In the US: Thursdays, 9/8c, The CW In the UK:Available on Netflix. New episode every Friday
Which would you rather make: the next Twin Peaks or the next Smallville? It’s not as easy a choice as you might think. Sure, Twin Peaks is revered enough that it’s coming back after 25 years and it gets mentioned in all manner of “Top n shows in TV history” lists whereas Smallville never won and never will win any critics awards for its fine storytelling. But Smallville also lasted a record-breaking 10 seasons to become the longest-running North American science-fiction series, whereas Twin Peaks never even made it to three.
In its first episode, Riverdale seemed to be aiming to be the new Twin Peaks. A reimagining of the long-lasting American comic book Archie set in a genial small town, complete with a classic love triangle in the form of swell guy and gals Archie, Veronica and Betty, Riverdale updated it, put new spins on all the old characters and then threw in a murder-mystery for luck. Replete with ravishing visuals and smart dialogue, it gave younger and older viewers plenty to enjoy, including thrills and excitement, without sacrificing the comic’s generally genial atmosphere.
Since then, the show has started to change into something a bit more conventional and ‘teenish’. Episode two occupied a halfway house between the old aesthetic and the new aesthetic, with the show trying to be both a dark murder mystery and a full-on comedy and not quite working as it shifted between tones. Nevertheless, the bonding between Betty and Veronica was well executed and the dialogue maintained its smartness, at least. And, of course, we got Jossy and the Pussycats singing their own version of classic The Archies song ‘Sugar, Sugar’:
Episode three continued the descent in quality by being a modern-day “Very Special Episode” about slut-shaming that decided to take in Wild Things along the way for no well defined reason. Smartness and sassiness generally went down a hole, and the need for the very white Archie’s musical ambitions to bear fruit via the all-black, all-female Josie and the Pussycats led to a nails-on-chalkboard attempt to square that particular circle… as well as yet another musical number in the style of Smallville‘s frequent trips to ‘the Talon’.
Riverdale‘s not entirely lost sight of its original ambitions and episode three has the rather marvellous suggestion that sweet as apple pie Betty might have multiple personality disorder and could even be her own crazy (murderous) twin sister, Polly. But the adults have stopped being adult and have started to become cliched, and the murder-mystery side of things has become more than a little silly. Coupled with the continuing inappropriate and probably illegal relationship between Archie and his music teacher, where it’s hard to tell which is the adult and which is the child, and it’s all starting to feel far less promising than when it started.
There could still be plenty of mileage in Riverdale – after all, not every episode of Twin Peaks was a classic, let alone Smallville. It’s still got a winning cast and a reasonably strong foundation. It just needs to decide what it wants to do in life.
If toys are your thing, this week’s been great for Wonder Woman fans. You might, for example, already be booking tickets to see ‘The Art of the Brick: DC Super Heroes‘ on the South Bank in London, where you’ll be able to see a Lego Wonder Woman – and not the tiny mini-figure version, either.
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If Lego’s not your thing, though, some of the toys being released by Mattel to accompany Wonder Womanhave been revealed, too:
It’ll make a change from playing with your Malibu Barbie, at least.
After the jump, though, we’ll look at the latest DC Comics to feature our Diana: Wonder Woman #16 continues the story of Diana’s arrival in Man’s World, gives us a couple of new gods to admire and has our heroine dealing with a chimera; meanwhile, Batman ’66 Meets ‘Wonder Woman ’77#6 sees our time-warped heroes dealing with a Griffin; and Justice League/Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers #2 pits the Justice League against a team of ninja with giant robot dinosaurs – they’re the good guys, too, though. Surprise!
There’s something about an overly clever title that suggests the show itself isn’t going to be very good. A stupid title is obviously a big warning klaxon but while a clever title can be a fair indicator of quality, an overly clever title suggests more thought has gone into the title than the show itself.
Newton’s Law. Ha, ha. Look at that. It’s a TV series about a lawyer and her name is Josephine Newton, so Newton’s Law. Gettit?
So klaxons went off as soon as I saw the title – justified klaxons, since Newton’s Law is pretty weak stuff (well, G is 6.674×10-11N, ha, ha), despite having been created by Deb Cox and Fiona Eagger, the originators of the much-loved Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.
It stars the almost equally loved Claudia Karvan (The Secret Life of Us, Spirited, Puberty Blues, Love My Way) as the eponymous Newton, a former high-flying barrister turned suburban solicitor now undergoing a separation as her globe-trotting eco-warrior husband (Brett Tucker) is never home. Despite having helped the down-trodden for over a decade, her offices are firebombed by a hacked-off client, leaving Karvan in a potentially parlous state. But former sparring partner and admirer Toby Schmitz comes to the rescue, asking her to join his plush legal firm, co-run by Andrew McFarlane (Glitch), where she can once again resume the bar and recapture her glory days. However, her do-gooding spirits aren’t so easily tamed and by the end of the first episode, she’s back helping her former clients, albeit from her old firm’s new offices in an abandoned car wash.
The show’s stated ambition is to be a sort of Upstairs Downstairs for the Australian legal system, counterpointing the daily work of barristers working for rich clients against that of solicitors working for impoverished Joe Public. However, there’s little of that in this first episode, which is more concerned with setting up the upstairs and the downstairs companies, Karvan’s relationship with husband and teenage daughter, her “will they, won’t they?” relationship with Schmitz, and her trainwreck friendship with her trainwreck business partner (Georgina Naidu).
All of which should be lovely and fluffy, but the show clunks along like a Ford Cortina with a broken gearbox. Karvan is long-suffering, a great friend, a put-upon wife, much sought after, knows all the right crowd and defends the little people while sticking it to the man, whenever possible – yeah! Right on! Indeed, both producers and characters are in thrall to Newton’s supposed brilliance.
But actually, Newton’s Law never really demonstrates why anyone would consider her so amazing, beyond the fact she had a cool car. Surely someone with a cool old American muscle car must be a top legal mind as well, though, right?
The legal side is, at least, a bit more promising than all this girl power by numbers, starting us off with a plot lift straight out of 12 Angry Men, with a young man accused of murder and a nearby witness willing to swear she saw everything. But did she what she thought she saw?
While the trappings of the Australian legal system are at least more familiar to UK viewers than the average US legal drama’s, making Newton’s Law potentially more appealing, none of it is any more realistic than the average US legal drama and it’s all very sub-Crownies. Indeed, as with Janet King, Karvan ultimately saves the day not through her marvellous knowledge of the law or rhetoric but investigating the crime herself by ferreting around behind bookcases and discovering incriminating envelopes. Maybe that’s how Karvan can even contemplate doing both jobs, given the ridiculous hours both barristers and solicitors have to put in, since it’s clearly not going to be by looking through the statute books.
Newton’s Law is the kind of thing that should play well on daytime TV, probably after the latest Father Brown has aired. But it lacks any edge, USP or fire that would make it work as a primetime drama – or worth seeking out, rather than merely watching while you do the ironing.
