I’ll take the heat. I’m glad a lot of people liked the new Dune. I hope I like Part 2 more, if not, I hope it’s at least as good for people who liked Part 1. I’d love to see this IP continue on streaming services. I really enjoyed Children of Dune, and there is a lot of original Frank Herbert material to cover that could stretch out for many seasons of tv.
But Part 1 was still pretty bad, my initial thoughts here,
But it’s not just that Part 1 was disappointing, Lynch’s Dune is underrated. It’s bizarre, creepy, operatic, absurd, and I kind of like it.
I think it’s difficult to do that because people can choose what they do in sex and romance and how they frame relationships to themselves, but wealth disparities are real things which can’t just be handwaved away.
Like, one way or another Belinda is inherently subject to the whims of rich people at the White Lotus, either working as a wage slave or subordinating herself to Tanya in an attempt to get capital to do something else. No amount of narrative reframing will change this.
So it’s different in that it’s about how people cope with these real constraints, but I think what it has in common with S2 is a suspicion of dogmatic idealism. Like from Mike White interviews about Rachel and Shane:
I was so conflicted about the fact that Rachel decides to go back to Shane in the end.
I always knew she’d go back to him. There was something about her, even in the way she’s approaching him; it’s like someone who wants to get a response. Honestly, it feels true to life for me. I’ve seen peers who may not have been in this exact situation. She’s started to feel the limits of what she thinks she’s capable of, and it’s the reality of the seduction of a lifestyle. Some people read it as cynical; to me, the thing that I feel about Shane is that even though he is a privileged asshole, he does really love her. Even if it’s just an idea of her.
What I was trying to do with Jake [Lacy] was like, [Shane] may say obnoxious things to [Rachel], but he really is into her. And he’s the kind of guy where as long as he’s waiting, it’s okay. It’s only when he doesn’t get what he wants that he shows his douchebaggery. Maybe it’s a little bit of a portrait of mediocrity or someone who’s weak. I don’t know, I feel like when I see her go back to him, the way I talked about it with Jake was that, in that moment, he’s like a little boy lost. There’s a little bit of pathos there for me.
Maybe I’m being condescending to them, but I’ve seen it in my life. There is a powerful pull of money and lifestyle. In L.A., you see it all the time. In a way, she’s naïve; she wants to be independent and have power in the relationship, but she doesn’t have the money, she doesn’t have the power. I do see women making that choice sometimes.
And from another interview:
Switching gears, did Shane and Rachel’s reunion at the end make you happy or sad?
I felt sort of happy that they [ended up] together. The emotion of the music and [the look on] their faces, I was like, “ Awww , that’s nice.” As far as what it means in terms of her idealism and what she’s choosing, it’s bittersweet. I don’t judge her for it. It was always about her choosing that lifestyle and whatever compromises she was going to have to make in connection with that. And so it made sense for the character.
Like the idealistic answer for Rachel is like “she should Follow Her Dreams into journalism and also find a more equitable relationship” but what White Lotus is saying is, if you don’t have money you will inevitably be subjugated in some way to people who do. For people like Armond and Belinda that means being subservient to the hotel guests to earn a wage. That’s the point of Rachel’s conversation with Belinda towards the end, that Rachel sees this. She has started to bump up against the reality of a life in journalism, which is that she has to write inane fluff pieces to earn a living. Her choice is to give up her independence in exchange for wealth and security. The idea that everyone can live lives of total freedom and independence in a capitalist world is a fantasy.
Most rich guys are assholes. Part of the reason the show is so good is bc the characters like shane are very accurate to what they are really like in the real world
One the the things I found funniest is how the college girls couldn’t tell that Rachel was ridiculously hot and were treating her like she was ugly (or at best average) and then they have this massive realization when she walks into the pool in her swimsuit. We’re supposed to believe they’re blind?
I just felt so bad for her because I relate so much to how hard it is for a woman in her position to walk away from a man (and future partners) like that.
Ramani: I have to say I applauded them for not taking the easy way out in their story…because this is far more often how the story goes. The producers and writers of this show really did a great job of laying out how people get pulled into these narcissistic relationships.
Here is what I wrote way back when season one finished.
Rachel asserts her identity, needs, and limits with increasing confidence. But everyone she turns to shits on her.
First the kids. Then Nicole. On and on.
And when she leaves Shane, Belinda confirms her worst fear. Being free may mean finding her way alone.
So she relents. She returns to Shane. At least he’ll have her.
Shane has the standard fear of abusive narcissists. He fears anyone and anything that is not an extension of him, his feelings, his limits. He fears that his “love” will not be enough for his wife, because that possessive illusion is the most he has to offer.
Hell of a lot packed into one episode. Not prestige TV but well executed. As far as writing and acting, it pales compared to the Jack Reacher series. Still a fine way to spend some time before sleeping.
Finally started Ted Lasso. Four or five episodes in. It’s quite enjoyable. Don’t see the hype yet and why it won every Emmy, but I certainly like it enough to want to keep watching.
I read the 1st book last year after watching the movie and enjoyed it. Started book 2 and stopped halfway through or so, never picked it back up and that’s something I rarely do.
I wouldn’t call myself a hater, but I did love Dark and was fairly disappointed in 1899, maybe because the high expectations. My gf and I were really excited to watch it after being big fans of Dark, but we both felt 1899 was too slow and just… not that interesting. Dark s1 on the other hand, I was engrossed basically from episode 1, and it kept delivering a steady stream of answers and new questions all the way through the season finale. With 1899, by the end of the season it felt like the mysteries that had been set up were made kinda irrelevant by the final reveal.
Would they have made it work with another two seasons, making s1 feel more relevant and interesting in retrospect? Maybe, but Dark was firing on all cylinders from the first few episodes, and didn’t need s2/s3 to help me appreciate season 1 at all.
We’d have been happy to keep watching, and it’s a shame we don’t get to see how it would have turned out, but ultimately we weren’t even that disappointed when I read it was cancelled. Looking forward to the creators’ next project in any case.
The characters in Dark are much more interesting and well developed. The characters in 1899 are basically all 2D caricatures and the setting is completely artificial so not very interesting. In Dark, the characters are much easier to relate to because they are more human. In season 1 in particular they are basically all normal people and when their lives are disrupted by the events of the time loop they react the way that real people would react.
In Dark season 3, which I still really enjoyed, the show became overly burdened with the plot elements and stopped being as much about the characters, so it was a bit flatter. 1899 season 1 starts right off the bat with flat characters going through the motions needed by the plot. It’s a fine show, nice sets, interesting costumes, but it’s not nearly as compelling as the natural tragedy of Dark.
Pantheon was offerred a 2 season offer prior to airing the first season, but season two has been yanked by AMC, effectively ending the series prematurely with no resolution.
This is the sort of boom/bust cycle that changes an industry for the foreseeable future.
It happened in publishing, too. There were a few great series and ongoing sagas that finally reached an endpoint. A few were amazing–and so a ton of new authors were published, each one a new ticket to the lottery–but just enough series endings were despised (eg Twilight) that readers refused to invest in a new series again until it was finished and they knew whether it was worth it.
Publishers began cancelling ongoing series and refusing to contract for anything new that didn’t first prove itself as a standalone with the potential for a sequel or series.
Think we’re gonna see a lot more of this unfortunately.
