Season Two of Under the Dome: What to Expect

Tonight (June 30) is the premiere of the second season of Stephen King's Under the Dome on CBS.  And what can we expect? In a recent article, King promised the second season would be darker, stating 

“For me, the most interesting idea is this Malthusian concept that there’s too many people and too little space, there’s starting to be this talk about euthanasia and thinning of the herd, and that’s a scary idea,” said King, who will also make a cameo in the season premiere. “In a fantasy series, you have a chance to tackle some of these hot-button issues, and people will accept it, because it’s only make-believe.”

I just wonder if the body count is necessary because the story is starting to drag.  What could have been a one season phenomena is now stretching into multiple seasons, which runs the risk of thinning the story and messing up the original story line.  And now King seems a bit jealous of George R.R. Martin's role in writing Game of Thrones episodes, so he too is more involved in this series.  However, Dome is no Game, and it would need to be Thunderdome to come even close.   

If you want to get up to speed, you cannot do any better than checking out TV.Com's story "Everything We Know About Under the Dome Season 2 and a Catchup on Season 1." All you have to do is read the summary of the first season's last episode and you start to question you sanity about waiting for season 2.  I would like to think Under the Dome is a guilty pleasure that you cannot tell anyone about, but I am not sure if I could explain it anyway.  Maybe the book is better, but I have put down many a Stephen King book (and movie) without getting to the end.  I think the same may happen here.  Enjoy, I think.

HBO: Don't Be Left Behind

While it may sound like a new cooking show, HBO's new series The Leftovers is deadly serious.  We have moved from an age that fears nuclear war to one that fears two things - environmental disaster and the wrath of God.  Of course, the recent movie Noah blended both in its telling, but generally they are told separately.  

Well, the religious masses are getting their own show on HBO tomorrow night (June 29).  The Leftovers begins three years after 2 percent of the world's population simply vanished.  Was it the "rapture" and, if so, what does it mean for those left behind?  The series will discuss this and more.  If you want to read ahead, you can review Tom Perrotta's book of the same name that formed the nucleus of this new show.  Here is a summary of the situation from Mr. Perrotta's website:

What if the Rapture happened and you got left behind? Or what if it wasn't the Rapture at all, but something murkier, a burst of mysterious, apparently random disappearances that shattered the world in a single moment, dividing history into Before and After, leaving no one unscathed? How would you rebuild your life in the wake of such a devastating event?

This is the question confronting the bewildered citizens of Mapleton, a formerly comfortable suburban community that lost over a hundred people in the Sudden Departure. Kevin Garvey, the new mayor, wants to speed up the healing process, to bring a sense of renewed hope and purpose to his traumatized neighbors, even as his own family falls apart. His wife, Laurie, has left him to enlist in the Guilty Remnant, a homegrown cult whose members take a vow of silence but haunt the streets of town as "living reminders" of God's judgment. His son, Tom, is gone, too, dropping out of college to follow a sketchy prophet by the name of Holy Wayne. Only his teenaged daughter, Jill, remains, and she's definitely not the sweet A student she used to be.

Through the prism of a single family, Perrotta illuminates a familiar America made strange by grief and apocalyptic anxiety. The Leftovers is a powerful and deeply moving book about people struggling to hold onto a belief in their own futures.

I believe the mayor is now the chief of police in the HBO series, but much of the story remains the same.  In discussing his book on NPR, Mr. Perrotta noted:

"I spent a lot of time thinking about contemporary Christianity, and obviously the rapture kept coming up," he says. "My first impulse was ... to laugh it off — it's sort of a funny idea, people just floating away. But I kept thinking: What if it did happen? ... I thought, I'm such a skeptic that even if it did happen, I would resist the implications of it, and I also thought that three years later, everyone would have forgotten about it. No matter what horrible thing happens in the world, the culture seems to move on."

And what do the critics say?  Salon called it "stagnant" in a recent review:

The whole plot of “The Leftovers,” in fact, despite being a plot-driven show, feels stagnant. Not only do all of the reasons for everything occur in the past, but none of it makes sense or follows from the facts on the ground. A bunch of people disappeared without a trace, so now… everyone is running wild and doing crazy self-destructive stuff? So it’s just like the whole globe got sent to an elite prep school, in other words? No, some people are still trying, but desperation and despair reign supreme. All of this because an event no one could explain occurred three years ago? I’m not sure I buy that most people wouldn’t have employed their usual modes of denial (Hello, global warming!) and moved on with their blindly optimistic humdrum lives by now.

The Chicago Tribune's review was more nuanced:

There's nothing warm or welcoming about it, nor is there meant to be..."The Leftovers" grafts more unhappiness onto unhappiness. Where "Game of Thrones" revels in even its most gruesome developments, it exists safely within the bounds of fantasy, so slay away. "The Leftovers" mainly acts as a means to deliver the worst news about human nature.  Yet, despite the downer language of this review, the show delivers on an exceedingly intriguing premise, with some of the most beguilingly morose performances delivered this year. It's a strange but good wallow.

Plenty to ponder.  So see for yourself if you are depressed or fascinated with HBO's latest program.  If it turns out to be one of the best new shows this season, you don't want to be left behind.

A New Type of Tyrant?

If you want to pull yourself away from the slow melt-down in the Middle East, you can turn on your television tonight (June 24) and see it all from a different angle.  The new series Tyrant on FX is the story of one man returning from his Western existence to his Middle Eastern home to take on a leadership role.  As with the young Bashar Hafez al-Assad (an eye doctor) who returned home after the death of his older brother only to be the latest tyrant in the region, we can watch this new doctor return home and determine if he can do any better.

Here is FX's quick summary of the program (and a trailer):

Tyrant tells the story of an unassuming American family drawn into the inner workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. Bassam "Barry" Al-Fayeed (Adam Rayner), the youngest son of a war-torn country's controversial dictator, returns to his homeland after a self-imposed 20-year exile in America for his nephew's wedding. Upon his return, Barry is immediately thrown back into the familial and national politics of his youth. He braces himself to confront the stark realities of his father and older brother Jamal's (Ashraf Barhom) harsh rule, and finds himself at odds with Jamal's wife, Leila (Moran Atias), who strongly believes in a firm, unforgiving regime. 

Although his wife, Molly (Jennifer Finnigan), struggles to comprehend her husband's apprehension, Barry is unable and unwilling to make his all-American family understand his unease over returning home. Emma (Anne Winters), their 17-year-old daughter, adores her father and shares his disdain for the extravagances of her extended family. Meanwhile, their son, 16-year-old Sammy (Noah Silver), revels in the lavish lifestyle their "royal" status brings, but dangerously tests cultural divides with his poorly disguised interest in handsome family bodyguard Abdul (Mehdi Dehbi). 

Barry's only warm memory of his childhood, boyhood friend Fauzi (Fares Fares), wants nothing to do with him. Fauzi is now a journalist, whose reports on the abuses of the Al-Fayeed rule resulted in his arrest and torture. Barry must now confront the life he once fled. With his father's health in decline, everyone – Jamal, their mother Amira (Alice Krige), their father's top advisor Yussef (Salim Daw), and even easygoing U.S. diplomat John Tucker (Justin Kirk) – expects him to assume a more active role in both the family and the regime.

The new show is already in trouble with some because it is seen as stereo-typing all Arabs.  A spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations stated, "In the pilot of FX's 'Tyrant,' Arab Muslim culture is devoid of any redeeming qualities and is represented by terrorists, murderous children, rapists, corrupt billionaires and powerless female victims...In 'Tyrant,' even the 'good' Arab Muslims are bad."

It probably doesn't help the main character is played by a non-Arab and the whole series is filmed in Israel.  But even with all of this baggage, we have few shows that venture into this region, so maybe is can shed some light.  Maybe. 

Werewolves Are Back on Monday Night!

Season four of MTV's Teen Wolf starts tonight (June 23), and the Japaneses theme is over.  The new twist is Mexican, but the party is smaller with the death of a Allison and departure of Issac and the twins.  Its a scaled down show, but the crew is getting back one of its original characters from season one - Allison's aunt Kate.  You may remember Kate's nasty death, but that never really stopped anyone (does that also include Allison one of these days, I wonder?).  Take a look at this trailer to see what's in store for you tonight.

I like the Nerdist's spin on the series:

This series is the closest thing we’ve gotten to Buffy since the famed Whedon show ended in 2003. We already mentioned the tone, but what the series also does, much like the vampire drama, is build dynamic, three dimensional characters in a world that’s normally devoid of them.

I never thought of it that way, but this scrappy show has built a strong fan base on likeable characters in a very weird world.  It is not the dreary, snarky Vampire Diaries, or the off-the-tracks True Blood.  It goes back to regular friends in a screwed up world.  Let's hope we never get tired of the simple things in life (with a werewolf thrown in).

PBS Shows Us London's Underside

Tonight (June 22) on PBS you can take a tour of London's underground and learn about the fascinating layers of history under this great city.  Here is some background on Secrets of Underground London:

On the surface, London is a buzzing, modern metropolis — but underneath lies a hidden world, all but forgotten by the millions of people above. From ancient caves and preserved Roman remains to mysterious rivers and plague pits, SECRETS OF UNDERGROUND LONDON uncovers 2,000 years of subterranean history.

 

The special unearths historical locations such as the London Silver Vaults beneath Chancery Lane and Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s bunkers — where he conducted his strategic plan to win the war — directly under Westminster. Also revealed, among others, are the derelict elevators and platforms of Aldwych Tube Station, which not only provided citizens shelter during the WWII Blitz but housed the British Museum’s priceless treasures in secret tunnels.

 

“As people go through their everyday lives, untold treasures of history and mystery are hiding in plain sight across the city of London,” said Gareth Sacala, director at Pioneer Productions. “In never-before-seen footage, we take viewers to places that demonstrate the resiliency and ingenuity of the British throughout history.”

Here is the trailer.  It looks great and I plan to check it out. 

More Weekend Adventures: The Last Ship and The Musketeers

Two new shows premiere tonight (June 22) and I am not sure when I will get to them with all the other great shows starting this summer or still underway.  TNT, the same network that is bringing us Falling Skies tonight, has a new show called The Last Ship.  And BBC America is bringing us more than fake royals with its retelling of a great French classic The Three Musketeers.  Some details are provided below.

-- The Last Ship:  Remember ABC's show Last Resort about a renegade submarine with a crew that did not want to be part of killing millions of Pakistanis for a crazy U.S. president?  Well, now we have another navy ship separated from the pack, but this time unintentionally as the world goes to hell.  About 80 percent of the world's population has died from a mysterious virus, and our crew is determined to hold things together while searching for a cure.  By the way, the 20 percent still alive is not too friendly, so you can expect mad Russians and nuclear explosions.  This series is a Michael Bay product, so you know the action will be pretty crazy. Take a look at this clip for more.

-- The Musketeers:  Retelling classic tales can be dangerous if you stray too much from the original tale  and upset readers, though I am not sure how many young adults are reading classics these days versus The Hunger Games and similar stories.  So in this case, retelling may be the first telling for many in the audience and it could lead to a greater curiosity about the source material. Let's hope BBC America can bring back the classics one at a time, starting with the 1844 classic story by Alexandre Dumas.  BBC America also brings viewers up to speed with this quick bio of the characters:

D’Artagnan, a skilled fighter from rural Gascony, meets the three Musketeers while on a mission to right the wrong of his father’s death. Although he meets the men in unfortunate circumstances, he finds kindred spirits in the other soldiers. Athos, who has rejected his noble roots to become a Musketeer, quickly befriends D’Artagnan, but has a past which is shrouded in mystery, and is prone to getting in trouble.

Porthos is a larger-than-life character, who has come from humble beginnings to become a soldier in the most elite regiment in the land, finding a family in the other Musketeers. Never short of admirers, Aramis has an effortless charm which leads him in and out of love. Despite this, he is a shrewd pragmatist who is ferocious in battle and commands a key place in the brotherhood.
 
Constance Bonacieux (Tamla Kari) leads a dull but comfortable life married to a cloth merchant, but her life is turned upside down when D’Artagnan tumbles into her world, and she becomes involved with the Musketeers.

Cardinal Richelieu (Peter Capaldi), while striving to achieve his vision of a thoroughly modern France, is a shadowy character who will stop at nothing to achieve his objectives. Milady (Maimie McCoy) is the Cardinal’s secret weapon, the most mysterious and beautiful of villains whose motives are often concealed.

The King relies on the advice of the Cardinal, his shrewd wife Queen Anne and also Captain Treville (Hugo Speer), the brave and respected commander of the Musketeers who keeps an eye on the soldiers to ensure they stay out of trouble. The series bursts with escapism, adventure and romance and is set to thrill audiences with riveting stories every week. 

BBC America must have some faith in this production since it has already renewed it for a second season after it aired in the United Kingdom earlier this year.  Here is a trailer showing what you can expect. 

GOT Season Finale: Just Okay

Game of Thrones fans have been raving about the season finale last week, "The Children," and viewership was certainly high, with 7.1 million sitting by their televisions and the show's popularity surpassing HBO's The Sopranos.  However, I was underwhelmed.

If you haven't seen it, you should go no further here.  If you have, maybe you will agree with me that the prior episode, “The Watchers on the Wall,” with the entire episode focusing on the Wildlings attack on the Wall would have been a better ending to the season.  The two-front battle scenes reminded me of the Lord of the Rings films on a somewhat appropriately scaled down level, while we saw Jon Snow finally take on the long-awaiting role as leader of the Night's Watch.  The ending scenes with the death of Ygritte and Jon Snow walking alone into the wasteland north of the Wall was the perfect set up for the next season.

But no, we still had one more episode where instead of a single location, we hopped from location to location as characters drop one by one - Tywin, the Hound, Shae, and Jojen - and went to Dany long enough to show here chaining two of her dragons.  The whole episode had the feeling of cleaning up the remains of the season so things can start anew next season.  Maybe this is consistent with the book, but the writers have not been afraid to stray a bit for the sake of the on-screen story, and this is maybe where they should have tried a little harder.  I am not saying the final episode did not have plenty of good scenes and was an important marker in the series.  I am simply saying it could have been part of the cliffhanger going into the next season.  Oh well, what's done is done.