NewsRadio 3.05

Awards Show

The employees of WNYX go to the annual radio awards show despite not having any faith that they are going to win any awards. Matthew becomes convinced that there are ants in the break room. Catherine asks Joe to be her date to the awards banquet. She is concerned that he won't dress appropriately but once the night begins she learns that's the least of her concerns.

Bob Costas is the emcee of the awards banquet.

There was a lot of little things going on in this episode but none of them dominated the program. Not a great episode but I've seen worse.

Fargo 2.02

Before the Law

The mob (from Kansas City, not Fargo) comes to town. They are their to talk the local heavies, the Gerhardt family, into selling their operation to them. The patriarch had a stroke. Floyd, his wife, does the talking. She calls her sons in after the men from Kansas City leave. She tells them about the offer on the table. Dodd, the oldest, tries to make like he is taking over. Bear sides with Floyd. Floyd sits down with Dodd and tries to talk some sense into him. Dodd doesn't seem very receptive and (after the meeting with his mother) begins to make plans but before he moves he wants Rye on his side.

Sheriff Larsson learns that one of the victims in the Waffle Hut was a judge from Fargo, ND. He shares that information with Lou. They aren't sure what it means, whether the judge was the target or just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Peggy Blumquist goes back to work the day after Ed killed Rye Gerhardt. Ed stays home to clean up the mess. He starts by cleaning up the garage and the car. There's a lot of blood and broken glass to clean up. He takes Rye Gerhardt's body into town after dark, to the butcher shop where he works. He waits until after the owner closes up for the night. He proceeds to start chopping up and grinding the body into hamburger.

Mike Milligan (Bokeem Woodbine) and his two flunkies, both named Kitchen, hang around town. They drive past the Waffle Hut. They are looking for Rye. They stopped by the typewriter store but were unable to get much out of Rye's business partner. Lou is taking another look at the crime scene when Milligan and the Kitchens drive past. Lou stopped there with Betsy and Molly. Betsy, his wife, was either coming from or headed to a chemotherapy appointment.

Lou has decided that he should take the case instead of Hank. Lou and Hank don't work for the same law enforcement agency. I think Hank is county police and Lou is state police, but that's just a guess.

Lou goes into the diner while Molly and Betsy play in the snow. He spends some time staring at the can of bug spray that judge used on Rye. Betsy spots something in a bush and reaches in. She pulls out Rye's revolver. She hands it over to Lou. It is just about then that Mike and the Kitchens drive past. Something about the car or its contents spooks him so he radios the details to Hank.

Hank gets the Kansas City thugs to pull over and get out of the car. He checks their IDs. It is a chilling scene. There seemed to be real potential for something violent to happen. Both sides seem fully aware of the potential. That night Hank meets up with Lou at the Waffle Hut. They exchange war stories. Hank's are about World War II. Lou's are about the Vietnam War.

The episode ends with another chilling encounter. Lou sees Ed's truck parked in front of the butcher shop and some lights on in the back. He knocks on the door. Ed isn't quite finished grinding up Rye. He opens up the shop for Lou. Lou doesn't seem suspicious but I've got to think he knows that something is up. He probably won't put the pieces together until an episode or two down the line. He asks Ed for some bacon. He somehow misses seeing the bits of Rye that are still intact. Ed seems very nervous.

This is another solid episode. There is so much going on. A good chunk of the thrill of a show like this is the voyage of discovery. It is about learning and watching characters in the show learn. There are definite parallels between this season and the previous one. I never liked Lester (Martin Freeman) in Season One. I don't feel quite so negatively about Ed and Peggy. They aren't inherently bad people but they are headed down a road that is making it harder and harder to see them as decent folks who have been backed into a corner.

The Americans 1.04

In Control

On March 30, 1981 an American citizen attempts to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. The KGB and FBI are forced to scramble. The KGB's concern is Al Haig, the US Secretary of State and retired US Army general who goes on TV and claims to be in charge. The exact words he uses are, "in control." They think that a coup is in process. It may only be a matter of hours before the US launches nuclear missiles at the Soviet Union. Elizabeth and Philip are tasked with learning what is going on in the White House.

The FBI's concern is that John Hinckley, Jr., the would be assassin, might be working for the Soviet Union. Stan is told to meet with Nina Krilova, his contact inside the Russian embassy, and learn what he can. She is reluctant to meet with him. She has a hard time getting away from the embassy but she finally does. She is followed. Her boss is concerned about her loyalty. It isn't clear if the KGB agents tailing her see Krilova meet with Beeman or know what she is up to. She reassures Stan that the Russians had nothing to do with Hinckley or the assassination attempt.

Philip and Elizabeth get orders from Claudia, their handler, to prepare for Operation Kristopher. Elizabeth retrieves the equipment from a box buried in the woods. She has a flashback as she retrieves it to her youth, just after her father died. A man who was interested in her mother brought a similar looking box that was filled with food. The box Elizabeth digs up is filled with explosives and sniper rifles. She and Philip are to prepare to wreck some serious mayhem when they get the word from Moscow. They start to stake out targets. They are spotted by a security guard in the neighborhood where Secretary of Defense Caspar Weingburger lives. Elizabeth tries to talk him out of calling the local police department and when he insists that he has to she kills him.

Elizabeth and Philip argue over the orders they have been given so far. She insists that they have to follow orders. He has his doubts about what is really going on. He thinks he knows America better than she and doesn't believe that a coup has happened. He insists that they handle the situation his way even though some of the intelligence they have gathered seems to suggest that Haig is in charge. They visit their neighbors across the street and get some reassurance from Stan that the US is not about to start a war with the Soviet Union. The tension between loyalty to family and one another on the one hand and their loyalty to the Soviet Union on the other hand is the point on which this series seems to turn.

The episode winds down with Sandra Beeman confronting Stan about his lack of communication. Prior to them moving to the Washington DC area, they lived in St. Louis. Stan was working undercover for years. He now claims that something has changed with the implication being that it was his years away working undercover that changed him. Hopefully this scene is the beginning of a subplot that will help to make Stan seem a little more well-rounded.

Philip sends the message to Moscow that there is no coup and the Americans are not planning to attack Russia. He goes home to Elizabeth and lets her know it has been taken care of. They have withheld information from their superiors. They acknowledge the fact to one another and promise to never mention it to anyone.

Another very good episode. This is not perfect TV but I like it a lot. I enjoy seeing how the two teams (KGB, FBI) mirror one another in some ways and don't in others. The tension in the Elizabeth's and Philip's relationship continues to be the heart and soul of this series. I feel as though the show could be better or tighter but I'm not sure exactly where it is lacking. I'm very happy with the show so far.

...

I was in 5th grade when I heard that President Reagan had been shot. I was on the school bus. Someone on the bus had a radio and we listened to the news coverage as the bus drove us home. I lived in the DC area and the school bus usually would pass right by the hotel where the President was shot. The bus driver insisted on taking a different route that day. Everyone else on the bus wanted to go past the hotel but the driver wouldn't be swayed. In retrospect he was right. The traffic would have been crazy down there. The Cold War was a reality that I was aware of back then but I don't recall any concern over the possibility of war specifically as a result of the assassination attempt.

Community 2.05

Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples

Shirley wants Abed to make a Christian movie to stream on YouTube. He says no but then changes his mind. The movie he makes isn't what Shirley had in mind. Pierce starts hanging out with some other senior citizens on the Greendale campus.

I really started to get into this one once Abed got the bug. He took Shirley's idea and then ran with it in a different direction. He makes a very meta-movie in which everything that happens on set is okay. It doesn't matter if someone interrupts filming, like Shirley does at one point, because it is all part of the movie.

Not a perfect episode but I enjoyed this one. It only made me cringe a couple times.

Master of None 2.03

Religion

Dev's aunt, uncle, and cousin are visiting during Eid. Dev pretends to still be religious to please his parents. He pretends until he decides it is time to tell the truth and order a dish with pork in it.

This episode was a little too on the nose. It lacked in nuance. There really wasn't anything to the episode other than the issue of religion.

I'm not a vegan or vegetarian but I was a bit disturbed by the way that eating pork was presented in this episode. It was almost like a fetish. It also made me a bit sick seeing how much Dev and Navid ate at the barbecue.

The Big Sick (2017)

Kumail Nanjiani is a stand up comedian who lives in Chicago. One night he gets heckled by Emily Gardener, a woman in the audience. They start a casual relationship. Everything is going well until she finds out that his parents wouldn't approve of him dating a non-Pakistani woman. They break up. She gets sick and winds up in the hospital. She is put into a medically induced coma for her own safety. He calls her parents, whom he has never met before and who live in North Carolina.

At first her parents want him to leave as soon as they show up at the hospital. He insists on sticking around and eventually they start bonding. Kumail's parents (throughout the movie) try to set him up with Pakistani women. He doesn't know how to tell his parents that he has to live his life the way he wants to live it. Emily recovers and comes out of the coma. She is confused when Kumail comes to see her in the hospital. Her parents tell her about all he did for her but she still isn't ready to get back together with him.

Kumail plays himself it this movie but the part of Emily is played by Zoe Kazan. Emily's last name in the movie is changed from Gordon to Gardener. That seems weird. There must be a story there.

This is a mostly true story, some of the facts have been altered slightly. I heard the story before it was made into a movie, before I even knew that there was going to be a movie. I think it was it 2011 or 2012 that I first heard about it on the You Made it Weird podcast. I knew the chain of events but I didn't expect the movie to be as emotionally moving as it was. I experienced a mixture of laughter and tears as I watched The Big Sick, sometimes both as the same time. It is very effectively put together. All the performances were good to great.

I may be a bit biased. I like both main characters. I have heard them on on podcasts on numerous occasions, together and individually. I used to listen to their podcast (The Indoor Kids) when it was still on. It was about video games. I don't play video games but I still enjoyed their banter and listening to them interact with others.

This movie isn't perfect but I loved it. There's nothing quite like a movie that moves you it multiple ways. I will have to watch it again someday and see how it hits me then.

Fargo 2.01

I most recently re-watched the movie Fargo a little over two years ago. I watched the first season of Fargo a couple months later in late 2015. I wasn't taking notes on what I was watching back then unless it was comic book related. I thought the first season was chillingly good. Every one in the cast was amazing. I was very impressed. In many ways it is better than the movie, which I also love, and at the same time it is reminiscent of the movie.

I recommend checking out Bald Move's Fargo podcast if you want some one else's opinion of the show. They have covered all three seasons of the show. I also recommend their Bald Movies podcast in which they discuss old and new movies.

Waiting for Dutch

The year is 1979. The month is February.

Rye Gerhardt, the youngest son of Minnesota crime lord Otto Gerhardt, is tired of getting pushed around by his two older brothers. He is trying to make something happen but needs to convince a judge to back off one of his business associates who has typewriter selling scheme. Supposedly it will bag them a lot of money if he can just get the judge to cooperate.

He follows her from the courthouse to a Waffle Hut in Luverne, MN. He tries talking some sense into her but she isn't willing to play ball. She tells him the story of Job, from the Old Testament. When he won't back off she sprays him in the eyes with insect repellent. He gets angry and shoots her. He also kills the only other people in the Waffle Hut, the cook and the waitress. He gets stabbed in the back by the judge before she dies.

The police get a call from a trucker who finds the bodies. Lou Solverson, a state policeman, is called to investigate. Lou Solverson also appeared in the first season where he was played by Keith Carradine. Something doesn't look right. There is one too many cars in the parking lot. He pieces together what he can and then hands the case over to a local policeman, Hank Larsson, his father-in-law. What neither man knows is that the killer was hit by a car.

Rye walked out of the Waffle Hut in pursuit of the waitress. She was not dead yet and was trying to get away. After he shot her he was distracted by some lights in the sky and got hit by a car. His head got embedded in the windshield of the car. Peggy Blumquist, the driver, panicked and drove off with him still on the hood of the car. She tried to hide it from her husband Ed. But he heard noise coming from the garage. Rye was still alive, despite getting stabbed in the back by the judge and then hit by a car. He pulled the knife out of his back before he went after the waitress and still has it when Ed finds him in the garage.

Rye tries to stab Ed who is a little too big and strong for Rye, especially considering his condition. Ed wrestles with Rye and then stabs and kills him with a trowel. Ed wants to go to the police but Peggy talks him out if it. She convinces him that she will be sent to prison and their chances for a normal life will be over if he does that. They dump the body in a large freezer in their house.

The final scene is of a meeting of a criminal organization in Fargo, ND. They want to take over the Gerhardt operation. They know that Otto had a stroke the day before.

The title of the episode seems to be a reference to the opening scene which is shot in black and white. It is from the set of a fictional movie starring Ronald Reagan. One of Reagan's nicknames was Dutch. In the scene the director and one of the actors are ready to shoot a scene but are stuck waiting around for Reagan to show up.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this episode. It got weirder than I thought it would on at least two occasions. I enjoyed it quite a bit and look forward to seeing how it develops from here. There really wasn't one central character in the first season. So far I'm don't think there is one here either. There are a number of players. Some will probably have bigger roles than others but I wouldn't be surprised if once again the story focuses as much on the bad guys as it does on the good ones.