Having your protagonist as a villain is always an interesting choice.
Of course in TV shows over the last 20 odd years, it’s become more and more common. From Tony Soprano, to Walter White, Barry Berkman or Tommy Shelby, challenging the audience to root for someone who is on the wrong side of the law was an original and, at times controversial decision for the writers and showrunners to take.
Nowadays, it’s all a bit of a screaming cliche. However, it still seems difficult for TV shows to move completely away from what has been successful these last few decades.
So, what we are getting these days is, rather than making your lead someone who is an out and out baddie, we’re moving towards the shades of grey area. They’re not evil, just genuinely dislikeable, yet somehow we should still be on their side and want to see if they can have a happy ending.
In two of the shows I’m going to look at this week, the leading man is someone who is not just flawed but has some serious personality issues. Now, sometimes those flaws are explained and, in others, you are just left to follow this character around and put up with him being really rather unpleasant to everyone they encounter.
First up on Netflix we have Eric.
This is set in 80’s New York and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Vincent Anderson, a puppeteer on the children’s show he created, Good Day Sunshine. It’s a charming little TV show for all the family. However, charming is the last word you would use to describe Vincent. He is rude to all his fellow puppeteers, over bearing to his son, Edgar (Ivan Morris Howe) whilst being dismissive and cold to his wife Cassie (Gaby Hoffman). In other words, he’s an absolute horror of a human being. And this is who we are meant to relate to and care about. Hmm.
Anyway, tragedy strikes when Edgar goes missing, and we’re drawn into the quest to try and find him. One of the ideas that Vincent comes up with is to build the puppet that Edgar had drawn for him, and which he had cruelly ignored up until now, to get it on the show in the hope that his son will see it and know to come home. It sounds a bit daft and his work colleagues and wife think he’s losing it which, unbeknownst to them, could be very true when he begins to see the drawing come to life and follow him around as a giant six foot tall blue furry monster called Eric who sarcastically comments on everything that he does.
It’s a bizarre set up but certainly one that intrigued me and, if I’m being perfectly honest, kept me watching past the first episode when I was really losing patience with Vincent and his awfulness.
Even by episode 4 of 6 it’s still a bit of a grind. When Vincent visits his parents, who really are a completely terrible, and we get a bit of an understanding as to how he grew up to become the man he now is, I felt no empathy for him because of how he continues to treat everyone around him. I mean, at one point, he ends up going to a nearby club and dancing the night away whilst his son is still missing! He’s just the worst.
It’s also really bleak. Sometimes unrelentingly bleak, as it addresses almost all the societal issues that were happening in New York at the time including drug addiction, homelessness, racism and the AIDS epidemic as well as the domestic issues our characters are going through. All that being said, the strong level of performances still kept me watching.
Not just Cumberbatch who is excellent at portraying this monster of a man, but also Hoffman as his put upon wife who is struggling to see why she ever got together with him in the first place. However, I found the story of Ledroit (McKinley Belcher III), the detective investigating the case, to be the most compelling part of the drama. Like everyone else, he has his own problems, but continues to try and solve the mystery, as well as that of another missing child who everyone else seems to have forgotten, with a sense of determination and honesty that is sadly lacking with his fellow officers.
And then, the other day, I got to watch episodes 5 and 6 and it was the strangest thing. The whole tone of the show seems to change. It steps more into the police procedural side of things which is still grim, but more of what we’re used to and, therefore, I found them much easier to watch. That being said, all the story lines are tied up a bit too neatly for my tastes, and directors really don’t know when to cut and let the audiences imagination do the rest. However, the conclusion of the story put a better slant on my thoughts and contain powerful messages that still resonate today. However, I would still only cautiously recommend it as it really is an oddity, and I’m not sure everyone will make it through those first 4 episodes.
and I know you guys have both watched this so I’m interested to hear your thoughts and, of course, everyone else, in the comments.Next up is Presumed Innocent on Apple TV.
I first read the book back in, I guess, 1989, when I heard they were making a movie of it starring Harrison Ford. So that’s, what, 35 years ago. Talk about re-hashing old ideas which is, ironically, something I’ll return to in a wee bit.
The book wasn’t up to much. It was an airport pot boiler read and nothing more. Same went for the movie which was your ultimate definition of a 3 star shrug of a film.
And so, all these years later, Apple have decided we need a remake, or reimagining, of something that wasn’t particularly interesting in the first place. However, it does star Jake Gyllenhaal, and, as I’ve mentioned before, I am a big fan of his work, so thought it might be worth a look.
Gyllenhaal plays Rusty Sabich who is chief deputy prosecutor for the Chicago State Attorney’s office. When his fellow prosecutor, Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve) is murdered, it turns out Sabich had been having an affair with her, and is suddenly now the main suspect in the case.
I should say, due to how Apple are releasing this, that I have only watched 2 episodes, so I will come back to it in a few weeks to give an overall summary but so far, it seems to be reflecting the book perfectly.
It’s glossy, shiny, expensive looking and yet feels completely hollow and insubstantial. The supporting cast is very strong with Ruth Negga as his wife Barbara, who does well in what was a limited role in the book and movie, and Peter Sarsgaard as Tommy Molto who leads the investigation into Sabich and brings his usual intensity to proceedings. However, they have all done better work, and whilst none of them are going through the motions, it all does just seem a tad perfunctory.
Gyllenhaal tries his best to bring some depth to a paper thin character who is not much more than a scumbag in a suit but, then again, there may be greater depth in the forthcoming episodes.
Predictably, even in this day and age, Carolyn is shown in flashbacks either having sex or dead, which I suppose grimly does recall the times when the book was written, but show runners these days really should do better. Again this may change moving forward, but it’s depressingly familiar.
Somehow, there are still another 6 episodes to go, which, knowing the book, seems stretching it way too far. The scenes with the therapist already hint at filler and seem to belong in another show.
Overall, a mixed bag, but I will keep watching as I have committed to do with all these shows. And, cleverly, like the pulp it is, each episode does finish on a cliff hanger so that’s a good way to get folks to tune in the next week. We’ll see how it goes.
And so, finally, we come to The Acolyte which is the new Star Wars TV show on Disney Plus.
Before I actually get to the show, I just want to make a few points. Which, I wish I didn’t have to, but every time a new Star Wars show comes out it seems I have to repeat myself by explaining the most basic of facts. However, because of the way things are, here I go. Again.
As people probably know, John Carpenter’s, The Thing is my favourite movie of all time. (there you are
) It was released in 1982. That’s 42 years ago. When I go to the cinema or watch TV in 2024, no matter how much I love The Thing, I don’t want to see it repeated forever more. I want something new, challenging and that appeals to who I am today.Secondly, and this may seem like a tangent but we’ll get there, anyone who lends any weight to review aggregator sites like IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes when deciding if a show or film is any good, needs a serious talking to. These sites are populated by some of the worst dregs of society so, of course, scores will be skewed. Here is an example of part of an actual review of The Acolyte from IMDB : -
“Now, I’m not saying that women or people of colour shouldn’t be involved in Star Wars but ….”
Clearly I’m not going to type the rest of this (let me introduce you to a great Scottish word and apologies for the crudeness) pish, but that gives a flavour of what we’re dealing with here. And the Acolyte is these peoples Kryptonite. It’s showrunner is a woman (Leslye Headland), who is married to a woman and it has a diverse cast. So, if you think you should go to these places to get your recommendations, or get upset when your show has a low rating there, then I can’t help you.
Thirdly, none of these supposedly rage filled original “fans” are watching any of these new Star Wars shows anyway, so why do they care? They’ve all sworn never to watch another minute of anything that Kathleen Kennedy creates so surely they can just leave everyone else to get on with things.
And, almost lastly, no one should disagree with this one. Star Wars isn’t just for you or me. It, like any other franchise or story, is for everyone and so they should be reflected in the cast. And, if you agree with that, then it should also be for the modern audiences that I spoke about last week. I’ll repeat what I said. We can’t keep living in the past. The world has moved on. The 1980’s was a great decade for movies, but society was in a hellish place back then. Get over it. That time has passed. Let the children of today enjoy what they want to enjoy. They like different things and that’s how it should be.
All that being said, there are genuine concerns from people who are Star Wars fans that are worried about the quality of writing in the movies and shows that we’ve been subjected to recently.
However, up until now, I have actually quite enjoyed most of what has been released from Disney. I’ve spoken about how my opinion on the prequels has changed due to my son, but when it comes to the sequels I do have very mixed feelings. Force Awakes is my third favourite Star Wars movie, I enjoyed bits of Last Jedi, but that might just be the emotion of Carrie Fishers last performance and, yes, The Rise of Skywalker was very poor but I enjoyed the first two seasons of The Mandalorian that followed soon after. Book of Boba Fett was so awful it was eventually hijacked by the aforementioned Mando. Kenobi, as I’ve mentioned before, is a huge favourite of mine for personal reason, and I even thought Ahsoka had good moments. Ironically, the one that everybody raved about, Andor, I didn’t particularly like, as I thought it was too long and I didn’t engage with the characters except during the prison scenes.
Unfortunately, and it gives me no pleasure to say this, it has to be reported that The Acolyte is one of the worst. It’s not as bad as Boba Fett but by the end of the first two episodes it was getting pretty close.
The story concerns Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) who is investigating the murder of fellow Jedi’s which leads him back to a previous apprentice, Mae (Amanda Stenberg) and a terrible incident from the past that concerns them both. It sounds like an intriguing murder/mystery set up on paper, but just didn’t seem to have any depth or momentum to take it anywhere.
Then episode 3 came along. Which, again, wasn’t great, but it was better (apart from the dancing) and asked some pretty interesting questions about the Jedi, their place in the galaxy and subsequently as a religious order.
There are issues raised about taking young kids away from their families to train them. This is not new. It was touched on in the prequels, and also in Kenobi. Also, the Force is supposedly a religion open to all but the Jedi (and the Sith) want to be the only ones controlling it and making sure only their version is followed. This hints at colonialism and imposing your faith on other peoples which is never a good look.
And that’s what I’m finding intriguing here. I have no interest (as I’ve mentioned before) in one note warriors. A Jedi who is considered wholly good, as if there’s light shining down upon them from above as they go about their duty, is thunderously dull. And, let’s not forget, has been done before over 45 years ago. Let’s try something new. It doesn’t change who Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon Jinn are, but it maybe gives a bit of depth to the order that created them.
The problem is, the show isn’t really strong enough to support such ideas. At least, not yet. There may be more to come in the upcoming episodes, and I hope that it sticks to the courage of it’s convictions and addresses some of these issues, but I have my doubts. It feels like I may be hopefully projecting future revelations that the script isn’t good enough to fully explore and the less said about some of the dialogue the better. One or two of the fight sequences are decent and there are others that look like they’re completely unchoreographed. It’s a bit of a mess.
Is it the worse show in the world? Of course not. Should you check it out for yourself and not listen to morons on the internet? Of course. However, just be warned, it ain’t all that great.
Next week we’ve got another show that everyone got very excited about, but I thought was a bit tiresome, and that’s House of the Dragon Season 2 and maybe even Godzilla Minus One like I promised last week. However, there is an awful lot of football on. We’ll see.
Thanks for reading. Until next time.
It was a slog, even with only six episodes. Despite the performances, and the excellent full scale Eric, I wouldn't be able to explain to anyone the point of the show. Stuffed with social ills of the era, none were dealt with in a useful or satisfying way, it was window dressing. Meanwhile, the initiating crisis, being a missing child, was nothing more than a backdrop to explore a bunch of awful people, and a few earnest people. (Yes, the focus finally returns to the child in the last two episodes, it was a long interlude.) I couldn't buy into the unfeeling rich parents being the root cause of all that was wrong with a full grown man. Really? The death of Ledroit's partner could have been an opportunity for something deeper, but again, it was swept away within seconds.
What was it all for? I dunno.
I love The Thing as well! One of my most beloved films, and I'm excited for the video game remaster in the near future. I have heard Star Wars has been lackluster as of late. I myself don't really care for the franchise, but I can understand fans being frustrated with the storytelling aspect. I myself have been disappointed as a fan with certain franchises like Resident Evil adaptations and Walking Dead as of late. And I'm not even going to talk about Silent Hill 2 remake (video game) that's upcoming. I already see so much wrong with it, but again, I'm fanatical with certain beloved pieces of art. I'm excited to know your thoughts on Godzilla Minus One. That film made me cry my eyes out - a Godzilla film!!!