Friday, April 18, 2014

Reviews: TURN/ Silicon Valley/ Fargo

Three of my anticipated series this year were debuting in the last two weeks. Were they good? No need to wonder, just scroll down to find out.

TURN

Genre: drama/ action

Channel: AMC

Developed by: Craig Silverstain, based on the book Washington’s Spies by Alexander Rose

Synopsis:
Abraham Woodhull (Jamie Bell) is a fine, decent farmer who only wants to live in peace with his family. That before the Brits taken over the town and an old friend asked him to be a spy for the Rebel Americans. Abe’s life then turns upside down as he leans toward the Rebels while sleeping with the Redcoats.

Verdict:
Pace is always a crucial element for me to decide whether or not a show is worth my time. Every time I watch a pilot, the first thing would come to my attention is how the story wrapped up. Is it boring as in the story was dragged way too long for unnecessary development, or is it well-paced enough while still giving me a great storyline to tell?

Sadly, ‘Turn’ was the former. In the pilot, the writers tried too hard to give a great pile of backstory that it was too much. We know that Abraham would turn into spy for the Rebels eventually, but the journey to get to that point was a bit too long. I don’t know, I feel like they could just cut to the part when he’s already working as a spy and gave the backstory in flashbacks or something.

I’m not saying that all slow-paced writing series were bad. To be fair, there are a few shows that really could pull this style of storytelling off, like ‘True Detective’ for example. Even though the pilot was basically only Rust and Marty talking about their past for 60 minutes, I was hooked instantly. And that was only because this show had a lot of other things to offer to make up for the slow-paced writing part, like its great lines, witty dialogue, and well-build characters.

‘Turn’ on the other hand, was lack of those “make-up” factors. At my first attempt to watch this show, I was literally falling asleep after 15 minutes. I’ve been watching all two episodes of this show and I was hardly feeling thrilled by it. And to say that this show is actually telling a story about a revolutionary war -- in which we usually expect numbers of gun-fight scenes and intense spying moments -- was just ironic.

To add to those cons, in terms of taste, honestly ‘Turn’ was simply not my type of show. One, because normally I don’t dig a show set in that era. Two, because I don’t find the premise was engaging, since I’m not American. And that’s also why my opinion about the set, costumes, writing, or even the lines would be irrelevant since I know nothing about everything that had happened in that period.

Rating: 7/10


Silicon Valley

Genre: comedy

Channel: HBO

Created by: Mike Judge with Dave Krinsky and John Altschuler

Synopsis:
Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch) is an entry-level engineer at multibillions tech company, Hooli (a shout out to Google, really). In his attempt to achieve something in a competitive world of Silicon Valley, he invents an apps called ‘Pied Piper’ which despite its ridiculous name and understated function, turns out to have the most advance logarithm to compress files (or something like that). Richard then has to make a life-changing decision: sell it and instantly becomes a millionaire or keep it and develop it by starting his own company with the help of his friends.

Verdict:
Hmm, where should I begin? I LOVE THIS SHOW. So much, I can’t even praise it enough to show you how much I love it. Every aspect of the show is just perfect. The premise is solid, the writing is brilliant, the jokes are witty and smart, and the characters... Oh boy, those characters.

In case you haven’t picked up the idea yet, Silicon Valley is a show about bunch of nerds trying to build a start-up company with all their techie stuffs and social awkwardness. From the moment I saw the pilot, I instantly love all those nerds. The writer team seems to know exactly how to build hilarious, dorky, adorable character, no matter how obnoxious and weird they are.

For instant, Richard is a genius and basically the smartest person in his group, yet he has the lowest self-esteem and has to put up with all his friends’ shitty manners all the time. His self-consciousness is pathetic and sometimes frustrating, yet amusing at the same time. Suffice to say that Thomas Middleditch's performance on portraying Richard is absolutely brilliant. His body language, gesture, and gimmick are just spot on.

Of course, Richard is our main guy, but the supporting characters are surprisingly outstanding too in their own way. So, beside Richard, we got Erlich (T.J. Miller), a cocky, so-full-of-himself landlord who keeps bragging about his one-hit-wonder apps he sold years ago; Gilfoyle (Martin Starr), a sarcastic guy who declares himself as a satanist; Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani), a bright coder who has lack (if not zero) experience in interacting with girls; and Jared (Zach Woods), an awkward, overly-polite business development strategist who decided to leave Hooli and join Richard’s company.

Those names are only few of the hilarious characters you’d find on the show. Even the recurring characters and cameos are great and funny as hell. I’m going to be bold and say that ‘Silicon Valley’ is one of the best comedy that got well-written, well-build characters and amazing cast to play them.

Not only the characters, the lines, gags, and jokes on the show are really smart, yet engaging enough to laugh about. I’m not savvy or computer freak or anything, but I could pretty much enjoy the show without struggling to understand the humor. This really is that rare type of comedy that doesn’t need to be all graphic and slapstick to be funny at all, because its witty lines are just enough.

So, to wrap things up, I’m just gonna say that ‘Silicon Valley’ is, by far the most brilliant, entertaining, and exhilarating comedy I watched this year.

Rating: 10/10


Fargo

Genre: drama

Channel: FX

Developed by: Noah Hawley, based on the 1996 film ‘Fargo’ created by Joel and Ethan Coen

Synopsis:
Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) is a salesman insurance whose boring life is about to shaken up when he encounters a hit man in a hospital. In that brief moment of fate, the hit man, Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) decided to interfere with his personal problem and things only keeps tumbling down from that moment on.

Verdict:
Well, well, well. Is it safe to say now that we finally get a replacement for our dearest TV show, ‘Breaking Bad’?

I guess not. But, with that strong, well-made pilot, ‘Fargo’ is definitely the closest thing we got so far.

It has excellent cast, promising premise, strong characters, well-pace writing, and that chills and thrills vibe every time Lorne Malvo pops up on screen. It has beautiful music and scores to support every sequences – and sometimes to contrast it. And it even adds a bit of humor through the lines, music, or even gimmicks of the characters to give a funny ambiance to the show. What more I need to say?

What makes the show even more superior than many other shows on TV right now is absolutely the top-notch acting of its two lead roles, Freeman and Thornton. Freeman plays flawlessly as a boring salesman, who never has the courage to man up for himself and always takes shit from everyone. His life is stuck, his career goes nowhere, and his wife keeps demanding for things to get better. He has the potential to be the next Walter White, really.

I’ve seen Freeman’s work before in ‘Sherlock’, ‘The Office’, and ‘The Hobbit’, so I’m already familiar with his comic timing and funny gimmicks which is hilarious. But, I never see him play a pathetic, sad character like this one, so I’m a bit skeptical at first.

Surprisingly, he nailed it. With that kind of role, he still managed to put in those ridiculous expressions without breaking his character. In fact, it adds humorous sense to his character and to the show as a whole, instead of ruining the vibes.

The only problem I have with Freeman in the show was sometimes I can hear his British accent vaguely when he’s talking. It wasn’t obvious, but I still can hear it. And his looks also seem too British for me to play an American. Ok, that was nitpicking.

Moving on, Thornton also plays brilliantly as a cold hit man who doesn’t give a fuck to the world. Every time he pops up on my screen, I can feel the mysterious vibe around him. But even him has a humorous elements in his character I can laughed about. His ignorance about other people and his sleek words to manipulate others just for fun was really amusing.

Thornton plays his part wonderfully without a doubt. His performance was natural and believable. The way he brought Malvo on screen was nothing but entertaining. None of his screen times were awkward or contrived. His acting is simply superb.

Even though ‘Fargo’ was an adaptation of a film with the same title, the story itself was totally unrelated. I haven’t seen the movie, yet I could enjoy it fully without any confusion. So, watch it whether you’ve seen the film or not, because ‘Fargo’ is obviously one of the best series on TV right now. And hopefully, it could match ‘Breaking Bad’ eventually.

Rating: 9.5/10

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