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Michael Sheen

Masters of Sex – Season 1 Review

by Peter Foy

Gallery

A little less than three months ago I saw the pilot of Masters of Sex, and I almost instantly started referring to it as “a more melodramatic Mad Men“. It was in all honesty a rather uneducated claim to make on my part, as I had only seen the pilot, and it was a bit coarse to compare the two shows just because they are period pieces. I can now say after digesting the whole first season of Masters of Sex…my thoughts haven’t really changed. The show really could be referred to as the other side of the same coin as Mad Men, only it’s not as dramatically efficient or as proficiently provocative as AMC’s venerable drama. Still though, that’s no reason for you not to tune in, as Masters of Sex actually proves to be one of the most surprisingly satisfying new shows of the year, and it was a real treat to watch the show get progressively better each episode.

While making a televised serial off of a biography on Washington University’s sex researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson certainly seems a little odd at first, it also didn’t take long at all for the show to demonstrate that it had plenty of story to tell over it’s 12-episode run. One of the season’s strongest cards was how we really got to see William Masters project develop, from his initial work with prostitutes, to the more fascinating discoveries he unearths when he starts to use normal people as test subjects. In spite of it’s period setting, the sexual matters the show brings up are very clear for today’s public as well, but the 50s backdrop only accentuate things. Masters of Sex explores the paranoia and irrational concerns of the time period, and not just in regards to sex. The show also brings up cold war fear, as well as concerns on the accuracy of established norms in psychology and science.

Masters of Sex’s first season is also commendable for the numerous risks it took that could of been it’s undoing. For instance, the show has plenty of sub-plots to it that could of made the show feel cluttered or inauthentic, but they don’t feel like filler, unlike some other shows (*cough* American Horror Story *cough*). The stories, which range from a wife dealing with discovering her husband is actually gay, to two of the subjects falling in love through the experiments, they all feel natural and intrinsic to the show in a thematic sense. Also, while at first I had felt unhappy with the show’s decision to film through digital cameras, I’ve actually found myself grown to the approach now. The show is trying to be accessible to modern audiences, and it actually may have come off as edit overkill had the filmmakers taking a less modern approach to film-making. The show still feels and looks very much a part of it’s era, but it’s just important to realize that we are watching it at our contemporary time.

The show has sex on the brain, but not like most others. It’s not like Nip/Tuck in which Ryan Murphy overtly sexualized it to cover the melodrama, and it’s not comparable to Louie or Girls which uses sex to explore those awkard little moments that make people more sincere and modest than they realize. Instead, Masters of Sex is a show that explores why people are so mystified by sex, while deconstructing the myth that love and sex are synonymous. It’s a universal topic for sure, and the show handles it tastefully.  Sure, there’s plenty of steamy sex scenes, as well as frank moments such as a sub-plot that involves Masters and Virginia attempting to film inside a vagina, but it never comes of as racy or crass as something you might see on Girls or Game of Thones.  At first it made me  wonder that had Masters of Sex premiered before some of those shows, if it would it have gotten more attention from audiences and critics, but then I began to realize that it still probably wouldn’t. Unlike HBO, it appears that Showtime is still cautious about showing genitals in their programs, and Masters of Sex contains no full-frontal nudity, or even any sex that comes off as too explicit. Hell, there’s even a part of me that wants to call the show modest.

Still, we can be grateful that the cast of this show is committed enough to do such acts on camera. Before viewing the show, I questioned whether the renowned theater actor Michael Sheen would have successful chemistry with Lizzie Caplan, an actress better known for her work in comedies. Fortunately, both of them shined this season, and they both delivered some really weighty scenes with sure aplomb (Just watch the episode Fallout and listen to Caplan say “I quit”. It’s resonance is still stuck in my head). The rest of the cast all gave splendid work too, especially from small-screen favorite Allison Janney. The former West Wing star is highly sympathetic and believable in her portrayal of a woman who is looking to find love after a long and potentially fruitless marriage. I’m hoping that her starring role on the sitcom Mom doesn’t keep her away from making at least a few more appearances on the show next season.

So all-in-all, Masters of Sex had a really strong debut season that arguably found it’s voice at a rather young age. The only question, however, is how the show will proceed, as seeing that this is a show based on facts, we already know where it’s headed. It’s just the writers will have to decide what works best for telling their take on this story, and also deciding on what lee-way they should take if reality becomes too boring for TV. I for one have to admit, that I’m a little worried, as the past has demonstrated to me that Showtime shows often follow a pattern where they deliver a winning first season, only to have latter seasons be more of a mixed bag. Homeland had a rather brilliant first season, only to have a rather jarring change in it’s feel for the sophomore year, and don’t get me started on Dexter (yes, I do feel that it’s horrendous series finale pretty much destroyed the credibility of the entire series). Still, seeing how delicately the parties at hand were with this freshman year for Masters of Sex, I’m optimistic that they will only continue to move forward at the highly effective pace that this season had. One of the top ten seasons for 2013 (here).

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, TELEVISION Tagged With: Best of the Year, Freshman Season, Liz Caplan, Masters of Sex, Michael Sheen, Showtime, WIlliam Masters

2013: Top 10 TV Shows for the Year

by Peter Foy

December is pretty much the most satisfying month of the year for me, but not for the usual holiday cheer or what have you. As a cultural critic, I get incredibly giddy and anxious about composing a best of the year list, and will often spend so much of December’s 31 days going over and over in my head about what titles deserve what place in my self-coveted spot. Some friends of mine will verify that last year I blew off a post-Christmas party so that I could catch a screening of D’Jango Unchained so that I could write my 2012’s best films list ASAP (Please help if you think I might have a problem. D’Jango Unchained did not even make my top 10 for that year.).

So it comes with great pleasure that I was able to formulate a top 10 list for television shows relatively early in the month. I was a bit hesitant about writing is just now, but as my fellow Manhattan Digest contributor Michael Tyminski just elaborated on (here), we’re currently in a stand-still for weekly quality television at the moment, and we should consider that the best of the year has already happened. Therefore, I feel now is the perfect time to unleash my take on what were my favorite shows of the past year, right before unleashing my gargantuan best-films list at the month’s end(I’m currently aiming for it to be a top-25). Keep in mind I haven’t seen everything that aired this past year, with The Americans, The Bridge, Justified, American Horror Story, and Hannibal being a few of the critically acclaimed shows I missed. You could say I’m unqualified to write this list, but believe it or not, I do have a social life.

10. Masters of Sex

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Those that read my review for the Masters of Sex pilot know that I basically saw it as Mad Men-lite, so I’m both glad and surprised to say how strongly the quality of the show shifted during the rest of the season. It really is an intelligent break down on sexual relations of all shapes and forms, without being overtly raunchy or obvious. It certainly isn’t without melodrama (like Nip/Tuck, it’s essentially a sexed-up soap opera), but the acting often surpasses the occasionally hokey writing, with all the cast fully understanding how to find quality tv drama here, and who would have thought Michael Sheen and Liz Caplan would have such chemistry? I even take back what I said about how I felt the film making seemed anachronistic, as the production values do allow the show to look both modern, and a part of the time period it’s depicting. Here’s hoping it doesn’t follow the same pattern of other Showtime series like Dexter and Homeland, which followed up their strong debut seasons with subsequent ones that were more a mixed bag.

9. Parks and Recreation

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It’s just so re-assuring to see that this show has remained so strong into it’s 6th year. Maybe it’s the consistently witty writing, or the unique subject matter to fit the now tired faux-documentary format, but I think that it’s more or less because of the cast. They really did pick a dream-team of comics for this show, and I’m hoping my holy trinity (Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, and Nick Offerman) will be getting a very special collaborative episode in the near future. My pick for the best show on network television right now…at least until we see Dan Harmon’s return as showrunner for Community next year.

8. House of Cards

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2013 will probably go down as the year web-based-television really took off, and what’s a better show to ring it in than House of Cards. An intimidating political thriller featuring an all-star cast of film actors, the show really demonstrates that Netflix is interested in garnering some of the prestige that HBO has hogged up since The Sopranos. Executive producers David Fincher and Eric Roth, and show runner Beau Willimon clearly wanted to do more than just adapt the British mini-series, and they’ve created a very modern take on Shakespearean drama, in a very seedy and all too present backdrop. Stylish and chilly (albeit a little soulless at times), I for one am really hoping the show doesn’t suffer a sophomore slump next season…but I don’t think that will be a problem.

7. Enlightened

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It seems like every year there’s a great show that’s taking off the air way too early, and this year’s was definitely Enlightened. After a rough but entertaining first season, the show really found it’s voice in these final eight episodes, which saw main character Amy try and take down the corporate world that had employed her. Carefully plotted from start to end, the season was thoughtful, angry, cautious, and sweet in a way that’s hardly seen on television, even on HBO. It’s a shame that it didn’t find it’s audience in time to avoid a cancellation, but it can rest peacefully with the likes of Terriers and Party Down with this mantra lain upon it: “We just needed a little bit of time to be brilliant”.

6. Mad Men

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I’ll admit the show had a bit of a rough start this season. Seeing Don reading Dante’s Inferno, or hearing Betty make bizarre comments about rape made me think that Matthew Weiner and his writers had finally lost a grip on subtlety. Fortunately though, the show got back to it’s usually excellent standards quickly enough, with episodes that ranged from thematically rich like A Tale of Two Cities, to the deliciously surreal The Crash. A really unexpected ending too, and also one that makes one think that the real face of Don Draper has yet too be uncovered.

5. Orange is the New Black

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Jenji Kohan’s fictionalized take on Piper Kerman’s memoir is the best new show of the year by a long shot. While Kohan’s past experience as the creator of Weeds is visible in the show’s sense of humor and strong female characters, it will surprise many how this one season of Orange is the New Black is already so much more complex and subversive than Weeds was throughout its entire eight season run. It’s an examination on ethnicity and gender, as well as a suspenseful serial with no aversion to using cliffhangers, as well as a cheer inducing drama about the power of the human spirit. There’s been much talk over the past few months about how a lot of signature television series are ending soon, but we should rest assured that if Orange is the New Black is the designated torch holder for the likes of Breaking Bad and Mad Men, then there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. This is the reason you got a Netflix account!

4. Game of Thrones

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I have to admit that I haven’t been as in love with Game of Thrones as some of you other people. Sure, it’s a show that possibly has the most impressive production values in TV history, and the nerd in me is just so elated to see a beloved series of fantasy novels turned into an exceedingly popular and adult television serial for a premium station. Still though, I have to say that I had found the previous two seasons too removed from reality for me to care too much about the characters. This season, however, changed everything and I did find myself completely immersed in George R.R. Martin’s characters, and the horrible ordeals he puts them through. There were just so many great scenes this season, from Jaime and Brehn’s tear-soaked bath, to Jon Snow’s coupling with Ygritte, and of course there was that little scene in the penultimate episode that made us go straight to our twitter feeds and express how incredible this fucking show is! No need to exaggerate here, Game of Thrones is the best high fantasy epic ever put to screen.

3. Girls

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Did Lena Dunham silence the haters for the sophomore season of her rather divisive HBO dramedy…hell no! What we can be thankful for, however, is that Ms. Dunham did indeed step up her game as a writer and director this season, making it even more raw and dirty than the first year, but with far greater pay-off. We witnessed the characters explore issues of sexuality and over-privilege, while also dropping great hints about how unhappy they are underneath their seeming self-regard. People will continue to think Girls is a shallow and niche take on contemporary 20-something life from a jaded and shallow 20-something, but these people seriously needs to see the episode One’s Man Trash, as I feel it’s the most indepth and intrinsic work that Dunham has done to date.  Feel free to continue calling the show a pretentious piece of shit, but just don’t call it the new Sex and the City, as it’s a lot closer to being the new Sopranos.

2. Eastbound and Down

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I was wary at first about Eastbound and Down returning for another season, as the creators had previous stated that season 3 would be their last. Fortunately though, it didn’t take long into this season to realize there was still more story to be told about Kenny Powers, and in the end this season proved to be an even better ending for this series. Seeing the character regress from a family man back into a debaucherous dick-head just seemed so genuine for the show, but it was also surprising to see the merits this character would achieve as the season went on. It all led up to a finale that was even more grandiose and satisfying than the conclusion for that other brilliant show that ended this year (see below), and really makes me hopeful that Eastbound and Down will be looked at as an influential American comedy in future years, and find a larger audience. It’s a sit-com that re-invented itself each year, told a fluid and progressive story, and managed to be consistently funny, yet a sad and weighty tale as well. If you haven’t already, now’s the time to watch all 29 episodes of the best comedy that HBO has ever aired (with all respect to Curb Your Enthusiasm).

1. Breaking Bad

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No surprise, right? Those of you that read my Breaking Bad: The Legend Ends column already know my thought concerning this show’s final batch of episodes, but I would like to make one final comment: The episode Ozymandias, is what I feel really made this series shine. It was just such a devastating and no holds barred episode that used the serialized and organic nature of the show’s entire run to bring it to an all time dramatic high. It really was the episode we had been waiting for since we witnessed Walt make that unfortunate decision to become a meth cook back in the pilot, and the result was the show’s true transgression from brilliant pulp into great tragedy. It was one of the very best episodes a TV show has ever had…and the next two weren’t too shabby either. There, that’s all that remained to be said.

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, TELEVISION Tagged With: 2013, Breaking Bad, Cancelled shows, Eastbound and Down, Enlightened, game of thrones, Girls, hbo, house of cards, Liz Caplan, mad men, Masters of Sex, Michael Sheen, netflix, Orange is the New Black, television, Top ten list

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