Raw Data: The Flood

These are the unprocessed thoughts and observations for Mad Men episode 3-05 "The Flood". Written by  Matthew Weiner and Tom Smuts, a co-producer this season.  Directed by Chris Manley, the director of photography for 54 episodes of Mad Men and the pilot of Homeland.  Manley also directed "Commissions and Fees" last season (when Lane gets busted).

• Title refers to Ginsberg's father referencing The Great Flood, the one Noah built the ark for.  Or Don's flood of emotion for his son.
• This show is nothing if not there to create characters and show their reactions to both benchmarks in their life and in American history.  You can have an episode on the Kennedy assassination.  You can have an episode about building your kid a playhouse.
• That said, while the previous episode could only be placed in "early spring" (?) and during the presidential primaries, this one is more apparent *.
• Need a weird creepy guy?  Someone call Tom Cruise's cousin, William Mapother.  Better known as Ethan Rom (Other Man) from Lost or Delroy from Justified.  You know you are in for something strange when he shows up on the screen.
• Joan's consolation of Dawn was perfunctory and awkward, while Peggy was sincere with her own secretary
• Following that, the insensitive nature by which SCDP tried to be sensitive.  Closing the office early...after Dawn had already slogged in with a lot of effort**.  And Burt closed the office but didn't close it.  Kind of like those voluntary mandatory things you have at work.
• For that matter, Don treated Don with indifference, telling her to go home more as a duty he felt he had to do than out of genuine compassion.
• Not dissimilar to the awards ceremony which planned to hold the news until the end of the event.  Their solution to "take ten minutes to talk out this terrible event and then resume the program" is even worse than SCDP's waffling on closing the office. 
• Some people on this show do not change, comparing the JFK and MLK assasinations
• Pete becomes indignant at Harry for not being solemn enough.  Pete skipped Roger's daughter's wedding, incredulous that they would still have it following the presidential assasination, and was also offended at remarks overheard ("...the man had enemies.")
• Not that Pete hesitated to make the delivery guy truck through the riots
• Roger sarcastically mocks the MLK assassination "Man knew how to talk, I don't know why but I thought it would solve the whole thing."  About a month after the JFK assasination in "Shut the Door, Have a Seat" Roger wonders if the bar they are in will ever take that Kennedy picture down
• Peggy's JFK photo still appears prominently in her apartment

•  What did Roger mean when he said his weird friend "talked him off a roof" once?  Roger, were you tripping again?
• "Henry's not that important."

Ginsberg's reaction to the MLK shooting was "They had to do it" as in "of course."  His father merely pulls a sweater over his head and goes back to sleep.  Being born in a concentration camp, Ginsberg, and obviously his father too, have less surprised reactions than everyone else.  Perhaps because they come from a such a violent place, specifically violent towards minority groups.

* April 4-8, 1968

** Granted, Joan did try to call her and Dawn said she preferred to work, but there didn't seem to be a sincere thought toward Dawn at al.  Don seemed indifferent handing his Rolodex back to her.

Raw Data: Kissed by Fire

These are the unprocessed thoughts and observations for Game of Thrones episode 3-05 "Kissed by Fire". Written for television by  Bryan Cogman who has the credit on two previous episodes "Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things" and "What is Dead May Never Die".  Directed by Alex Graves, who also did last week's episode which is not uncommon for this show.  You'll often see the same director for two and three episodes at a time.  We're at halftime of Season Three folks...

• Title refers to Ygritte's hair and that whole demographic which requires more anesthesia than your average bear when they go to the dentist
• Regarding the two seemingly superfluous scenes from previous weeks: both paid off in this episode with Tyrion's betrothal and Karstark's vengeance.  
• Jaime continues to soften his character 
• Selmy: It's going to be great when you leave.  Jorah: WTF?
• Hound: Where's my gold? Anguy: Here's an IOU.  Hound: WTF?
• Cersei's an early frontrunner for Schadenfreude of the Week with the hilarious cycle of wedding meddling.  What goes around...
• Lyssa: "I breast feed my kid even though he's like eight."  Celyse: "I keep three fetuses in formaldehyde jars in my bedroom."   
• Stannis is going to attempt what you call "hu-man" interaction with his daughter
• Speaking of Stannis' daughter, how is Game of Thrones the only show on television with tolerable child actors?

Robb erred by beheading Karstark.  While he's winning battles, to say he's having trouble in his backyard is an understatement.  Robb's unbending sense of honor, obviously derived from Ned, gives him little flexibility in dealing with Karstark.  While Ned and Robert were close a lifetime ago, Ned is more like Stannis than any Baratheon.  Unwilling to give an inch.  Here Robb could have taken a page from Cersei and remembered a tame enemy is more useful than a dead one.

Jamie shed some light on the source of his nickname, explaining how and why he killed King Aerys years ago.  He's been softened the last few weeks and for perhaps the first time gave viewers a reason to be upset with Ned Stark (beyond Ned's own naivete).  The guilt trip played on him by Ned, or at least as it was perceived by Jaime, gives a different point of view** to those early days of Robert's reign.  Would the unbending nature of Ned, and now Robb, have allowed them to make a similar choice?

Meanwhile, Sansa remains a hostage in Kings Landing despite the Tyrells best efforts.  Another parallel with Ned, who had his his own ward/hostage Theon Greyjoy.  While Ned raised him properly, and the Lannisters constantly torture Sansa, they are both effectively hostages who are there for leverage and may be executed at any time.

Which leads to the motif that started this all, beheading.  One of the first scenes in the series is Ned beheading a deserter ** from The Wall.  In Season Two, Theon makes a hack job of a beheading after he betrays everyone who ever cared for him.  In Season Three, Robb takes it upon himself to execute the sentence.  He doesn't appear to do it because he thinks he should but because he feels he has to.  While he has much better beheading skills than Theon, he seems to have damaged himself *** in the process.

Go back to the Vale in Season One...honor weighs heavily, like a suit of armor, and may leave you vulnerable to those playing by different rules.

Hodor!

* Not a better point of view, or even able to redeem Jaime's later actions.  But different.

** By the way, wouldn't everyone have been better served to pay some heed to this guy before separating his head from his body?  But no, there's no flexibility.  And that's why Robb's army is smaller by half and these guys are shorter by about twelve inches.


*** Looked like he hurt his hand while doing the deed.  A portent for his war effort?  Nah, there's no symbolism in this series.  Pay no attention to the wolf killed by the stag.

Bourdain Returns: Parts Unknown

Anthony Bourdain returned to television after a brief hiatus following his clip show-laden final season of No Reservations on Travel Channel.  A little less than a year ago he announced his move to Sunday nights on CNN in primetime with a plan to expand on the scope of the shows and the locations they shoot.

The format of the show is similar.  There's some background on the location and Tony hangs out with a local chef, a local celebrity/celebrity from the area/cool quirky guy who lives in the area, and includes a home cooked meal.

Having missed the premier due to high demand of the DVR on Sunday and a repeat pre-empted by news coverage of the hunt for the Boston Marathon bomber, the first episode I saw is "Koreatown" (Los Angeles).

Few episodes of No Reservations focus on just a city, let alone a neighborhood.  The closest possibly being "Brooklyn" in the series finale...not exactly small considering it'd be the third largest city in the country if the five boroughs were counted separately.  The smaller area, with the neighborhood's border streets explained in a handy on screen map, allows them to tackle a lot more topics and interesting local sites in an hour.  It even allows Tony to stop by Little Bangladesh (apparently the first in America) within Koreatown within Los Angeles.

His shows are always also about making the show, never more evident in the "Beruit" episode.  Parts Unknown includes Pop Up Video-esque cards on the screen providing background and other facts about shooting the episode, like how the crew used a remote controlled helicopter to obtain a certain aerial shot.

While the episode packs a lot in, there's the three staples mentioned above:

Chef

Roy Choi covers both his time in Koreatown during the 1992 riots, and his current small empire of restaurants rising from the original iterations as a single food truck to four trucks (longest line for one: 600 people) and three brick and mortar restaurants.  Choi talks about the identity of his food, in an urban environment, and how the barb wire, puddles and telephone poles of the city inform his food as much as 

Quirky local celebrity

David Choe, an artist commissioned to do murals for the Facebook offices who took his pay in stock cashed in for $200 million when the company went public.  If you have seen Bourdain's twitter avatar, you've seen Choe's work.

Home cooked meal

Bourdain visits the Choe house for dinner.  Both of Choe's parents are artists, formerly in the real estate business which was obviously hit hard following the riots in 1992.  They launch into a discussion about Han.  Which West Wing fans may be familiar with.  

Sundays being what they are, I can record the repeats (sorry, "encores") on Fridays and have a full ninety minutes of televised worldly macho-ness, watching it after the VICE recordings

Schadenfreude of the week

Basically this whole post explains how "And Now His Watch has Ended" ends, so take care.  This is probably over protection on spoilers but better safe than ruin it for someone.

Nothing like knowing a character is going to bite it after a quick, three episode stint.  It allows the writers make the character as despicable as possible, so when they kick the bucket, it's as glorious and satisfying for the viewers as possible.

The slave trader spent, well, every bit of dialogue he had to disparage Daenaerys.  Thinking she did not understand his language, he called her every name in the book.  As though a slave trader needed to be made less likeable*...  Daenaerys manages a poker face rivaling Amarillo Slim, not betraying for a moment the language the slaver speaks is actually her native tongue.  She then does her best Abraham Lincoln impression by winning her first battle and freeing the slaves.  As for the slaver, he's too excited about the dragon he thinks he's acquired to notice Daenareys commanding the slaves.  Before they can say "Valyrian steel" the slave army marches on their until-ten-seconds-ago-owners and the slaver is the first of one can assume many victims of Daenreys dragons.  It's been 24 episodes and a lot of chopped off heads and limbs, but it's time for the dragons to do their thing.


* There's a new character archetype for you, the slave trader with a heart of gold!  He's only trying to make ends meet to feed his kids

Raw Data: To Have and to Hold

Updated 28 April.

These are the unprocessed thoughts and observations for Mad Men episode 3-04 "To Have and to Hold". Written by  Erin Levy of "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword".  Directed by Michael Uppendahl of "Six Months Leave".

• Unable to place the episode on the calendar.  The only clue I remember is hearing Bobby Kennedy mentioned on the radio (so before June, but that was obvious anyways), but it was too tough to hear on a first watch.  Maybe on the second.
• Pete is always a day late and a dollar short on "being Don Draper," his life's work.  He offers his bachelor pad for Don's use, but Don's already moved out and back into the city again.  Too slow, Pete.
• Two people Don has a lot in common with: Tony Soprano and Barack Obama. 
• Likely in the penultimate season of Mad Men, Don is becoming less sympathetic.  Not unlike Tony Soprano's arc from the start of Season 6: Part I to the finale. More coming on this...including Matt Weiner's role in Tony's end of series spiral
• Barack Obama is an introvert. Not a backslapper who prefers to surround himself and draw energy from people.  While they both can turn on the showmanship when it's needed (as introverts do for people/work they love), neither are super excited to spend time with other people
• Interesting Dawn points out how messed up the SCDP is.  For us not familiar with the era, we were taking their behavior as the standard, but it is apparently outside the norm.  And midway through the fourth hour of the season is the first mention of Lane?  These are decidedly unsentimental men, but still...
• "Project K"?  What a code.  The CIA will be knocking at your door to get more unbreakable ciphers out of you, Pete.
• Going behind Heinz Beans' back is only made worse by doing it in Pete's skeezy apartment and proposing they get a hotel room.
• Let's hear it for Stan's jacket with fringe.  Really,  let's just cheer for Stan every week.  And Scarlett's boots, which Don would not let his daughter wear last season.
• The show's Nixon man, Burt Cooper, is about to be a pig in slop.
• Was Joan married before Greg?
• Harry Crane had a rare good moment to help the company.  Then he squandered it by blowing it on something petty (his secretary) instead of using it as leverage for a partnership.  Great job to go about asking in the worst way possible, interrupting a partners meeting for an issue so trivial Joan would never have brought up in the first place.  Harry managed to impress Sterling (and Cooper) for the first time since he demanded a raise.  ($200. Say yes.)  But his moment to ask for a partnership came and went when Burt Cooper threatened to tie him up and lock him down in the building for the weekend when they were raiding clients from the old Sterling Cooper.    That was his maximum leverage, until he has another offer to play against SCDP.
• A second Sopranos tie in?  The last season was heavily focused on the Iraq War, and while this will no doubt focus on Vietnam, I wonder if it will have a similar approach.  They are selling Dow and Dow is selling the war, or at least profiting from it.  I don't have it yet, but there's something there...Don is against the war though.  Let's see him march.

Despite besting him head to head at the old Sterling Cooper in Season Three, Ken has never been Pete when it comes to landing accounts meaning he doesn't put it above everything else in his life.  Conversely, Pete has never been Ken either, considering that Ken has other pursuits like his writing.

Ken never would have encouraged Joan as Pete did at the end of season five.  He even went so far as to say he doesn't want to be a partner because he sees what in involves..  He was always hesitant to reach out to his father in law, of Dow Chemical, for business.  This while Pete not only asked his father-in-law for a gimme account with Clearasil, he had no qualms parlaying it into a larger deal at the expense of his relationship with Trudy's dad.

Given Ken's reservations and Pete's overly ambitious nature when it comes to landing accounts, it's no surprise Pete pushes for going behind Heinz Beans'  back while Ken is kept in the dark, all the way until he loses the account.  "Nothing like being known for your loyalty" makes it even more cutting.  For the same reason a pious person falls harder and farther than a regular person from their indiscretions, SCDP's liaison feels so much worse than if someone else had done it.  Why is it so much worse when a trustworthy person goes back on their word once, compared to an untrustworthy person goes back on it repeatedly?

There is a great interview with Aaron Staton, the actor who plays Ken, here.  

Raw Data: And Now His Watch is Ended

These are the unprocessed thoughts and observations for Game of Thrones episode 3-04 "And Now His Watch is Ended". Written by  Benioff & Weiss (under the interesting credit of "Written for television by"), series creators and executive producers.  Directed by Alex Graves, executive producer and oft-director of The West Wing

• Currently on page 528 of A Storm of Swords
• Episode title refers to the words said at the funeral of a Night's Watch brother.  Effectively his "End of Watch" or EOW
• Nothing new in the credits, but is there another opening credits a viewer watches so diligently?
• Doctors agree, episodes without Jon Snow are 98 percent less angst-y
• A viewer is not surprised a group of murderers and thieves turns to murder and thievery.  Less a mutiny by the Night's Watch and more of a riot.
• Old man strength transcends realms and Mormont has it in spades.  He's like one of those giants on PCP you see on police dash cameras.
• Deadwood often was described as a 'mud and blood' western.  Game of Thrones is a 'mud and blood' medieval epic.
• A viewer is confounded by the Theon storyline.  Tortured without being asked questions, then broken out and returned the same day?
• Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime) spoke on Conan recently of all the mud they threw him around in in this episode.  Basically one guy's job was to water the mud, non-stop.
• Nothings puts a smile on Joffrey's face like talking about people's violent deaths.  He and Todd Bowden would get along swimmingly
• The Dowager Countess of Highgarden's contempt for her own family, their words and their sigil continues, this time even coupled with some admiration for the departed King Robert.  Tired of roses, she reminds me of someone who got a gift once and people continued to give her such a gift assuming she found them pleasant, when in reality it's only inertia.  A lady at a place I once worked had several dozen toy cows on her desk due to such inertia
• An old trope present in Game of Thrones is obscuring the faces of bad guys while showing the good ones.  The Lannister guards, Daenerys' army and even the Ironmen all wear helmets that partially or totally keep their faces hidden.  Think Imperial stormtroopers versus rebel soldiers.
• The Night's Watch brother who observed it's mostly about shoveling...hilarious
• Varys' view of Littlefinger in the past has been of a worthy adversary, but presently he seems more alarmed than intrigued by Littlefinger's growing power

Speaking of worthy adversaries, much of the focus this week was on the Tyrells and their (Margaery's) growing influence in King's Landing, providing a foil to Cersei and the Lannisters.  But mainly Cersei.  Her influence has a half life each day between now and the royal wedding, and she needs to make a play.

• Margaery has almost fully asserted control of Joffrey from his mother.  The fickle masses not long ago threw a cow pie at Joffrey and now cheer for him and his wife-to-be on the balcony, albeit mainly for Margaery.  They like Margaery and may grow to tolerate/like Joffrey by association.
• The approach she took last week, when Joff explained the crossbow more closely resembled how a babysitter may ask a child to show his toys than a lady showing interest in her betrothed
• As the Northman pointed out to Jaime, Tywin and his wealth are very much a crutch for his children.  In this episode, Cersei runs to her father with her concerns about Margaery controlling Joffrey, but is only greeted with scorn for her own inability to control her son
• In the same conversation, Tywin pointedly told her she is not as smart as she believes herself to be.  The second time Cersei's been told this in Season Three.
• The more the Tyrells want to be friends and share trust, the less one should befriend and trust them.  Margery knows full well her own brother's, er, preferences, and chose not to share them with Sansa when she proposed their betrothal.  Then again, anything is better than having any association with the psychopath-in-chief.  
• The "porridge plague" seemed like test to gauge Sansa's gullibility.
• Margaery is protected in ways Sansa never was
• The Tyrells are schemers who know how to position themselves.  They are willing and able to play a game the Starks did not like nor understand
• Physically, Loras is there too.  Doubtful Margaery is going to be stripped and have a crossbow pointed at her in the throne room.
• Love of the people.  The Lady Di of Westeros has all the common people behind her and they already would not stand for any shabby treatment directed toward her

Happy 50th Conan!

Conan O'Brien turns 50 today.  The fifth host of The Tonight Show (sandwiched between the Grover Cleveland-like fourth and sixth hosts, Jay Leno) and current host of Conan has been on television for twenty years.   Late Night along with The West Wing were the only shows I watched with any regularity for four years of college.

Late Night with Conan O'Brien debuted in 1993 when a little known Simpsons and Saturday Night Live writer followed David Letterman as host, and he's been on television since, save for a few brief interludes such as being legally prohibited from being funny on telelevision. 

Conan's absurd, surreal humor still works with young viewers, despite hitting the half century mark today.  If you like Conan you've probably said things to the effect of "I don't know why it's funny, but it is."  Like any sketch comedy or variety show, the gags sound strange and borderline disturbing when you explain them in a vacuum.  ("It's the masturbating bear!")  They may "appeal to young men who watch a lot of pornography" * as one Leno viewer said.  But when watched in the context of the show night after night in a college dorm, it's plain to you why you keep watching, well, night after night.

* The link is fine, folks.  It's a clip of Conan, undercover and in character, leading a focus group to critique his own show

Maybe he will be better known for the raw deal on The Tonight Show and the outpouring of support, mainly from comedians (basically, everyone but Seinfeld) and young viewers on social media than he ever will be as the face of TBS.  There's no point in rehashing Team Coco and all that goes with it.  That can be found in a plethora of places, mainly The War for Late Night by Bill Carter.  In short, Conan was effectively Indian giver-ed Tonight due to NBC's fear of paying and competing against Leno, on the paper thin basis of a ratings failure despite a completely failed lead-in (by Leno).  The baseball equivalent would be cutting your star for not producing RBI** even though no one is ever on base.

** Like Nielsens, an antiquated statistic

So, a few things to enjoy about Conan:

As an interviewer
Of the current late night hosts, Conan's interviews are only rivaled by Stephen Colbert*** .  He's able to take on more seriously fun interviews as well.  Just recently, Conan led a discussion with his fellow Simpsons writers, as well a panel of the Breaking Bad cast showing he can deviate from the longtime talk show format on different topics.  His web site dedicates a whole section called Serious Jibber Jabber for longer interviews.

*** Deserves its own post

Taped pieces
Conan's at his best when he's out with people, riffing on whatever situation, sometimes incredibly uncomfortable, he happens to be in.  He does it with a self deprecating and good natured attitude, essentially the polar opposite of Daily Show correspondents.  A couple favorites include Conan selling his 1992 Ford Taurus, Conan visiting Ireland, and Conan's current Clueless Gamer bit.

Conan's also an incredibly sincere person.  Conan's settlement with NBC ranged in the tens of millions of dollars, but no one can say he's there for the money or to weirdly collect cars that require a crank to start.  In his relatively early days at NBC, looking to compensate Conan for reaching a particular milestone, they asked what they could give him as a bonus...a Porsche? A boat?  All Conan wanted was a vintage NBC microphone which they managed to dig out of basement storage.  He still has that microphone and I think that says a lot about his own values and career goals and probably explains a lot about how and why The Tonight Show fiasco went the way it did.

When he signed off from Tonight he left with these words which everyone should read and take to heart:

And all I ask is one thing...and this is...I'm asking this particularly of young people that watch...please do not be cynical.  I hate cynicism. For the record, it's my least favorite quality.  It doesn't lead anywhere.  Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get.  


But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.  I'm telling you.  Amazing things will happen.  I'm telling you.  It's just true.