Captain's Log
Thanksgiving is next week. Do you guys really want an article? Probably won't be much
I would think next week won’t have much in the way of new TV, but I guess we’ll see.
We finished Chad Powers. It does get better from the concerns I had about it being too generic after a couple of episodes… but I’m not sure it rises to the level of great, either. But it’s only six episodes, sports provides a natural hook that gives the show a solid baseline if you like that sort of thing, and it’s pretty well-plotted– obviously this ruse couldn’t last forever, and how the deception is resolved is smart. That said… this clearly wasn’t meant to be a miniseries, based on where the show leaves off. But it’s pretty entertaining and has a good cast. Glen Powell and Steve Zahn need no introduction, but Perry Mattfield was new to me and I thought quite good at portraying that toughness a woman needs in a man’s world to command respect (even down to her name, “Ricky”). Reminded me a bit of Nat from Shoresy. Anyway, the critics were more on the negative side, but we found it pretty fun if not great; I wouldn’t say it’s a must-watch, but if you want a few hours of a pretty entertaining football story, it’ll fit the bill.
In other shows, we decided to peep a couple of episodes of Haha, You Clowns, the latest from [adult swim], and I haven’t quite made up my mind about it. It’s sort of funny and a little odd, but the pitch I was hearing is what a soft, comfy, cozy comedy it was, and you know that kind of thing gives me an allergic rash. Anyway, it’s about a widower raising his three large adult sons, and I guess it’s nice that they’re so supportive of him and look up to him, but this is a comedy, right? Still, there are some pretty funny moments, if you can get over the production aspects I’m going to criticize: The sons are virtually indistinguishable and all sound the same, like a mix of Baby Cakes and Ajax Duckman, and the art… well, I think we’ve hit peak “intentionally ugly adult animation” style. That said, might be better than I’m giving it credit for due to my inherent aversion to several aspects of the show, given that I haven’t turned it off yet despite those things.
Matlock, “Harm Reduction” – The case of the week involves a group of nuns who open a safe injection site at their ministry, and the neighbors who are trying to drive them out because of it. Naturally, this raises some suspicions from Matty, who doesn’t believe in such practices and thinks the only answer is to go completely clean… which also ties into Alfie’s father Joey and his attempt to get clean in rehab. While that’s going on, Eva is back in town to see if she can whip the votes to oust Senior. Perhaps more interestingly, in a side story, Senior asks Sarah to do a little covert research on Julian for “the good of the firm”… which almost certainly means “the good of Senior.” He says he wants to make sure Julian doesn’t poach any Jacobson Moore clients, but he almost certainly has something else in mind. So that provides some potentially good long-term stories down the road, particularly if it ties into the main plot, which feels like it’s entered a bit of a holding pattern the last few weeks.
The show is taking a couple of weeks off and coming back on December 4.
Elsbeth, “Bunker Down” – Ah, time for an episode about an insane billionaire! Tony Hale guests as crypto bro Craig Harris, a billionaire who runs a digital wallet company, and whose paranoia and loathing of other humans has led him to turn his New York apartment into a superbunker… and pushes him to the point where he convinces himself his PR crisis manager is going to turn on him, so he locks him away in the bunker and tries to microwave him. (The bunker can do that. Maybe that’s why Craig needs a crisis manager.) What starts as a missing persons case turns into a possible attempted murder, as Elsbeth and co. try to get the bottom of what happened… while Elsbeth also has to try to suss out Alec Bloom’s real intentions, and gets a reminder of the awful events of last season with the appearance of Winnie Crawford. Elsbeth: Fun show!
Stumble, “Media Day” – I think I had too much of a buzz on to accurately review this, as I needed a few hairs of the dog coming the day after happy hour. But I enjoyed it! I still think it’s off to a pretty strong start. As I recall, the team has to get ready to present at media day, which Courteney hopes to use as a recruiting tool, and of course there are internal battles on the team (unsurprisingly, largely stirred on by DiMarcus’ inability to get the concept of being on a team).
The Chair Company, “Happy Birthday, a friend.” – Couple of angles to look at this one from. After the crazy escalation of last week, we spend more time with Ron’s “normal” life… I say “normal” in quotes because everyone in Ron’s life seems to be coming a bit more unhinged, to the point where at times it seems like Ron is the only sane person around. Jeff, the big boss at Fisher Robay, goes on a weekend to Sedona with some other rich boss guy types, and has a realization that… well, makes him try to fill the hole in him by meddling with the new mall project and getting really hands-on, but in a way where he doesn’t know what he wants. And Seth’s birthday party is coming up, and lots of worlds threaten to collide. And everyone at the office is acting bizarre, although the most bizarre and funniest moment of all definitely comes at the party. I don’t really know what to expect next, but I’m enjoying the ride.
St. Denis Medical, “Two Docs, One Conf” – Ron is off at some medical conference or other that he goes to every year, with his eyes on a relaxing time and a particular doctor from elsewhere who’s newly divorced… and then Bruce shows up to the conference as well, attempting, a la Michael Scott in “The Convention”, to be the good-time party guy (while, granted, Bruce is of a different flavor than Michael). Anyway, Bruce ends up stepping all over Ron’s good time and driving him nuts, and you know Ron’s going to let him hear about it. This is a pretty good episode with that as the foundation, since Ron and Bruce make for a good comic team. Back at the hospital, it’s Nurses Appreciation Week or something. Alex has won the “Gentle Heart” award six or seven years in a row and insists it’s not really a big deal, and after Val eggs her on, she decides to spearhead a campaign for Matt to win it this year… until she discovers it comes with a water park trip, which is probably nice when you have kids. Joyce’s attempt to do something nice for the nurses ends up being a bunch of decorative rocks; she finds one in the trash and is deeply offended. Serena is both the last person in the main cast I haven’t mentioned and the person who’s probably the best at getting away with things, so guess who threw away her rock and has to find a way to keep Joyce from finding out it was her.
DMV, “Blindspot” – Once again, Colette acts like an insane flibbertigibbet, letting Cece talk her into putting a witch’s curse on Noa’s relationship… and then Noa finds the evidence and freaks out. Still, there actually ends up being some better comedy from this one, because the situation is just so bizarre; the show has given Cece a better showcase these last few weeks. Meanwhile, Barb is trying to figure out who’s defacing all the safety posters with “rockets”… and Gregg (and everyone else) is sure it’s Vic, but Vic insists he didn’t do it. That was pretty funny. I should mention again I like how they’ve already seemingly figured out Barb’s weird, specific intensity.
Beavis and Butt-Head. “Work From Home / Bed and Breakfast” – After a week off, we’re back. (And then off again next week, apparently alternating weeks from here on out until the season is finished.) Old Beavis and Butt-Head learn about the work from home concept and… decide to get their old jobs back at Burger World and move into the restaurant. Then, a woman mistakes teenage Beavis and Butt-Head’s house for her AirBnB. Pretty fun couple of segments.
In the first segment, the duo watch Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red,” which is extremely my shit and probably my favorite song they’ve watched this year. (“get him back1” makes a strong case, though it suffers from being my third-favorite single on GUTS. Also, I came late to “Paint the Town Red,” which is why it didn’t appear on the 2023 countdown. That, and for a long time I thought for some reason it was released in 2021, a misapprehension I only cleared up a couple of months ago.) Their commentary mostly goes into a bizarre digression on Dr. Seuss, which they actually end up following up on in another segment.
Smiling Friends, “Squim Returns” – With Charlie out sick and Allan and Glep at the anime con, Mr. Boss has to bring in a retired Smiling Friend to accompany Pim on a job… Squim might be a little too tuned-up and positive even for Pim. Charlie was faking sick so he could play a video game and Mr. Boss catches him, so he has to get to work… after getting actual food poisoning from whatever he ate while he was playing. Not bad. Also, random (but pretty funny) swipe at The Simpsons to start the episode.
A few shows took this week off. There’s no new Abbott Elementary, though I don’t know why; it appears the show won’t be returning until December 10. Bob’s Burgers also took this week off and will take the 30th off as well, with an episode airing on the 23rd and two more (for now) in December.
Eventually, I will get around to Pluribus. Though I’m not rushing it.
‘Tis the season for Thanksgiving episodes, and we’ve watched two of our personal favorites, Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23‘s “It’s a Miracle…” and Suburgatory‘s “Thanksgiving.”
I know I mentioned the Get a Life DVDs last week, and that’s still periodically a thing,
Don’t think we got anything.
Well, A Man on the Inside season 2 should be out today. That’s probably the last show that will appear in this space in 2025.
About the writer
Captain Nath
Born on the bayou, thriving in the mountains. Writer, gambler, comedian, singer-songwriter, bon vivant, globetrotter, and all-around Renaissance Man with perfect opinions about TV and music. Pronounced with a long A and with the H.
It's a gaming ship.
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Department of
Conversation
What did we watch?
M*A*S*H, Season Three, Episode Two, “Rainbow Bridge”
This is the classic one where the unit is asked to treat the enemy and Frank decides to bring a gun. Mako playing a guy breaking is one of the greatest comedy moments in the show – he has such dignity and intelligence that seeing him break over something dumb is like seeing an iceberg slip on a banana peel. “What the hell is that?!”
This also has a scene where Frank is doing triage wrong, prioritising Americans with easy wounds over deeply wounded enemies, which strikes me as another example of this show having an eye for memorable details. This is also where we first meet the guitarist played by Loudon Wainwright, who is best known for his novelty song “Dead Skunk (In The Middle of the Road)”, released like thirty albums, and is actually still going at 79.
“Obviously there are gaps in my education. What exactly is a ‘training bra’?”
“It’s just like an ordinary one, but it has two little wheels on it.”
“The Chinese called us?”
“They’re dying for some American takeout food.”
Loudon Wainwright’s character is named Captain Spaulding.
Hooray hooray hooray.
Shit, I’m finally getting to checking some replies to this, and I missed the Loudon Wainwright appearance. He’s written quite a number of other songs as well, he’s the father of Rufus and Martha Wainwright, and he featured as Hal Karp, Steven’s father, on Undeclared.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, “Safe Conduct” – A wet squib, but I have thoughts. More to come.
The Practice, “Bay of Pigs” – Bobby has to defend a local politician on charges of invading Cuba.
OK, not really, but the title – a poor play on the name of annoying DA Richard Bay – is just dumb. Anyway, we spend a lot of time with Bay, learning that a lot of his obnoxious behavior comes from him being bullied as a kid, but that really does not excuse anything about his aggressive approach or his fight this time with Ellenor. He is in some ways a descendant of Peter McNicol’s character on Chicago Hope, the outclassed and hard to like guy in a room full of ego cases. Only McNicol was a lot more human than this undersized pickle. Anyway, the case involves a woman who maybe tried to run over her husband and the husband being too sick to testify in person, which leads to a fatal deposition. There is also a case involving an old girlfriend of Jimmy’s fighting to get paid for selling her ova, which is supposed to be abhorrent but I don’t know why. And that leads to some more unpleasant stuff with Judge Kittelson becoming jealous again. I think it’s about to get bumpy and not in a fun way.
The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick – early Wim Wenders. We watched with a filmed intro from the director and he described it as a “film in which nothing happens”, which is not unexpected given a lot of his later work, but I’m not sure it quite applies here as there is one quite unexpected major thing that does happen and prevents it from being purely a character study. Also the character – a goalkeeper who goes wandering around Germany and Austria after being sent off for dissent – is a real asshole. It’s an interesting watch though with some gorgeous early-70s cinematography and some (visual and musical) Hitchcock nods that add a little tension to proceedings. It also gets a lot stranger than expected, there’s a segment where the conversations veer off into baffling territory where people seem to be talking entirely at cross-purposes and making very little sense. An odd one, but very intriguing – made me want to fill some more Wenders blind spots, as I have many.
The X-Files, “Teliko”
Nope, episode, you can’t do “man can squeeze himself into impossibly small spaces.” We have Tooms at home.
This is an episode that throws in some impassioned (Carl Lumbly’s Marcus Duff) and somber (Scully) speeches about how badly humans react to strangers and immigrants, but its plotline centers on an immigrant who is a genetic hormone-slurping folktale monster who will kill you. It feels like maybe this is not the story you write to express deep concern with how immigrants are treated. It’s irritating that Lumbly gets a deeply felt speech about why Samuel Aboah (Willie Amakye) would reflexively run from the FBI but that that speech is completely wrong because, you know, actually Aboah ran because he’s a hormone vampire with a body count who stores extra equipment in his esophagus.
I accept that there are some cultural fears that are not tied to reality and are in fact pretty reactionary, and I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong to explore those in horror, but when that exploration is combined with plea-for-understanding speeches that don’t remotely apply to the actual text, the attempt at mitigation and contextualization winds up functioning more as vague steelmanning for an argument the episode probably doesn’t want to be making but nonetheless is.
There are people who are better equipped than I am to talk about the weirdness of an African man draining the “blackness,” if not the Blackness, away from Black American men, but yeah, I’m not sure that works or is well-explored either.
And also, it’s just a not a great episode, despite some pretty damn good performances from Lumbly and Amakye (who has excellent line delivery that’s obviously and intentionally a few degrees off from normal “I’m translating what you said in my head”/”struggling to understand you before replying”–it’s like Aboah is selecting from a mental list of potential responses). The ideas here don’t work that well, and it doesn’t help that the horror partly rests on Tooms-like visuals the series has already mined for all they’re worth. But I really like the not-over-emphasized detail of the bus driver assuming one paralyzed, desperate-for-help victim is on drugs and getting irritated at him for it and then later telling Mulder and Scully that he was concerned about him, revising himself to be more empathetic.
“its plotline centers on an immigrant who is a genetic hormone-slurping folktale monster who will kill you. It feels like maybe this is not the story you write to express deep concern with how immigrants are treated. ” This pops up in a few genre stories where the superpowers or fantastical elements make a terrible case for NOT othering and fearing people, like Elemental and (sometimes) X-Men. Look, I think I should be a little scared of the tribe of people who set stuff on fire merely by existing, Elemental!
Bad Santa – I have smashed up some of my old, uh, paraphernalia so I’m “clean” and needed an anxiety-free movie. Gloriously mean and miserable, of course, and Thornton commits to the bit completely, even when Willie’s dogshit soul melts just a little thanks to Thurman Merman. (100 percent sure the Coens came up with that name.) RIP to John Ritter and Bernie Mac, their scenes together are great and have an immediate dynamic in place where Mac casually says things Ritter visibly doesn’t want to hear. (My friend: “That’s such a plausible horrified face!”)
Notes: “I was against the impeachment” is such a funny thing to say in this context. It is crucial that Willie and Marcus have a genuinely good criminal setup and I could see two thieves getting away with this for at least a few years, though my friend and I debated whether 55 grand could get you through a year. Given the stuff Marcus and Lois take from the mall, I say yes, absolutely. (It’s obvious Willie is drinking it all away.) This movie confirms that adults fighting children (not abusing, fighting) is hilarious.
There’s so much Coens in this and I really wish Blank Check had decided to cover it as a bonus feature for their Coen season. Very tempting to revisit this year after a few years off, although I do think I have it basically memorised at this point.
Gin drinking stool softener feels very Coens!
Which version did you watch? I really recommend the director’s cut if you can get it.
Alas, only the theatrical was available but I’m way more used to the director’s cut.
Glad to see the tradition of “lawyer casts aspersions on something a client is doing because it’s actually wrong” that is a regular feature on The Practice endures. Does Matty come around grudgingly?
Halfway through season eight of Frasier, a show I have watched before, and eight of fourteen are at best forgettable and at worst unwatchable. Maybe maybe they should have stopped with Niles and Daphne getting together? Yes, I know there is actually some good stuff ahead, but this is the long prolonged stretch of mediocrity, surpassing the stretch when Frasier was out of a job, and at least there I could say “this was a bad idea.” Here it’s just a lot of random stuff tossed against the wall.
Matty comes around somewhat, but it’s more applicable to the story with Alfie’s father– we find Alfie’s been faking letters from him, because he doesn’t want Matty to find out if he’s slipping up on keeping up his routine in rehab, and that makes her realize that her hardline stance on that you have to be perfect to get clean is putting too much pressure on Alfie.
I did kinda want someone to say to her “You can’t get clean if you’re dead.”
General TV watching: Pluribus, “We Is Us,” “Pirate Lady,” and “Grenade”
I have gotten to Pluribus, and I’m enjoying it a lot so far. (Rhea Seehorn is great, of course.) My geeky complaint is that I want more worldbuilding than we’re likely to get with a relatively tight focus on Carol: the show has set up a science fictional scenario that’s intriguing enough that I want to know a lot more about how it works and what it feels like from the inside, but the perspective has grounded us outside of it, and Carol–as other characters have commented–isn’t engaging with it in a curious way, for obvious and sympathetic reasons. This all makes sense as a choice (except having essentially all the other English-speaking survivors be totally chill with the transition, complete with tons of death and the Borg-ing of their loved ones–I call bullshit on that, especially how it makes them props in Carol’s story, counterpoints rather than people), but I keep wanting just a little bit more SF chewiness. Then again, just because the show hasn’t explored some of the bigger questions three episodes in doesn’t mean they won’t later. So my fingers are crossed that it’ll dig into its ideas more, but that’s admittedly something print SF is usually a little more interested in than TV/movie SF.
Again, though, I’m really enjoying it. The first episode in particular has some spectacular apocalyptic sequences, and there’s a place where I think its tight perspective really works in its favor: Seehorn absolutely captures that Carol is so focused on trying to save Helen that she barely lets herself take in the incredible, world-ending strangeness around her until Helen is gone. Action, action, action–stunned sinking-in. Beautiful to behold. I’m very curious to see where things will go next, especially since there’s an interesting moral dilemma–and I suspect this is more where Gilligan’s interests lie–because by episode three, Carol’s seen multiple ways she can strike back at the hive mind, but she’s reflexively reacted to most of the accidental damage she’s done with a very human horror and guilt. Would doing intentional damage feel better or worse? Could she even bring herself to do it? Does she want to? (I’m curious to see whether or not she’ll actually be drawn into protecting the hive mind from, say, the guy in Paraguay.) I’m hoping that this will be stickier and more complicated than “lone champion of individualism vs. the forces of conformity,” and it’s leaning that way a bit, but we’ll see. Again, my personal story preferences don’t need to be Gilligan’s guide, obviously.