CBS "Heads" Back UNDER THE DOME

Article originally written for Seat42F.

CBS’s Stephen King series, UNDER THE DOME, returned last night with a season premiere penned by the horror master himself. “Heads Will Roll” picks up right where season one ended, with Barbie’s (Mike Vogel) head in a noose and the dome glowing with a bright, white light. From there, the episode introduces several new characters, says goodbye to a couple of main players, and forces Big Jim (Dean Norris) to take a long, hard look at himself. It’s a pretty solid hour.

Big Jim is the villain of the piece, of course, but it seems like “Heads Will Roll” sets him on the road to redemption. As a magnetic force renders most of the citizens unconscious, Jim is plagued by hallucinations of Dodee (Jolene Purdy), whom he killed, and Linda (Natalie Martinez), the first casualty of the premiere. It’s like his own version of A Christmas Carol, and confronted with his failings, Big Jim decides he should end himself, which he almost goes through with until Julia (Rachelle Lefevre) stops him.

Can Big Jim eventually be one of the good guys? The dynamics of UNDER THE DOME are often flimsy, changing on a whim. After all, how many times has Angie (Britt Robertson) seemingly forgiven Junior (Alexander Koch) after he kidnaps her? However, the situation is tense and stress levels are high, which does make it easier to overlook misdeeds. Big Jim has made quite a few blunders in the eyes of our heroes, but most of the townsfolk don’t hate him, so if he works to be the leader they want, which he seems serious about when he gives now-homeless Norrie (Mackenzie Lintz) and Carolyn (Aisha Hinds) a key to his house, we could end up liking him.

With arcs like this, UNDER THE DOME strives to be a serious character piece, meaty drama with layered players. The problem is, it’s just not. It takes shortcuts and allows inconsistencies that hurt the overall impression. For instance, moments before Julia saves Big Jim, she’s ready and willing to be the tool that kills him. How can she shift so suddenly? The writers definitely seemed more concerned with the actions of those on screen than the motivations behind them. And even the actions, such as the dome magnetically pulling metal to it, aren’t the most consistently thought out, with items flying willy-nilly, rather than in a logical pattern, making it more dangerous, but less believable.

Which is not to say UNDER THE DOME is a bad show. I find it quite enjoyable, and there are some genuine surprises, such as Linda being squashed and Angie getting hacked to pieces. I am curious as to what is going on, and I’m engaged with who might die next. It’s just more in the genre of summer popcorn than serious drama.

The deaths do seem a bit arbitrary, which makes it hard to predict who might go next. Angie is one of the four kids who communication with the dome, so she doesn’t seem expendable, but’s she taken out, nonetheless. Plus, she runs the diner after the owner is previously killed, so that leaves a crucial gap in the town. Linda is the last real law enforcement officer left, again, making her seem safe, but she’s replaced by Phil (Nicholas Strong) by the end of the episode, Big Jim’s lackey, for now. The show does not worry about preserving a structure, and is willing to create more conflict by removing those that don’t seem replaceable, bold moves.

To help keep the population up, we are introduced to Sam Verdreaux (Eddie Cahill, CSI: NY), who initially makes a pretty boring corner of a love triangle with Julie and Barbie, but gets more interesting when we learn he’s Junior’s uncle and acts shifty. There’s also Rebecca Pine (Karla Crome), a science teacher, who might finally give us insight on the (uneven) mechanics of the dome, and Melanie Cross (Grace Victoria Cox), a crazy girl. This new blood should keep the story humming along nicely.

More interesting is the reveal of Junior’s mother, Pauline (Sherry Stringfield), outside of the dome. We haven’t really seen how the rest of the world is reacting to the events in Chester’s Mill, and she not only potentially provides a window to the larger universe, but also has strange connections to the dome itself. I, like many viewers, had assumed she was dead. To learn she’s elsewhere only deepens the mystery.

Overall, “Heads Will Roll” is one of the better installments of UNDER THE DOME, with everything from action to self-reflection, to a cameo by King himself. Season two is off to a good start.

UNDER THE DOME airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.

Check Into BATES MOTEL

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: 'Bates Motel - Season One' on Blogcritics.

Horror is a very popular genre on television right now, with The Walking Dead crushing in the ratings, American Horror Story earning accolades left and right, and Hannibal being just plain awesome. Earlier this year, A&E, a network not known for anything but formulaic, procedural dramas, decided to enter the ring with Bates Motel, a prequel to the classic Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho. Imagine my surprise, then, that Bates Motel is every bit as worthy of praise as its peers.

Bates Motel is set in the modern day, and thus inspired by, rather than confined to, the film. The setting looks identical to that which viewers are familiar with, and some clothing and hairstyle choices are pulled straight from the source material. It pays homage quite clearly, though later episodes really take some license to go their own direction.

The reason to give a prequel story like this a chance, and the method through which it soars so well, is that it is made by producers of Lost and Friday Night Lights. These two amazing shows knew how to do character development and slow-burning plots, and they apply it here again. Combine this with a thoroughly creepy tone and place, you have a heck of a TV show. Plus, the cast is terrific.

As the story begins, Norman (Freddie Highmore, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland) moves with his mother, Nora (Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air, The Departed), to a run-down motel in a small town after the suspicious death of his father. Here, the seventeen-year-old boy tries to build a normal life for himself with friends (Olivia Cooke and Nicola Peltz), but is hampered by his controlling mother.

Yes, Norma is exactly what we’d expect her to be, having seen the old movie, or even just knowing she named her son after herself. She’s harsh and unfeeling, despite her assertions of love. She holds Norman a prisoner as much as a son, and even involves him in her murderous schemes, or at least covering them up. She is manipulating and shaping him into the killer that he himself will become, and making sure she sinks claws into him that will stay attached far beyond her death.

Not that Norma is the only dangerous thing in town. It’s hard to trust Sheriff Alex Romero (Nestor Carbonell, Lost), even after Norma worms her way into the arms of his Deputy, Zack Shelby (Mike Vogel, Under the Dome). Pot fields and sex-slave rings abound. Creepiness is everywhere.

Norman’s path isn’t completely lost yet. He’s a nice, obedient boy, most of the time, and he has an older half-brother, Dylan (Max Thieriot), to look up to. He also has a teacher, Miss Watson (Keegan Connor Tracy, Once Upon a Time), that sees untapped potential within him. There is always the slim chance he might get out of this story without being ruined, though I doubt that would satisfy the fans.

High definition is a must for this series. Given the dark tone, there are plenty of shadows and muted colors. This blu-ray release does a fantastic job of showing off the blacks and layers within in 1080p. It’s nice to get such crispness from such richly detained sets and props. The soundtrack is well mixed in DTS 5.1. If a production is going to go this much trouble to deliver a high quality release, both visual and audio, it is worth it to seek the best picture and sound available.

The special features are unfortunately few. There are deleted scenes, of course, and a really cool Paley Center Panel included. For those who buy the initial release, a few of Jiao’s (Diana Bang) neat sketches are tucked in. But that’s it, no audio commentaries or behind-the-scenes extras, sadly.

Bates Motel: Season One is on sale now.

CBS Going UNDER THE DOME

Article first published as UNDER THE DOME Review on Seat42F.

Grade: 86%

CBS, perhaps in an attempt to combat the lame, reality and re-run heavy summer fare on the basic networks, has a new offering premiering this week. Titled UNDER THE DOME, this thirteen episode series, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, follows the residents of Chester’s Mill Maine when a transparent, sound-proof, impenetrable dome suddenly crashes down over their town.

UNDER THE DOME feels a lot like other summer programs in the past that haven’t lasted, such as the one where a handful of people were trapped in a town and were watched on cameras, or other Stephen King TV dramatizations, or even a little bit like cult-favorite Jericho. It has the sort-of post-apocalyptic, yet still small-scale and personal, feeling of a drama about people on the edge.

The cast, whom we are mostly introduced to in the first eight minutes, before the dome appears, are a broad spectrum of individuals, almost as if there was a checklist that had to be satisfied when putting together the ensemble. None of them are particularly original characters, even though there are some very good actors playing them, as they are without exception archetypes that have been seen on a variety of other shows.

Among those featured are: Barbie (Mike Vogel, Bates Motel, Pan Am), an ex-Army officer who comes to town and kills someone, then is trapped before he can escape; Big Jim (Dean Norris, Breaking Bad), the crooked councilman who wants to use the disaster to manipulate the town into his own personal kingdom; Angie (Britt Robertson, Life Unexpected), a waitress who dates a too-clingy boy; Junior (Alexander Koch), Big Jim’s mentally unbalanced son who has designs on Angie; Julia (Rachelle Lefevre, What About Brian), a journalist with a missing husband; Dodee (Jolene Purdy, Gigantic), a mouthy radio engineer; Duke (Jeff Fahey, Lost), the ineffective patsy cop; and Linda (Natalia Martinez, Detroit 1-8-7), a deputy whose fireman boyfriend is outside the dome.

Believe it or not, that is not a complete roster of the characters featured in the “Pilot.” UNDER THE DOME presents a sprawling cast with few connections between one another thus far, but surely more will be revealed as things unfold, as we’ve been taught it common for small towns. Unlike a series like Lost, these people aren’t banding together, but instead following their own motivations and activities.

As such, there isn’t a clear, cohesive story in episode one. Everyone has their own implications of the occurrence to deal with, and as no one even really knows what’s going on yet, there has been no concentrated effort to solve the mystery or find a way out of the disaster. A couple people have sort of started down that road, but have barely begun to investigate.

Which isn’t to say there aren’t some intriguing set-ups. A couple of theories are put forth, at least one character reveals to viewers that he actually does know what is happening, one on the roster above is dead by the end of the first hour, there are some clues that indicate a larger conspiracy, strange seizures appear other-worldly, and various family connections pop when one is not expecting.

There are also a few missteps in UNDER THE DOME. I feel like the dome actually coming down is unnecessarily brutal. A cow is split in half and slides down the wall, leaving a bloody streak. A plane smashes into the dome, and among the debris raining down is a severed limb. A truck rams the barrier and becomes almost as flat as a pancake. None of these are executed in impressive fashion, given the low special effects budget and broadcast network restrictions, so they aren’t particularly amazing. Instead, they come off as cheap gags designed to entice the viewer, but failing to do so because of their cheesy execution. It would be better if we got more dialogue scenes and less of these “shockers.”

If the focus stays on the characters, rather than gross gimmicks, UNDER THE DOME should provide satisfying summer entertainment, probably the best of the Big Four networks’ programming. There is some real talent present that can be better utilized than we’ve seen so far. But it’s not regular season-quality, and it does feel like an amateur effort compared to other projects. King may be able to write fantastic novels, but they seldom translate into groundbreaking shows or movies, and this one is not on the level of The Shining or the few other notable exceptions to that rule.

UNDER THE DOME premieres Monday, June 24th at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.

Bates Motel dreams of death

Article first posted as BATES MOTEL Review on Seat42F.com

Grade: 96%

A&E is not particularly known for their dramas. They’ve had a few scripted series up to this point, like The Glades, Breakout Kings, and The Cleaner, but they are formulaic crime dramas, not a complex, serial show that deserves attention and praise. With the premiere of BATES MOTEL on March 18th, that changes.

BATES MOTEL, as one might expect, is set at the same location as the classic Hitchcock film Psycho, and looks perfectly in sync with the earlier work. This television series is a prequel to the movie, set many years earlier. As the first episode, “Fist You Dream, Then You Die” opens, Norman Bates’ (Freddie Highmore, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland) father dies, and his mother, Norma (Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air, The Departer), moves them to a small town where she has purchased a motel and the house behind it.

The elements one would expect from such a project are immediately present. Norman is eager to please and mostly obedient. Norma is controlling and manipulative. The motel itself is cursed from the beginning, it having been taken away from a family that has long owned the land by the bank, and a descendant of that family is not happy to let it go. The tone is creepy and disturbing, but not too obviously so.

The cast does a superb job. Highmore is the right mix of good son and budding psychopath. He is trying to be a normal kid, but that’s not the way his mother has raised him, nor does she let explore that option. Farmiga captures the portrait of the type of mother that would name her son after herself. The way she coldly receives the news of her husband’s death, then later handles Norman, is compelling to watch, and surely she is making a mark on the television landscape, owning the role.

Right away, death also comes to the Bates Motel. There are strong hints that Norma might have offed her own husband, and (very slight spoiler) there will be a second body by the end of the first hour. I don’t know if BATES MOTEL is a horror show, per se, and if there will continue to be serial killings throughout; after all, no one suspects Norman long after his mother passes on. But the stage is set for what must be.

Much of the purpose of the series will be to take Norman from normal child to cold-hearted murderer. We see he has a possible support system, with girls who want to be his friends and a teacher offering mentorship. But we also see how the boys don’t take a shine to him, and how Norma cuts him off from social interaction. And then, witnessing what Norma involves him in, we see the seeds of things to come.

Not that Norma is totally obvious in her machinations. To a viewer at home, sure, we can tell she’s a horrible mother because we see it all. To a character in the show, outside of the family, she may seem a little strict, but not someone to worry about. At least, not yet.

The supporting cast is just as good as the two leads, which helps with the overall effect. After all, BATES MOTEL is set in a town, so there must be townspeople. These fellow residents pleasantly round out the world in a very authentic way without distracting or mandating plots of their own. They include Nestor Carbonell (Lost) as the Sheriff, Keegan Connor Tracy (Once Upon a Time) as Miss Watson, Norman’s teacher, and Olivia Cooke as an odd classmate. Upcoming guests (according to IMDB and Wikipedia) will include Jere Burns (Justified), Mike Vogel (Pan Am), Richard Harmon (The Killing), and even Kate Winslet (Titantic, Mildred Pierce).

“First You Dream, Then You Die” is a lot of setup, especially the beginning, but manages to not feel too much like it is. We enter at a critical moment in Norman’s life, one that will put him on a certain path, and he already begins going down that path in the premiere. The start of the action is not sudden or jarring, and yet, this pilot does a good job of actually getting into the meat of the story. Credit writing, directing, and production, as well as the performers, because this is an excellent pilot in just about every way imaginable, with a definite cinematic quality.

My only slight complaint is that there is a bit of heavy handedness present. “First You Dream, Then You Die” begins with Norman listening to dialogue on a television talking about a grown man living with his mother. Norma wears the same dress and hairstyle to dinner that the corpse at the end of the film is sporting. But while it may have been better to spread out such references through multiple episodes, instead of sticking a bunch in the premiere, it does effectively tie this project to its source material, so it’s not totally unwarranted.

BATES MOTEL deserves attention, and Highmore and Farmiga will hopefully get some Emmy credit. Which means you probably won’t want to miss a show this good. I certainly won’t.

Pan Am takes off

     ABC's Pan Am begins with "Pilot," a more appropriate use of that title than in other series, though the pilot is merely one of the characters featured. The Clipper Majestic makes its first flight from New York to London. New captain Dean (Mike Vogel, Miami Medical) wonders why his special gal, Bridget (Annabelle Wallis, The Tudors), suddenly isn't working for the airline. Maggie (Christina Ricci, Sleepy Hollow, Casper) is called upon to fill in at the last minute. Kate (Kelli Garner, My Generation, The Aviator) has a secret mission to complete, and isn't crazy that her sister Laura (Margot Robbie, Neighbours), a recent hire, is the new face of Pan Am on Life magazine. Colette (Karine Vanasse, Set Me Free, October 1970) learns her lover is married.

     Apparently Pan Am flights are busy places! Which is good, given that the show seeks to be a series that will hopefully run for years to come. Some of correct ingredients are present, including pretty good actors and decent characters. The flashbacks are a nice touch, informing viewers who these people are that are suddenly on this airplane together. The Bridget mystery is an interesting one, and Kate, in particular, has several nice stories fleshed out already. As such, there is a lot of room for growth, and enough to hold viewer interest.

     Other elements don't work so well. The music, swelling obnoxiously loud, tries to force viewers to feel emotions. In any decent show, that is the actors' jobs. And they are doing that job, if the music would just back off a little and let them. Also, there is a cheesiness whenever the story tries to stress that Pan Am stewardesses are blazing a new trail for women. The ending of the "Pilot," where a little girl gazes admiringly at these beautiful, confident, independent women, is just plain hokey. These could be done without.

     Over all though, provided the score is toned down, Pan Am has the makings of something worth watching. It's certainly no Mad Men, as the drama isn't nearly as intense or original, but it's miles ahead of the other new network show set in the 1960's this year, The Playboy Club. The best thing to do, going forward, is to let the performers breathe life in the characters, and give them the room to do so. This is Pan Am's strongest element, and the smartest way to make the series work.

     Some reviews have complained about the fact that Kate is recruited to spy for the government, calling it unrealistic. Yet, there are interviews plenty of women in her position who were asked to do just that. Sometimes real life can be stranger than fiction, and this just might be one of those times. It's a fantastic addition, as it allows some high stakes story, while also keeping things authentic to the time period.

     Pan Am airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

     If you like my reviews, please follow me on Twitter!