“I just know there’s something dark in me and I hide it. I certainly don’t talk about it, but it’s there always, this…dark passenger. And when he’s driving, I feel alive, half sick with the thrill of complete wrongness. I don’t fight him, I don’t want to. He’s all I’ve got. Nothing else could love …
All’s well in the world of Homeland: Dana and Jessica are spending quality mother-daughter time with each other, Carrie and Saul share drinks and stories about the good ol’ days as they effortlessly run the short-handed CIA and Peter Quinn skips around Langley with a smile on his face singing Christmas tunes year-round. This is the feel-good season to balance out all the horrific things going on elsewhere in the land of television. Wait, what?
Part of the fun of watching a first-time showrunner flex their muscles is to see just what narrative strategies they’re prepared to deploy in service of a story. With “Race to Space,” Masers of Sex expands its stylistic/narrative catalog a bit, allowing in daydreams, allegory, and montage, while it hones in on Virginia and her reaction to Dr. Masters’s request that they themselves engage in sex. It’s not all effective, but the willingness to toy around with different storytelling modes bodes well for the series’s future.
On a narrative level, “Same Exactly” ties up all the necessary loose ends. The three major conflicts that had to be dealt with- the unhinged, still-on-the-loose Sully, Frank and the FBI potentially taking Ray down, and the sudden reveal of Ray’s molestation as a child- are wrapped up with a nice dollop of closure for each. Ray Donovan even manages to reverse one of the more gaping holes in the show’s logic. For an entire season we waited to find out just why Ray wanted his father dead; last week’s reveal pointed the way forward and now “Same Exactly” gives us a genuine, compelling reason. That Ray’s been acting out the revenge fantasy he’s had since childhood makes perfect sense. His motivation never seemed fully-formed, which matches perfectly with the anger a child would have at a neglectful father.
It’s amazing what a few story limitations can do. When Ray Donovan has a whole city at its disposal, with recurring parts and guest stars galore, it gets sidetracked with alarming frequency. Yet force Ray Donovan into a bottle episode, and its rambling nature starts to fade away. The show is able to play far more to its strengths, and delivers a satisfying gut punch with “Bucky F**n’ Dent.”
There is a somewhat clichéd analogy used in regard to a fiction, in which the piece is compared to a dangerously misbehaving child. This line of thought always ends with the line “I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed”. This was applicable a week ago. This week, a more fitting denouement would be a Changeling style scenario where the parent screeches “That’s not my son!” Another potential comparison could be a first for locomotion; having rather lazily drifted off the rails and beyond the point of potential rescue, Dexter is now not even accessible to those craving a suitably entertaining train wreck.
Few things are more frustrating than seeing a series make the same mistakes, week in and week out. Ray Donovan chugs along towards its eventual conclusion, and what plagued those early episodes continues to plague “Fite Nite.” There’s been no improvements on the weak characterization, poor pacing, poor plotting and the total absence of believable actions taken by these characters.
What’s the best way to wrap up a big long story? Do you concentrate on the characters, ensuring that their journeys come to an end in a satisfying manner? Is it a matter of destroying the world you have set up to justify the use of such a clinical term as ‘the end’? Or is it a case of doing both, throwing every last inspired thought and radical idea into the pot for one final thrill ride both visceral and emotional
With “Road Trip,” Ray Donovan attempts to draw a Shakespearean parallel between its twin protagonists- Ray and Mickey. Both are tied by family. Both seek to destroy the other, by violent and/or underhanded means. Both tout that they’re holding the family together, but in reality Ray and Mickey are the two biggest fault lines that all the Donovan cracks and crevices stem from.
Eight episodes in and Ray Donovan has a decent level of emotional weight behind its characters. When Ray and Bridget share a tender moment at the close of “Bridget,” there’s real warmth onscreen. The same goes for nearly anyone else- no matter what the situation, these characters are not hollow. They’re people; and despite the show’s continual mistakes, the mere fact that we’ve spent eight hours with these people means we’ve made some tenuous connection with them.
Oh God, here we go again…once again words leave the lips of a viewer with multiple interpretations, and once again the least likely is the emotion behind the utterance. Ever since the beginning of its fifth season, Dexter has taken pleasure from torturing its fans with its frequent mood whiplashes and dips in quality, hitting lower and lower marks before somehow returning to a comfortable height in a breakneck maneuver. It would be nice if there was some consistency. What we’ll have to settle with instead is the fact that the rollercoaster is heading upwards again. Yes, two weeks after seemingly destroying its own legacy in suicidal abandon, Dexter is alive and kicking again.
It may have taken seven episodes to get us there, but Ray Donovan finally convinced its lead character to do something interesting. Watching Ray put himself repeatedly in harm’s way (to the absolute bafflement of those he’s trying to get through) almost approaches the level of charming. Especially with the overall, off-kilter weirdness of Sully’s Boston surroundings.
The one perverse positive of producing a turgid piece of dross is that it immediately sets the bar so low that virtually anything can top it and look reasonable by comparison. After last week’s nightmare of a bore-fest ‘A Little Reflection’, Dexter could quite comfortably fills its episodes with serial-killer-killer-killers or murderous clowns and not worry about the disconcert growing greater. Fortunately, a writing team that has become the bane of a show’s loyal fan base don’t quite push the envelope that far down stream, instead opting for a continuation of their scatter shot story with ‘Dress Code’ and deciding to replace time killing with people killing. Plot, in other words.
Last night, Dexter crossed the line. There, ladies and gentlemen, is a sentence that has been gathering dust in a drawer in wait for the appropriate moment, when the expletive finally hit the fan. It is the final season after all, so this would be the perfect time. Unfortunately, its use here is not what was wanted, needed…Dexter Morgan did not cross the line, the show that shares his name did. Half way to the end, six episodes into the last saga, the series has dropped its worst episode to date on its ever decreasing fan base. It didn’t cross the line by going to the extreme, taking a wild route. Chance would be a fine thing. No, ‘A Little Reflection’ flipped the bird at its audience by way of being surely the most boring thing ever to have a serial killer as a protagonist. Then it tried to make amends in utterly incredulous fashion. Last week’s episode was worrying; this one confirmed that concern was justified, and that its probably too late.
Ray Donovan, Season 1, Episode 5: “The Golem” Written by: Sean Conway Directed by: Dan Attias Airs Sundays at 10 PM (ET) on Showtime This week’s Ray Donovan is dark, dismal and ultimately useless. For the past four episodes, the show has been two completely separate entities, but as the season creeps towards its eventual …
Just like an inherently destructive loved one; infuriating you, disappointing you, breaking your heart, only keeping the bond alive with rare flashes of nostalgic familiarity, then finally sucking you back in when the exit door looks inevitable with the palpable suggestion that things, finally, will be as great as they can be. Such is the existence of the loyal fan, forever questioning whether that connection you share with a material that once seemed life affirming is an irrationally emotional one. It is apt that last night’s episode of Dexter vaguely centered on the significance of family, because at times this show seems, appropriately enough, like the proverbial black sheep.
Four episodes into Ray Donovan and already a regular viewing pattern emerges. When Ray appears onscreen, the natural reaction is to tense up. These are the moments when the show is at its bleakest; when it truly tries to be a crime drama and not some mishmash of family interludes and semi-comedic relationships that might actually be intended for comedic effect.
The trouble with ending a story is that too many people want too many different things, the author included, and quite often the natural endgame to set up is the one that people are afraid to see. It’s a scary thought, after all, if you’ve been invested in something for it to come to an end. We all want different things, have different expectations and not everyone will be satisfied with the result. With Scar Tissue, the fourth installment of Dexter’s final season, it has become clear that the last great chase will focus almost entirely on its two central characters, not villains of the week or rival serial killers. Unfortunately, with the episode’s indecisive conclusion, the chosen direction is not in the slightest bit clear. Fear, it seems, has crept into the men and women behind the TV monster.
Ray Donovan, Season 1, Episode 3: “Twerk” Written by: Ann Biderman, Ron Nyswaner Directed by: Greg Yaitanes Airs Sundays at 10 PM (ET) on Showtime Last week, Ray Donovan took a turn for the worse. This week, it descends into madness (and worse- mediocrity). As the show’s faults continue to multiply, its few positive aspects …
Your mileage may vary on the merits of Dexter taking three episodes before actually doing some Dexting. Not the traditional definition, this term in this context refers to seeing the titular character doing what he does best, scouting and hunting out potential prey by occasionally ingenious and always casual ways. Ironically, in an episode that closely hammers home the point that Dexter is indeed “perfect”, but only in one avenue, that talent itself is left on the backburner in favor of personal drama. Misleadingly titled as far as content goes, this is another outing of the Deb & Dex show, heavily laced with former’s downfall and the latter’s soon to be legacy.
With its second episode, Ray Donovan seems content to coast along the standards set by the pilot. Like its predecessor, “A Mouth is a Mouth” is split down the middle, with the Hollywood fixer side vastly outperforming the family drama side. This week follows Ray down a continuation of last week’s initial fix, as Tommy Wheeler finds himself being blackmailed by the transsexual he was involved with in the pilot, all while Mickey continues to bond with Ray’s wife and kids (much to the chagrin of Ray).
Via an old VCR tape recorded onto a DVD, we see a concerned Harry Morgan in full uniform at an office belonging to a renowned neuropsychiatrist, sharing details that go far deeper than personal. His ten year old adopted son is continuing to show terrifyingly monstrous tendencies, fascination with death and bloodshed, and every attempt he has made to shock him out of his murderous reverie has backfired on him.
For a long term fan, nearing the end of Dexter Morgan’s journey is an experience that holds a tangible fear and pang of panic in one’s stomach. Not because of the fact that it will soon all be over, one of TV’s most immorally ambitious tales ever reaching its final chapter. The trouble has come with the undeniable rut that has set in the minutes following the harrowing ending to Season Four, when a writing team who had canvassed together a quadrilogy of emotive, compelling and unforgettable continuing stories stepped out the back door. By September 22nd, this will mean that a full half of the show’s run has been beset by a gang of scribes who too often have revealed themselves as producing well financed fan fiction. The real fear, ultimately, is that they will screw it up at the punch. ‘A Beautiful Day’, the opening salvo of the last hurrah, proves inconclusive in this regard.