Top of the Lake: The New Series on the Sundance Channel

So where is Tui?

That’s the big question surrounding the brand new mini-series called Top of the Lake which premiered with two episodes on the Sundance Channel on March 18th. But it is hardly the only question nor the only mystery. Merely, it is the one on the surface. As we learn, the show is less about solving mysteries as it is about finding the truths.

Written by Academy Award winner Jane Campion and Gerard Lee, with Campion also sharing the directing duties along with Garth Davis, the series is set in the wilds of New Zealand; specifically,  we find ourselves in a small town called Queenstown.

We first encounter the lake when a young girl, one Tui Mitcham, purposely enters the lake with intent of killing herself. Only because she was spotted by the local school mistress and pulled out of the water, is why she is still with us.

After her rescue from the lake, Tui is taken back to the school, and is looked over by the school nurse. We learn that she’s okay and isn’t suffering from any hypothermia from her brief immersion, and that she’s just 12 years old, which seems a tad young for a suicide. We also learn that Tui is nearly 5 months pregnant.

Which prompts an investigation of statutory rape.

The local cops can’t get anything out of Tui in their interviews, so a former resident of the town, Robin Griffin, now a police detective specializing in cases of sexual assault in Sydney, Australia, but presently in the area visiting her ailing Mom, is called in as a consultant. Two things become immediately clear – Robin, played by Elisabeth Moss, is a no-nonsense, can-do cop, and that she is able to form at least a preliminary bond with Tui.

All of the above, seems like a proper way to introduce the series which will run for 7 episodes. This also seems like a good place  to begin a discussion. My discussion partner today will be reader fd, a frequent visitor and a person who often offers comments on this blog. PLEASE NOTE THERE ARE A FEW SPOILERS AHEAD WHICH I WILL WARN YOU ABOUT.

JMM: I’ve just set the stage for you by introducing Top of the Lake. Admittedly, I’ve just touched on the top of the story, so now I’ll ask you for your initial impressions.

fd: It looks like this series will require some patience on my part. Initially, the setting and story reminded me of The Killing, a previously broadcast AMC mystery series that I greatly enjoyed.

But, as soon as the opening sequence ended, I began to lose my bearings. I realized we weren’t in Kansas anymore. Or the Pacific Northwest region where The Killing was filmed.

This was New Zealand! The land looks beautifully moody, but the inhabitants we come across make the Mad Max gang look conservative. Everyone appears quirky. Difficult to read. And potentially sinister.

This is good stuff, but it quickly took me out of my comfort zone. There are so many strange characters. What were your impressions of the main characters, Tui, Robin, GJ and her flighty friends and the ultra heavy Mitcham men? Were you disoriented by the first episode or did it hook you from the start?

JMM: Not disoriented, but rather concerned. Tui was closed off, Robin was capable, even more than capable, but working in an atmosphere which required the Southern Lake cops to make a radical adjustment – this was not the kind of woman that they were used to. GJ represented a number of themes – chief of which was Earth Mother but in a different mind-set as was said by one the lakeside ladies., who were all characters, or should I say ‘unusual’.

As for the Mitcham men folk – yup, they were scary, and that’s being kind.

I also found the policeman Al Parker, to be one of the few normal folks – although obviously he could very well have a sinister side – but his accent was somewhat difficult to understand. And yes – I was hooked immediately as we were looking not only at a culture clash – but a bloody one as well.

Smash – Sn 02 Episode 07 – Musical Chairs

In case anyone is still thinking about or has any interest in Smash – the series that NBC recently banished to the wastelands of the Saturday Night tv schedule – I’m not quite done with it.

From my write-up following Episode 5 – The Fringe:

All of a sudden Producer Jerry Rand is throwing his weight around. First he’s going to cut Karen’s song (he claims the song is ‘too intellectual’). Then he manages to piss off Derek. All signs of what? All together now – Jerry’s exit likely as soon as next week.

Sure enough, Jerry is out. They had to bring back Grace Gummer who is Meryl Streep’s daughter who is playing Eileen and Jerry’s daughter Kate to help change Jerry’s mind. That along with Julia finding the ‘silver bullet’ – a document from the Marilyn Monroe Estate which granted EXCLUSIVE USE of the materials to Eileen and Julia. That was fine. Jerry had to capitulate because otherwise they might have shut the show down. Adios Jerry.

Also from my previous Smash post:

Also remember that Tom is pro-Ivy. And we all know that the Liaisons production is going to crash and burn soon enough. It would have to – to get Ivy back to Bombshell.

Well, guess what? Liaisons did crash and burn. First the opening night audience was either bored, disinterested, or asleep. Even though Terry’s bawdy song injected some laughter into the affair, everyone knew it wasn’t enough. Then Terry fell off the on-stage swing causing grievous injury, rendering him unable to perform. So Timothy, having no other viable option, announced the show was closing. Wasn’t that the broadest of smiles on Ivy’s face on hearing that news? Especially since earlier in the episode, she had told Terry point-blank that she wished she could leave Liaisons.

What I didn’t see coming was Karen going from a mild disagreement with Tom’s new directing efforts to quitting Bombshell. Tom was just named Director last week.

Smash: Sn02 Ep06 – The Fringe

Did you catch the latest episode of Smash tonight? Looked like a ping-pong game with a few Broadway songs mixed in. They pushed us one way, then the other way. Over and over.  Smash is not only manipulative but it is so predictable. The Episode was called The Fringe. And almost devoid of any highlights.

All of a sudden Producer Jerry Rand is throwing his weight around. First he’s going to cut Karen’s song (he claims the song is ‘too intellectual’). Then he manages to piss off Derek. All signs of what? All together now – Jerry’s exit likely as soon as next week.

You didn’t really think that he was going to stay in power all that long, did you? Lucky old Ellis’s ex gf strolled by and mentioned that Ellis was working for Jerry to Karen. And Karen would convey this to Eileen. And Jerry was dumb enough to leave a paper trail right in his office. Puhleeze!

It won’t be the usual torches burning march through the streets, and it won’t be the cast revolution I wrote about earlier. Either way, or anyway, Jerry’s ticket will get punched.

Derek quit in a snit. Or was it that Jerry called his bluff so he had no choice but to say he had enough and quit in a huff. Wasn’t it convenient that Hit Song needed a director?

Smash: Sn02 Ep05 – The Read Through – Let’s Crunch Some Numbers

Do the numbers tell the story for Smash Episode 5 – The Read Through? And no, I’m not talking about the ratings. Let me count the ways.

We have two read-throughs. One for Hit List, which will have a two-week run at the Fringe Festival, and one for Bombshell. Liaisons doesn’t have a read through; instead they have a walk through. In fact, the walk through had two separate segments.

We have two producers for Bombshell. And we have two scripts.The de facto and legal producer is Jerry. Only he doesn’t want to produce Julia’s latest script. He wants to produce the old Bombshell script. Siding with Jerry is Tom. In favor of the new script are Derek and Julia. Derek liked it so much that he was struck silent. When he was asked, he replied – It was that good! So that makes the vote two and two. They agree to let Eileen, who is the shadow producer, break the tie. And just as Eileen is supposed to cast the deciding vote, the episode ends.

Nashville: Sn 01 – Ep 14 – Dear Brother

ABC’s Nashville, Episode 14, called Dear Brother, aired a couple of nights ago. With this one, we’ve had 14 episodes aired – so the next episode will be the Season One finale. Personally, I’m glad the series is approaching a conclusion, but I wonder what your feelings are.

I’ve been dutifully recapping Nashville, and I mean fully recapping. There are no short cuts, scenes skipped, or stuff that is simply mentioned – but I’m tired of it. It is a lot of work, and quite likely boring to read. Only a die-hard Nashville fan would want to re-live the episodes by reading. I think that seeing how easy it is to watch the episodes again and again, as well as whenever you want, that the full recaps aren’t necessary.

So it is See-ya to the full recaps. We are heading toward something different. So where do we go from here? How about more opinions, more guess-work and speculation, and to season the stew, how about some criticisms when warranted? Let’s not forget analysis, and, in that way, maybe we can head toward something of a digest aka light recaps. The possibilities are myriad.

I think a better title for this Episode than Dear Brother might have been Dark Clouds Gather.

Keep Peggy away from the girls

The news of Rayna and Teddy washing ashore in Splitsville seemed to hit the tabloids rather quickly didn’t they? Teddy filed in Sumner County, a neighboring county to Nashville. Was it an enterprising county clerk who called the tabloids, or did they call Lamar?

Juliette decides to throw a birthday bash for Deacon. All and sundry know that Deacon detests parties, and especially surprise parties for HIS birthday. But never mind. It seemed a good way to attract some well-known country music artists to the show, and to give said artists a bit of exposure between sets, in the broadest of terms.

At Chez Scarlett, the hidden handgun had to come to light. Once we saw it we knew it was a dark cloud looming. But before we saw it, we had to endure the brothers, Gunnar and Jason,  sing us through the We Pack Your Sack Doo-Wah ditty. Yeah, we know, as brothers – once upon a time, they were thisclose. 

We meet a new character, Jolene’s addiction counselor, Dante. I haven’t figured out if his purpose is to serve as a listener so Juliette can discuss her problematic childhood, or if there’s something else afoot. As for actually counseling between he and Jolene – we’ve seen nada.

By now, the tabloids are on the shelves at the supermarket. Rayna’s daughters see it, as do the finger-pointing, tongue-wagging, talk-behind-your-hand shoppers. Rayna is about to become tabloid front page fodder for the short-term (she hopes) as well as a downstream target, rich in photo opportunities, for the paparazzi.

Smash: Sn 2 Ep 4 – The Song – Recap

Sometimes things do change.

Jimmy Collins goes from being a heel, and someone we have detested through the first three episodes to some one about to commence a hot romance with Karen Cartwright. And, his song will become the highlight of Veronica Moore’s concert.

Which is why we have Episode 4 of Smash entitled The Song.

Derek Wills caves. His tactics in dealing with Veronica Moore in rehearsals, were heavy-handed and brutal. He’s challenged by Cynthia Moore (Sheryl Lee Ralph) Veronica’s mother. He’ll later say that he didn’t cave, rather he came around.

Julia goes from hurling verbal brickbats at Peter Gilman, while totally deriding his opinions, to collaborating with him on a rewrite of the Bombshell book. She’s also about to go away with him to his home in the Berkshires for a ‘working’ weekend.

Eileen Rand gets Bombshell out of the investigative financial purgatory and back on Broadway. The cost? She is no longer at the helm as producer. I can hear you asking ‘Who is going to produce the show?’  The answer is her ex-husband Jerry.

The above may be considered the highlights – so let’s take a closer look.

At the jump, Veronica Moore is singing I Got Love as we watch in montage style as Karen, Derek, Tom, Julia, and Eileen make their way to the theater. BTW, they’ll repeat this later on in the show – the musical vice overage montage with a Billy Joel song. But coming back to business, this is Moore’s One Woman One Night Only show in rehearsals. Derek is not all that impressed. He says, How many loves was that?

“You can never have enough love. You of all people ought to know that.” That was Cynthia Moore, Veronica’s mother. Linda, the stage manager will say in an aside to Tom Leavitt, Isn’t she [Veronica] a little old to have a ‘Momager’. Whatever – but we know instantly that she will be problematic for Derek.

Derek makes a bit more noise – a dancer hasn’t shown up, he’s unhappy with Tom, who is the musical director of the show, because Tom hasn’t provided the one song, that special raw and adult song, that Derek is looking for that will change Ronny’s image.

Julia calls Tom to announce that she is at NYU. She says, that Peter has invited her to talk to his acting class today.

Jimmy and Kyle are still trying to find a gig and still coming up short. Jimmy’s downbeat because Derek’s ‘help’ was more of encouragement and advice rather than something that would bring them money right then and there. Kyle is much more forward-looking and he tries to convey that Derek has really helped them by providing advice and encouragement. Just then Karen calls and says, How fast can you get into Manhattan?

At Eileen’s office, Jerry arrives. Jerry’s there to tell Eileen that to get the show out from under, she has to play the victim. Jerry suggests that she say that ‘She was vulnerable, and fell under the influence of Nick, and that she had no idea as to Nick’s criminal ties and no idea where that money came from.‘ In short, to throw Nick under the bus. Jerry suggests that if she wants Bombshell back in business – this is the only way. Eileen says, I’ll let you know how it goes.

At NYU, Julia arrives for Peter Gilman’s class. She gets the bad news. She’s not been invited there to give a lecture, or share experiences, or impart wisdom to the students.

Peter: I’m sorry, I think there’s been a misunderstanding. You’re not here to speak. You’re here to watch.
Julia: Watch what?
Peter: Your play -

Julia turns and sees a group of college students with scripts

Julia: You kidding?
Peter: It’s important that you hear it out loud.
Julia: You are not going to humiliate me in front of a bunch of 12 year olds!

But Peter makes the point that the script has been altered for this exercise. That Julia will not be known as the writer, and that the students won’t know it is a play about Marilyn Monroe. Peter reminds Julia that the script rewrites have to be turned in to Eileen in 10 days.

Peter: Do you want to go in blind, or do you want to find what works and what doesn’t?

Julia has no choice. Peter signals and the reading of the script commences.

At the Veronica Moore show rehearsal, Derek is putting the dancers and Veronica through the paces of a particular dance sequence. Ivy arrives. She’s going to fill in for the one dancer that was a no-show. Naturally, Veronica and Ivy are old buddies, and this also provides a method for Veronica to talk about how she feels to some one we know (Ivy) rather than someone we don’t know – like her Mom. Not a bad idea technically.

Jimmy and Kyle show up after racing in following Karen’s call. Tom wonders why they are there. We heard you needed a song. Just then, Cynthia Moore arrives with the news. Bravo TV has (after some contract wrangling) agreed to film then broadcast the concert.

Tom says he approves the music, and Derek tells Jimmy and Kyle that they have six hours to come up with a song. The upshot is that instead of a thousand or so people attending the concert at the live concert, it will be seen by millions on TV. Now that gets everyone’s attention, especially Jimmy’s.

Smash: Sn 02 Ep 03 – Dramaturg – The Recap

Derek Wills says, “Why don’t we take it from the top ...” and those are the last lines of the 3rd Episode of Season 2 of Smash. The Episode was called Dramaturg. And we had to slog through about 40 minutes of scattered nonsense before Jimmy pitched the idea of his and Kyle’s show to Derek. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. That’s how the episode ends. So, to follow Derek’s words, let’s take a look at this episode ‘from the top‘.

Karen is singing a hot song. Sounds great. Looks great – only it is just a visualization (like a dream) of Karen and Derek listening to a song by Jimmy. Karen convinces Derek to take a meeting with the youngsters.

Eileen has an idea. She’s hired a script doctor, on Broadway they’re called dramaturgs, to rework the book for Bombshell. Eileen has to tread gently around Julia and Tom to do this.

Eileen: There’s someone I want you to meet. His name is Peter Gilman. And I think you’ll like him very much.
Tom: A dramaturg – are you joking….
Julia: Of course she’s joking…

Only she’s not. A meeting is set for 3:00 PM that very afternoon.

Ivy auditions for a role in Liaisons – a new Broadway musical. She’ll finesse her way into auditioning for an even better role (Cecile) in the show.

In a spectacular Central Park South apartment, Veronica is working on a song from The Wiz, as Derek arrives. The key to this scene is that a) The Wiz still doesn’t have a replacement director yet, and b) Derek wants another shot to get back into the show that fired him.

Tom and Julia arrive at the restaurant to meet Peter Gilman. Julia is badmouthing him before they even meet him. Julia describes him: A man who makes his living feeding off the work of other writers, without creating anything of his own, is not a shepherd, he’s a parasite.

Hi, I’m Peter – the parasite. Nice to meet you both. Peter is played by Daniel Sujata.  Even Peter describes the situation as awkward. Dramaturgs are like dentists, he says. No one ever wants to see them, but once the pain wears off, you’re always glad you went. And things go downhill from there. Julia is plainly not at all happy about the situation and she doesn’t do anything to disguise her feelings.