Top of the Lake Closes Its Run: Did It Work for You?

Now that Top of the Lake, the seven episode dramatic series has finished its run on the Sundance Channel – I’m left with more questions in the ‘post resolution aftermath’ than I had before the series ended. Whether or not this was the intent of the series creators Jane Campion and Gerard Lee is a question I can’t answer.

Though the questions of what happened to Tui did get resolved, there’s a whole slew of other head-scratchers for we viewers to ponder. Reader FD and I are going to sit down to discuss the show, and with no specific agenda in mind – we will just see where our talks take us.

***** MAJOR SPOILER WARNINGS GOING FORWARD*****

JMM: In the last three minutes there a number of questions left unanswered. The first one is what actually happened at Al’s house, 2) what was Robin rinsing out in the lake (was it Al’s blood?), and 3) GJ walks off as the show ends. Without specifically tackling those questions, were you happy with the way the show ended?

FD: I was impressed by the cinematography and the cast, particularly Elizabeth Moss (Robin), Holly Hunter (GJ) and Peter Mullan (Matt), but I was unimpressed with the plot and the editing. Even though I guessed who the villain was early on, each episode made less sense to me than the previous one. And like you, I have a shipping container full of unanswered questions.

Here’s a few of them: 1)Were Robin and Johnno really related or was Al also lying about their DNA test? 2) Why did Matt whip himself repeatedly at his mother’s grave site? 3) Why didn’t Matt suspect Al might have been involved with Tui getting pregnant? 4) Why did Matt try to shoot Tui’s baby if it wasn’t his? 5) Why did GJ decide to go to Reykjavik? (to get as far away from this story as possible?) I could list a lot more questions, but, my biggest question is: What was Ms. Campion thinking? Didn’t she notice any of these loopholes?

JMM: To respond about the five questions you just listed: 1) Matt told Robin that he was her father making Johnno her half-brother. Johnno said that was a Matt mind game. Then Al told Johnno that Matt wasn’t his father – making it even more of a puzzle. 2) I have no idea about why Matt whipped himself – guilt I suppose. Because surely he had so much to be guilty about. 3) & 4) Not sure about either of these – need an explanation. 5) GJ was all about money – at least in the closing episode. Seems like that was tossed in as an after-thought. However it all seemed so extraneous. And what was the point of her leaving – especially as the closing image.

Tui intercepts GJ, but moments later, GJ will walk off anyway as the closing shot

Maybe it was all symbolic – NZ: bottom of the world, Iceland: top of the world. Maybe GJ was a stylization of Campion herself – you know, in it for the money. Big emphasis on the maybe. So the key element must be the program Al was running to rehabilitate the kids – because it was clearly something else entirely at least below the surface.

FD: I don’t think there’s a way to perfectly explain this story. Some things were purposely left ambiguous. Other aspects seem to have been inadequately tied up at the climax. But, here’s my quick attempt to summarize. 1) Al was involved in child porn/prostitution, which paid for his two million dollar home. 2) Al also ran a training program for the local kids getting them employment at the cafe/restaurant. April Stephens was a child sex victim who became a murder victim when she knew too much. Al investigated and declared Stephens’ death a suicide. Bob Platt saw the videos made at Al’s house (the terrible thing his wife talked about) and wound up dead (this could have been done by Matt when he dragged him behind his boat but Al’s investigation failed so he may have been involved in the second murder). When Tui disappeared, Al made Wolfie his third victim (scapegoat for Tui’s disappearance/pregnancy).

Tui said “no one” got her pregnant because she was drugged and didn’t remember any sexual encounter (this is supported by Tui later saying she didn’t know how the baby got insider her). This is the basic plot line, but there were many subplots and diversions, most of which undermined the central story’s power. Before we discuss these, do you buy my analysis?

Adios Smash, Sayonara Nashville – The Reviewer Has Left The Building

I always thought that Start Me Up, a great song by Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones was about expectations:

If you start me up
If you start me up I’ll never stop
If you start me up
If you start me up I’ll never stop
I’ve been running hot
You got me ticking gonna blow my top
If you start me up
If you start me up I’ll never stop

When the NBC series Smash, and the ABC series Nashville each started, we all had such great expectations and high hopes. Now as I watch each of these shows – another musical reference comes to mind.

In Stanley Kubrick’s classic film, 2001, Dave Bowman, now at odds with the HAL Computer, begins to ‘murder’ the computer by pulling out the computer’s memory rods. From HAL’s perspective, it is the equivalent being lobotomized. The computer is both literally and figuratively losing its mind, and repeatedly begs Dave to stop:

HAL: Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop Dave? Stop, Dave.

Soon there’s nothing left in HAL’s memory except the song Daisy, Daisy which was one of the first set of instructions (to sing the song) that HAL was programmed to do. As we listened, we watched a killing. HAL was being decommissioned, deactivated, and deprogrammed all at the same time.

Now I am not saying that the writers and producers of Smash and Nashville have lost their minds, but it is easy to see that they’ve lost their way. The 9th Episode of the 2nd season of Smash, called The Parents, which aired on Tuesday, April 2nd, marked the last time we wpuld see Smash on a Tuesday night because the ratings for Smash had fallen into such a steep decline, that NBC chose to move the show to Saturday nights also known as TV’s graveyard. Episode 10, which aired on Saturday April 6th was called The Surprise Party.

There were so many eye-roll moments in these two episodes that I’ll spare you most of the details. The following ‘short list’ is indisputable evidence of why I think that Smash has lost its way.

1) Jimmy has to sneak out of the window lest Karen’s Dad, making an unannounced pop-in visit at 7:00 in the morning, see him there in Karen’s apartment. Guys have been sneaking out on fire-escapes ever since there were fire-escapes attached to buildings. And girls have ben hiding their lovers from their fathers. How original and creative! But why does Karen need to hide Jimmy from her father? This was so lame.

Top of The Lake – Episode 5: Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain – Instead Concentrate on the Moral Complexities

Top of the Lake on the Sundance Channel continues as does our conversation. With 5 episodes already aired, just two remain, and I think the conclusion (the last two episodes) will be a two hour presentation. The show has managed to intrigue as well as frustrate. Neither of us have any answers that we can bank on. Read on.

FD: When we started this series of reviews, I said Top of the Lake was a show that tried my patience. It still is. Following Episode 5, Jane Campion and Co-director Garth Davis explained that unlike most procedurals that steadily ratchet up suspense, they’re attempting something different. They are portraying the community, not the crime genre staples focused on motive, means, and opportunity. They say they’re telling us a morally complex story. The question is, is it working? Are defying genre conventions and viewer expectations giving us something better?

Per Jane Campion – this is more about a morally complex community than a who-done-it

JMM: I can’t say that it is better, but it’s not a bad idea. However, their execution seems to be flawed. Community works if the community is focused on a specific issue, event , or problem. However this community is simply the same as any other – individuals struggling with problems.
and compounding that is that they continue to introduce events that seem to come out of nowhere. ‘Morally complex’ describes anywhere and likely everywhere – not just Laketop.

FD: Yes, I agree the story is flawed. First, I’m not getting a sense of community. I’m meeting a series of reclusive and secretive, emotionally damaged male characters, and a loose assortment of female oddballs. Such people certainly do exist, but at Top of the Lake, no one seems on the low-end of the autism scale. Odd characters may be interesting, but not necessarily complex. In fact, neither the story or the characters seem complex to me. Moving on, let’s try to figure out what, if anything, is going on in this community. For instance, is Johnno a good person as Robin wants to believe, or another dark figure as Robin’s mother implied?

Right after this, Robin’s Mom asks Robin to not see Johnno any more without giving a reason

JMM: Good question, but not the key question. Robin’s mother did not imply that he was a dark figure – she asked (requested) that Robin not go any further with him. Why? There’s an obvious possibility – Johnno might be her son. But she died – so the question remains.

Good guy? Or a bad guy?
And who’s son is he?

Roger Ebert (1942 -2013) Is Now A Celestial Film Critic

Roger Ebert passed away today. While I have not had the honor to meet this man, it is as if I knew him. For more than thirty years I’ve read his books, watched him on TV, and read his reviews on line.

Tomorrow is the opening of the Sarasota Film Festival, and while Mr. Ebert will not be present, I will be shocked if those of us attending the Opening Night ceremonies at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall are not asked to offer a moment of silence in his memory.

I recall a sense of excitement in seeing a new book written by Roger Ebert on the shelves at my local bookstore. I loved his anthologies and collected works. There was a pleasure in reading the words of our nation’s most popular film critic. Even if I was reading about a film I’d seen 5 or 10 or even 20 years ago.

His style was not one of formal film criticism. It was like talking about the Yankees/Red Sox game, or may be the subject was Da Bears, with a bunch of guys at a bar. But with Roger, the topic was film rather than baseball, or sports.

As a younger man, taking a date to the movies, my movie experience was about when to put my arm around her shoulders, or when to hold hands. Unlike Mr. Seinfeld, I did not make out at Schindler’s List. But I did at other movies. But for Roger Ebert, his prime activity at the cinema was to watch the films.

Top of the Lake: Episode 4 – Discussion

The 4th episode of Top of the Lake once again showed us some magnificent mountain, lake, and forest vistas set in the wilds of Queenstown, New Zealand, also known as the playground of millionaires. Whatever you desired, seemed available in Queenstown. Drugs, sex, even rock ‘n roll – although we have not seen as much of that as we might have liked.

What we did not get a lot of in this episode was clarity. On the other hand, this was balanced by consequences. Also on hand were recollections, remembrances, retribution, and even a bit of revenge.

My talks with reader FD continue:

Dinner at Al’s place by the lake

JMM: I just finished watching TOTL Ep 4 and I must say I was roundly disappointed. Almost every scene seemed wrong or flawed, or a representation of either a misstep by the characters, or by the filmmakers. What was your take?

FD: I thought Episode 4 was far better than the previous episode, although I think there were several poorly handled coincidences. And I definitely thought the whole Matt Mitcham meltdown scene could and should have been cut.

JMM: Agreed, Matt Mitcham certainly threw a distinctly unreasonable emotional fit at his new playmate, Anita, one of the Paradise ladies. To me it showed just how unstable he really is. Mind you, I like his instability – he’s a tinderbox character, who can explode at any time. Which is exciting – but his actions in the episode seemed well … over the top.

FD: Whenever they cut away from the Tui investigation, the show falters, But from a screenwriter’s point of view, this is an instructive example of poor editing. TOTL shows how little room for digression you have when writing a mystery-thriller (in comparison, Side Effects, the Soderbergh film was very well-edited, although it also contained a few unlikely coincidences).

JMM: Okay, as long as you mentioned both poor editing, and unlikely coincidences, which scenes or scenes (other than Mitcham’s meltdowns) did you find to be problematic?

FD: The Number 1 rule in screenwriting is don’t be boring. TOTL avoids being outright boring, but it is annoyingly irrational. Plot twists are not properly set up. They appear out of nowhere. For example, I didn’t recall the fact that Tui was receiving text messages from Jamie (played by Luke Buchanan) – the boy in the hoodie, did you?

JMM: There is an explanation for that and it is a bit of a roundabout. We weren’t shown Tui texting with Jamie. But Robin goes to the his home after researching Tui’s cell phone and discovering a multitude of text exchanges between them. Robin hopes to interview the boy. But then his mother turns Robin away as she has to leave. She says Jamie doesn’t talk but he texts. Robin returns later. That’s how they handled that.

FD: OK, I don’t recall Robin researching Tui’s phone bill, but I’ll let that go. So, when Robin finally finds Jamie, he buries a sack in the woods. But, he doesn’t speak when she questions him. He has the word No tattooed on one hand which he uses to respond to Robin’s questions.

Jamie – the boy in the blue hoodie

Smash & Nashville: Pick Your Poison

Did the latest Smash episode called The Bells and Whistles finally manage to crawl out of whatever hole in the sand the show has been mired in for most of this season, or was that a mirage? Will Nashville, which finally broadcast its 15th episode entitled When You’re Tired of Breaking Other Hearts, after being off the air for four weeks, follow Smash and be banished to the wasteland of Saturday Night TV? These are the questions before us this week.

I’m going to toss the playbook out the window and make this a doubleheader – random thoughts on two shows for the price of a single click.

As usual, Smash masqueraded as a tennis match for a while as we watched things go this way then that way. People fought, and disagreed, but we should remember that quote made by Sonny in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel -

Everything will be all right in the end… if it’s not all right, then it’s not yet the end.

Each of the characters faced disappointment and travail, and all except one got what they wanted. This week. Yes that means spoilers a-plenty will follow, as well as comments and opinions. However before we all go off tooting our horns and wildly celebrating that this wasn’t a bad Smash episode – let me remind you of one hard, cold fact. This was just Episode 8. So we’d be lunatics if we didn’t expect the return of dust bucket episodes, otherwise known as  ’must-avoid-television’ in the coming weeks.

Let’s start with Eileen Rand, who has suddenly developed a new press agent – the no-nonsense Agnes (Daphne Rubin-Vega). Agnes brings bad tidings, the New York Times Editor of the Arts Section, one Richard Francis (played by Jamey Sheridan) has passed on an opportunity to do a story on Bombshell. He’s heard enough of the old Bombshell news to not be interested any longer. So he’s in the same boat as most of us, which means I must be doing these recaps as a penance for something.

But Eileen won’t take no for an answer. Meanwhile Eileen is pissed at Tom for his directorial choices – specifically for bringing in Sam Strickland (Leslie Odom Jr.) to do a number as Nat King Cole, without consulting her or getting her approval. She says that will be two numbers about JFK and isn’t this supposed to be a show about Marilyn? But the song, Let’s Start Tomorrow Tonight, even if out of Bombshell, gave the episode a nice lift with some clever staging in Tom’s apartment.

Tom, new to the director’s chair, both literally and figuratively, is trying to run a democracy at Bombshell – bring me your tired and hungry – ideas, actually, all to make friends. But at what cost – he makes friends and loses the respect of the cast. That’s what he gets by trying to be the anti-Derek. Isn’t every one an anti-Derek?

Top of the Lake: Episode Three – Where are the Tigers?

Top of the Lake 01-03

In the first two episodes of the Sundance Channel’s new series Top of the Lake, we met the characters:

Tui Mitcham – a 12 year old girl who tried to kill herself as the series began. She’s both pregnant and missing.

Robin Griffin – a brave detective with a specialization in sex crimes called in as a consultant in the search for Tui Mitchell. She’s tough – but she carries secrets.

Detective Sergeant Al Parker – Robin’s boss and mentor. He’s a policeman who appears to be a gentleman whereas his associates appear to include some lowlifes working as cops.

Matt Mitcham – Tui’s father. He’s more than violent. He’s the show’s main source of power, mayhem, and menace. We never know what to expect from him.

GJ – In The Matrix, the Oracle was embodied by a nondescript woman in a house dress. GJ may lack otherworldly powers – but she still conducts herself as an Oracle. She runs the New Age compound for women at Paradise.

Our discussion with reader FD continues;

JMM: I detected a distinct change in direction in Episode Three. The first two episodes got the story going, introduced the settings, the characters, and gave us the mystery of Tui’s disappearance. But this time – I think the story didn’t quite go forward as much as the three lead characters: Robin, Al, and Matt – were given a whole lot more depth. Does this seem accurate to you, or is your take on the episode different?

FD: Yes, I thought this episode drifted far too much. It seems like most cable series lack appropriate pacing (this was also true of The Killing which ran 20 episodes over two years!).

Episode 3 was a cavalcade of Campion characters, but there was far too much time spent on sex and drugs while the mystery engine was left idling. I also thought the investigation turned up too many obvious red herrings. Did you think maybe someone was being framed?

JMM: Not quite. One of the red herrings from last week, the Austrian barkeeper Wolfie, can no longer be considered a suspect in the disappearance of Tui. I do believe he’s going to be blamed, but I don’t think that will fly.

Who else can be considered a possible candidate/suspect in Tui’s disappearance?

FD: Hold it! Tui may have left on her own. We’re not sure Tui’s dead yet, are we? So far, we have no reason to assume that.

JMM: No one said she was dead. I was referencing the red herrings.

FD: Okay the red herrings – We do know that Platte’s dead. We do know there was a hanging. And we were shown the graves of some dead animals. Clearly, with Tui still unaccounted for, these events were red herrings, so no surprises there. On the other hand, I was surprised by Robin’s sexual encounters (I’m about to get married – I don’t want to fall in love).

JMM: The first time with Johnno, in the ladies room in the bar, she was surprised and passive, and the second time, she just wanted it.

FD: But, the best part of last night’s episode was Holly Hunter’s performance as GJ. Totally original! She’s so good, I’m sorry she has to compete against so many other unusual character types. GJ is riveting. The others, not so much.