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
Fargo keduluaan, >,<, ah!
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