Infrastructure Work Needed for BRIDGE AND TUNNEL

 Article first published as TV Review: BRIDGE AND TUNNEL on Seat42F.

Epix recently premiered the new series BRIDGE AND TUNNEL. Set in Long Island in 1980, it follows a group of six friends who have just graduated college and are on the verge of moving onto the next stage of their lives. However, when they all come home for a summer break and to reconnect, their lives quickly become entwined again. Will they give up their futures to pursue the past? Or will this be a final fling before they move on into adulthood?

To be honest, I didn’t find the premise of BRIDGE AND TUNNEL all that realistic. All six members of this friend group had free time after college? None of them went straight into jobs? Was that how it was back in 1980, that adulthood didn’t start until you had one last summer break? This seems more like the circumstances of a post-high school summer, though the stakes are painted as quite a bit higher. It makes sense for the two characters waiting to go onto more studies, but not the others.

The idea that romance could derail a career, even a dream job, is more believable. We meet Jimmy (Sam Vartholomeos, Star Trek: Discovery) and Jill (Caitlin Stasey, Reign) as they hook up in the bathroom of their favorite local bar. Their friends gossip about them as they wait for their return, but the couple has other ideas, sneaking out so they can keep having sex. They are in love, but one is more committed than the other. Or perhaps, you could say one is more realistic about why a long-term relationship won’t work. Jimmy is heading to Alaska to take pictures for National Geographic, while Jill is a city girl.

BRIDGE AND TUNNEL does a good job of showing the pain of love that isn’t practical. Movies and television shows often subscribe to the “love conquers all” premise, and while it’s not unheard of to go in a different direction, it’s still appreciated when a series does. Their time is limited, and that misery hangs over any time they spend together. It might be smarter to stay away, even if they can’t seem to do so.

The other four characters are less developed. Stacey (Isabella Farrell, Fluidity) and Mikey (Jan Luis Castellanos, 13 Reasons Why) are full of lust for one another, but they don’t pretend it’s anything more than physical attraction. And while at least one of them has a significant other somewhere else, which doesn’t stop them, it doesn’t seem completely immoral, either, or at least not any more so than their previous teen non-relationship was. Pags (Brian Muller, The Deuce) would like to pair up with the remaining girl in the group, Tammy (Gigi Zumbado, Pitch Perfect 2), but she’s more interested in waiting for her turn with Mikey, who hasn’t seem to have noticed her in that way.

Series creator, writer, and director Edward Burns (Saving Private Ryan, Public Morals) is also acting in the show as Jimmy’s father, Artie. He seems to be the type of man that isn’t interesting in showing his emotion, but is interested in his son’s life. He finds ways to communicate that are traditionally masculine while still being involved.

BRIDGE AND TUNNEL is almost a fantasy series, because of the unlikely premise, even if the characters are realistic enough. Still, this isn’t exactly a fresh idea, and I’m not sure it needed to be done again. If it’s personal to the creator, I would understand why he’d want to make it. It’s fun and colorful enough to be entertaining. But I wouldn’t expect this to qualify for prestige or must-see television without better fleshing out the world and tying it to reality.

The first episode of BRIDGE AND TUNNEL is available free on Amazon Prime, and further episodes will air Sundays on Epix.

WANDAVISION Blurry

 Article first published as TV Review: WANDAVISION on Seat42F.

WARNING: This review contains spoilers from the first two episodes.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first television show, the highly anticipated WANDAVISION, dropped its first two episodes yesterday on Disney+. Set in a fantasy sitcom world, the series is slow to reveal the mysteries at its heart, instead dwelling in the neighborhood that has been constructed, and not giving viewers many clues as to why or how these characters are here. It’s a strange, surreal comedy that touches every cliché of decades past, with a dark undertone for what will surely be revealed as the season unfolds.

Elizabeth Olsen reprises her role from the films as Wanda Maximoff, while Paul Bettany returns as Vision. This premise is immediately suspect as, last we saw Vision, he had been utterly destroyed by Thanos. Yet, here he is, happily married to Wanda and in a suburbia that never existed. This isn’t just a reimaging, as the presence of a beekeeper (a familiar symbol of AIM to comic book fans) and a garbled radio broadcast asking Wanda what was done to her make it clear there is a life beyond this constructed one. So the question seems to be, who captured Wanda and what kind of experiments are they doing on her that has left her locked in this dream with her deceased lover?

WANDAVISION could easily just be Wanda-centric, given she is possibly the only one truly existing here, but the title and the way the story unfolds gives equal weight to both heroes, hinting that perhaps something of Vision has survived the removal of the Soul stone from his lifeless physical form. Given that Vision started in the MCU as an A.I., it is reasonable to think perhaps he can continue as such, even as fans (including myself) may hold out hope for him to rejoin the rest of the Avengers in the real world eventually.

I could easily see WANDAVISION as a film instead of a nine-part series that presumably will run about four and a half hours. It lingers so, so much in the fake scenario, going through entire stories in each of the first two installments. The premiere is about Vision having his boss and his wife over for dinner, and of course Wanda isn’t prepared and things go wrong. This one looks like the ‘50s in a The Dick Van Dyke Show house. Yet, as the second episode begins, they’re shifted over to a 1960s Bewitched format (with no comment on the change) for a talent show scenario involving the local women’s club. Each are stand-alone entries of slightly different styles, but there are small hints at reality trying to bust through. As enjoyable as these are, I began to quickly grow impatient to get to the larger narrative. Though a Pleasantville-style occurrence in the second installment indicates the pacing might speed up a little soon, and the ‘commercials’ are definitely leading to something.

Despite my wish that WANDAVISION not move so slowly, there are many familiar faces to help it along and make the wait go easier. Kathryn Hahn (Transparent) is fantastic as nosy neighbor and friend, Agnes. Debra Jo Rupp (That ‘70s Show) delights as Vision’s boss’s wife, Mrs. Hart. Emma Caulfield Ford (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is perfect as the mean lady that heads the local ladies. Teyonah Parris (Mad Men) is immediately magnetic as Geraldine. There are many others, as well, and if there wasn’t a mystery box waiting to be opened, this could be a fun throwback sitcom outside of Marvel.

One of the actors above has been confirmed to actually be someone who exists beyond this, and was played by someone else in an MCU film, though to avoid spoiling, I won’t say which one. Additionally, other performers from the MCU movies have been tied to this production, they just haven’t shown up yet. I’m anxious to get to those reveals.

I liked WANDAVISION, but I do wish, because they’ve chosen the drag the story out over 9 episodes, that they’d just released them all at once for us to binge. It’s frustrating and hurts my enjoyment to not get much towards the big picture in episodes 1 and 2. After this much anticipation, I feel like we needed a little more payoff. Let’s hope the ensuing weeks make up for that (and I suspect they will). I can’t help but think most of the glowing reviews are from those that have seen more than has been released to the public at this point.

WANDAVISION streams weekly on Disney+.