The Crown: Season 2, Episode 3- Lisbon

“One always has to accept one’s own part, I believe, in any mess.”

This is a very cleverly structured episode, both in itself and as part of the season. We return, of course, to the Lisbon flash forward where the season began, whet the two plot threads- Eden’s resignation and the climax of the Parker divorce case revelation in the media and the confrontation between Elizabeth and Philip. It’s masterfully done: the train steaming inexorably towards Sandringham for Eden to suffer his drive of shame before resigning is also a symbol of what awaits Philip.

Yet Elizabeth remains, somehow, constitutionally above it all. Eden may try to rationalise things to himself, and to claim that he’s resigning from ill health and not because he’s just been- to use an anachronism- Thatchered by his Cabinet. Macmillan may try and downplay his past support for the Suez misadventure, but the Queen is not unaware. And nor is she unaware of the underlying reasons for Philip’s “restlessness”- again, the question of his possible adultery is left open- or, indeed, unfeeling, whatever the stiff upper lip exterior may show. Claire Foy is utterly sublime here.

The solution- upgrading Phil to a Prince and a crackdown on moustaches- seems unlikely to work. We shall see. Further kids are on the way, the less said about the first of them the better, but Mike is perceptive, in his parting chat with Phil, on the underlying tension between a monarch and their eldest son, who represents their personal extinction.

There is an awful lot going on here- echoes of the Iraq War, but one where the protests claim their scalp; Tommy Lascelles coming back from retirement for a crisis; the Queen and Eileen having a woman to woman talk. The obvious respect both PM’s have for Elizabeth- and her perceptive comments to Eden on how doing nothing is often the wisest course, but not one that may appeal to those wishing themselves to be great men. This is a clever, clever bit of telly.

The Crown: Season 2, Episode 2- A Company of Men

“Men are expected to indulge...”

This is a very, very courageous piece of telly and I’m surprised the subject matter didn’t arouse more controversy at the time. Again, Philip isn’t shown to have been having an affair during his five month tour of the Commonwealth (or indeed previously), but it is implied that he may have been a little naughty- as Eileen, Mike Parker’s disgruntled wife, tells us, the five month trip looks awfully like a very long stag night.

Meanwhile Elizabeth remains at home- calm, unflappable, far too stiff upper lip to allow her feelings to be visible- much as Sir Anthony Eden, humiliated by the Suez debacle, appears to be having a physical and mental breakdown as the drugs no longer work. But this is not an episode for geopolitics, much as Lord Mountbatten may scheme- he’s an interesting character.

But a large portion of the episode, expensive looking at that, is given over to Philip’s hi-jinks, interspersed with the odd speech and the occasional Olympics to open. There’s a very symbolic scene in which he rings Elizabeth from the other side of the world but the line is terrible- as ever, they aren’t communicating. But most fascinating is the journalist interviewing Philip in which we are reminded of his traumatic childhood, where revolution in Greece led to parental abandonment and breakdown- and the awkward fact of his Nazi sisters.

We finish with Philip having a long night of the soul, and a family reconciliation of sorts. But, as the start of last episode shows, there are still difficulties to come. The spiralling scandal of Mike and Eileen’s divorce threatens to expose Philip and the tension is palpable. This is good drama, although I’m glad we do t have those stupid lese-majeste laws they have in Thailand. And Matt Smith, in particular, is superb.

Robot Monster (1953)

Fool humans! There is no escape!"

I’ve seen Plan 9 from Outer Space. I’ve seen Teenagers from Outer Space. Surely ‘50s sci-fi B movies has nothing more that can compete with these?

Oh.

Doctor Who fans may find this film something of a blatant influence on The Sontaran Experiment, with Ro-Man a cheaper and more crappy named version of Styre. In both cases we have the last handful of humans running around an Earth almost bereft of humans as an alien baddie runs around trying to catch them using the power of robotic strength. Meanwhile, he makes regular video calls to an increasingly exasperated boss who starts to doubt his competence- in 1953, of course, video calls were the future.

I think you’re already expecting me to put this into so-bad-it’s-good territory and, well, yes. Why does the imaginatively named Ro-Man wear a gorilla costume with a vaguely robotic helmet, for example? And antibiotics can do anything: not only have two of the goodies made an antibiotic serum that can cure all disease, it can also protect people from death rays. I’m sure this is entirely scientifically accurate.

The goodies won, sort of, because plot convenience makes Ro-Man fall in love with one of the female humans. There’s some vague attempt at drama and even a wedding. But Ro-Man’s failure causes his boss to take over and, er, shoot rays that cause stock footage of stop motion dinosaurs to rampage across the Earth and “smash the planet Earth out of the Universe.” All seemed doomed. But it was all a dream... or was it?

And yes, that’s all literal. One does not “recommend” this film- let us not pretend it’s anything other than crap. It’s worth watching for a good laugh, but this film should on no account be watched while sober.

Sex Education: Season 2, Episode 4

“Otis, you're gonna be deflowered!"

Well, a lot happened in this episode; must be mid-season. And relationships are getting complicated now. There are more triangles in this episodes than you'd see in a game of Kensington, to use a cultural reference that probably isn't appropriate to a programme featuring characters born mainly in the 21st century. Yes, I'm forty- three. I feel old.

This is all cleverly plotted for maximum angst, and even the farce about Otis looking after a toddler goes horribly wrong. So many awful things happen. Maeve is horribly let down by her useless mother and horrible quiz teammates... and, to make things worse she confesses her feelings to Otis, mere tens of minutes before he's due to have sex with Ola, whom he's not sure he loves.

But Eric is also horribly conflicted between the sexy Rahim and the very human, and extremely depressed, Adam. Yet it's not just the kids who struggle with relationships. Even Jean- a sex therapist, no less- is beginning to be annoyed by some of Jakob's habits. And when her ex Remi arrives unannounced we get uncomfortable undercurrents of snobbery to her new plumber boyfriend... and eventually a slightly tipsy kiss between the ex-spouses. That's three triangles.

Still warming up is Jackson's interesting plot thread about treading the boards and acting as sex advisor (another one!) to Viv. And we learn (with Jean) that Mr Groff hasn't shown any sexual interest in his wife Maureen for six years. Ouch. There's something going on there.

This may not be quite top notch drama, but it's elegantly scripted and very good indeed.

The Crown: Season 2, Episode 1- Misadventure

“A prison...?"

It's been years since I saw the first season so this is long overdue. In my defence, there's so much telly to see and blog. But I'm reminded, after this first episode of what I can hardly call the new season, that this is a bloody good programme. And both Claire Foy and Matt Smith excel as ever- as does Jeremy Northam as an increasingly tragic Sir Anthony Eden beneath the apparent patrician poise.

Foy is superb at conveying the deep yet necessarily restrained emotions of a Sovereign, not free to be a person, as her marriage seems to be falling apart, yet divorce is not an option and neither, it seems, is happiness. Monarchy is a gilded cage, and not a humane one. Yet Smith also successfully walks a tigtrope, remaining likeable as an emasculated yet childish paragon of toxic masculinity chafing at his traditionally feminine role and, it's implied, having affairs- although this, I suspect, will never be more than implied. I suspect the picture of a woman found by Elizabeth in his bag will have an innocent explanation, but there are definite hints at infidelity. Their marriage is in trouble.

But can royals ever be happy, or human? The institution is cruel. Look at Margaret, now a careless drunk after being denied happiness last season. Royalty means privilege, comfort and no freedom whatsoever. There are plenty of reminders here of the snobbery that surrounds it. Any debate on the monarchy would always be won by republicans as a no-brainer. And yet, what should we have instead? Do we, in populist 2020, trust our venal politicians with any major constitutional reform?

But the Establishment (a very '50s word) goes beyond this. We first see Eden addressing Eton, hia alma mater, as the sixteenth out of forty prime ministers to have been an Old Etonian. It reminds us that even the sensibly, centrist, Welfare State-supporting Tories of the Butskellite decades were still Tories and not, alas, Whigs, accepting change and reform only as far as they needed to survive.

This is a fascinating mix of themes, of the personal and the political, which are of course profoundly intermingled. Again, I'm hooked.

We see the Suez slowly unfolding in Egypt, to the concern of pretty much everyone, and scenes of the Canal being invaded by British and French troops are juxtaposed with Eden popping pills.

Sex Education: Season 2, Episode 3

"Cum is kind of like a penis having a sneeze..."

This is a rather more serious episode than usual, focusing on Aimee as she suffers a sexual assault on a bus. Realistically, she dismisses it at first but is persuaded by Maeve, a wonderful friend using her birthday to accompany her to the police station, to report the crime. She seriousness of it all slowly sinks in until we see her break down in tears having been unable to tell her mum. It's a sobering reflection, in these post-#MeToo times, of the shit women and girls are expected to put up with, every day, by people who are the same gender as me.

Like last episode, there's a fair amount of bad sex via miscomunication this week as Olivia puts a pillow over her boyfriend's face while she cums because she has an "ugly cum face". How very teenager. I love how this series, so very often, is Marshall McLuhan with tits and willies. We also, rather bravely, get to see Otis being very immature indeed with the long-suffering Jakob, who ends up taking a staggeringly graceless apology with good grace. Meanwhile, Eric has a wonderful date with Rahim, who kisses him... only to randomly run into Adam, who is understandably very depressed indeed. Love triangle alert. And, on that front, and despite Aimee's advice, Maeve yet again fails to tell otis how she feels.

Touchingly, though, the very vulnerable Jackson has a bit of a crush on his tutor Viv as opposites- the athlete and the brainbox- seem to attract. He auditions for the part of Romeo- and nails it. I love where this is going.

Sex Education: Season 2, Episode 2

"Baba ganouche!"

This second episode is, on one level, setting up the actual character dynamics and plot arcs after last episode- hence we have Eric realising that Rahul actually likes him, and Marvel admitting- at least to Aimee and herself- that she isn’t over Otis. It’s also nice to see a couple of the more sympathetic teachers- Emily and Colin- shown as human beings with sex lives. But what makes this episode particularly great is that it’s all about one thing: communication.

We’re not great, in this country at least, about actually talking about sex, and what the other person wants. There seems to be an expectation, among far too many people, that there’s some magic trick that will please the other person without realising that the only secret of good sex is to find out what the other person likes, by talking to them, and doing it. Hence Colin’s problem with dirty talk, and even Otis’ rubbish fingering of Ola. (I love how Lily tells him!) Hence, perhaps, the culture of repressed gay sexuality at poor Adam’s cruel military school.

Part of the problem, I think, is how we Brits see sex as a joke, as “smut”, and not about an enjoyable and emotionally important part of life that is certainly fun and playful but also deadly serious, and important. It can, and often should, be silly, but it should never be treated as a joke- the excruciating scenes of Jean at the assembly and the equally cringeworthy sex education lesson (with Rahim as the voice of continental common sense; Brexit is even bad for our sex lives).

This is just what I like from telly- good characterisation and juicy subtext. Good stuff. And don’t forget, folks- ask about her orange.

The Adventures of Captain Marvel: Death Takes the Wheel

"Talk fast, or I'll..."

Four episodes in and the first ever appearance of a comic book superhero continues to impress. The mystery of the Scorpion's identity continues to enthral as possible clues appear. And, while this is pure pulp with a cliffhanger every seven minutes, it's done so. And, impressively, behind the set pieces it feels, with the conceit of the device and three lenses for the Scorpion to recover, as though there's a real plot beneath the set pieces.

And the set pieces are exciting, although the re-edited cliffhanger (Billy realises about the bomb, says a quick "Shazam" and flies away before the plane explodes. Surely he's only supposed to do this for the cause of right, not pure self-preservation...?) is a blatant cheat. We have Billy and Betty (our two intrepid investigators) both lured into a trap and both imperilled in delightfully entertaining ways.

Interesting, too, that Captain Marvel is not too much of a goody two shoes, threatening dire consequences to the minion he asks about Betty’s whereabouts. We’ll see how such things develop. For now, though, I’m enjoying this in ways I never expected I would.

A Dangerous Method (2011)

“Angels always speak German...”

I've been watching a lot of David Cronenberg films lately, something which stems from both an increasing admiration of the diversity and extraordinary quality of his work and their ease of availability, particularly as several of them have been available on Amazon Prime of late. Sadly, I've seen rather more of the later films which tend to be subtitled than the older, more stereotypically Cronenberg "body horror" films which Amazon Prime seems unable to subtitle although its rival Netflix seems to have no trouble subtitling everything. Still, this superb film can't be blamed for that, and is another example of Cronenberg's late career peak.I hope, with increasing desperation, that he hasn't retired.

Superficiall this is a typical late Cronenberg film in that the camerawork and mood feel like Cronenberg and, of course, Viggo Mortensen plays a prominent role. Yet this is anything but a typical sort of film for Cronenberg to helm, being an adaptation of a period stage play that eschews the visual in favour of psychology. In every sense.

This is a fascinating portrait of three figures in intellectual figures- the well-known figures of Sigmund Freud and Paul Jung and the less famous yet pivotal figure of Sabina Spielrein.The film deals with several themes which echo those of psychoanalysis- father figures, sexual repression and guilt, and a very Belle Epoch approach to kink and kink-shaming, but also such things as social class and the tension between a comfortable yet repressed bourgeois life and a Bohemian life of freedom without security. It's a fascinating film of ideas, in that sense reminiscent of Cronenberg's Cosmopolis, but also a film full of repressed passion.

The whole thing is anchored by the three central performances of Mortensen, Michael Fassbender and expecially Keira Knightley, whose performance is simly extraordinary. A splendid film.

The Adventures of Captain Marvel: Time Bomb

"I don't think the police will hear about this..."

This third episode, while being absolutely a straight-up movie serial with all the tropes and limitations thereof, not least in stopping every seventeen minutes or so for a moment of peril, continues to show that The Adventures of Captain Marvel gets the superhero movie serial just right.

I like that the baddie is credited just as “the Scorpion”. I like the recap stills at the start of the episode that imprint in our memories the characters and the plot. Little things like this tend to be done right. But so far the plot has a nice, simple, but engrossing structure in that the Scorpion is after the lenses and, moreover, we know the Scorpion is one of the expedition. I like that there are several ostensibly sinister individuals amongst the group, and not just the obvious foreign red herring Tal Chotali.

And the cliffhangers, so far, are done with suspense- the time bomb on Billy’s plane is no exception, as the tension bounds and builds until the plane (a biplane with a propeller!) falls apart in the air.

This may not be big or clever, but it’s done very well indeed.

Deadwood: Season 1, Episode 12- Sold Under Sin

"Announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh..."

This season finale is fascinating, thematic, perfect, and very much centred on the difficulties and dilemmas facing its two central characters as the military and magistrate arrive. Annexation and civilisation are almost here, and both Al and Seth must face what it means for them.

We begin as the camera pans away from Al, for whom the moment of truth arrives: the magistrate with the warrant for his arrest on a capital charge. He eventually deals with this problem decisively, but not without risks that the problem will return. And yet he carries out a more merciful killing, too: that of poor Reverend Smith, at the subtle urging of an upset and despairing Doc, who can at least take solace in the fact that his care has made a positive difference to a cheerful and smiling Jewel as he drinks himself to oblivion.

Al has other problems, though. The newly appointed sheriff is corrupt and, worse, acting in the interests of Cy in striking at Mr Wu and the Chinese. And this is not a problem, to Mr Wu’s fury, he can make go away.

Worse, Alma’s father turns out to be an utter blackguard, who wants to use his daughter to finance his growing and huge gambling debts- and is willing to blackmail his own daughter to achieve this. Seth, ever the gentleman, gives him a jolly good thrashing for being a cad and boulder- but comes close to arranging his murder at the hands of Al. At last he comes back from the abyss, but not before breaking his empty wedding vows by finally shagging Alma- and accepting, at last, with Al’s blessing, the position of sheriff.

This is a finely crafted, multifaceted ending to a superlative first season. I’ll be back before too long to begin the second...

The Adventures of Captain Marvel: The Guillotine

"Whoever controls this device will have power such as men have dreamed of since the beginning of time!”

It's fascinating to compare this second episode with that of the rubbish Batman and Robin: the difference in quality is all the clearer from the similarities in format. Again, after a longer first episode, we’re now into a much shorter length. The music is very similar. There’s a hooded and masked baddie with a loaf of very ‘40s behatted hoods working for him. There are fights. It all points towards a cliffhanger every seventeen minutes. And, after the cliffhanger, the action shifts from vaguely oriental lands to the USA, a similar setting to Batman and Robin, and the racism (although everyone seems to be white!) is no longer so apparent.

And yet it’s all so much better done. The direction and acting remain clearly superior. This is still a movie serial, and not exactly great art, but it all looks perfectly competent. Captain Marvel in action- flying, being impervious to bullets although one can’t help wondering why he never gets shot in the face- looks bloody good. The dialogue is functional, but does its job well.

But it’s also at plot level that this is obviously superior. The guillotine is used as the cliffhanger at the end, but it’s introduced earlier in a nice little Chekhov’s Gun moment. And it’s established that the Scorpion is really one of the archaeologists, so we have a nice little whodunit going on.

I’m enjoying this, and relieved to be.

The Adventures of Captain Marvel: Curse of the Scorpion

"Shazam!"

You may recall that I blogged, not many months ago, 1949's execrable Batman and Robin, a movie serial so cheap, so badly written, so "that'll do", that it threatened to put me off movie serials for life- especially as my only previous experience, as a twelve(ish) year old boy watching 1943's somewhat racist and very similar Batman on the telly in 1990(ish). I'm only watching this one because a) I need something with short episodes to blog because life is very hectic and exhausting indeed right now and b) I'm assured that this is actually good.

The name "Captain Marvel" is, it's fair to say, reasonanly popular amongst superheroes. Marvel have a current character of that name (Carol Danvers, the former Ms. Marvel) and within the pages of the House of Ideas we have also seen Mar-Vell the Kree superhero and Monica Rambeau, my own generation's Captain Marvel.

But this is 1941, and the first Captain Marvel. And it's not Marvel Comics who own the character- and not is it DC at this point: it's Fawcett Comics, although DC would later buy the company and integrate its characters into their own universe- with the rather pleasing result that Captain Marvel, something of a Superman rip-off, will end up interacting with Kal-El himself. But it's only 1941. That's all ages away.

So is this first episode any good? Well, yes. It is, of course, an origin story based on the familiar trope of a tomb that must not be disturbed for fear of annoying the vaguely superstitious and randomly violent natives. And, well, it's 1941. You didn't think there'd be no racism at all, did you? It's set in "Siam", yet the natives are all beturbaned, suspiciously Caucasian and look very much like the common perception of Afghan tribesmen to me. It very much gives the impression that we're supposed to think that all these vaguely Eastern places are pretty much the same. Edward Said would have a field day with this. But, well, it's 1941. Empires are still a thing. The past is indeed a foreign country. And why would a Thai legend imbue Captain Marvel with attributes from Greek gods?

Despite this, though, the production values, acting and special effects are all good, and it's already clear that this has been made with a lot more care than Batman and Robin. The story is well told and it looks good. So far, so good.

Batman: Minerva, Mayhem and Millionaires

"Batman, how could you have opened a vault, to which you didn't even know the combnation, in three seconds flat?"

"With my Three Seconds Flat Bat Vault Combination Unscrambler, Commissioner."

At last we come to the final episode and... well, Minerva's first two millionaire victims are one William Dozier and "millionaire television producer"  Howie Horwitz, but that's just an in-joke for those in the know. There's otherwise no acknowledgement whatsoever that this is the final episode. Was there still some uncertainty when this was made about whether the show was going to be picked up for another season by NBC?

This is rather good, though, and a decent finale, although it doesn't hit the real heights. Zsa Zsa Gabor is charismatic, sexy and funny as one-off baddie Minerva, and the script has a bit of fun- one of Charles Hoffman's better efforts. The episode may be a little rushed, and Batgirl underused, but that's not so much the fault of the episode as the format for this season.

And... that's it. Batman is gone with neither a bang nor a whimper but a very ordinary episodes. I suppose that's how things were in 1968. But I have every intention of following certain aspects of the series' afterlife.

Fornow, though, I'll continue with Deadwood, and start something else...

Demolition Man (1993)

"The exchange of bodily fluids? Do you know what that leads to?"

From unpromising beginnings- Sylvester Stallone's first line is a very crude bit of blatant exposition- a film I was expecting to be just a fun '90s action movie turns out, as well as being exactly that, a genuinely (and intentionally) funnt comedy at the same time as well as a timely warning against an over-sanitised society. No sex or alcohol? That's no utopia.

The cast is superb. Yes, this may no longer be the Stallone of First Blood who actually acts but more the Stallone of Judge Dredd whom you just point as a script and let you do his shouty stuff, but that's exactly what's needed for the part of John Spartan. Wesley Snipes gives a much more accomplished performance- yes, his role as Simon Phoenix calls for much scenery chewing, but this is considered, nuanced and multi-layered scenery chewing and the perfect performance. The lovely Sandra Bullock, meanwhile, gives a perfect comedic performance. She's a talented actress, although sadly one who (present film excepted) hasn't always chosen the best films in which to appear. And Nigel Hawthorne, although bizarrely miscast, is superb as always.

On the surface this is a film about a cop and a psycho from 1996 emerging into the distant future of 2032, where they continue their rialry amongst much skulduggery. Yes it is just as much a comedy of manners, finding copious humour in putting its macho hero in a saccharine future where police are unable to handle violence and swearing is prohibited. I'm certainly not a libertarian of the right-wing sort, you'll never catch me railing against that nebulous concept of "political correctness", but, in its attitude to civil liberties, sex, beer and ratburgers, this is perhaps a rebuke from the '90s towards our society of facial recognition and that silly, arbitrary fourteen units a week. It's also a bloody good and well-shot film, both as a comedy and as an action film.

Wild at Heart (1990)

“Too bad he couldn't visit that old Wizard of Oz and get some good advice."

This is a David Lynch film, so you just know there's going to be weirdness, symbolism and ambiguous subtext. We get all this in Wild at Heart, yet it simultaneously is and isn't what one might expect from Lynch.

Interestingly, despite the arty directorial flashes, dreamy atmosphere, eschewal of nturalism in both directorial and acting styles and Lynchian blurring of what is and is not real, on the surface this is quite a straightforward film, to the extent of being cheesy. After all, it's a road movie, a romance with a happy ending, and interestingly the kind of action movie based on American  grotesques that looks ahead to Tarantino.

And yet there's so much going on beneath the surface- playful irony, yes, but much more. There's a loving relationship between two flawed but decent people, lots and lots of good sex, and the soppiest ending ever- but there's also a lot of darkness, particularly sexual darkness. We learn of Lula being sexually abused as a teenager, and Bobby sexually assaults her in a very uncomfortable scene. Yet, although this film doesn't flinch from the fact that this is a sometimes dark world, where good people suffer and die needlessly, it's also a film that holds out the hope of eventual happiness.

It's also, interestingly, a film full of characters reminiscing to one another, but these memories are unclear, frangmentary and inconsistent: all the characters, and indeed the narrative itself, are unreliable narrators. Memory, and thus the past, is a fragile, vague thing. There is only now. There's a melancholy to this, but also hope: we don't have to be prisoners of our past, as Sailor ultimately learns from the Good Witch.

And no, I've no idea what those Wizard of Oz references are all about, beyond the obvious rarallel of a journey. But this is a film that can be enjoued at a much deeper level while also being a weirdly straightforward melodrama. Fascinating.

Batman: The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra

"A Batfight seldom takes more than forty seconds, and they're already half an hour late."

Now this is more like it. It will never be one of my all-time  favourites, it's extremely cheap-looking, and all the ersatz "arch-criminals" are both underused to the point of undermining the characters and far too easily defeated, but the wit and the fun are back.

We first meet alchemist Dr Cassandra and her sidekick husband Cabala (both played by minor Hollywood stars) as they use invisibility to rob a bank that's "so conservative it pays no interest at all", and the silliness remains at that level- right to the point of a gun that turns our Terrific Trio into two-dimesnsional beings, aka cardboard cutouts. This is splendidly silly, and results in Batgirl being introduced to the Batcave.

The misuse of the arch-criminals is unnecessary and jarring, although I love that Gotham Prison has an "arch-criminals' wing". And the Batfight in total darkness is hilarious. After last episode's disaster, the series may well be regaining its mojo just before the last ever episode...

Batman: The Joker's Flying Saucer

"Holy known unknown flying objects!"

Oh dear. Only last episode I was rejoicing that, while this season is clearly under-budget and, on the whole, under par, it is nevertheless capable of reaching real heights. It is also, alas, capable of real lows, and this third-from-last episode is a real stinker. The sort of episode, in fact, which can tempt one to mention shark jumping. And this is the last episode of the Joker and, indeed, of any recurring villain.

Cesar Romero's Joker was never my favourite villain in Batman: Frank Gorshin's Riddler, Penguin and both Catwomans (Catwomen?) outshine him. And Romero, admittedly, is only my third favourite Joker. Fourth, if you count Conrad Veidt. But I liked him, and he deserves a much better swansong than this.

High concept episodes are fair enough, but this episode takes the theme of a silly flying saucer hoax and does absolutely nothing interesting with it. There's no wit or metatextual fun to speak of, just broad attempts at humour, although admittedly the Joker asuming Alfred must be a "mad scientist" is quite funny. Not even stock footage of the Batcopter can save this cheap, tawdry and funny episode.

Deadwood: Season 1, Episode 11: Jewel's Boot Is Made for Walking

"You pay or she pays..."

Al Swearengen is truly the puppetmaster in this penultimate episodes, pulling all sorts of strings. We begin with him bribing Silas Adams to make his judge go away, and it is he who ultimately decides on a dodgy new sheriff- although he later seems to warm to the idea of Seth. He has worrying designs on the increasingly unwell Reverend. His jealousy at Sol when he finds he's been sleeping with Trixie on a non-commercial basis is solved by his asserting his "rights" as pimp.And yet this, along with the judge's warrant over his head, could be the harbinger of the potential threat to his position of the coming of civilisation and annexation. In controlling the process, can he control the threat?

Less clever is Alma's dodgy father, who is after her claim but is seen through by all, although he explicitly gives his blessing to her and Seth, of whom he approves, in full knowledge that Seth's wife and ward are coming. Ominously, too, Tolliver gets the surviving junkie to spread racist rumours about the Chinese, rumours that reflect badly on Swearengen, our antihero.

Yet it's not all theme and simmering plot threads: poor Jewel and the Doc get a lovely scene. As we approach the end it becomes clearer and clearer just how finely crafted this first season has been. This is first class television.

Batman: I'll Be a Mummy's Uncle

"I'll build an indestructible empire that no one will be able to destruct!"

Every episode of this last run is the last gasp of something or someone that we will miss. This time it's King Tut making his last appearance, in a triumph of an episode crammed with magnificent one liners. Yes, Stanley Ralph Ross is on writing duties again.

This is twenty-four minutes of pure fun. It's nonsense, of course: Tut's plan is to acquire land next to Wayne Manor and then drill sideways in order to grab some priceless "Nilanium", accidentally hitting the Batcave after which farce ensues. The Aswan Dam, still under construction in 1968, gets a topical mention. And, although Bargirl is sidelined somewhat, this is a splendid bit of storytelling, filling the time available to perfection.

We even get a delightful scene in which Barbara, as Batgirl, rings Batman, as Bruce Wayne. The Dynamic Duo casually run a three minute and then a two minute mile. And, of course, Victor Buono is comic gold as ever. Tut will be missed. And we're so very close to the end now...

Batman: The Great Train Robbery

"You cheated! You know we ain't no good in a fair fight!"

Just to recap, before I discuss this splendid episode... I've seen the first season as a young adult, some parts more than once, albeit more than twenty years ago. But, although I've seen many, but by no means all, of the second and third season, we're looking at childhood memories, so watching certain episodes can lead to a completely unexpected wave of nostalgia. That's what happened tonight where Chief Standing Pat, the episode's totally non-problematic Native American character, spoke of a time "when little hand is on eleven, and big hand is on twelve." I remember this line from having seen it once, as a child of about ten, in about 1987. That's weird.

Stanley Ralph Ross has a knack for superb scripts, and this is his best. Shame (and the institution f the two parter) get the best of send-offs here, in a rare second episode that far exceeds the first. Not even the dodgy accent of Hermione Baddesley as (snigger) Frontier Fanny can take away from it.

We have a splendid deconstruction of Western tropes here, with a train robbery and ending with a shootout at High Noon and "a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do". All the characters know full well what genre they're in. The wit of this script is a joy. And Cliff Robertson is superb; Shane hasn't really appeaed that much but there's a reason why the character is so fondly remembered. And, while the third season may (we can now see) perhaps be the least good overall, it can still hit real heights.

Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

“I'll teach those humans for failing to recognise me. They mocked me. Well, now they're going to eat their words!"

This is the film that killed the Godzilla franchise for nine years. It was never intended to do this but, despite decent reviews, it was a box office bombs. So this is the last film of an era- an era of rubber customes, toy tanks and B movie awesomeness.

And this is actually one of the superior entries. Yes, its monster stuff is more or less recycled and yes, we don't get to see much monster action (or indeed Godzilla) until really rather late on. But the science fiction intrigue and the twists and turns before them keep us entertained. We have a bitter old mad scientist! We have the shocking revelation that his downtrodden daughter is a cyborg! We have the most 70s clothing possible!

Oh, the plot doesn't really make sense, and Mechagodzilla doesn't actually do an awful lot, plus this new monster is a bit generic, but who cares? The pace, and the plot beats, are perfect for suspense. This is how to do a B movie.

So, what next? I'm genuinely watching these movies blind, having never seen any of them before. But I very much suspect that, after this film, nothing will ever be the same again. Let's hope the franchise remains enjoyable as the period charm gradually lessens as we approach more recent decades.

Deadwood: Season 1, Episode 10- Mister Wu

“August commencement to my administration, standing stymied outside a saloon next to a degenerate tit-licker.”


This is a subtle, well-written script, well realised. As ever, there’s a lot going on. The Reverend continues to deteriorate- the Doc thinks it’s a tumour. Business is good for Charlie while Joanie is stuck. Fascinatingly, Bullock honestly talks to Sol of his doubts about a wife and boy he barely knows as “she” is a beautiful woman. But the episode is, as ever, about the town’s slow process towards annexation and order... and systemic racism.

The episode shows us the racism, and doesn’t tell us how to react. Certainly, Wu is not a nice man. He supplies opium to Al and feeds murdered bodies to his pigs- and the other members of the Chinese community are clearly afraid of him. He is, I suppose, a community leader of sorts- but, because of his ehnicity, there's no possibility of his being considered one, and there is uproar when he enters the Gem through the front door. He is, in a sense, respected- certainly by Al- as an individual, but it seems to be accepted by all that there's a "proper" separation of "races". Racial slurs are everywhere, whores find his entering by the front door scandalous, and Cy even comments that a white dope fiend is "still while"- and Al is wary of being seen as too close to the "celestials".

It's interesting that this structural racism is clearly shown, and shocks with how clearly ingrained it is, without a need for a sympathetic character. Interestingly, too, we meet Hostetler, our first black character.

Beyond this, civilisation grows nearer, although not without Al having to pay extra bribes to make a murder charge go away. Already there's tension between using tax for corrupt purposes and for public services. There's a lot of nuance and subtlety here. It is, as ever, superb telly.

Batman: The Great Escape

"They've got Batgirl, and we've got Fanny."

There are two things which are probably worh mentioning as I start to blog this episode. The first is that, in this final run of episodes with their many last times, this two parter is both the final appearance of Shame and, well, the last two parter.The other thing, no less importantly, is that Hermione Baddesley- the maid from Mary Poppins- is playing a character called (titter) Frontier Fanny.

This is a hilarious episode for many reasons, not least Shame's sidekicks: a Native American who communicates solely in shorthand smoke signals and a Mexican bandit with a cut glass RP accent, neither of which you would see today, but this kind of playfulness with stereotypes is not, I don't think, mean-spirited.

There's more, though, from the latest variation on the ever entertaining "Commissioner rings the Batphone with Bruce Wayne present" trope to Batman reading the note from Shame in Shame's own vernacular, reminding us that Adam West is a terrific comic actor. I've peraps been remiss, too, in my praise for the penmanship of Stanley Ralph Ross.

Still no cliffhanger, though, and this was the last chance...

Batman: Penguin's Clean Sweep

"Don't you see? That's what happens, Pengy-poo, when you send a fly out to do a man's job."

We're getting close to the end now (only six more short episodes after this one- how on Earth did we get here so fast?), so we're going to be saying goodbye to all the villains, one by one. We've already waved adieu to the Riddler. I didn't realise at the time, but we've already bidded to Catwoman after but three short episodes for Eartha Kitt.

This time it's a true milestone: the last appearance of the unsurpassable Burgess Meredith as the Penguin. Let there be much mourning. With the one exception of Frank Gorshin, who has appeared but onceas the Riddler sinceutterly  owning the first season, his quacking, conniving baddie is unquestionably the finest villain to grace this programme. And, while I won’t pretend this episode is amongst his best- it’s no Hizonner the Penguin- it’s a splendidly entertaining little episode and a fine send off.

The plot is wonderfully silly- contaminating banknotes with "Lygerian Sleeping Sickness" so no one will want money and Penguin can literally vacuum it from the street. The solution is silly, too- alerting the world that Gotham's money is unclean so all Penguin's cash is worthless. This clever conceit of Batman's is foolproof because, as we all know, there's no such thing as money laundering. Right? On a similar note, let us also gloss over the conflation of vaccines and antidotes. This is 1968; they're not living through a plague like we are here in 2020. We can't expect the same level of obsession.

Next week looks interesting, with Shane being back, and one (titter) Frontier Fanny...

Deadwood: Season 1, Episode 9- No Other Sons or Daughters

"Taking people’s money is what makes organizations real, be they formal, informal or temporary."

So annexation is coming- and it terrifies Al, much as he simultaneously longs for it. Like all the other businessmen, he craves respectability but, unlike some, is less keen on the responsibilities that flow from that. He dominates this episode, at once insecure and firmly in charge, with most of the best lines, but it's about so much more than him.

The episode centres around the meeting, on Al's territory, in which they all try to form a kind of proto-government. It may be laughable that E.B. is appointed mayor, but ths is ultimately how such thngs happen, in microcosm. Farnum may be the face of government, but Al is the unseen power behind the throne. And it is the public, of course, the little people, who are to be manipulated into paying the necessary bribes. This is extremely clever telly.

Other things happen, of course- the Reverend is clearly unwell, and it will be interesting to see where this is going. Poor, likeable Jane is drunk again and, for now, leaving town, full of thinly disguised self-loathing. Meanwhile, her friend Charlie is setting up as a postmaster- and has an interesting meeting with Joanie. Cy, meanwhile, is somewhat sensitive to having overstepped the mark last episode. And his henchman, Eddie, seems to be revealed as our first overtly gay character. Then there's the ever-present dance between Bullock and Alma.

This feels like a real community, and is offcially about to become one. This continues to be extraordinary relly.

Laura (1944)

“Murder is my favourite crime.”

As one would expect of a famous film noir from the heyday of the genre, this film is magnificent, indeed close to perfection. The atmosphere, the direction, the cast, the witty script and the delightfully clever unfolding plot... this is not so much a film upon which one passes judgement, as a film to gaze upon in awed amazement. It’s that good.

Ultimately, this is because of the clever, witty, melancholy script and Preminger’s superb direction, but the film is full of extremely real-seeming characters. Gene Tierney is mesmerising as the eponymous murder victim herself, and Dana Andrews strokes the right notes as Detective McPherson. Yet it is Clifton Webb, as the witty, arrogant yet somehow likeable Waldo Lydecker, who truly astounds in what must have been a deeply satisfying role. Then there’s Vincent Price, impossibly young, playing a part totally unlike what he would later be known for.

The film is seventy-six years old as I write. And yet it has a world-weary and deeply intelligent level of psychological perceptiveness that feels somehow more “modern” than most contemporary cinema. Each character feels like a thinking, feeling, self-justifying human being, with real motives. And yet the film also functions perfectly as a clever and gripping whodunit. Everyone must see this film.