Welcome to the Tuesday TV Touchbase where I post about stuff I'm watching on TV.
Snowpiercer
There's a trope associated with the production of a TV series or any ongoing work of fiction: the status quo is god.
Character X receives an exciting new job opportunity but it will involve moving to a different city which means leaving behind all her friends who love to meet at the beloved corner bar where she is in a flirtatious relationship with Character Y who may or may not feel the same way about her.
We know the actor who plays Character X is not leaving the show and that the series has not been cancelled so when all is said and done, Character X will not be taking the exciting new job opportunity. will stay in the same city with all her friends still meeting up in the the beloved corner bar where she will remain in a flirtatious relationship with Character Y until such time as someone leaves the damn show or it is cancelled.
By the end of it's first season, Snowpiercer has upended the "status quo is god" trope in two significant ways.
The world of the train is severely disrupted. Melanie Cavill, cool and aloof, manipulating the puppet strings from behind the chimera of Mr. Wilford's continued existence, has been exposed. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain because there is not man behind the curtain: Mr. Wilford is not on train and it's a woman behind the curtain.
The rigid class structure of the train is under assault.
Episode 8 ended with Melanie under arrest, shackled to a table, awaiting execution by the First Class mutiny. It seems Ms. Cavill is done for. Which struck me as odd that she had no contingency plan for the inevitable revelation of Mr. Wilford's absence from the train.
She did not. She winds up strapped to a chair to be executed by Lung of Ice where upon a mask linked to a tube connected to outside of the train pumps ice into the victim, rendering the body cold, brittle and dead.
Melanie gets lucky when Javi from the Engine gets her out of that predicament. Melanie joins up with Andre Layton help the rebellion. Andre doesn't trust her but time's running out. The rebellion has reached a stand still and the Jackboots are readying a scorched Earth protocol to gas the entire train the rebels have secured, killing the rebels and civilians. Andre has received an ultimatum to surrender or everybody dies.
Melanie has a plan. It's kind of tricky and even if it works exactly right, a lot of people are going to die.
The plan works and yes, people die. Including the manipulative Folgers. And a car full of Tailie captives that Andre himself is forced to cut loose.
The train is now 994 cars long.
Another status quo that is inverted is the world of the show it self. In the many weeks before the show debuted, you could not escape this oft repeated refrain:
Snowpiercer is all that is left of the world.
Big Alice has something to say about that.
The last hour of the first season addresses the social upheaval on board Snowpiercer in the aftermath of the rebellion. Andre Layton is doing his best to appeal to best of humanity but it's a bit of a struggle. Released from 7 years of oppression and humiliation, Tailies and Thirdies are running rampant on a spree of theft and vandalism which just underscores the worst expectations of First Class, especially for Ruth is still really super pissed to find out that Melanie Cavill has been lying to her for 7 years.
Melanie Cavill makes a long overdue trip to the Night Car to revisit her greatest guilt, that she left her daughter Alexandra behind in deference to Snowpiercer.
Meanwhile, it appears the events of episode 9 run right into episode 10 with Andrea and Till still covered in blood from the rebellion.
Up in the engine, the radio picks up music.
Opera music coming from outside the train?
Survivors?
It's another train, a Snowpiercer prototype called Big Alice. And it's running up behind Snowpiercer to latch on.
The Big Alice train is a bloody pirate ship.
And there's the idea that Mr. Wilford is on that train.
Which is great news if you're Ruth and a damn big friggin' problem if you're everyone else.
Big Alice hooks up to the back of Snowpiercer. The hull is breached and in walks a young woman.
C'mon, guess whose daughter she is.
And we're done with Season 1.
The producers say that Season 2 was mostly completed before the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. I'm not sure when we'll get that 2nd season but I'm very anxious to see what happens next.
The Alienist
As Snowpiercer winds down, another drama steps up to take its place, The Alienist: Angel of Darkness.
This series is a sequel to The Alienist series that aired in 2018 based on the novel by Caleb Carr.
I don't mean to sound pretentious but I read the book.
"Alienist" is a term used in the 19th century for doctors who treated people with mental illness.
The book centered on an alienist and his companions who are helping the New York City police in the 1890's to solve a string of gruesome murders. The alienist is determined to figure out why this particular serial killer does what he does. Anyone who has watched any modern TV shows or movies knows this is called profiling, getting into the head of a serial killer to figure out the who/what/when/where of when the killer might strike again. In latter part of the 19th century, a lot of people think the alienist is as crazy as the killer. Who cares why he kills? Just find the sick bastard and make him pay for his crimes.
I decided to catch up on the 2018 Alienist series in advance of the new Angel of Darkness which begins next week.
In 1896, a series of gruesome murders of boy prostitutes has gripped New York City. The boy prostitutes are primarily from working class poor immigrants, desperate for money, food and shelter in the city's most destitute sections.
Class divisions factor into the backdrop of this morbid investigation. The NYPD seems more concerned with helping New York's high society protect their reputations. Meanwhile, the working poor and lower class citizens of the city are enraged because it seems that no one in power or authority gives a damn about what's happening in their community.
Yes, the series is set in 1896. It may well be 2020.
Not entirely trusting the NYPD to give this terrible matter the proper attention, newly appointed police commissioner Teddy Roosevelt (yes, that Teddy Roosevelt who will one day go on to become President of the United States) calls upon criminal psychologist Dr. Laszlo Kreizler and newspaper illustrator John Moore to conduct a secret investigation. They are joined by Sara Howard, the police commissioner's very clever and strong willed secretary and twin brothers Marcus and Lucius Isaacson, perhaps the only detective sergeants in the NYPD that Roosevelt can trust.
Warning that the mutilated corpses of the victims are very much on graphic display.
The show does capture a lot of detail about New York City in 1896, the posh environments of the rich of upper class society and the degraded tenements where the lower classes are forced to subsist. The show captures the visceral world of 1896 city life in a detailed and immersive fashion.
What I found interesting in the book and find fascinating in the TV series is this look at what in 1896 was regarded the modern world. New York City is a tangle of tall buildings lit with electric lights and connected by telephones even as horse drawn carriages parade along the streets.
Another thing of interest is the intersection of the fictional characters with the real world. Kreizler and Moore have a meeting with financier J P Morgan while Teddy Roosevelt really was the commissioner of police in 1896 NYC.
It is sad that certain progressive views about law and order, about economics and mental health espoused by Roosevelt as well as his team of investigators still struggle for acceptance today. The principle that for New York City to not only survive but to prosper and grow, the system needs to work for everyone, not just for those with wealth, power and influence is at the core of the Alienist's narrative. It is a message that is still relevant today.
Next week, I may have some thoughts on the premiere of The Alienist: Angel of Darkness and a progress report on the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Until next time, stay safe, remember to be good to one another and keep it down, would ya, I'm trying to watch some TV here.
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