****
Veridian Dynamics is leading the way in research and development, bringing to life countless ideas that will change the course of humankind forever. Unfortunately, unless the product is thought to make a quick profit, it's not likely to hit the shelves, meaning the company's resources are used mostly for evil, much to the dismay of the employees tasked with creating them.
The review for "Secrets and Lives" can be read here.
Created by Victor Fresco, this series was inspired by the struggle to teach children good values and morals while defending the giant corporations that one might work for. In Ted (Jay Harrington) we find a single father trying to ensure that his daughter Rose (Isabella Acres) makes the right choices in life while, at work, he himself is forced to compromise his own ethics in the name of sales. Many of the conflicts in the stories here arise from the fact that, as a father, Ted is meant to be something of a moral compass to his daughter, but is then made to convince himself to look the other way in many cases in regards to the company's interests, then forcing him to explain to Rose the difference between his own actions and those he takes in the course of his work.
As a character in this narrative, Veronica (Portia de Rossi) is effective because she is the perfect embodiment of everything that is business: a beautiful facade hiding a goal-driven, cut-throat determination within. Veronica's first priority is to get the job done, putting far more emphasis on production and cost than on the state of her employees, often rewording the complaints of her subordinates in an effort to make her goals seem like their ideas. Veronica is, in part, the villain of this series, but she's not unwilling to change in an effort to improve the state of being within the company, sometimes working to rectify the issues had by her employees, though often taking them too far. At Linda's (Andrea Anders) suggestion, Veronica allows her employees to individualize their work spaces, but, understanding the company's view that they should not work on their own, but as a team, Veronica limits them to four choices of identity. Veronica is the voice of the company, displaying a naïveté toward the human condition and expecting those who work beneath her simply to accept any changes she makes for the benefit of profit. Her social-awkwardness is hilariously played by de Rossi, and her character steals every scene in which she appears.
This series makes good use of child actor Acres, having just enough of the character Rose to add to the plot without bringing it down in an effort to focus on a child's adorable antics. Rose often provides counsel for her father when he's unsure of his actions, and is sometimes even the voice of reason among the cast of characters, providing simple and obvious solutions that an adult mind might not always think of off-hand. The inclusion of Rose in this series isn't an effort to soften the series or add a cuteness factor, but instead is a very organic aspect of the background that the writers utilize perfectly without allowing her to get in the way of the stories they want to tell within the adult-only world.
Most of the characters get a chance to shine throughout the season, offering great lines in every episode and really growing comically with every passing story, but when it comes to lab rats Phil (Jonathan Slavin) and Lem (Malcolm Barrett,) it feels as though there is a slight imbalance in regards to the focus. Where Phil gets many opportunities throughout the season to steal the show, Lem's plots are generally in reaction to Phil, very rarely striking out on his own and proving himself as his own character. Certainly Lem is given his own stories and even has at least one featuring episode revolving around his situation, and many other plots involve Phil and Lem as a duo, but it still feels Phil-heavy in regards to stories taking place in the lab. It may be because everyone else has a job to themselves, where Phil and Lem work together, but it would be nice to see him as more of an individual, because, as it is, there's a sense that he has been left underused.
When it comes to character development, at least on a personal level, the cast here isn't all that well rounded as the writers choose instead to put a lot more focus on the insanity of the week often forgetting to let them grow as individuals. So often the stories are focused on the characters reacting to the world around them, being forced to navigate their way through the absurdity that their employers have tasked them with, and the few times we do get to see them outside the office it's still in relation to whatever is happening at work. With few exceptions are we treated to the personal lives of these people, making it somewhat difficult to empathize with who they really are, which, as a comedy, isn't narratively necessary, but it would be a nice inclusion every now and again.
It is incredibly rare to find a group of five actors that have this amazing chemistry, but the cast of this series truly brings the scripts and characters to life, and it honestly feels as though they're having as much fun playing their roles as it is to watch them in their roles. These actors inhabit their roles incredibly well, and their timing is absolutely fantastic. There are not enough good words to say about them, and even the supporting roles played by guest actors are integrated so well that it's hard to believe these people haven't been friends forever. There is literally no fault in the casting of this series, and there also is nothing negative to cast their way in an effort at criticism.
There are a lot of elements in the directing of this series that could very well work against the narrative, including cut-away jokes and fourth-wall breaking narration, that somehow manage to click with the material and work very organically. The shots don't linger too long on small details meant to be important, instead moving on to the next thing and assuming that, should the audience have missed one sight-gag or in-joke, that they will catch the next one. There are no fancy edits or zooms for dramatic effect, the camera instead remains fairly steady throughout the series, but it's done in a way that makes it feel very organized, giving the sense that, had the company allowed a documentary based within their corporation, there is a very specific framing for control of information that is to be acceptable. The direction here is very clean and very professional, and while it's not always beyond what could be find in any other series on television, it's done very well here.
Written for a smart audience, the scripts for this series don't try to dumb themselves down for a larger audience, instead assuming that the viewer will either understand the jokes or, should the dialogue go over their head, appreciate the sight gags. The characters may not be as well drawn as they could be, and the plots may occasionally be so over-the-top that they seem nearly impossible to work onto the screen, but the scripts work in tandem with the direction and acting, and everything gets across beautifully. As a satire this series has permission to go off the rails in its absurdity, and it works very well because the characters remain very meta about their situations, well aware that everything happening around them is ridiculous and simply trying to make the best of a strange situation. I absolutely love the writing on this series, and while there are a few times throughout the season that seem to be bordering on quirky for the sake of being quirky, the delivery of the cast saves it from being too meta to function and makes an incredibly charming viewing experience.
The roles that these characters play within the company is very clear at this point, with everyone doing the best they can at their jobs while understanding that the absurdity toward which they work is not necessarily the norm of every other day job. Their lives outside of the office mostly hinted at, with Ted and Veronica being the rare exceptions, there will hopefully be an opportunity within the next season of the show to display what it is that makes these people tick on their own time.
The review for "Love Blurts" can be read here.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment