TV reviews

A complete archive of The Medium is Not Enough’s reviews of TV programmes since 2005

The Crown - season two
Streaming TV

Boxset Monday: The Crown (season two) (Netflix)

8 January 2018 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

In the UK: Available on Netflix

Season 1 of The Crown could have been better. Written by perennial Queen fictionaliser Peter Morgan (The Queen, The Audience), The Crown is Netflix’s big attempt to outdo the BBC at what it does best, being a multi-decade, multi-season, semi-factual prestige project about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, starting in the 1950s with her ascent to the throne after the death of her father and following her through to the present day.

Beautifully made, wonderfully acted, frequently funny, frequently tear-jerking, often romantic, and sometimes eye-opening, season 1 was nevertheless an occasionally turgid affair. Too often focused on husband Philip (Matt Smith) or Prime Minister Winston Churchill (John Lithgow) and not her maj, when Elizabeth (Claire Foy) herself did get a look-in, she was something of a wet blanket of a monarch, constantly unhappy, personality-less and tossed from situation to situation like a corgi being taken for a walk. Whether it was the 1950s themselves being a bit dull, the writers trying to avoid saying anything too ‘interesting’ about the Royal Family or simply the choice of stories told – Churchill having his portrait painted or the Pea-Soupers don’t seem like the most obvious choices of plot for a show called The Crown – you got the feeling that everything was wrapped in plastic and a more lively show was lurking underneath it all.

Season 1 finally concluded with the departure of Churchill, replaced by Anthony Eden (Jeremy Northam), and the arrival of the Suez Crisis – the event that marked the true death knell for the British Empire and its status as a top-tier world power.

But with Claire Foy and Matt Smith signed up for only one more season, the question was whether the show would carry on in the 50s, leap to the 60s or do something completely different in season two.

Oddly, it chooses to carry on exactly where it left off. Fortunately, this season the gloves are off and we get a more warts-and-all portrayal of our constitutional monarchy – and of other similar relationships, including JFK and Jackie’s.

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LA to Vegas
US TV

Review: LA to Vegas 1×1 (US: Fox)

5 January 2018 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

In the US: Tuesdays, 9/8c, Fox

If 2017 was the year of military programme, 2018 is already shaping up to be the year of the workplace two-hander. Coming out of the tail end of 2017, we’ve already has CBS All Access’ No Activity, in which various pairs sit around at work doing nothing but chatting to one another, and now we have LA to Vegas, in which employees and passengers of a minor airline sit around and chat to one another. TV’s expensive and I guess a never-ending series of bottle episodes is cheaper than extensive location filming, so expect more of this if it pans out.

I say ‘if’ because dialogue-heavy two-handers require a combination of good writing and good acting to really work. No Activity started fine when it was Patrick Brammell writing it, but a switch in writer meant it soon dropped off my viewing list.

LA to Vegas does not have Patrick Brammell writing for it. It does have Lon Zimmet, who’s apparently written one to three episodes of Worst Week, Scrubs, Better With You, Men at Work, Happy Endings, The Michael J Fox Show, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Superstore and I’m Sorry. It’s impressive consistency to do that – never to write four or even five, just an average of two episodes per usually quickly cancelled show. I wonder how he does it?

LA to Vegas

Most of the action revolves around impulsive air hostess Kim Matula (UnREAL), who’s always dreamed of international travel but who’s stuck on the regular shuttle flight between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, doomed never to escape. She’s stuck on it with posturing pilot Dylan McDermott (Hostages, Big Shots, Dark Blue, American Gothic), who’d rather be talking to the passengers about muay thai than actually flying the plane and camp fellow flight attendant Nathan Lee Graham (Zoolander).

But there’s a regular posse of passengers, too, including eccentric Russian gambler Peter Stormare (Swedish Dicks, American Gods, Prison Break), commuting stripper Olivia Macklin, and English economics professor Ed Weeks (The Mindy Project), with whom Matula strikes up a potential romance. Since there’s nothing like a two-handed, dialogue-rich script to lure in a certain class of actor, scheduled for future flights are the other DM – the one you probably thought I was talking about earlier – Dermot Mulroney (Crisis, Shameless, Pure Genius) and Don Johnson (yes, that one), with Kether Donohue (You’re The Worst) guesting in this pilot episode.

I say ‘action’ but really, it’s just dialogue, with people playing off one another’s foibles. As of yet, there’s little depth to anyone but Weeks, whose ‘depth’ is necessary for the mystery plot of the episode, with Matula being impulsive, Weeks sardonically English, McDermott sozzled, Stormare manipulative, and Macklin stupid and inappropriately sexual.

Does it fly?

Some of this works, some of this doesn’t. The characters are likeable enough and Weeks and Matula do actually have some chemistry, making their romance potentially interesting. The cast are mostly good, with Matula, Weeks and McDermott particularly fine; Stormare does his best, although more as a generic Eastern European than a Russian, while Graham works with what little he’s got but can’t really get anywhere. The rest of the cast are okay, but forgettable.

But it’s the script that has the most issues. When it tries to do slapstick like Airplane!, it doesn’t have the energy or the wackiness; when it’s trying to do smart and witty, it falls short and usually only manages to elicit a chortle.

It’s not a total bust – the show’s well paced, the chortles are at least consistent and there’s plenty of pathos for the flying metal tube of losers. It just feels like two episodes of any given above-average US comedy you care to mention.

Counterpart
US TV

Preview: Counterpart (US: Starz)

4 January 2018 Rob Buckley 12 Comments

In the US: Sundays, Starz. Starts January 21

Science-fiction and espionage seem at first glance to be a perfect combination. Think of how many successful spy shows and movies over the years have also been science-fiction greats: Total Recall, The Champions, Alias, Airwolf and more. Indeed, there’s even a name for the genre: spy-fi.

Look a little harder, though, and you’ll notice that the greater the emphasis on the science-fiction, the worse the show is. The more SF a James Bond movie contains, the worse it gets (invisible cars, anyone?). That’s because – to generalise broadly – the spy genre is fundamentally about people, whereas science-fiction is more about ideas. Those spy-fi classics? They were the ones that remembered to concentrate on both the people and the ideas.

Counterpart

Now we have Counterpart, a show that does its best to give us both big ideas and little people, while also invoking the magic blessing for any spy show: a Berlin location and obvious Cold War parallels. JK Simmons (Law & Order, Whiplash, The Closer, Oz) plays a very little person at a UN spy agency based in Berlin. For 29 years, he’s worked uncomplainingly in the ‘Interface’ department, where he goes up every morning in the same suit to read out sentences to another man from ‘the Other Side’ in a small room, before returning to his desk. His requests for promotion go unheard and he can’t even get an interview.

Meanwhile, his wife Olivia Williams (Dollhouse) is in hospital after being run over six weeks previously, and her brother Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica, Perception) is trying to get her returned to the UK and her ‘true family’. Simmons is passively nice and unable to say or do much in response to all these injustices.

Then one day, he’s dragged by boss Harry Lloyd (Robin Hood, Game of Thrones) to meet chief of security Ulrich Thomsen (Banshee). A top spy from the Other Side wants to defect. The Cold War that’s been going on is thawing and assassin Sara Serraiocco has come over to start killing people on this side – including Simmons’ wife.

Thing is, the Other Side is a parallel universe with which Simmons’ universe has been in contact with for decades but which has diverged over time, and the would-be defector is… JK Simmons.

Now the two Simmons, spy and Mitty, must work together to stop the assassin and whatever’s caused this thaw in the Cold War, while simultaneously looking at each other to see how their lives turned out so differently.

Regrets, I’ve had a few

Although similarities with Fringe are obvious, this is far more a well worn story of male wish fulfilment: the little man, over the hill, wishing for a more exciting life than he ever had, suddenly getting a chance to lead that life. It was the substance of many of the early Man from UNCLE episodes and it’s the essence of Total Recall.

Here, the difference is that firstly, Simmons is a much better, more plausible little man/spy than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Secondly, while there is action and excitement to be had, the show works far better as an examination of roads not taken, what choices you can make in your life that will take it in completely different directions and how much of who you are as a person is caused by external rather than internal factors. Great efforts are made against the overly-stylised sci-fi background to make Simmons and all the other characters seem like real people, albeit with variable success. It’s certainly helped by the supporting cast, with a range of Brits giving great, understated performances, particularly Lloyd, but Thomsen is as good as always and there are also some fine German actors in minor roles, too. More good actors are on the way, too, with the near ubiquitous Richard Schiff and Stephen Rea set to do a turn soon, too.

It works less well as a spy show than you might hope, though, and that’s because of the sci-fi throwing everything out of whack. The Interface department looks cool, for example, but seems ludicrous – why are they doing this? What possible reason could they have for it? Whatever it is, it’ll be nonsense when revealed, I bet you. There’s also far less of Berlin to be seen than you might hope and while the show avoids the tourism of Berlin Station, there’s the obligatory ‘exotic’ club scene.

All the same, Counterpart offers more or less the best of both genres. It’s not exactly Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; neither is it Blade Runner. But as a moderately entertaining piece of metaphysical musing – with guns, parallel universes and a surprisingly kick-ass JK Simmons – Counterpart has a lot to offer.

Engrenages season 6
US TV

What have you been watching? Including Doctor Who, Engrenages (Spiral), Great News, Runaways and Happy!

3 January 2018 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend anything you’ve been watching this weekfortnight

Christmas didn’t bring us that much new tele, did it? A few one-offs on the Beeb, but nothing scripted that really appealed – at least, not to me. But things will be kicking off again soon, at least. I’ve already reviewed Netflix’s Dark this week and gave you a hint at what other shows are yet to come, but just last night we got the start of Fox (US)’s LA to Vegas and tonight we’ll have 9-1-1 from the same network, too, so add those to the list as well.

But it does mean that despite covering a fortnight’s worth of tele, the first WHYBW of 2018 is going to be a relatively brief affair – at least from me, but I’m sure you’ve all caught something I’ve missed. After the jump, we’ll look at NBC (US)’s splurge of three episodes of Great News, the latest episodes of Happy! and Marvel’s Runaways, the Christmas-regeneration episode of Doctor Who and the welcome return to UK screens of France’s best TV show – Engrenages (Spiral). But that’s your lot. Roll on 2018 and fresh meat!

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Netflix's Dark
Streaming TV

Boxset Tuesday: Dark (season 1) (Netflix)

2 January 2018 Rob Buckley 10 Comments

German TV is on something of a roll at the moment, thanks to the likes of Deutschland 83 and Babylon Berlin. With Amazon also already having aired its first German-language original, You Are Wanted, it’s no surprise that Netflix would want to get in on the act, too; it’s also unsurprising that being Netflix, Dark is substantially better than Amazon’s efforts.

What is surprising is that whether deliberately or not, Dark is probably the most German TV show imaginable.

Set in the small rural town of Winden (none of the real ones) in 2019, it opens with the suicide of a respected and loved father, who leaves a letter that must not be opened until a few months after his death.

Not that this is the first tragedy to strike the town. A child has already gone missing that year and just a few days short of the date on the letter, a third child disappears and a mutilated body is soon found. Except it’s a child who disappeared in 1986 and it’s as if not a day has passed for him. What’s going on?

So far, so not especially German, for sure, but by the end of the first season, this Groundhog Day meets Back to the Future 2 meets Saw has gone through a gamut of German concerns and interests, from myth and the power of the woods and nature, through atomic energy and acid rain, to Nietzsche’s nihilism and Goethe’s fatalism, all with just a hint of 80s nostalgia (not Ostalgie, though). It also tries to address that perennial German-related time travel morality question: if you could travel back in time to kill Hitler when he was just a child, would you? And if you did, would it change anything or would Time somehow still conspire to find a way for history to continue on the same course?

Yes, Dark is indeed dark. So, are you going to like it? Well, that’s another matter. A full review of the entire first season after this lovely trailer – some minor spoilers ahoy.

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