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JDL's Replies
You make some good points but I tend to agree with the OP. It just didn't seem characteristic of Stan to let them off completely scot free after all the betrayal and dishonesty he found. If he was motivated, in any part, by a desire to facilitate their efforts to protect Gorbachev, they did a poor job of showing that. I took his denial of any interest at face value, although it did present a compelling twist that could have justified helping Oleg or them in some way. If we were supposed to believe that, I completely missed it.
Still, this was a very powerful climax - very well shot and acted. I did find the ending and everything after Paige got off the train to be very anti-climatic and disappointing. Just think how much better it would have been if what E and P saw out the window was the mounties leading Paige away!
I read a short review of it in the New Yorker several years ago and obtained it from Netflix shortly after that. The review called it the "best horror film" of recent years so it seemed like a must see. It did not disappoint. I haven't rewatched it since then, but I distinctly recall being impressed by the tension and fear factor. There was something just otheworldly and spooky about the kids!
Entwickler's reply hits the mark. The show is not intended to portray only how the Queen and other royals act in public, but to demonstrate that they have private lives outside of the public eye. In fact, that is the whole point of the show. How accurate that portrayal is may be open to debate, but it is still entertaining.
She was dating a Middle Eastern doctor (Syrian, I think) but there was never any discussion about marrying him specifically. When we learn that she has, in fact, married, we might expect to see him again but it turns out she has married Hans -
another Swede.
I think the Syrian character was introduced only to accentuate the racist/bigoted sentiments several characters appeared to hold toward foreigners.
Prismark10, you don't mean THIS recurring bad song, do you? It would be astonishing for anyone else to use it even as a parody. I mean, how many people eve saw this movie? I agree that it was not too bad a film, but I think it only has achieved cult status and largely because of the odd casting of Marlene Deitrich and the "Chuck-a-luck" song.
Pretty clearly you were supposed to expect that she would whack him with the bottle. But you will note that she never resorted to physical violence against anyone - she was a victim of abuse but did not lash out physically. Perhaps this scene was designed to confirm that.
Now, it is surprising that she did not say anything catty especially to the airhead girlfriend; but perhaps she felt that he was already suffering as well and there was no need to add to it.
I had not thought of this line of reasoning, but now I bet you guys are right. We know Gus will be introduced soon (next episode, based on the most recent preview), adn this woukld be a great way to get Mike into Gus's crew.
Besides, we know it wasn't Hector or anyone with Hector that put the note on Mike's case. He would have seen them leave the shack even if they weren't heading anywhere near him.
He was only dressed up because he wanted to look appropriate at the studio, and perhaps as a matter of respect for Tita.The bigger Qs are how did he find her and why? I agree that the scene where he jumped on the truck to play piano may have "struck a chord" which may have been intended as a pun!
We get no info on how he found her. He seemed comfortable in the studio, as if he had been to them before, so maybe he knew she had some scheduled time there every so often.
But it is clear transition; he always dresses and looks much sharper after this scene (until he forgets his jacket when he is making a break for Alaska). He returns to his roots for a while, at the island, but onyl because he now knows his dad has had the strokes. He tries to ditch Rayette from coming along and then ditches her at the motel when they get to the island. I don't think he is trying to integrate back into the life he has spurned, but he clearly returns to it - even if temporarliy - as someone who knows the conventions and standards. He just doesn't accept them, finds them suffocating, and eventually has to bolt.
Your is a very thoughtful discussion, but I always viewed Bobby's attitude and actions to be pretty simple: he rejected his family and wanted to be nothing like them. It is just about being the black sheep, and not measuring up in attitude, achievement or ambition. The music was just a prop. They could have been doctors, in which case his background would have been that he was a med school drop out. I think the theme was just that he rejected his roots and family, to avoid constraints and trying to measure up to what was expected of him. He would claim to be freer and happier, although we all know he is miserable. I think this was a very timely theme and presentation for the period, although it may not translate well into the last 2-3 decades.
So he returns home to his family from whom he has long been (and still is) alienated. He develops the hots for Catherine, but she is just another set piece of his family and he is doomed to reject her as well (sooner or later). When I was much younger and first saw this, i thought the family werer suffocating and that he was just trying to break back out because he just had to have his freedom. 30 years later, i see it a bit differently. The family aren't bad at all. Sure they are quirky and have rude, obnoxious friends, but Carl and Tita are fine. Catherine is ok, although she represents a lot more snobbery than his siblings. He just tolerates Catherine because he wants her but that is another doomed situation.
At home, the only guy like him was Spicer, and Bobby can't get along even with him!
Clearly Bobby is an unhappy person. Is it because he is a black sheep, and fights againt convention to be a non-conformist? Or is he a non-conformist, black sheep because he is so misreable inside? I used to think it was the former; now i see it is the latter.
I've read before that the title reference is to the 5 classical pieces played while Bobby is at home. I can't identify them all by title, but you can count all five if you start with his arrival at the house (Catherine is palying while Ralph Waite instructs) until he leaves.
If it is just a reference to a children's paino book, there could be a deeper meaning. The Chopin prelude is from his first recital. Perhaps the title refers to the fact that he learned to play the piano but has still not learned to live his life.
It is pretty easy to see a lot of parallels between Duel and Jaws. The tanker is the shark, just waiting to victimize someone . . . You can see how SS experimented with techniques that he mastered for Jaws.
Ernie goes on to become an actor. As his career begins to decline, he has to go to Japan to make bad commercials for Suntory. He meets Scarlett Johannson, has a great weekend with her but leaves her to return to his family. Alas, he remains miserable. But he still has both hands!
Actually, I think the digging part was drawn out waaaaaaaay too long. It took away a lot of the sspense of the scene. So far this season, I have noticed that they are using lots of pauses, long tracking shots and other passive devices to creaete suspense. Sometimes it works, but - surprisingly - the digging scene did not hold my interest because it was so slowly paced.
I have another question, though: have they intentionally used such porr film quality to look more like the 1980s, and not like something contemporary? It always looks like I am watching the show on a VHS circa 1983.
They were searching for the occupants, and wanted to sound like them to get them to expose themselves. Surprisingly, it worked pretty well. At one point a Seal says "Khalid?" and, in response, Khalid peers around the wall exposing himself briefly enough to be shot.