What I Watched

The Mentalist Season Finale

Spoilers abound.

My favorite thing about The Mentalist has always been the Red John story. It was the piece of the puzzle that gave Patrick Jane gravitas.  It was the part of the story that had the most juice. Despite his brilliance and his appearance of being in control and aware of everyone around him, Jane was not there to protect his wife and daughter, who were murdered by this serial killer. In this case, it was personal. Jane,who then made his money as a psychic, had made a television appearance where he had been openly dismissive of Red John and his actions. Red John answered by killing the ones Jane loved most.

In his grief, in his desire for vengeance, Patrick became a law enforcement consultant who now used his skills to help others, while always looking for ways to find and kill Red John. The best episodes have been when that storyline has been in the forefront. On too many episodes this year, that story has been abandoned. It's bad enough when the episodes are just standalone, when the team works on individual cases and Red John is not mentioned, but the writers chose not to pursue the Kristina Frye story, the psychic who had made a connection with Patrick, who, despite Patrick's warnings, made a similar tactical error with Red John, who was abducted and severely traumatized by the events. My favorite scene of the whole season was when Patrick meets with Kristina and tries to reengage with her. I really hope there is some way that the character will work her way back into the story.

In the series finale, Jane finally meets Red John, who turns out to be Bradley Whitford, a fine actor but too well known for this part. Red John also needed to be larger than life. Bradley Whitford is too recognizable and not nearly formidable enough.

The funny thing about Jane throughout this series is that although he seems fearless about psychologically challenging people, when there is physical danger present, he often seems at a loss. He seems genuinely afraid and flummoxed on what to do. It's always a relief when he beats a hasty retreat. Here, in this moment, when he does finally meet Red John, when he is satisfied that this is truly Red John, there was a moment when I thought he wouldn't be able to pull the trigger. However, he did kill Red John, and the creator has promised that Patrick Jane will have to face the consequences of his actions.(I think for someone who should have been fired a million times over, the creater had to specifically state that this time, he would have to take responsibility for what he has done.)  But will a legal drama be as fun as the chase? To me, it seems like the future courtroom scenes will be things that we've seen many times before. I would have liked to have seen the Red John story continue until the series finale.

 

Easy A

Sometimes I think it's just hardwired. When I hear of a chick flick, I want to see it, although part of me thinks that I will be disappointed by its end. I will come out of it depressed that happy endings, in the form of great shoes and Prince Charming, are still offered as the solution to everything. So I wanted to see this movie but didn't have any expectations about it.When I saw it was avaiable on Netflix streaming, that seemed like the perfect option.

I ended up liking it. I was happy to see that Emma Stone who played the lead character was depicted as a girl who liked words and who thought about things. I was thrilled to Stanley Tucci, one of my favorite actors ever, show up as her father. I was happy that Patricia Clarkson was her mother. To have these actors in your film helps make it quirky and smart.

I wasn't thrilled about the "A" sewn on the all the clothes. That hit the "Oh, really?" button in my brain, which can be hard to deactivate. There were characters, the Christian coalition, the best friend who seemed to broad for me to feel empathy for their situation. I think Lisa Kudrow has messed with her face, which was not only distracting but upsetting. I didn't like the Huck Finn references. In the end, I would have liked if they had kept literature out of it all together.

But I enjoyed the movie. I did feel like there was some heart and smarts in the mix. It was fun to watch.

 

The Justified Finale, Season 2

After we finished watching the finale for this season of Justified, I told Mike I wanted to watch Season 1 and Season 2 again. That's how good it is. It reminds me of The Godfather series in that it's about families where the children, often now adults at least in chronological age, are fiercely loyal, fed up, extremely angry, severely disappointed by the actions of their parents. Their parents are often horrifying in their narcissism, in their willingness to put their business ahead of the welfare of their children. It reminded me of The Wire is that the acting is top drawer, and most of the actors I had never seen before. I was thinking about it while watching Friday Night Lights, where they had a sequence where you saw moments with different characters, no words, just music playing, and it was incredibly moving. I feel you could do the same with the cast in Justified. They are so visually interesting; they are able to express so much just in their physical presence. They are that charismatic.

Don't get me wrong. We were talking about this yesterday. I think a big part of the reason for the success of this show is Elmore Leonard. It is quite helpful to start with a foundation of such great writing and to recognize it by continuing on in his tradition. Elmore Leonard is a consultant on this show, and his creative spirit seems to infuse each episode. The music is also wonderful, an evocative and powerful complement of this stew that I hope continues for a long time.

Cinema Verite

This is one of those movies where you need a sense of history. I think that if you didn't have the experience of watching An American Family when it aired, this film would mean very little to you. But if you were of that age to watch that show, this movie feels as strangely interesting as that show did when we watched it.

It fascinated me that two very well known actors, Tim Robbins and Diane Lane, could be so convincing as Bill and Patricia Loud. This is always the risk when you play real-life people is how you will match up in looks and manner to public personalities. These two actors were so good at seemingly channeling these two poeple that oftentimes the film could play footage from the real show alongside the depiction they were now filming without it being dissonant or jarring. Their portrayals were so true to life that the real footage just seemed like a wink and a nod, an affirmation of the great work of these actors in these roles.

It seemed like innocent times, before reality television became the norm rather than the exception, when filmmakers hired for An American Family were genuinely offended if situations were manipulated, if they felt that they were enfringing on this family's privacy. It was a film that in the end brought us up-to-date with the latest news of what had happened to the Loud family. It was poignant and sad and funny and someting to be experienced, much like the original program so many years ago.