Piece of the Puzzle: American Horror Story: Freakshow S4 E3 - Edward Moordrake Part 1

In which I review the latest episode of American Horror Story: Freakshow.

It's that time of the year again - time for the annual American Horror Story Halloween episode.  These have always been a highlight of the season for me, and I'm not 100% sure why.  It's not the horrific themes, since those are a mainstay of the show's every episode.  I'm almost tempted to say that it's because they save their best stand-alone narrative for the time when good horror is at a premium, but even that serves only to belittle the rest of the series.  For whatever reason, though, they never fail to disappoint.

Following Meep's death, Ethel Darling has received a terminal diagnosis: Cirrhosis of the liver.  Nevermind that she hasn't touched a drop of alcohol in years, she will be dead within the year.  Meanwhile, a charlatan fortune teller is hired onto the freakshow, intent on harvesting the Tattler twins for display in a failing freak museum that promises not to ask any questions about how the specimen came into their hands.  The girl's audition convinces Elsa that she's bound for a late-in-life surge of fame and success, for which she insists on rehearsing new material right away, not caring that it's Halloween night: a time that, according to Carney lore, no freakshow must perform, lest they summon the spirit of the two-headed Edward Moordrake.  Her rehearsal does exactly that, and now he scours the freakshow looking for a the perfect freak to take back to Hell with him.

As Freakshow begins settling into its narrative, I'm increasingly convinced that this is hands down the series' best season.  Kathy Bates is resplendent as the guilt-ridden Ethel, whose back story is finally revealed in full: a one-time celebrated freak who fell on hard times due to Dell's reckless mismanagement and exploitation of their child - including selling tickets to Ethel's "live freak birth" and letting anybody with 25 cents to burn the chance to hold "the monster baby."  Watching Ethel come to terms with the inevitability of her immediate death, turn to alcohol to help her cope and break down as the summoned Edward Moordrake delicately demands to know her story is simply incredible to watch: the perfect marriage of impeccable writing and Kathy Bates' immeasurable talent as an actress.

The character of Edward Moordrake is as unsettling of one as any American Horror Story has ever produced.  Told in an old-timey flashback, his story is as tragic as it is horrific, and his return to the world of the living even more so.  His mannerisms and speech are spot-on for a well-bred Victorian lord and the incessant whispering of his second head supremely unnerving.  His ghostly stalking of Mars' freakshow, acting as the otherworldly arbiter of the performers' sins, is the perfect secondary narrative for a Halloween-themed episode: his patient witness to the freaks testimony offering a previously unavailable window into the back stories of Elsa Mars' ghoulish menagerie.

The lead in to the episode - the pair of con artists trying to sell fraudulent bits of freak anatomy, in turn being hired to secure authentic ones - is the latest development in the series' social commentary about the exploitation of those without the civil and legal channels to defend themselves, a subject that I previously mentioned being a particular sticking point of mine.  So-called freaks, exploited and hated in life, are priceless when dead, stuffed and put on display.  That they could be poached like African game is an insufferably cruel, yet brilliantly spot-on, turn for the show.

As always, one of the show's breathtaking highlights is the freaks musical performances.  While we got the Tattler's duet of Fona Apple's "Criminal" in Massacres and Matinees, which we have not seen since she sang David Bowie's "Life on Mars" in Monsters Among Us.  This time, she takes on Lana Del Rey's perfectly apropos "Gods & Monsters," heralding Edward Moordrake's arrival in the freakshow.

And, finally Dandy Mott's newfound partnership with Twisty highlights the duality of the character: the impotent rage of him in his domestic trappings and his savage cruelty toward his helpless victims.  In a brilliant stroke of direction, they set him up directly as an inept Michael Meyers: dressing him in a clown costume, then following him with a point-of-view tracking shot as he puts on a plastic clown mask, grabs a knife and ultimately can't bring himself to kill the insufferably unimpressed servant that he professes to hate.  While his sadomasochistic turn against his victims still reeks of that petulant child in the clown mask, his sadistic actions prove more than adequate for his newfound role as Twisty's deranged sidekick.

I am immensely impressed with this episode: possibly the show's best episode overall.  And the best part is that it's a two-part narrative, meaning that there's still more to come.  The narrative is developed, nuanced and executed far better than any other on the show and I can't wait to see how it is concluded.  I give the episode a high 9.5 out of 10.

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Piece of the Puzzle: South Park S18 E1 - Go Fund Yourself

In which I review the latest episode of South Park.

In South Park's Season 18 premiere, Stan, Kyle, Eric, Kenny and Butters start a company on Kickstarter.com with the expressed goal of being paid for doing absolutely nothing.  Realizing that the Washington Redskins' trademark has lapsed, they take the name for their new company, despite  the actual Redskins' owner's protests.  As their company gains unprecedented success, however, internal resentment over the name choice and increasingly radical action by a disenfranchised NFL team threaten to destroy everything that the boys have built.

The new face of the Washington Redskins.

It is truly amazing that series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have continued to maintain the show's high quality of writing for going on eighteen years.  While small episode counts per season and keeping the episodes as topical as possible have helped, the credit rests solely on the duo's ability to transform the mundanity of trademark registration law and crowd sourcing into engaging and hilarious launching points for their characters.  Avoiding the problems of similar animated sitcoms - where the second half of the episode has, at best, a tenuous connection with the first half - they seamlessly blend the two topics into a singular comedic experience.

Only South Park could make the Washington Redskins - an organization that has been subject to constant media scrutiny and public ire - into a tragic, defeated people that only want to preserve their dignity on the public stage.  While lesser writers would have made them the butt of a few jokes and called it a day, Parker and Stone parade the team through the episode in the same, insensitive manner that the team has done to Native Americans for decades.  They aren't named after a specific tribe or region - they aren't the Blackhawks or the Illini - but a skin pigmentation.  There is shockingly little difference between naming a team the "Redskins" and naming them the "Negroes" or the "Caucasoids."  Like a patient kindergarten teacher waiting for an ignorant student to learn his lesson, South Park holds the team's hand as it walks them a mile in another's shoes.

The show additionally calls out the unassuming Kickstarker - an crowd-sourcing in general  - for making money off of what is essentially doing nothing: sitting back and raking in profits off of the hard work and fundraising efforts of their membership.  The criticism is, in of itself, lacking.  Unlike their criticisms of the Washington Redskins, Kickstarter is ultimately harmless.  They are the medium between companies (or products) and their micro-investors: a common meeting point where people know to go for entrepreneurial enterprises.   It's like complaining that eBay (or any brick-and-mortar auction house) makes a profit off of the merchandise that their clients bring in to sell to interested parties.  That being said, however, they make excellent use of the website as a launching point for the boys' interactions with the NFL, so any issue with the weight of the satire can be excused for what they manage to do with it.

The show looks to be off to another phenomenal season.  As long as Parker and Stone continue to capitalize on their proven formula for the show, South Park will continue to be among the funniest and most insightful comedies on television.  Ultimately, I would give the episode an 9/10.

Unreality Companion: Good Will Hunting

Since today is my official debut on Unreality, I thought that I would try something a little different - a little beyond the expressed scope of this blog (reviewing randomly-selected movies) that might turn out to be awesome.  On Fridays, I will post two articles: one on Unreality, one here.  Unreality will be a more deliberate, purposeful, kairotic review - something planned out in advance and chosen because of what's going on in the world.  The one for this blog will be a companion piece: something chosen to pair with and build upon what I wrote for Unreality.  You can certainly read either article in isolation and not miss anything.  However, I do believe that there is something to be gained from reading both articles: a greater truth in the juxtaposition.  Since my article on Unreality this week is a review of Good Morning, Vietnam, I thought that I would pair that with a review of what I believe to be Robin Williams' greatest film: Good Will Hunting.

Harvard's greatest mathematician isn't a tenured professor.  It isn't even a student.  It is Will Hunting (Matt Damon): a young janitor with a criminal history and a troubled past.  After starting a fight following a little league game, the court wants to throw him in Jail.  But Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard), who caught Will solving one of his high-level math problems, speaks on his behalf.  On the condition of attending therapy, the court agrees to remand Will into Lambeau's custody.  Will's contempt for his court-appointed therapists, however, leaves him with only one option to stay out of jail: Lambeau's estranged colleague from Will's side of the tracks - Sean Maguire (Robin Williams).

Good Will Hunting is the perfect storm of excellent writing, direction and acting.  The emotionally riveting script about a blue-collar savant who closes himself off from the world was written by then-unknowns Matt Damon and Ben Affleck while Damon attended Harvard.  Their Oscar-winning script seamlessly transitions between Boston's neo-Cockney streets and the reserved recesses of Harvard's ivory tower.  What is truly astounding, though, is the depth and sophistication that these novice writers were able to give to Will, whose deflections, evasions and anti-social behavior are the highlight of the film.

But it's not what he says that defines Will Hunting.  It's not even how he says it.  It's the things that he doesn't say, that he adamantly refuses to say.  We don't learn who Will Hunting is because he screams "You don't want to hear that I got fuckin' cigarettes put out on me when I was a little kid!  That this isn't fuckin' surgery, that the motherfucker stabbed me," but in the mischievous, crooked smirk when he figures out how to get to Maguire - by suggesting that "maybe [he] married the wrong woman" - and his stunned, cow-eyed silence when Maguire finally confronts him about it.

The film's real revelation, however, is Robin Williams.  His performance is the culmination of the promise that began with The World According to Garp and continued with The Dead Poet's Society.  Williams' Maguire leads a life of quiet desperation: a subtly layered, even-handed man who can connect with the real Will Hunting not because he is a brilliant psychologist, but because he sees shades of himself reflected in the "cocky, scared shitless kid" sitting across from him in his office.  Williams deftly plumbs the depths of his character, keeping the still-fresh pain of a widower just behind his eyes - almost, but not quite, visible.

Beyond Damon and Williams, the film features a remarkable supporting cast.  Ben Affleck gives an incredibly promising performance as Will's friend Chuckie Sullivan.  While it is not quite the breakout performance that Damon had, nor the scene-stealing brilliance of Williams', he does lay down the foundation of what was to come later in his career - of Argo, Hollywoodland and State of Play.  Minnie Driver gives the performance of her career as Will's girlfriend Skyler.  She is earnest in her attempts to break through Will's defenses and is heart-breaking to watch when Will rejects her for it.

Stellan Skarsgård gives as brilliant a performance as the ambitious Professor Lambeau as either of the two leads.  While he cares for Will and does everything in his power to help him succeed - including getting him an interview with the NSA - he does it not because he cares about Will the person, but because he cares about Will the mathematician - the genius who can usher in a golden age of mathematical understanding.  He is exactly the kind of person that Will rejects out of hand - aspiring, self-serving and consumed with what will "owe['s] to [him]self."

In fact, the only fault that I can find with the film is the romantic subplot between Will and Skyler - a story line which is far more necessary to Will's therapeutic development than it is entertaining to watch.  She exists purely because serves a function to the narrative, not because grew organically out of it.  While Minnie Driver delivers an excellent performance, her character is generally annoying and unimpressively developed.  

Good Will Hunting is a truly exceptional film - marking both the career highs of its veteran players (Williams, Skarsgård and Van Sant) and the emergence of an energetic new crop of creative talents (Damon, Affleck and Casey Affleck).  The material is deftly handled and beautifully rendered in its final form.  I would give the film a solid 9/10.

Random Movie #6: The Wind that Shakes the Barley

For our sixth random Netflix movie, Becky and I saw the 2006 war drama The Wind that Shakes the Barley.  I have wanted to see this movie since it first came out in 2006.  Initially it was because it looked interesting and starred Cillian Murphey.  Later, this grew to include its Palme d'Or win from that year (best described as the equivalent of winning a Nobel Prize in film).

Damien (left) and Teddy (right)

In rural 1920s Ireland, Dr. Damien O'Donovan (Cillian Murphey) prepares to leave his hometown for a job in a London hospital.  After a farewell game of Hurling (a game similar to Field Hockey), a group of English soldiers confront them for hosting an illegal public gathering, resulting in the summary execution of friend Micheál Ó Súilleabháin (Laurence Barry).  After his initial misgivings about fighting an unwinnable war, Damien's brother Teddy (Pádraic Delaney) convinces him to join the Irish rebels in their war against English oppression.  But while Teddy is satisfied to compromise with the English, Damien will not be satisfied until Ireland achieves full independence.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley is an a-typical war drama, having far more in common with dialog-heavy dramas like 12 Angry Men than with action-laden epics like Saving Private Ryan.  Rather than focusing on the sanguine skirmishes between the Irish rebels and English troops, the film emphasizes the surrounding debate of Irish nationalism and independence.  The real battles are not fought amidst the fields of Anthenry over territorial gains, but in the court rooms and churches over the distribution of wealth and the exact nature of the new Irish government.  The war itself, which ends 45 minutes before the end of the film, merely exists to provide context for such a debate.  

The film is a deeply immersive experience that steeps the viewer in the fiercely-fractured context of 1920s Ireland.  Its title - The Wind that Shakes the Barley - is drawn from Robert Dwyer Joyce's tragic ballad of the same name, which is sung during Micheál Ó Súilleabháin's funeral.  The song, which strongly parallels O'Donovan's own story, tells of an Irishman torn between his nationalist love of Ireland and his romantic love of his sweetheart.  After his lover is murdered by an English soldier, he joins the IRA and fights in the war.  Its choral references of barley refer to the fact that the Irish rebels would carry barley in their pockets as marching provisions.  When soldiers killed in combat were buried, the barley would take root and cover their unmarked graves.

Another song prominently featured in the film is Óró, Sé Do Bheatha Abhaile, a traditional ballad that was intensely popular during the Irish War of Independence.  The song welcomes home the soldiers who have "scatter[ed] the foreigners" that have threatened the country, comparing them to national heroes like the pirate queen Grace O'Malley.  It is performed by the Irish rebels emerging from a fog-seeped road, marching toward the a stationary camera and accompanied only by their footfalls.  Though it lasts less than a minute on camera, it remains one of the most enthralling and memorable moments within the film.

At the heart of The Wind that Shakes the Barley is an intensely personal tragedy.  Much like the American Civil War, which pitted entire families against one another, brothers Damien and Teddy ultimately find themselves on opposing sides following the Ireland's eventual treaty with England, which turns Northern Ireland into a Puerto Rico-like commonwealth that remains under English control.  Damien refuses to stop fighting until Ireland is completely independent of England, accusing Teddy of "wrapp[ing himself] in the [...] Union Jack: the butcher’s apron."  Teddy, fearful of England's threat of "an immediate and terrible war" if hostilities should continue, believes that the treaty is the best possible outcome that they, a rag-tag group of rebels, could hope for.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley easily numbers among the best war movies ever made despite, paradoxically, de-emphasizing the events of the war proper.  Unlike most films, where anticipation breeds disappointment, this one was well worth the seven-year wait.  While Becky only rates this exceptional film an 8, I rate it a 9, placing it on par with the likes of Apocalypse Now, Lincoln and A Man Escaped.