Tim Goodman / Bastard Machine Podcast

AMA: The Answers.

Tim responds to the AMA: Ask Me Anything questions that first appeared here:AMA [https://timgoodman.substack.com] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit timgoodman.substack.com/subscribe [https://timgoodman.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Box Set: "Station Eleven."

Well, I was definitely wrong thinking one of these was the episode I didn’t like. That’s what happens with a fuzzy brain. Instead, these were another two strong episodes and, I would argue, “Goodbye My Damaged Home” is among the best overall. I detailed most of my thoughts about these episodes, particularly Ep. 7, in the audio segment above, but here are some things I noticed and will touch on quickly. In these episodes we got a lot to mull over with not a lot to scratch our heads over or be disappointed by, and that’s an easy win for an episode (or two). In Ep. 6, matching Young Kirsten and Grown Up Kirsten calling out for young/old Alex was inspired. A little more backstory about Gil (David Cross) and Pingtree and how Kirsten learned to care for Alex the way that Jeevan cared for here was also instructive. Less thrilling was adult Kirsten doing that thing we all hate when TV shows depict it — running off alone, headlong into danger. Simultaneously, Sarah and the rest of the Traveling Symphony stumbling around in the rain (like it was acid rain or something) and then falling into the hands of Brian from the Museum of Civilization — with a gun this time — was also fairly strained. I understand that pieces had to be moved into place, but the show has been more deft about it until this episode. Still, we did get more of The Prophet, and I do think Daniel Zovatto is excellent, a magnetic presence every time he’s on screen. Kirsten’s interpretation of the “spaceman”/spaceperson as being trapped in a time loop adds a little bit of information. There was action, too, though your mileage may vary on the final battle with the four Bandanas (formerly Red Bandanas aka meth heads) and how Kirsten killed them all before getting woozy from the blow darts. Hmmmm. Well, I still think it was a strong episode but that scene wasn’t may favorite (I think, oddly, that I disliked this episode more initially than on a second viewing — and no, it’s not the one coming up which I really don’t like). There was, I think, a subtle distribution of information in this episode that was easy to overlook on a single viewing. B*****d Machine is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. It also set up a truly great episode in Ep. 7, “Goodbye My Damaged Home,” which I talk a lot about in the audio portion, including my lust for Frank’s apartment (which he could never afford on a journalist’s wages, Vanity Fair assignment or not…I mean, if I had to die in an apartment, a concrete and glass modernist gem wouldn’t be so bad, I think). I loved all the creative decisions, from Kirsten walking through the door in the woods to Frank rapping out “Excursions” from A Tribe Called Quest. This was essentially Frank’s backstory episode and it proved even stronger on a second viewing. It’s a small thing, but finding out that Siya had told Jeevan that after 60 days it was time to go — that was a big detail I had missed. The nuance there — that the virus was likely over and the window for escaping before the living start turning on each other — was very smart and telling. And easily missed, apparently. I even noticed the return of the strawberry Yoo-Hoo in this episode. I guess they really were getting down to the dregs of the food. Again, I said enough in the audio portion at the top, but I’ll reiterate this: The emotional impact of doing the play, knowing that Frank had made his decision and that he got to say, “This strange and awful time was the happiest of my life,” and “You’re the only friend I’ve ever had,” made so much come together. Jeevan refusing to say his line because he didn’t want to say goodbye was also lovely, right before the intruder came in . As for the intruder, sure, you could say, in an episode where we find out only 1 in 1000 live, how does this guy come into this exact apartment, but I don’t care. I was all-in on that choice. I think that’s exactly the introduction of evil/the outside world that was needed and I was there for it. OK, I’m guessing this week’s comments will be good. Have at it. A quick reminder: As this week illustrated, with me offering up two new Box Set candidates (or, if you’re not planning on joining us, then just a couple of hopefully useful (Re)View posts), there will be an ongoing set of shows to deconstruct and discuss together. Or just learn about. I’m certainly not convinced that the tent is anywhere near full, so if you have TV loving friends, you can always tell them about this Substack and that plenty of shows will be upcoming, so there’s still time to jump on the bandwagon. That helps keep it going and I’m appreciative of anyone spreading the word. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit timgoodman.substack.com/subscribe [https://timgoodman.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Box Set: "Collateral."

We did it! We got through one! Wooot. Of course, all we did was watch TV and talk about it, but if the pandemic has taught us anything, the little pleasures in life are important. So, we did good. The question is, did “Collateral” do good — that is, did it meet your needs and expectations (which, come to think of it, might be different things). They are certainly different things to different people and I ended up being reminded, as I noted in the podcast preamble above, precisely why I really liked this series when it premiered. I thought, for the most part, that writer Sir David Hare and director SJ Clarkson stuck the landing, which is no easy feat in a jam-packed four episode thriller that bites off a lot of ambition. I’m also willing to say that while I love the mini-miniseries, perhaps four episodes is not ideal. It’s a short story, as most television series are (although they are novels compared to films, so maybe I should adapt that theory), but four is a very short story indeed. It comes with clear drawbacks and for me those were in the forced storytelling, the need for a little too much exposition and, arguably, how a show finds itself as it grows. I noted that the second episode was the weakest, a set-up for things to come and, indeed, the third episode was much better and then, to a lot of people’s great worry here at The Box Set, episode three also got ambitious pushing the story out and folks were left to wonder if one more episode and about an hour was enough time to wrap things up in a satisfactory manner. And, as I suggested in the subhead at the top, that will be determined by your personal preferences. I like things a little messy, like life, and I embrace ambiguity. Not everybody does. And being completely transparent, I find ambiguity extremely annoying in series where we’re looking at multiple crazy mysteries, ala “Lost,” and the answers never come because maybe they didn’t have the answers in the first place, as opposed to the answer is “this life just keeps on living and we don’t know what happens,” or “the window on this world is going to slowly shut and you’ll be left to guess at how it all goes on.” Which I’m fine with. I don’t like “there’s a monster in the woods!” and then 65 episodes later we don’t have an answer to why, much less a glimpse of the monster. B*****d Machine is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. So, for me, characters not being held accountable for their actions — getting away with it, if you will — works just fine here. The closing of a window on Kip’s life — I’m fine with that, too. Finding conclusions and explanations is tricky though. I’m not sure David’s storyline worked at all. His relationship with Karen, etc. — he was mostly there as someone who could critique the actions of the government from within and that’s more convenient than interesting. (That said, I loved that David’s last name is Mars, which just seems too much of a coincidence to not be a reference to “Life On Mars,” the brilliant series that John Simm, the actor who plays David, did previously). David did however, have a hand in the Jane story, where she chooses church over love (probably because she got Laurie’s letter about how important it was to Laurie to talk to a priest; that it meant something, that Jane is needed in the community). Your mileage may vary, as we say, so let’s hear your thoughts below. I did want to mention that I’m glad we did a shorter series and we were able to talk about story and structure in particular, which is tricky in this form (while the greater joy is that you’re in and you’re out, you’re entertained or your interest is piqued, all in four relatively short episodes). So that was good to discuss. Looking forward to future choices for The Box Set. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit timgoodman.substack.com/subscribe [https://timgoodman.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Box Set: "Station Eleven."

There is no before. We aren’t doing solo episodes anymore on the Box Set. We did, but there is no before. So we’re not. There’s only the now. The first rule of The Box Set TV Club is to not…mention old rules. OK, you get it. I think we switched to the two-episode format at just the right time, yes? As I mentioned in the podcast preamble, we were already coming off a stellar episode three (“Hurricane,”) and now, with “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Aren’t Dead,” and “The Severn City Airport” we get another two strong, story-important episodes where we got a little bit of everything and every one. Key here is probably The Prophet, who is set up with that moniker in Ep. 4, the reveal being “hey, we know what that weird guy’s name is who Kirsten stabbed.” One episode later, we are shown, in dramatic fashion, that The Prophet is the grown up Tyler, son of Arthur and Elizabeth. Tyler also has Uncle Clark in his past, but boy does that go sideways — not altogether convincingly, as I mention in the podcast notes. But we’ll get to that. B*****d Machine is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. To watch Young Kirsten come out of the woods in the snow and morph into Kirsten as we know her now, it’s a nice little effect, and it continues with a few other characters, including a brief appearance by the spaceperson, who this time is seen, in a twist, by Young Kirsten. Jeevan is there (and then, ominously, he’s not). Hell, we even get to meet the Traveling Symphony’s flamboyant and intriguing former director, played wonderfully by David Cross. Watch out for the mines. We moved them. Indeed. The evolution of Tyler to The Prophet will be interesting to witness, and he was quite a different iteration in the novel, I’m told. But since we’re only concerned with what’s happening on the small screen, I would say that my lone real disappointment is the devious rise of Clark — he’s finally got his lead role — to something I’m not entirely sure we saw come to life as Day 100 dawns in the airport. His angry tirade about Arthur, Elizabeth and Tyler seems a little out of place or forced, and saying that Tyler is a destructive force? Well, we haven’t really seen that. He’s an odd kid, sure. But his dad died of a heart attack and the world is ending, so he’s got his reasons to be sullen. And, if anything, it was Tyler’s empathy, saying that the lone survivor on the plane had to be flu resistant, which means more people are likely alive and out there, which appears to be his defining trait. Destroyer? Yeah, I’m not seeing that. Granted, he looks to be pretty devious as a grown up, but Clark’s painting of him (and Elizabeth) seems a bit much. (That said, Clark has always had that put-upon underachiever status about him and we’ve seen that he doesn’t think it’s fair and he won’t let it go. So, sure, there’s a progression to his current status, but it seems like we skipped a few key steps in what we actually saw. But that’s minor. I’ve really loved four of the five episodes so far and that’s a pretty great winning percentage at the halfway point. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit timgoodman.substack.com/subscribe [https://timgoodman.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Box Set: "Collateral."

Quick note to Box Set viewers: While it won’t concern those who are only currently watching (and commenting on) “Collateral,” because there’s only one episode left, I wanted to point out to those who may not be following “Station Eleven” where the longer announcement was made, that in the future for Box Set shows we will primarily be watching in two-episode per week patterns. That allows a deeper dive into character and plotting. Well, that’s better. I pretty clearly wasn’t enthralled with last week’s episode, but I did point out what is more clear now: That episode was just moving the pieces around for this endgame that is developed in Ep. 3. In turn, Ep. 3 was allowed to have less housekeeping duties and to just tell its story. And there was a bit of a surprise here as Berna, an undercover MI5 agent comes out of the shadows as someone who is A) In play thanks to Sam Spence, the other MI5 agent everyone loves to hate and B) She’s close to nailing Westbourne, the Pimlico Travel head who is clearly now at the forefront of this smuggling operation. If you pause to think, of course, you can see some problematic issues ahead in this turn of events (and I don’t mean negative storytelling problems; I mean, can the center hold and what are the motivations, which are good things to consider as a viewer). We also know more now about Sandrine and her issues, which I think are at least partly cleverly presented as mental health issues (she’s seeing the Golfing Shrink, after all), but are probably closer to this: She’s a xenophobe, straight up. And, at this juncture (in fairness I’ll say I can’t recall the finale clearly enough to pretend to be prescient), I would say the motivation for the sexual harassment storyline seems to be…to make viewers think that her issues are elsewhere. Rather than present her as a straight up racist/xenophobe. We also got to see more of Karen Mars, aka Mother of the Year, in a storyline that MUST have something truly dynamic coming because, well, it would just be ponderous without it. I mean, she’s a terrible mom and he’s ALSO a terrible dad and the girl is unloved and it’s a mystery why the French au pair is even still hanging about. At this point, this storyline is only giving me humor. But I think we can all agree that’s a distraction before something bigger. OK, have at it in the comments. I do think the episode was more propulsive and, even then, I thought, “well, there’s quite a LOT to wrap up in the finale.” Right? There’s a number of dangling threads. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit timgoodman.substack.com/subscribe [https://timgoodman.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]