Brenda

Monday, 7 October 2013

Homeland: Home and Dry or Dead in the Water?

With the return of Homeland to RTE for its 3^rd series, Brenda has a look at the first episode and considers if it’s done enough to resurrect a premise that has been buckling under the weight of expectations. WARNING: SPOILERS

In 2011, Homeland was one of the most talked about new shows. The premise and execution were tense, fraught with the unexpected and an engaging tale of cat and mouse with two compelling lead characters. 

                                                                                                                                                        Carrie

Conspiracy Theories

The general storyline had Carrie (Claire Danes), a CIA officer believe that recently rescued marine Nicholas Brody had been “turned” by his 8 years of captivity in Iraq. What followed was an intense game of chess as Carrie, haunted by the fact that she missed some crucial evidence that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks, continues to believe Brody’s guilt, despite the fact that no-one else does.  Her increased downward spiral into a manic depressive episode does little to give her story credence with her colleagues. In order to maintain contact with Brody, she ends up having an affair with him and that’s where lines become blurred. Does Carrie really fall in love with him or is her compulsive need to uncover the truth what is driving her? 

Brody

Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis)

In the first series Brody is dealt with in an interesting way. Damian Lewis deserves a great deal of credit for making the character not entirely unsympathetic. Despite the fact that we don’t know the full story, Brody is not a black and white bad guy. If anything, once we do find out the motivation for his beliefs we find them, in some ways, understandable. We see his psychological damage from years of torture and captivity, his struggle to adapt to life back in the US, particularly with his family who have spent the last 8 years believing he was dead. 

Losing it's Way?

Ultimately in the season finale, the attack Brody is commissioned to carry out in the Vice President’s office is aborted. In a tense scene involving a phone call from his daughter Dana, Brody promises he’s coming home and de-activates the suicide vest he’s been fitted with. Carrie, believing that her mental health has compromised her reasoning undergoes electric shock therapy which leads to her forgetting many of the details she has uncovered.

All in all a solid story well told. A few twists, a few turns - did we end up where we expected to? Not quite but who doesn't like to be kept guessing to the end?

For some people though the second series was a step too far. So, where do they believe Homeland lost its way? Well, many believe that Brody should have died in the first series. I have to admit it would have been a gutsy move. Showing the viewers that no-one was safe and the show was prepared to make brave decisions.

Carrie and Saul

As a result of their decision to keep Brody front and centre, we get a second season that isn’t quite as sure of its footing.  The cat and mouse element still remains. The CIA uncovers Brody’s pre-recorded confessional tape meaning that Carrie is welcomed back with open arms as the only person who saw the light. Still unstable and damaged by her experience from the previous season, her behaviour becomes more erratic. Saul (Mandy Patinkin), her confidante and mentor within the CIA tries to contain her behaviour but with laughable results. The introduction of new moody kid on the block in the form of Peter Quinn (Rupert Friend), a CIA analyst, does add an extra dimension, with the viewer never quite sure whose side he’s on. 

Highlights and Puzzling times

This season is not without its merits, when Carrie confronts Brody in the hotel room declaring him a traitor to his country the audience can taste the bile in Claire Danes' voice. She practically spits her hatred in his face for what he has done to her life and her mental health. The following interrogation scenes where Carrie gets Brody to confess in his own words is undoubtedly my highlight and must have played a significant role in Claire Danes' Emmy win this year. Unfortunately, after this episode the series lost me. Carrie and Brody resume their affair after Brody agrees to go counter spy on Abu Nazir, the terrorist leader of al-Qaeda. What follows is a number of frantic situations including Brody being air lifted out of a field in a chopper by terrorists, a pace maker being hi-jacked and our two mentally unstable protagonists believing that they can skip into the sunset, conveniently forgetting the damage they’ve done to each other.

A Parody?

Parts of the show became so over-wrought it even seemed to parody itself. Traits from the show have begun to enter the lexicon – such as “Carrie’s Cry Face”. The Saturday Night Live spoof featuring Anne Hathaway highlighted some of these perfectly and if you've seen some previous episodes I recommend you seek out this sketch. You'll never look at it in quite the same light.

My friend James and I even created the rules to a drinking game that is bound to have you under the table within the episode! Shots if you see any of the below!

1. Carrie pops pills/doubts own mental stability
2. Carrie's cry face 
3. Carrie hysterically convinces Saul that they need to act now
4. Saul inexplicably listens to Carrie
5. Carrie does what she is specifically told not to do  
6. Dana (Brody’s daughter) toys with her hair/sleeves
7. Dana makes hostile teenage face at her mother
8. Anytime Brody starts sweating under pressure

4 SHOTS based on statements 1-4

Saved or Lost?

So has there been any steps to use this third series as a method of pulling the concept back from the brink?

Well, I personally think that there has been. The first episode was tense, re-established the boundaries and offered us a different battle ground. An inquiry into the explosion which decimated the CIA headquarters at the end of season 2 are going to be the main focus. Saul is now the acting head of the CIA and is in the media spotlight as people look for answers. Carrie's inquiry are behind closed doors as she still has assets in the field that are important. All in all Carrie is toeing the line as much as I believe she is capable of doing but it seems that Saul may be a little too eager to offer her up as the sacrificial goat for "the greater good".

Brody, innocent as far as the viewer and Carrie are concerned, is currently on the run and did not feature in the first episode. Sadly, his family did. I have yet to come across more uninspiring and less interesting people. Inexplicably Dana is still screen time having attempted to commit suicide under the strain of the revelations that her father was a terrorist and is believed to be guilty of the bombing as far as the media are concerned. Bizarrely, watching her smile in this episode has to be one of the less believable moments in the whole concept.

 Instead of filling air time with The Brody Bunch, I would rather have seen more regarding the inquiries. Or a better tee-up and more time spent on the mission that Quinn and the other agents undertook. And while Brody didn't make an appearance, a final shot, without dialogue showing us where he was would have set the scene for the audience.

Carrie and Quinn (Rupert Friend)

For me, this season will be make or break. I think some drastic steps have to be taken, some character changes and given that Abu Nazir was eliminated we now need a new focus which hasn't become entirely clear from the season opener. 

The tone also needs to be grounded. We were shown signs of it in this episode but the writers have to trust the audience to appreciate the quieter twists and reveals rather than the loud crashing and explosion of a storyline that usually lacks in substance. Only time will tell which approach wins out.

Tuesday, 24 September 2013

Sleepy Hollow

Every autumn a tidal wave of the good, the bad and the ugly of new shows hits us. So, how to tell your “Blondie” from your “Tuco”? Well, Brenda has a bit of a ponder and thinks she’s found a gud’un – Fox’s “Sleepy Hollow”.

Fox's Sleepy Hollow

The past week and the weeks to come will see the return of some very popular series – Breaking Bad, New Girl, Downton Abbey, Homeland, Once Upon A Time, Love/Hate, How I Met Your Mother. As you can see quite the mixed bag, both in terms of content and quality (Downton and Homeland get a shout out here for their comical increase in absurdity). These shows are returning for at least their third series and their positions in the viewing schedule are well established. So, what about the new offerings?

Well, as happens every autumn, pilot season and the corresponding pickups are dangled in front of us by the network studios promising us the next BIG thing. It becomes a sea of arms in the air, waving and voices screaming “LOOK AT US – We’re the new Breaking Bad”, “HONESTLY, YOU WON’T REGRET IT. This is better than The Wire” and if all else fails “WE’VE GOT COOKIES”. In the middle of all this white noise how can you decide what you’re going to spend your (sadly) limited viewing time on?

I guess it depends on what you’re looking for. Personally, given that my quota of hard hitting dramas and sitcoms has been filled for the time being, I’ve been looking for something entertaining, something that doesn’t take itself too seriously and knows exactly what its audience wants.

Enter Fox’s “Sleepy Hollow” starring Tom Mison (Parade’s End, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen) and Nicole Beharie (Shame). Taking the original Washington Irving story as its inspiration we get the story but a modern twist.

I have to admit the idea intrigued me from the off. The Tim Burton/Johnny Depp 1999 collaboration of the same name has long been a favourite of mine and I consider it as one of their top 3 efforts, behind Edward Scissorhands but above Sweeney Todd. Therefore to paraphrase Calvin Candie, - it had my curiosity but now it has my attention.

So what grabbed me.. Well, it’s as if the writers and producers (from Fringe and Star Trek) have put their heads together and created a formula based on what’s currently on trend. It goes something along the lines of:

•         Add 2 parts the male/female dynamic of Elementary/Dr Who;
•        1 part the obnoxious self-assuredness of Cumberbatch’s Sherlock (Crane’s long coat an aesthetic cue);
•       4 parts the tongue in cheek demonic presence from Supernatural;
•        A quarter cup of Whedon-esque sass and humour a la Buffy/Firefly/Angel;
•       A teaspoon of the “focused, independent woman” meets “man lost in time” element currently favoured by Emma/Hook in Once Upon A Time.

And hey presto! Voila! Bon Appetite.

To some this may appear to be a cynical attempt to hi-jack other shows winning traits but I personally believe Sleep Hollow manages to pull it off.

From the very beginning the show knows exactly what it wants to be and aims hard and fast for it – basically, leave your brain at the door and buckle in for the ride.

                                                               The Set-Up

Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane

The prologue introduces us to Ichabod Crane, a history professor from Oxford. Crane has turned rogue under the weight of his conscience and is now helping to wage war against his own countrymen, the Red Coats in the Revolutionary War. Within the first few minutes we witness his encounter with a soldier branded with a bow on his right hand. This man has been foreshadowed to Crane by none other than George Washington. Their struggle leads to the soldier’s decapitation and Crane’s apparent death. Fade to black and now Crane is waking up in a cave and stumbling into the path of oncoming traffic, all within the first 10 minutes of the show.

Nicole Beharie as Abbie Mills

Lieutenant Abbie Mills, our female protagonist, is introduced mid conversation with her mentor Sheriff Corbin. Of course, Abbie is Sleepy Hollow’s best and brightest and on the way to fulfilling her potential as a criminal profiler in an FBI feeder programme. A few beheadings later, an encounter with the headless horseman and minus one mentor, Abbie realises there’s something rotten in the state of Denmark.

Cute-Meet Time

Crane, having been arrested as a suspect in the beheadings, realises that Abbie is the key to understanding what exactly is going on and the only one who is even close to believing his story. Abbie is initially resistant; a previous supernatural encounter experienced by her and her sister did not have pleasant outcomes for either. However, some more shenanigans and Crane’s protestation that “just because it’s crazy does not make it any less real” and Abbie begins to accept the inevitable.

    

Katrina Crane

The remainder of the episode essentially sets the scene for how the rest of the season will play out. Crane’s wife acts as the means for navigating the story arc from beyond the grave. Revelations that she, Katrina, was burnt at the stake for being a witch is taken surprising well by Crane and she continues to communicate with him through dreams from a type of purgatory where she is now trapped. It is she that explains the blood link created between the headless horseman, representing Death, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse and Crane on the battlefield. Before you know it we’ve got promises of the last great fight for humanity, warring witch covens, a prophecy in the Book of Revelations and the kitchen sink. In summation – what’s not to love?

A Man Lost in Time

For me it’s Sleepy Hollow’s confidence that appeals the most. Large elements in the story are gloriously tongue in cheek. It’s as if the writers know that in some ways we’ve been there, done that many times before, but hey a story well told is a story well told. 

For example, parts of Crane’s introduction to the modern world are lightly but entertainingly touched on. His initial reaction to Mills –

Ichabod: You've been emancipated, I take it.
Abbie: Excuse me?
Ichabod: From enslavement.

Abbie’s response – slavery has been abolished for the last 150 years, it’s a whole new day in America.

Basically, short hand for get used to it, pretty much everything you knew has changed. The standard disgruntled chief of police even throws in a nod to Captain America.

Encounters with cars, torches and women wearing trousers are all boxes ticked and while that shtick might get a little old, as long as they keep it entertaining there’s no reason why it can’t run for a while longer. Episode 2 promises disgust that the tax on “baked goods” i.e. donuts, is so high – with Crane wondering why the population hasn’t taken to the streets in protest.

Crane and Abbie

Character Appeal

Mison's Crane, obviously a highly educated man, confidante of George Washington and used to being the man who knows, is now the man who is stumbling towards an answer, trying to figure out what’s happening. Nevertheless, he embraces the Spock mantra – “If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth” and attacks each scenario with gusto. This character is in direct contrast with Johnny Depp's interpretation, which was one of a man over his head, timid and prone to fainting spells.

For Abbie, her appeal lies in her independence. She’s firm without being a bitch. As Tom Mison put it, she’s not a wife or a daughter or a girlfriend. She’s an independent character not defined by others and so the audience is largely guided by Nicole Beharie’s grounded interpretation of her.

Even though for the moment the interaction between the two characters is as follows: Crane – wordy and far-fetched statement, followed by Abbie – exasperation and grudging belief. Still the dynamic is entertaining. Crane’s disadvantage in the modern world and Abbie’s disbelief of the supernatural has resulted in a playing field that seems surprisingly level.

The Big Bad

Headless Horseman

A taste of things to come

So where will this series lead us? Well the first season has 13 episodes so while the Headless Horseman is promised as the overall Big Bad, it’s hinted that others will come first. We’re even shown glimpses of demons with a strong resemblance to those in Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth”. Also, the Sheriff’s investigations into unexplained murders and occurrences in the area are discovered by Abbie and heavily hint that not everyone is as they seem, some enemies may lie within the current circle of trust.

      

The viewing figures for the pilot have been hugely successful for Fox with 10.10 million tuning in, making it the network's highest rated autumn drama since 2006. There's even a cheeky aside in the first episode hinting at a seven years war against the forces of evil before the final stand-off  so as of now things are looking good for Sleepy Hollow. I for one am looking forward to the adventure.