s newfound freedom to bring previously sidelined characters back into the main story, and when Arya came across Ser Meryn Trant on one of her oyster-selling rounds, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring Arya towards her original goals after her self-imposed exile in Braavos. But instead of having Arya slip her attempted murderer a poisoned cockle and be done with it, the show has her follow him into a brothel where, surprise, it turns out he’s also a pedophile! This seems rather unnecessary and stinks of another excuse to add an uncomfortable scene with a depraved villain. Meryn has already established himself as a scumbag, and his crimes in the first season already make him perfectly deserving of Arya’s death list, so does he really need to be a pervert on top of everything? Not only was this scene narratively excessive, but Arya’s understandable avoidance of Meryn after this revelation stripped her of her previous single-minded focus towards ending his life. Once again, sexual violence (or the threat thereof) towards a female character has stunted their progression in order to intensify our hatred towards an already established villain. Having unexpected misfortunes befall characters we feel for has worked in the past, but now that we’ve grown to assume it, having something actually work out for the best seems like a novel idea. Once again, just as we did with Sansa earlier in the season, for now all we can do is shrug our shoulders and see where the narrative takes us.

At the episode’s end, Dany also finds herself in an uncomfortable position after she unexpectedly becomes the main event at the Great Games. When the tournament first begins Dany is visibly distressed. We know how much she despises bloodsport and to have the event’s beginning hang on her clap of approval was an excellent way to coerce her into become an active participant in the brutality, rather than allow her to distance herself from the events before her. Once the fighting begins the Queen gets into an ideological spat with her fiancé, Hizdahr. She asserts that, while the lives lost in the pit are a waste, those who fall fighting for her cause ‘died for a good reason’. Hizdahr questions whether she knows what her people want better than they do, asking if ‘your reasons are true and theirs false?’ Once the Sons of the Harpy appear and the real fighting starts, this question plays out before her. As her protectors move her into the center of the fighting pits and form a protective circle around her, the pitfighting she abhors is replaced by the violence towards the cause that she deems noble. As she is literally surrounded by death, the lack of difference between the two is grossly displayed and she closes her eyes to shut out the bloodshed around her.

At this point, Dany’s whole ideology, that a just war can end all cruelty and violence, has been shattered. War itself is cruelty and violence. Stannis knows this as his daughter burns before him, and Prince Martell in Dorne knows this as he refuses to raise arms against the Lannisters. As this knowledge sinks in, all that Dany has worked for in Meereen is in tatters- the people rebel even as she tries to appease them, and the Sons of the Harpy show how great their numbers are and how many will fight unceasingly against her rule. With her principles shaken and her reign upended, what right does she have to rule anyone, let alone all of Westeros? Luckily for her, the answer comes flying overhead bringing fiery death to her foes. No matter how inexperienced she is or what mistakes she may make, she is the mother of dragons, the last Targaryen, and she is destined for greatness. This is what separates her from Stannis, who also believes the Iron Throne is his destiny. Both Stannis and Dany find their backs against the wall this episode, faced with certain death. But while Stannis has to reach out towards external sources for survival, relying more and more on Melisandre and the Red God at the expense of his family and his identity, it is Dany’s identity that comes to her aid. As the mother of dragons it is her calling, not Stannis’s, to reign supreme, and Stannis’s fall this episode, as the last worthy contender, only clears the way for Dany to come riding in and claim what has always been hers.

Game of Thrones Season 5 – Episode 8 Review

Posted on June 2, 2015 by samluellwitz

Woah.

Sorry to sound like Keanu Reeves, but this week’s episode left me as slack jawed as, well, a re-animated corpse. Last week I lamented Game of Thrones’ midseason slump and looked forward to episode nine’s predictable major set-piece, but the second half salvo of ‘Hardhome’ showed once again the showrunners still have plenty of surprises up their sleeves. Yes, this is the episode where the winter we’ve been hearing about for so long finally arrives and we see the terrors that the dark night is full of. I guess I should just stick with my day job as an oyster shucker.

This episode’s climax, with the White Walkers’ undead army razing Hardhome as Jon and Tormund barely escape back to their ships, has obvious parallels to last season’s penultimate episode, ‘The Watchers on the Wall’. Both involved a lengthy, beautifully filmed battle sequence set in the frozen north characterized by the suspense of a badly outnumbered group holding out against an unending stream of opponents. Unlike the battle at the Wall however, here the valiant defenders are eventually undone, and the loss of the North to the relentless savagery of a lifeless horde does not bode well for the rest of Westeros.

'I’ve seen the army of the dead, I’ve seen the White Walkers, and they’re coming for us, for all the living. And when it’s time we’ll need every last man we can find.’

‘I’ve seen the army of the dead, and they’re coming for us, for all the living. And when it’s time we’ll need every last man we can find.’

One of the best parts about the battle is its unexpectedness. This episode could have easily wrapped with any other mildly surprising or impressive scene that would have continued the expected progression of the season. Stannis trudging towards Winterfell, Arya being assigned her first target. We may not know the outcome of these stories but we can guess their major beats, and the last few episodes have had the unwelcome feel that perhaps we know enough about the world of Thrones to no longer be pleasantly shocked in the way we were during the first few seasons. The literal avalanche of undeath that ended this episode scrapped that comfortable superiority, raising new questions and injecting some much-needed new vitality into the series.

Chekov’s bag of dragonglass is a good example of this subversion of expectations. When Sam handed Jon the satchel last episode, it seemed obvious that the only objects known to harm the White Walkers would be used during Jon’s sojourn past the Wall. Sure enough, during this episode’s battle Jon rushed back into the burning lodge in order to rescue the dragonglass and came face to face with a Walker. The ensuing battle, while tense and well shot, still continued some expected action tropes. A sacrifice by a minor character to buy the lead some time? Check. Getting one hand on the bag before being pulled away? Got it. At this point it was only a matter of time before Jon, lying on the ground and seemingly done for, would seize a previously unseen loose shard of glass and plunge it into the Walker’s heart in true action movie climax fashion. Instead, Jon picks up his sword Longclaw and parries the Walker’s spear before striking it in an explosion of ice. Didn’t see that one coming did you? With the dragonglass left behind and Valyrian steel now part of the equation, Thrones sneaks some intriguing new questions in among all the mayhem.

The power of Valyrian steel

Along with reengaging our interest, the appearance of the frozen king and his army potentially hits fast forward on the series. One thing I couldn’t shake while watching this episode a second time is how little anything in the first half hour or so actually matters, measured against to the undead onslaught that serves as a chilling finale. Hardhome isn’t far from the Wall, and if the White Walkers and their minions move at the pace of a gibbering skeletal army that doesn’t feel pain or exhaustion, it won’t be long before they’re spilling over into the other storylines. The upcoming battle between Baratheon and Bolton is irrelevant if the survivors are overrun by murderous zombies. Cersei wants more than anything to get out of the black cells and see her son, but those locked dungeons may be the safest place in Westeros soon enough. If you’ll excuse the cliché, it’s all arranging deck chairs on the Titantic: The ship has sprung a major leak, and though the other characters aren’t aware of it yet, the audience knows the stakes have risen immeasurably and it will be interesting to see how the writers balance this imminent threat of annihilation with the politicking and strategic maneuvers that have defined the series so far.

Only Dany and her dragons are likely to stand any chance against the White Walkers, and the image of Queen Daenerys riding astride a fully grown Drogon as it rains fire on an army of ice zombies may well be the conclusion we’re heading towards (the book series is titled ‘A Song of Fire and Ice’ after all). In this episode Dany and Tyrion, newly appointed as her advisor, puzzle over where she will find the support to rule over Westeros, and I’d say saving the entire realm from certain (un)death will likely inspire that devotion she’s looking for. Dany states she wants to ‘break the wheel’ of oppression the Great Houses have over the common people. The White Walkers may do that for her, and all she’ll have left to do is pick up the pieces.

Stay tuned for Veep tomorrow and more Game of Thrones next week!