Rumblings in Macrodata Refinement...
No Spoilers!
For those already hooked on Severance, I hope I do the thing justice. For those unfamiliar with it, I hope this piques your interest because this folks, is an excellent television show…
There are no spoilers, not because I’m a great guy but because I’m up-to-date (Season Two, Ep Eight at the time of writing) and still don’t know what’s going on. Nobody does. We’ve waited for three years for the second series and man, it was worth every second.
This show is like no other I’ve ever seen and you know, I’ve watched a lot of TV. In truth, aside from Severance, Apple TV is pretty shoddy. Some swear by ‘Slow Horses’ but I’m not one of them. The first season of ‘The Morning Show’ was good but the second fell off a cliff so steep, I never bothered with the third. They’ve got shows on there that are so bad I’ve watched them, purely to see how much worse they’ll get. I can’t think of the title but there’s one about the Earth being invaded, that’s up there with the worst things I’ve ever seen and I’ve watched and enjoyed, some right old shit.
Severance is the antithesis of any show by Taylor Sheridan. Taylor’s responsible for ‘Yellowstone’, ‘Mayor of Kingstown’, ‘Landman’ and a host of others. All of which, start well and get incrementally worse with each installment. Old Sheridan knocks out a show in the morning and starts another- that afternoon. In each episode of each show, moments of brilliance are sandwiched between absolute and total dross. Whenever he’s pushed for time, which must be constant, given his incredible output, the old guns come out and lots of people start getting shot… On a tighter rein, Mr Sheridan produces the goods, he did, after all, write Sicario. However, left to his own devices Taylor’s shows fall apart, quite early but they’re still better than anything on the BBC.
The art of storytelling is not only ancient but incredibly important. Politics is downstream from culture and storytelling- dictates culture. Years ago and to my internal shame, I tried to get a job writing on Eastenders. It was never going to happen and if I told you why, you wouldn’t believe me anyway so we’ll park that one.
Anyway, I was kind of desperate and Steve MacFadden got me onboard. At least onto some scheme they had. I was knocked back and that’s when a guy called John Yorke stepped in. John, by that point, had moved up the BBC career ladder, took the time to meet me and during it, informed me that his first question (years earlier) on taking control of the show, had been “Why isn’t Mick Mahoney writing for us?” I’ve no idea what their answer was as he didn’t go into that. Anyway, John sent me back in, made sure I got a few quid for it that time and gave me a great script editor. That kid made me work too. His thing was that we’d get it so good, they couldn’t reject it- they did…
There’s a point to all this. At that juncture, I was duty-bound to watch the show. It had declined massively since the days of Den and Ange. In a given episode there was a litany of storylines involving murder and all manner of depravity. None of them had any sort of effect on the viewer- whatsoever. During that time I watched an episode of Mad Men, where Don Draper dropped his cigarette, causing my son and I to gasp as we jolted back on the sofa. That my friends, is the art of good storytelling. If Mad Men isn’t the greatest TV show ever (I think it might be), it did feature the greatest ending.
Severance is deceptive- period. One of the least obvious avenues for that though, is in its pacing. There are a lot of lingering shots of inanimate objects. Oh, and nature- and icicles seem to be a favourite. This deceives the viewer into perceiving the show as ‘slow’. Yet, Severance moves at a rapid rate. Dialogue that appears incidental- is not. There’s no wastage in this show- none. Conversations take place, much like in real life, without clues being handed out. At least, without obvious clues being handed out. The calibre of acting, along with that of everything else, is of the very highest order.
My son put me onto it and he’s normally an excellent judge. That said, I once paid into the pictures to see a film on his recommendation and he’s still not given me my money back. ‘Beale Street’ was like watching a play. A particularly bad one at that. My first attempt at Severance lasted five minutes. Suspecting it was another trip to Beale St, I gave up. Fortunately, I gave it another go and I’m glad I did. Severance is up there with ‘The Leftovers, ‘Mad Men’, ‘Succession’, ‘The Wire’ and, of course, the first; ‘The Sopranos.’
No doubt there are a few greats I’ve neglected. Breaking Bad can be added to that list but Ozark cannot. There are levels baby. People will respond, “It’s all a matter of taste.” To which I say, “Or lack of it.” Ozark doesn’t exist without Breaking Bad and was once aptly described by a TV critic, as ‘Breaking Bad for those with a short attention span’. I think that came from The Guardian. Credit where it’s due, they don’t get much right.
Years ago, TV was looked down on by those in the film industry but HBO came along and changed the game and they did so, on the 10th of Jan, 1999 with the first airing of the first episode of The Sopranos. HBO had made other shows but it was the tale of Tony’s dysfunctional families that put a dent in the wheels of the Hollywood film industry. Over the intervening quarter of a century, that dent has moved from the wheels to the bodywork and grown so big, that it’s now difficult to tell what make of car they were driving. Whatever it was, I can assure you of this, it’s now a lot cheaper.
At the top end, good TV just keeps getting better. For my part, I think Succession was better than The Sopranos. That’s a bold statement and one I’ll renege on, the instant I watch an episode of the latter but that’s how good these shows are. You watch one and come to the conclusion it’s the best thing ever made but change your stance on revisiting one of the others. This isn’t something I’m complaining about incidentally. Great TV existed before the advent of HBO and off the top of my head, I can recall a couple of shows that laid the groundwork. ‘Hill St Blues’ being one, ‘Homicide’ another.
Homicide was created by David Simon, who went on to do ‘The Wire’. Quizzed once in an interview about the speed at which The Wire moved and how it could be confusing to the casual viewer. Simon deliciously responded ‘Fuck the casual viewer.’ Subscription TV has given those with a genuinely creative bent, the freedom to express it and Severance has taken that to a new level. You can’t watch it when you’re tired. You can’t watch it when you’re on your phone and you definitely can’t watch it when you’ve had a puff. I made that mistake a couple of weeks back and wound up having to rewatch most of season two… Severance demands your undivided attention and that, in this day and age is bold. Very bold. Is it the best TV show ever made? Again, it’s a contender but we’ll have to see how they wind it up. Given what they’ve produced so far though, I have faith that it’ll be of the highest standard, simply because everything about it is.
Puffing…
My mate gave me this puff called Calli Mousse. Intrigued, I put a minuscule amount in a pipe, took three puffs and was promptly knocked bow-legged, for the next four days. So, that’ll be that for the next couple of years- at least. I didn’t swim during those four days and, truth be told, I barely left the flat. I wasn’t paranoid, I just totally zonked. No wonder schizophrenia has become so commonplace these days, that stuff’s strong. Despite my life being fairly mundane, I don’t need any breaks from it. Not nowadays…
I put my mate, the Mayor of Holborn onto Severance and he’s been constantly trying to catch the show out. In that he thinks he’s spotted a mistake or, as he puts it -‘A rick’. I’m forever having to explain that he’s pissing in the wind. This mob don’t make mistakes. Who ‘this mob’ is I’m unsure but Ben Stiller’s heavily involved. Ben, like many in Hollywood, suffers from TDS but if the rest of them were churning out work of this quality, they might be worth listening to but they’re not. Instead, they’re getting millions for portraying Marvel characters, while lecturing the rest of us- on morality. I think there might be something of a disconnect in there somewhere. No?
Why any actor, of any political persuasion, feels the need to tell the rest of us how to vote is beyond me. They, like those who blog, ought to keep that shit to themselves. Unless that is, the blog’s a political one. Which this isn’t. You do you Cowboy, I’m having quite enough trouble, doing me. Thankfully, judging by the results of the recent US election, ‘celebrity’ endorsements seem to have finally died a death. Because all anyone dictating what I’m meant to think has ever done, is send me the other way. Similar, to Frank Costanza, brilliantly played by Ben’s dad, Jerry Stiller.
Could it be that Ben Stiller’s heading down the same path as Woody Allen but hopefully without the noncyness? Woody began as a comedian and made numerous comedy films that fluctuated wildly in quality before hitting a golden period. During this, there were a few ‘serious’ movies, that were outstanding- by anyone’s barometer. Given the excellence of Severance, I certainly hope that’s the case with Mr Stiller.
Back to Lumon Industries…
With two episodes to go in Season Two. The big question is, will there be a third season? I hope so but only if we, the audience, are satiated. What they did at the end of the first season was, to use the vernacular, a right liberty. Episodes are ended on cliffhangers, not seasons. Oh! Oh! That was ‘a rick’. I’d better call the Mayor of Holborn…