My review of the first episode of Under the Dome went live on FEARnet a short while ago. I’m using the word “review” loosely, as it’s actually a long essay that touches on the series and its place in King’s adaptation pantheon, as well as how it compares to the book. And so on. Once I start going, I don’t seem to be able to stop. I saw an interview with Timothy Olyphant the other day and he kept stopping himself. “I’m afraid I’m starting to babble,” he’d say.
The show Orphan Black is getting some belated love as the Emmy season approaches. I like this article in which Patton Oswalt and Damon Lindelhof argue for a nomination for Tatiana Maslany. I’ve been recommending the program to friends and the response from them has been overwhelmingly positive. One of the best quotes from the piece comes from Damon Lindelhof, who says, “You could stick an episode in front of somebody who was uninitiated and say, ‘This role is actually performed by these triplets.’ And they would believe you. It’s easier to believe they’re super talented triplets than it is that it’s just one person.”
I was skeptical about the series Hannibal when I saw the first promos for it, but I’m glad I went along for the ride. The show is dreamlike and chaotic, violent and stylized, glamorous and gritty. The only thing that would make it stronger would be if we didn’t have some idea of where Will Graham would end up. There is basis for this story in Red Dragon, which mentions in passing that Will was institutionalized after his involvement in a serial murder case. The last moment of the finale, which has a hint of a smile cropping up on Hannibal’s face, is almost like an admission of an inside joke—as if he appreciates that this is a kind of twisted joke that anticipates something in the future.
NBC is burning off the four unaired episodes of Zero Hour—two last Saturday, one tomorrow and one next weekend. To my surprise the most recent episode revealed the mysterious treasure the twelve clocks are protecting; however, when they did, it was sort of a “meh” revelation. OK, it’s not like that hasn’t been done before. The revelation about the main character’s kidnapped wife was a much bigger and more effective surprise.
I picked up King & Maxwell, which airs after Major Crimes and stars Jon Tenney (Fritz from The Closer), Rebecca Romijn and an unrecognizable Ryan Hurst (Opie from Sons of Anarchy). It’s not a bad show. Tenney and Romijn play former Secret Service agents who are private detective partners and Hurst is an autistic savant who balances their books and hacks into computers for them. They have good chemistry and thus far there’s no attempt to go down the romantic road.
My wife and I watched the three episodes of a PBS series called The Bletchley Circle before I left for New Orleans. It’s about four women who were (unbeknownst even to their closest friends and spouses) code breakers at Bletchley Park during World War II. Several years later, one of them, using her pattern-recognition skills, thinks she can help Scotland Yard find a serial killer. She can’t crack it on her own, though, so she contacts her former Bletchley colleagues and they set about searching for patterns and clues. A decent mystery/thriller. They’re making a second series—four episodes this time.
We also caught up on Longmire, which we both enjoy. Everyone has serious baggage. Now we have to wonder what Vic is hiding…or hiding from…and who found her?
