B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

In which we do a TV wrap-up post.

After a good start on the first episode of The Sopranos, I have failed to give us space to discuss subsequent eps. Mea Culpa. I’m just going to say that I’ve been so impressed so far. These first three episodes have been stellar, although I did sense I was part of some nationwide squirming in episode 3 with the young Asian male prone to violence in the facility for the criminally insane or whatever it was. And I did briefly vow to stop watching when Johnny Sac died because, really, what reasons did I have left with him gone? He was my favorite character, and Vincent Curatola falls into the category of "I’ll watch anything with him in it."

What is it about so far? Death. Decay. The end of us all. The end that, no matter how fast we run, how many other people we destroy, how many identities we assume, how much treasure we accumulate, none of us can avoid. And, the question looms, what are we to make of that life of running, destruction, pretending and accumulating, when the end is right there? Do we face the end as someone – a whole human person – or has all of what we have done to preserve ourselves ironically destroyed us?

Now. Where have I heard that before?

Next: Lost. This half of the season is definitely better than the first. I do, however, find myself in a state of more-or-less perpetual confusion about what’s going on, the problem being is that plot lines are followed for two episodes max before we move onto another set of characters and their dilemmas. I’m enjoying it, but with reserve because I’m convinced that there is no master plan, that they really are making stuff up as they go along and moments like the last one of the last episode (which I won’t repeat in case anyone who’s planning on seeing it missed it. But feel free in the comments) are just big old Red Herrings 101. Or 815.

Update: Inhocsig, in the comments, has a trivia note for us:

If you’re wondering, the "monastery" where Des is loading the wine into the station wagon is St Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral.  I often walked the very spot with one of our fussing toddlers during services.  Of course that was years ago before the ECUSA went insane. 

And the last…well, if you watch it you get the title of this post. The thing about The Office is that it is definitely uneven – the tone is always on the edge of veering waaaaay off course into farce and typical sitcom hijinks (not to speak of the weekly "Oh, he would be so fired" moment. Followed by the "Oh, he would be so sued" moment) – the thing that it is the absolute master of is this amazing feat of capturing character in one 6-second scene. If you’re familiar with the show and didn’t see the last episode, I’ll bet you can guess whose mouth the title of the post came out of.

I think the best example of this was actually in a deleted scene from the ep before this one – "Safety Training" – it’s "scene four" – in which , for reasons we won’t go into, Michael is talked down from the roof. In 80 seconds we get perfect portraits of 8 different characters. Oh, and if you watch the second deleted scene from this week’s episode, know that it mixes fact and fiction. In the scene, Creed Bratton (my favorite character) acknowledges to a reporter that he is, indeed, the Creed Bratton who played with a band in the 60’s called The Grassroots, and for whom the now puzzled reporter says he wrote an obituary. Creed Bratton is played by an actor named Creed Bratton, who was part of a 60’s group called The Grassroots.

And although I never quite find the time to watch it, I’ll point you to the magisterial ongoing work of the American Papist on House, M.D. (not O.P). In this post he gives an overview of "the moralities of House" and then looks at the most recent episode, in which House’s opening line was: "Loss of free will. I like it. Maybe we can get Thomas Aquinas in for a consult."