Monday's Interesting Things
Let's deep dive Smoke - Apple's latest mid show
Ok, we gotta talk about Smoke.
No, not the Harvey Keitel movie - the Apple TV show I mentioned the other day.
Before I dive deep into this, I will say i’m going to have to dig into some spoilers… spoilers from the first three episodes since those are the only ones I’ve seen, but spoilers nonetheless, since the cruz of this show hinges on a pretty big reveal at the end of episode two. So, if you’re holding out for every episode to bounce before starting this mid Apple TV show maybe skip along to the next section.
SPOILERS AHEAD
This incoming rant is not going to be about the quality of the show. It’s got an offbeat, stilted delivery throughout much that only Greg Kinear apparently can break through. Think about that one for a second. And I know both main characters have significant traumatic issues to deal with, and the actors are drawing upon that to direct their performances, but what that does is make for a show that goes through fits, starts and sputters, causing some herky jerky pacing. You could convince it’s taking it’s cues from the setting of a fire, and the dance a flame dances before igniting into something terrible, and if that’s the case… if the creators have put together a show that is inspired by the movement of fire, then I will at least say bravo and respect the attempt. Not sure that’s what’s going on here. But hey - respecting the attempt to do something different.
No, my rant has more to do with the structure of the show, the seemingly, across-the-board sentiment of how amazing the “reveal” changes the show and how we react to thins that are staring us in the face from the beginning.
Reviews (here and here for examples) Smoke have called out the second episode as the place where the show shows its cards and lets the audience in on what is really going on. And, yeah, that’s true. Before the “twist” the show builds a premise about two arson investigators investigating two arsonists working in the area (though as a quick aside… I am going to quickly suggest the most interesting thing was the blatant disregard for law Detective Calderon, played by Journee Smollett, as she breaks into a suspects house, ultimately shooting him and then creating a massive coverup that feels flimsy at best. As I’m only in the third episode I have to imagine it will come back to haunt her at some point - but barring a significant amount of jail time, it won’t be enough. I reserve the right to take this all back if, at the end of this series, regardless of the arson cases outcome she is locked up for a significant amount of time, but I feel safe that that isn’t coming. Anyway, that’s not even what I’m here to rant about), one, Taron Egerton’s character, an affable goofball writing a novel and the other, the aforementioned oh so serious female detective who gives no shits about the law.
But the happy go lucky facade of Taron Egerton’s character cracks ever so slightly towards the end of epsode two as he is dealing with some familial stress, which gives us the big moment: he’s one of the arsonists!
So now we have the real premise of the show, which is the cat and mouse chase of these two characters. Which… fine. It’s based on a podcast series Firebug, which is based on a true story, and was created by Dennis Lehane, a fairly famous crime novelist so there’s a backbone of quality and intrigue for this show.
But “twist?” “Reveal?” These are words should be used to inspire something different. And legit this is more or less the plot of Backdraft…
And sure, citing a 30+ year old movie as inspiration for a current story isn’t necessarily a smoking gun of banality. reaching into the past to create the current is a Hollywood special and I don’t expect too many people to have seen Backdraft (though it was popular back in the 90s and a cable TV staple).
But I do expect the critics to know their fire history. It’s not like shows/movies based around fires and arson are a dime a dozen. And the plot point of a fireman turned arsonist is not exactly a huge oh my god moment. So what are we even doing here?
But that’s not even why I bring this up. Because, if you go back and read what I said before watching a second of this show (“I’ll keep you posted though and let you know if it’s worth it. But if it’s the inspector becomes the arsonist I’m gonna blow something up.”), while I certainly want to position myself as some cultural reincarnation of the amazing Kreskin (just another one of my on the point, what the kids are talking about references), I can’t. Why?
Because they give it all away in the trailer!
It’s all right there! Right at the end! And THAT’S why I’m bewildered by the reviews. I assume the critics aren’t watching the trailers, having seen these shows far enough in advance, which… ok. But, something has to change here. Because I read the reviews, and I watched the trailer, and simply assumed there was some sort of bigger twist than the arson investigator becomes the arsonist. Because also, that’s not that big of a twist to start with and also… it’s not a twist if they’re using it in the promos for the show.
And sure, again this is some mid Apple TV production that will fade away into the nothingness of the platform within three months and no one will remember it. But the bigger point here is that what’s the point of entertainment anymore if you’re going to blow the doors off it before people watch? The lament of streaming shows not getting an audience isn’t that audiences don’t have an attention span… it’s that the companies behind it all don’t have them. They think we’re dumb, which is why everything is told to us before we see it. But people will find the quality if it’s offered. And look… again, I have only watched three episodes of Smoke and so maybe it will go out there and surprise me. There are some small cinders and sparks that could ignite something really surprising… Calderon being the arsonist would truly be a big twist, and the show has put things in place where that wouldn’t be preposterous. But again, I don’t think anyone involved trusts the audience enough to get it. And that’s the truly sucky part.
What else is going on
Earlier last week I shined a spotlight on Velvet Sundown, the to be sure AI created band that Spotify seemed to be throwing on playlists to drive up streams and show us the dead internet theory will consume us all in the next few years. And now we have an official statement with just a shitastic explosion of PR words to really make you think, man about what this means for the future of music. Yuck.