In praise of discomfort

There are a few series on TV that have my attention, and this is helpful being mental health month. I have written before with my limited knowledge of some of the fundamentals of mental health and so this should be taken with a grain of salt, but my views are warranted as an observer. 

Quiet confidence 

There are a few characters that add life to the complex story that is breaking bad. You have the two main characters and the villains who are seemingly invincible. You know they are doing wrong but you also find yourself cheering for them and their mastery of their art. If Breaking Bad achieved anything it must be the feeling that it made chemistry attractive again. From its ability to conjure complex and harmful drugs to its ability to destroy troubled and troubling drug dealers. 

The schoolteacher and his troubled associate, the handler who has grown up and aged doing dirty work, the wife who sits by supporting her dying husband, the devoted police officer and us the son with teenage, mobility and health problems. The use of people with actual physical disabilities is a plus because it takes great effort to watch true artistry in place as opposed to the cushion of realizing that the person you are dealing with is just an actor who is playing a role (and there is room to appreciate that too). 

Freedom in immobility

Pushers is another show released in 2025 and shot in the UK which does the same thing. No filters no actors at least not in the sense we expect them but useful in the sense of getting us uncomfortable. At least that is what I felt. To be confronted with something different and yet normal at the same time and to see it so well depicted and full of humor and to the supporting roles blend in seamlessly is amazing to watch. The effort you have to make to listen…the effort she has to make to communicate and act…the questions you have to ask yourself. Is she acting or simply being herself. That fine line that all great actors must be forced to straddle. 

The tyranny of voicelessness.

Code of silence is another recent release that feels like it touches the same raw nerve. The close shots the use of an actress perfect for the role with her long-pointed nose almost betraying her inquisitiveness. The use of pastel colors and tension we experience while watching her move. Relational challenges, the endless pursuits the existence of a character who seems to see right through her. The push and pull between detectives as they make decisions on whether to let her into the inner circle. The constant feeling you get that she is in over her head and the irritation that she is about to get caught all make for an interesting experience.  

Things come to a head in the Sopranos Series Season 2 Episode 7

Things come to a head in The Beloved Sopranos Series 

There is so much praise that has been part of the Sopranos series but to be honest I just was not seeing it. I loved the back and forth between Tony Soprano and his shrink. His attempts to hit on her and her resistance of these attempts. I liked the conflict between the two and it's escalation. I watched keenly as she started to become more like her patient. 

I enjoyed the casual nature of the violence and the structural leadership challenges that had been set up. I was amazed at the effects of a trip to the ancestral land and the detachment of the locals. It was interesting to see the role of the aging matriarch and her amazing almost supernatural ability to manipulate and control everything around her. The children and the growth they experience season after season. 

This past episode though marks a major shift which in my view was the most insightful episode. It comes when there has been a sense of recovery from apparent disloyalty in this case the existence of a rat. Unbeknownst to the characters of the show, the threat still exists. The protagonist though is unaware. His closest friend has been entrusted with the care of his son at a key point in the young man's life. While counseling the teenager who is also going through a philosophical existential crisis, he realized how important Tony Soprano is and how treacherous his betrayal of the same is. 

In the meantime, Chris the upcoming lieutenant is also trying to develop his love for writing and acting. Both men are faced with a point of transition (one of my favourite topics or themes). Chris is asked to take a 10 minute timeout after which he could either walk away from the Sopranos or stay while P@ssy sits alone weeping desperately wire attached as he contemplates his fate. 

Comparing Waterfront and The Ozarks. Fair or not?

Waterfront and The Ozarks Compared 

Film critics and a small number of commentators seem to be drawing comparisons between The Ozarks and Waterfront. This in my view is a bit of a reach. 

Yes both are set in quite sizable water bodies and explore the complexities of family relations across the whole relatively rural communities. The two are very different. The Buckley's on one hand have had some history in crime something that they are trying to shed with their fishing business. The Buckley's are also what you could call a prominent family with assets in the local area and connections allowing them some level of privilege. The Byrds on the other hand are just regular blue collar workers who find themselves stuck in a game they had no choice to become a part of. Jason Bateman also carries his role quite well always looking lost and just managing to weave his way through his daily challenges. Holt McCallany on the other hand cuts a more imposing figure. He looks like he has rubbed shoulders with the wrong crowd...he seems seasoned and experienced in the world of crime. The Ozarks also presented a snippet of American Rural life giving us the perspectives from several families all showing different parts of America. The Snell Family, Langmore Family, Byrd Family and then the Navarro Cartel which has fangs in the US and Mexico. 

The Glass Dome

There is a series that I have covered before about a mysterious dome that engulfs a city trapping all the inhabitants inside. I really thought this was going to be the same thing…but boy was I wrong. Shot in the Nordic countries, this show does well what I have come to enjoy in many of these productions. They turn the setting into a character. The merciless and plain cold landscapes of the Northern countries do not disappoint in this regard. 

The protagonist returns after living in the Us for a while and is really reliving past trauma. Sometimes when you leave and place for good or for bad, you often hope that just as you have grown and adapted, that it too changes. It is not the case with this young lady. She is now older and an expert in her field but she is still having to face the demons of her past and a kidnapper and killer who seems to be making a comeback. 

Doing all this, the show also explores the idea of immigration and racism, it attempts to also tackle the challenges of environmental degradation and well as family and death. 

While you are busy trying to catch a killer, you are reminded of the punishingly cruel setting and the inhabitants who seems to be cursed into living there. 

The place itself becomes a suspect within the show guilty in a sense for at least killing the dreams and hopes of the residents. 

You feel sorry for the her as forensic psychologist as she tries to get into the mind of this kidnapper while at the same time seeing if there is room for her full return to her home. There is so much history though and too many unanswered questions for us to tolerate this idea. At one point she softens and seems to embrace the idea of love and masculine affection but she is much too bruised to see this through. Does the show have twists? Oh yes it does and quite a number for that matter. Worth it? I think so. 

Dope Thief

There are very few assignments that Apple TV will take on which they will not bring out with the utmost skill and delivery. I have always felt that the Apple Brand was associated with excellence and that the decision of Apple to make some inroads in the world of movies would further prove this fact. 

Dope thief is really a story about friendship and loyalty and yes betrayal as well. Two friends tied together at the hip meeting during their early years, victims of a system and failed state…not nation state and state in the US. Drawn together by troubles they are both involved in and whose friendship and bond will bind them together for the rest of their lives. 

You watch them deal with their past and the challenges of loving and living. One trying to piece together his past and future while healing the pain of his past. Relationship issues with a father who is incarcerated and an adopted mother who lives with him. His childhood friend in the meantime, struggles with an addiction as he manages a life with a lovely lady who is stuck between her love for him and this other guy who wants to take the role she believe is hers. 

Being stuck in a place that has no future and realizing your fate may be bound to this place, the desire to escape is universal but few will get to see it. These two then come up with a hustle that could be their way out of this cursed existence. 

As can be expected things go sideways. The rest of the show is a demonstration of resilience and the struggle to survive against all odds. It is about the triumph of the human spirit and the rescue of broken hearted men by simple acts of love. It is about people trying to prove that they have love even when they are so evidently broken. The show is delivered in a short 8 episodes but much of what has to be said is said. 

Thumbs up for me. 

Hightown

This is an interesting series if you have a mind for historical cities and their decline or at least the challenges they are likely to face. A coastal town stuck or thrust into a modern age and battling the effects of modernization and change. 

It is not likely to be your cup of tea of you are not drawn to the seedy side of life…but who is? These are the realities of life that the creator seeks to explore though. He observes and takes you through the lives of in my view two major characters on the good side and others on the not so good side. You have a lady plagued by a love for the bottle working with the fisheries law enforcement that is trying to get into a mainstream role with the police and a man with a passion for the law but a strong tendency to bend it too when it suits him as well as a weakness for skirts. 

On the whole if you look at these two people you could argue that it is a story about addiction and recovery and to a greater extend struggle and love. 

Then you have another set of antiheroes who have embraced a whole new set of opportunities. They are as often expressed in these shows slit along racial lines. A Hispanic/Dominican Amaury Nolasco who made his name and crafted his art in Prison Break this time taking on the role of a kingpin in the drug trade with a ‘club’ which supplies visual pleasures to men. Then you have an African American rising through the ranks partnering with a young girl who has ambitions of her own. The introduction to the young African American is short and you have no idea what she will become as the show progresses. 

The struggles depicted on addiction are real and the project keeps you glued to the screen hoping for the best for these two people. 

The rest of the show is really a game of chess and chance and a contest of will and minds as good guys and bad guys battle it out for fame and fortune and in some cases truth. 

There are some absolutely amazing scenes where true love is expressed for some at their extreme lowest and those are great to watch. There are also liberating takes on truth and what it means to free oneself from lies and how in some cases this can open one up to more fulfilling relationships. 

Night Manager

This is a decent tale. Really strange to see one of my favorite Doctors playing the villain. Hugh Laurie though does a great job as no other would although he is rather low key…dangerous yes but low key. He comes off as a humanitarian but he does have a lot up his sleeves. Then there is the Night Manager. As professional as only a Brit could be just doing his job in a Five Star Hotel. As these things tend to go, he falls in love and his interest spirals into disaster when his Femme turns out to be married to a cruel jerk. Our manager as they often do just happens to have spent some time in the British Army so he plays hero. 

These escapades a repeated throughout the show and at times it feels rather ‘James Bondy’. But the writers do weave together a pleasant story of dedication on the part of the agents that are bent on getting this arms dealer and the agent who must infiltrate the organization to gather the evidence they need. 

A small team of devoted government officials must then wrestle with an entrenched few whose stake in the game has them accepting kick backs as innocent victims falls prey to arms traders. 

The back and forth between trusted friends (Tom Holland plays Corcoran a devoted friend who seems to see through Jonathan or Andrew’s Ruse. He also has seen the interest Jonathan show to Richard’s wife and warns him to back off) and the deception as well as the tense moments make quite a show and even though I was not expecting such a brief experience it delivered and told the story in about 6 episodes. Jonathan is coming in as a replacement and this is all that Richard’s side kick sees him as. While the crew is used to being arrogant and getting their way in all sorts of situations, Jonathan’s finesse is set to ruin the party and tensions from this point on are high. 

The villains and his arrogance at the end with that strange twist of fate of the stuff of legends. 

The devotion that these two women show to their savior/lover is noteworthy both unwilling to give him up to the point of extreme pain. 

Given this is part of John La Carre’s (the great Spy Master writer) work, you tend to feel that these attempts can be ruined especially when extended in series format. The Day Of the Jackal is an example. You almost just want to see the film in brief not have to see the show drugged on in series format. 

Season 2 Fargo

This second season is created with just as much mastery as the first. Starting  off with the same cryptic message and star studded cast. 

This time the story is a little different though. The cop is a lot smarter and tougher. A breath of fresh air from what we had in season 1. To replace the bad guys, we have a family with its fangs in the heart of its community financing and financed by crime. The director uses tight camera shots to encode a feeling of desperation and fear. I hate (ok like) the scene with the patriarch as he struggles with his health as the DOP zooms in to his face creating quite a frightful experience. 

Kieran Culkin brother to McCauly Culkin plays one of the younger brother is in crime family (Gerharts) delivering a masterful though brief performance that forms the heart of season 1. The family dynamics which constituted Succession also makes its way into this season with interesting back and forth between the potential heirs. 

I have had of people often describe the setting as a character within itself and this is the sense you get when you see the long abandoned roads and the winter cold. 

Then there is the dreamy wife (Kirstie Dunts of Spider-Man fame) who does have a job as a hairdresser whose boss though single has made it her goal to recruit her into her cult of feminism and emancipation. She is clearly troubled and wants out of this rural town. Something you see mirrored in season 1 with Nygaard’s Asian American (Linda Park) colleague who later confesses her love and infatuation for him. The wife of the butcher wants out while her devoted husband is digging in trying to get a hold of his dream to own the only butchery in the small town. 

Fargo makes good use of the unfortunate set of events which often causes people of all sorts to face each other. 

As was in the first season, we see the resume of enforcers from a rival group coming into the city to upset the Apple cart. Whereas in the first season one of the killers was deaf, this time around there is a pair of brothers who wear similar clothes but who say nothing throughout the season. 

The writer has an insane ability to make audiences laugh at the most unfortunate situations like the scene where a couple visits a doctor about a life threatening illness. 

This season feels like a tribute to men and the troubles they go through in defense of those they love. Perhaps a useful summary quote or story of the show is the conversation between butcher’s wife and sherif where he makes mention of the man who wakes up every day to push a boulder up a hill only for it roll right back. Instead of realizing this unavoidable problem he wakes up the next day to do the very same thing. 

Season 1 Fargo

This show starts off with a cryptic note telling the audience of the idea that what they are about to experience (not just watch) is based on real life and true.  This for most means that the tale will be told as is and will be as exciting as watching pain dry on a wall. 

Ah but Fargo season one is a lot more than that. The protagonist is a short and unassuming man trying to do his job as an insurance agent at a small firm in rural America. He has a part ridden with all sorts of sad but funny stories which place him as the underdog in almost all his school years. A local bully still rides him just as hard and to add insult to injury this same bully’s sons have inherited the same disrespect which they shovel out to him in massive amounts. As if this is not enough, he has a sarcastic wife who has made it her mission to berate him and ridicule him on every single act in his home. Martin Freeman delivers on this role with such as sense of innocence and bewilderment all captured in his magical facial expressions. 

During one of his challenging experiences with his childhood foe, a stranger passes through town whose role will be pivotal in the transformation of Lester Nygaard. 

After a series of unexpected events, Lester is thrown into the middle of an investigation in a town that has not seen any crime in a long time. At the helm is the newly promoted Captain (Bob Odenkirk later on to star in Better Call Saul) whose blind trust in the Lester is so annoying. His understudy in the meantime is a lady (Played by Allison Tolman) who will not take no for an answer. She must plow though the evidence at the chagrin of her boss who does everything in her power to steer him away from this case. Everything she turns her hand to seems to yield more and more results with her keen detective eye. 

In this town too there is a single dad whose fears for his daughter are plaguing his judgement after a chance meeting with a visibly cruel man. 

As though this is not enough the aforementioned crime has drawn in a duo of ill intentioned men who will stop at nothing to solve this crime. 

Lester has to deal with the attention he gets from the nosy detective as well as emerge from the shadow of his more popular brother. 

The whole show is really about transformation. The growth of Lester from victim, the attempt by the frightened single father to deal with his fears. The changes that Lester’s sole guardian (naive protector of his high school image) must go through as life’s realities hit his town. 

If there is anything that the show does effectively is make the audience cheer for villains out of understanding as well as appreciate the skill displayed by clearly evil men. What is clear at the end is that justice desk in the end prevail.