So.. let's talk about "shows"(???).
The Wire - I binged this all in the span of two months. I think it's incredible and it's my favorite. I've spent more time talking about this show than breathing this year, so I'll leave it at that. Watch The Wire if you wanna be a better person.
Westworld - ALRIGHT... Westworld is really good. I think it's incredible and it's my favorite. I've spent more time talking about this show than breathing this year, so let's keep going.
Now, the ideas that Westworld presents are as old as time—how many works have you seen featuring an oppressed group rising up against an oppressive class system and conquering it? Man yeah, I FEEL that, it's everywhere!! And that's basically all Westworld is, but I think that's a very surface-levely way of looking at it. Westworld is really well-written, with interesting characters, and has a good story. And it looks good. But I mean, so is The Wire. But it's a little different, because Westworld is in a different setting and has a very different cast.
It's difficult to write about a show that you're more suggesting than dissecting, and it'd be a shame to ruin some of the show's incredible twists and turns that are only possible (in my limited knowledge.. maybe it is possible to others) with Christopher Nolan's brother Jonathan Nolan, who wrote the conceits with his wife Lisa Joy. But subject-wise we could go a bit in-depth. It's a different breed of cat from The Wire, focussing on the presence or absence of humanity with the heavy irony being that humanity has lost its humanity and artificial life might have a better idea of the thing. I said "heavy irony" because it's true, and also because the robots in Westworld are made out of heavy metals.
Westworld is real fun and I highly recommend it if you can afford an HBO account, hands down. Even if you can't afford one, but I think you enjoy the show more if you know you're paying for it.
Better Call Saul - This was really good! I think people should check it out. I liked it quite a bit. Novel idea. I'm excited for another season. I laughed out loud! Saul's middle-aged hijinks are some for the ages. Really good! Check it out. I liked it. Not quite The Wire, but.. Exciting. LOL!! Check it.
The Crown - John Lithgow is a luminary, a lamp unto my feet.
The People v. O.J. Simpson: An American Crime Story - I think this show deserves a lot more respect and attention than it has received this year, and especially in light of recent years. Given the content and message presented, this is probably the most iconic show for 2016.
In a society growing increasingly aware of race relations and racial tension, this work comes as an important (I'd argue: necessary) retrospective on the O.J. Simpson trial and why it was the phenomenon that it was. With as much coverage as it received, how could the results could be so controversial—how could a man with all that evidence pointing against him lead to a non-guilty verdict? The creators of this new "American Crime Story" series were brilliant in introducing the show through the context of the Rodney King riots, right away setting the scene for the racial ramifications that would come into play and define this trial of the century.
Though, you may be wondering, how can one engage with this show knowing the (unfortunate) ending? The show isn't so much about the trial as much as the people whose lives were changed by it and the underlying issues that come with how America deals with race. For that last reason alone it is worth watching.
The Wire also does that well.
Tune in at some point tomorrow for something else.
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