reined in spacey is best spacey. the boiling underneath spacey. fell asleep watching the first one last night but will resume tonight. i hope they had lots and lots of creative meetings about the whole turning to the camera thing. could definitely do without it. a voiceover would have been enough.
― scott seward, Sunday, 3 February 2013 16:17 (eleven years ago) link
Like the turning to the camera thing. Very Richie III
― Gukbe, Sunday, 3 February 2013 16:18 (eleven years ago) link
Or maybe Lovejoy. Either way!
yeah, there are some parts where it works and others not so much
― The Mini-Mamas and the Mini-Papas (latebloomer), Sunday, 3 February 2013 16:18 (eleven years ago) link
it takes me out of things. i'm easily jarred/distracted though.
― scott seward, Sunday, 3 February 2013 16:36 (eleven years ago) link
i totally dig the turn-to-the-camera but i maybe im used to it from the og series
― max, Sunday, 3 February 2013 18:37 (eleven years ago) link
i haven't seen this remake altho i totes will but yeah i generally like turning to the camera fine because of, yes, richard 3
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Sunday, 3 February 2013 18:41 (eleven years ago) link
think spacey was a good idea
― a permanent mental health break (difficult listening hour), Sunday, 3 February 2013 18:42 (eleven years ago) link
it's used p gratuitously though - like there's a speech in which a turn to the camera aside is used as an intercut midway through & you sorta wonder what it is it's meant to be undercutting, whether they've built up a setting just to facilitate it being undermined. & there's still something about spacey's voice that makes those asides seem pretty clunky, like they have the exact same formula of syrupy inflection & downhome idiom every time.
― schlump, Sunday, 3 February 2013 18:44 (eleven years ago) link
whether they've built up a setting just to facilitate it being undermined
well... yeah? i mean what else are they gonna undermine, its not a documentary
― max, Sunday, 3 February 2013 18:53 (eleven years ago) link
sure. but I just mean that there's a kinda limit to many sassy asides we need given that they're part of the same structure as everything else, ie spacey implicitly acting tactically & in a mischievous way elsewhere. if they only serve to remind you of the guy's machiavellian streak that's fine, they do their job, but there are times at which it's hammering one note a little too hard, like we don't need so much blunt exposition. this isn't a big criticism, anyway, i am down with yeah, there are some parts where it works and others not so much
― schlump, Sunday, 3 February 2013 20:07 (eleven years ago) link
spacey's accent sucks
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 3 February 2013 20:13 (eleven years ago) link
It's bad but he's good in the role so it doesn't distract me much. I'm used to terrible phoney-baloney southern accents at this point.
― The Mini-Mamas and the Mini-Papas (latebloomer), Sunday, 3 February 2013 20:20 (eleven years ago) link
besides the streak i think they need the asides to remind you of the plan - after a while it can be not too obvious that this is somehow all designed to be a grand plan to fuck the president or someone over in some complicated unspecified way.
― j., Sunday, 3 February 2013 21:17 (eleven years ago) link
how poorly cast does the president dude seem
it's like a bizarro world where jon huntsman won
― iatee, Sunday, 3 February 2013 21:25 (eleven years ago) link
first ep made this seem decidedly duff
― conrad, Sunday, 3 February 2013 21:33 (eleven years ago) link
Is that good?
― Women, Fire, and Dangerous Zings (silby), Sunday, 3 February 2013 21:35 (eleven years ago) link
is duff good
― conrad, Sunday, 3 February 2013 21:48 (eleven years ago) link
no not really
― conrad, Sunday, 3 February 2013 21:49 (eleven years ago) link
Spacey is a terrible actor and this got off to a slow start but once the intrigue got going I was hooked.
― wk, Sunday, 3 February 2013 21:55 (eleven years ago) link
ian richardson was just so fucking good at making you feel privileged to be invited into his confidence. it was thrilling that someone so clever would seem to be On Your Side and in turn it made you want to be On His Side, which neatly mirrored the game he was playing with the reporter, so that you had no doubt why she got so sucked in. he may have been evil but he was just deliciously so; you were almost ready to just join him and let the world be damned. if he had started by breaking a puppy's neck i'm not sure that would have worked. they sort of failed to allow spacey to charm you at the beginning, which seems like a pretty big mistake. that said, this is a different show and i'm going to watch the hell out of it and try not to compare. but it's hard!
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 3 February 2013 22:10 (eleven years ago) link
It’s been a weekend of this interspersed with the m b v album, and I’ve worked my way through all of them. Enjoyed this a lot, and love the method of delivering it. I thought the ending was very underplayed though.
― Chewshabadoo, Sunday, 3 February 2013 23:17 (eleven years ago) link
Spacey's accent is so distractingly hilarious.
― s.clover, Monday, 4 February 2013 02:22 (eleven years ago) link
i was hoping for a total overthrow of the government, american society, etc.
― j., Monday, 4 February 2013 02:34 (eleven years ago) link
Ok, episode and a half in now. It works for me if I pretend that Spacey is so evil that he's faking a southern accent (because, uh, i don't know).
― s.clover, Monday, 4 February 2013 03:44 (eleven years ago) link
If he was Roy Cohn gay, that'd be a good twist, too.
― a tidy profit in Russia (Eazy), Monday, 4 February 2013 04:25 (eleven years ago) link
Like they keep referring to this bill as simply "education". Hey prez, what bill are you going to try to push through first? Will it be FOREIGN POLICY, DRUGS, or EDUCATION?
People don't talk about politics like that. It nags at me.
I've no idea whether this is how politicians actually talk but I bought it in the scene where Zoe is talking to Kevin Spacey, because while it may not be how people talk to politicans in general she's a gauche young reporter brazenly trying her luck and in way over her head.
I enjoyed the first episode, never seen the original, but I'm curious to see how it develops. Spacey is good I think.
― Matt DC, Monday, 4 February 2013 09:41 (eleven years ago) link
They would probably call it Education Reform irl, but yeah that is how they talk about big initiatives
― President Keyes, Monday, 4 February 2013 11:04 (eleven years ago) link
the original was cool but got really stupid eventually.
― Ballboy to Afghanistan (LocalGarda), Monday, 4 February 2013 11:07 (eleven years ago) link
When Spacey starts sparring w/ the Union guy it gets a bit silly
― President Keyes, Monday, 4 February 2013 11:08 (eleven years ago) link
i've started watching the original now
the first series is everything trace says it is but the second so far seems more like a gleeful alien vs predator style matchup between richardson and an (amazingly thinly-veiled portrayal of!) prince charles, that meddling do-gooder. v entertaining
isnt it weird how michael kitchen kinda literally is the british michael keaton
― r|t|c, Monday, 4 February 2013 11:57 (eleven years ago) link
also cool how this series is all coming up now as richard iii himself is being dug up
― r|t|c, Monday, 4 February 2013 11:59 (eleven years ago) link
forgot about this, in the original, which i see i mentioned upthread:
god the irish bloke in this...prob the worst paddy stereotype i've ever seen in a drama, not least cos it appears to be a genuine attempt at crafting a character. also...tories in the 80s, would they REALLY have an Irish press officer? like how many years after hunger strikes and shit? can't believe they'd want an Irish guy or an Irish person would want to work for them.
his name is Roger O'Neill and they mention him playing rugby a lot so is he meant to be protestant or something? V confused as a character, or second gen Irish?
― Ballboy to Afghanistan (LocalGarda), Monday, 4 February 2013 12:02 (eleven years ago) link
ha i forgot about that character, hes totally cartoonish
http://ellenandjim.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/roger_visits_urquhart.jpg
― am0n, Monday, 4 February 2013 16:50 (eleven years ago) link
wow. he's irish?
he has a worse accent that spacey
― do you even frogbs? (cozen), Monday, 4 February 2013 16:54 (eleven years ago) link
good call on damages. this fits into the same sort of niche, except maybe with less suspense, since its basically all from patty's pov.
― s.clover, Monday, 4 February 2013 16:55 (eleven years ago) link
Really enjoyd the British tv version, bought the trilogy as a book but it's just sat at the end of my bed for 2 years plus. That ageing tory guy really is machiavellian ain't he?
― Stevolende, Monday, 4 February 2013 20:11 (eleven years ago) link
Haha I was about to say that no one mentioned Damages, and then I remembered my drunk post. Even apart from the character similarities, the opening titles are *very* Damages: the prestigious-looking typeface (Trajan?), clouds moving over the skyline in time-lapse, quick shots of busy city streets, lingering shots of hallowed stone statues, everything turning from dusk into night.
― jaymc, Monday, 4 February 2013 20:43 (eleven years ago) link
I'm going to start watching this back-to-back with episodes of The West Wing
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Monday, 4 February 2013 20:46 (eleven years ago) link
miss the damages theme song something serious.
― s.clover, Monday, 4 February 2013 21:10 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IsrqKMFdEE
blimey this was a shock
― r|t|c, Monday, 4 February 2013 23:19 (eleven years ago) link
omg
― Number None, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 00:51 (eleven years ago) link
both maria and i were reminded of ayn rand watching the 2nd episode of this last night. kill all the losers! haha! the non-profit loser lady. let her work at walmart! the old lady in the coffee place who can't even work a cash register. what a loser! old reporter hag at the newspaper. step aside, loser! they really make you root for the strong sharks.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 15:52 (eleven years ago) link
You thought it was making you root for Spacey's wife over the office manager she was firing? Seriously?
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 15:54 (eleven years ago) link
Sorry, trying to make you root for her, I should have said.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 15:55 (eleven years ago) link
I mean I get that you are meant to root for Spacey's character. His wife, I'm not so sure. That may be bad casting/writing or it may that the charity storyline doesn't seem to fit anywhere yet.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 15:58 (eleven years ago) link
Whether you're meant to root for him or not, Spacey's character is def an anti-hero.
― Gukbe, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 16:02 (eleven years ago) link
I'm ten episodes in and I think it's gone from 'compulsively watchable' to 'actually quite smart', at least character-wise. Agree that some of the political manoeuvring is a bit silly.
― Gukbe, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 16:09 (eleven years ago) link
the non-profit loser lady. let her work at walmart! the old lady in the coffee place who can't even work a cash register. what a loser! old reporter hag at the newspaper. step aside, loser! they really make you root for the strong sharks.
I thought the cash register scene was to show ex-Mrs. Penn having a pang of conscience about throwing her old employee back out into the job market where she'd have to be schooled by 18 year olds.
― President Keyes, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 16:34 (eleven years ago) link
My BF and I had a debate about this scene, I also thought it was a moment of remorse, he thinks it was more confirmation about getting rid of the old, and getting younger people in, hence the younger women fixing the issue. Who knows?
― oh hai (captain rosie), Tuesday, 5 February 2013 16:40 (eleven years ago) link