🎬 #164 When A Show Breaks Out Of Itself.
I don’t like to write about TV so much on here, not because I don’t enjoy it, but like the concept of the newsletter says it’s about recommending two films per week. But I make exceptions when I, well, when I feel like it I suppose. And this week is an exception.
I think you can always tell when, as the title alludes to, a single episode of a TV show blasts out of the already great mould and becomes special onto itself. The writers room were probably on the verge of murdering each other to decide who would take that story breakdown and write it into the fully fledged episode. I’ve picked out two examples of this below. Please consider this a spoiler alert if you’re not on the latest episode of Severance or haven’t seen Lost. I’ll try to speak more in generalities but still, tread lightly.
Happy choosing, happy viewing
Bry
EPISODE ONE: SEVERANCE S2 E7
“CHIKAI BARDO”
2025 Dir Jessica Lee Gagné | Writers Dan Erickson / Mark Friedman
50 mins
Severance is a great show. With probably one of the least skipped intros of any ever made. From the title sequence, to the production design, costume, performances - everything is as meticulous and immaculate as the offices of Lumon. Where on the severed floor, employees [innies] only know the world of work - while their [outies] the people they are outside of work, only know the world outside of work - and never the twain shall meet. A fantastic concept - and one that’s pushed even further in the second season. What does it exactly mean to be essentially split between a work self and a life self? What implications does that have for partners, for love, for identity? It’s all very intense stuff - but all the writers and directors involved have taken a complex structure and made it make more than sense. There’s never a moment where you feel lost, unless they want you to feel that way.
The episode in question is dedicated almost entirely to getting an in-depth look at the relationship between Gemma and Mark. It’s a super technical feat of filmmaking, but what’s most impressive isn’t the mastery of moving cameras or the variety of visual techniques on display, it’s the cohesion of concept and emotional depth. The payoff of getting a glimpse into one of the relationships that’s the main propellent of the show is amazing to behold. If you’re not watching I encourage you to check it out.
TL;DR: Ben Stiller and Dan Erickson have created one of the most special shows on TV, with truly stand out episodes.
*Available to stream now on Apple in the US and UK.
Fact: To promote the second season - most of the main cast performed their roles live inside a replica of the set, encased in a glass box in Grand Central Station in NYC.
EPISODE TWO: LOST S4 E5
“THE CONSTANT”
2008 Dir Jack Bender | Writers Jeffrey Lieber / JJ Abrams / Damon Lindelof
43 mins
Featuring one of TV’s coolest characters, ‘Desmond,’ the constant is a deeply emotional time travel story - that in many ways is similar to the Severance episode I just talked about. In that the idea doesn’t overtake the emotion of the episode - it’s completely in service of and at the heart of the relationship between these two people, just told via a science fiction concept.
Again, spoiler if you haven’t seen Lost - as Desmond travels back to the island via helicopter, they have to stay on a constant bearing or else his consciousness travels back in time. The more times this happens, the more likely he is to die. So, in a race against time, as he’s living in his 1996 self - he must track down the physicist [who’s present self has told him to do this] in order to figure out a way of not jumping back and forth in time. The answer, is to make contact with someone he has a strong emotional bond with in both times - luckily for Desmond, his dear love but long estranged Penny can be his constant. So he has to reconnect with her both in the past and in the present - a lot harder to do from a satellite phone in the middle of the ocean. It’s a fantastic, heart-wrenching episode.
And what’s great is that you know the writers just said - let’s go all in, let’s push this as far as we can and see if it breaks. It has that all or nothing energy about it, which is so palpable and so exciting to see, when people take big creative risks.
TL;DR: Another episode about love, separated by a science fiction construct, that is as emotional as it is brilliantly executed.
*Available to stream now on Netflix in the US and the UK.
Fact: Unsurprisingly, this is the highest rated episode of Lost on IMDB.