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Robert and Michelle King made a name for themselves with The Good Wife, which used the rash of political sex scandals (most notably Eliot Spitzer) as a jumping off point for a law procedural about a woman's rediscovery of herself after years of faithful and misguided service to her husband. Initially written off as another CBS procedural, the low-rated series started gaining ground with critics after it became clear what it was trying to do, when memorable characters like Eli Gold started entering the fray, and the show started building an oddly unique world that hinged on more than whether the client of the week could be proven innocent. The show ultimately backslid in its later years, but it never quite stopped feeling like a unique entry into an old and painfully familiar staple of television. So when I heard the Kings were going to try their hands at something more genre-based, they had my undivided loving attention.  Hi, let me know if this image breaks tables. Thanks! In the same way that political sex scandals influenced The Good Wife, BrainDead jumps off from the poisonous partisanship driving American politics today. It takes a rather easy (and somewhat uncomfortable) "both sides kind of suck" stance, but it makes it easier to paint our main character Laurel Healy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as someone who is deeply uncomfortable with D.C.'s whole scene. Laurel comes from a very politically active family; her father (Zach Grenier) is a very powerful figure in the Democratic Party, while her brother Luke (Danny Pino) is the majority whip of the Senate. As much as Laurel loves her family and shares their liberal beliefs, she's a filmmaker who'd rather travel the world shooting documentaries on niche subjects like yodelers and Melanesian choirs. But she needs more money to finish her latest piece, and she can't resist the deal her father offers: work with her brother for six months, and he'll pitch in to help finish her film. This eventually puts Laurel front and center to see Luke turn down a deal from Republican Senator Red Wheatus (Tony Shaloub) that could have avoided a government shutdown, which puts millions of people temporarily out of work and severely rattles her faith in him. Oh, and it also shuts down the Smithsonian Institute just as it was about to discover that a recently-fallen meteorite they were studying contains millions of mind-controlling parasitic bugs, allowing them to slip out of the lab and into the city undetected. Oops. Laurel, as her brother's liaison to his constituents, starts hearing about and witnessing strange behavior. People are suddenly deeply partisan. They tell stories that are a little too rehearsed. Those who used to drink alcohol quit the stuff cold turkey and down shots of green juice instead. They develop a sudden affinity for seminal 80's power pop band The Cars. Once Laurel starts asking questions, people she doesn't know start staring at her. And by the time she watches a man's head explode shortly after listening to him rant about how "THEY'RE INSIDE ME," Laurel's pretty sure that something is very wrong. I'll get this out of the way: don't watch this for incisive commentary on American politics. It may get there yet -- it eventually happened to The Good Wife, and the first scene of its first episode was blocked to perfectly replicate Eliot Spitzer's infamous press conference (the one where he admits to infidelity with his blank-faced yet clearly pissed off wife standing beside him). For now, though, BrainDead is content to just aim for the lowest hanging fruit and deliver such high-caliber observations as "Washington is like high school" and "Bipartisanship is good, too bad nobody practices it anymore." (There's an awesome exchange in the pilot where Red gives Danny an interesting reason as to why that might be, and though it's clearly flawed, soaked in the perspective of Red's character, it's an interesting take and the kind of thing I’d love to see more of.) What makes BrainDead worth watching is how it nails everything else. Directing the pilot, Robert King eschews traditional comedy-horror setups. He favors a steady, non-handheld camera, a leisurely editing rhythm, a relatively balanced color palate, and minimal musical cues. It sounds a bit boring on paper, but the antiseptic nature of the direction runs in stark contrast to the events on screen, bringing out the dark absurdity of the comedy as well as the surreality of the horror. King doesn't need to tell you how hosed up things are; he gets out of the way and lets you figure that out on your own, because he knows that's the surest way to leave you paranoid. Jim McKay (who directed for The Good Wife and Mr. Robot, and also helmed the excellent pilot for Bosch) directs the second episode, and he takes King's template and scores a massive touchdown; in particular, he brings to life a bravura pre-credits sequence (the script of which is credited to Larry Kaplow) that will make you shudder every time you hear someone recite chess moves. Of course, the actors came to play as well. Winstead, in particular, is a perfect lead; her extensive genre experience gives her instant credibility with this material. In the wrong hands, Laurel could come off as whiny or obnoxiously incompetent, but Winstead knows how to tune her performance so that her reactions, right or wrong, make perfect sense for her. As Laurel's brother, Danny Pino nicely walks the line between lovable sibling and dickhead politician (which further helps you understand Laurel's hatred of politics). Aaron Tveit (Graceland) shows up as Laurel's Republican love interest, and they find a nice, easy chemistry together. BrainDead is being produced under the same deal with Amazon that funded Under the Dome and Extant, so new episodes (which run Mondays at 10 on CBS) will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video the Friday after they air. (Coincidentally, this also improves the chances of a second season, though I'm not betting on it. Now the reviews (critics got the first three episodes) have been pretty lukewarm on it so far, and I can see why. But for me, everything that works overpowers everything that doesn't. If you have Prime, give the first two episodes a shot; you might be surprised. DivisionPost fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Jun 26, 2016 |
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Jun 25, 2016 21:24
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I watched the first two episodes and I'm in for the season. Fun premise
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Jun 26, 2016 00:25
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I enjoyed the first two episodes; count me in for this thread.
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Jun 26, 2016 01:35
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Decided to watch this show cause I enjoy Tony Shalhoub and Aaron Tveit was pretty good in Graceland. Enjoy the first two episodes and be around for the season. Fun show so far.
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Jun 26, 2016 01:39
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I wound up putting this on out of curiosity, and was won over when I saw the previously on segment.
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Jun 26, 2016 02:40
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This seems like a fun show even if the "can't we all just get along" stuff is pretty weak. I'll stay tuned.
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Jun 26, 2016 17:13
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Really funny and well written. 
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Jun 27, 2016 00:15
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This is the kind of show I'd be mainlining if it was released all at once on a streaming service. Fantastic episode.
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Jun 28, 2016 04:27
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I've been enjoying this show, but I really have my doubts about its long-term viability. Really feels like more of a movie plot than a TV show. Edit: Especially given this week's revelation that the space bugs don't seem to have an overarching plan (aside from spreading themselves), and the crazy actions being taken by the infected are just a result of their brains being eaten.
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Jun 28, 2016 06:52
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I thought the same thing and figured it would run for 4 or 6 episodes only, but they're doing 13 episodes. This means 12 recap songs, which is good. edit: In case anyone is wondering those recap songs are written and performed by Jonathan Coulton, who is the guy that wrote "Still Alive" for portal. monkey fucked around with this message at 08:27 on Jun 28, 2016 |
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Jun 28, 2016 08:24
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Episode 3 convinced me to watch the rest of the season. It seemed a lot more together compared to the earlier episodes now that most of the setup and introduction is done.
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Jun 28, 2016 15:44
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ShakeZula posted:this week's revelation that the space bugs don't seem to have an overarching plan (aside from spreading themselves), and the crazy actions being taken by the infected are just a result of their brains being eaten. monkey posted:In case anyone is wondering those recap songs are written and performed by Jonathan Coulton, who is the guy that wrote "Still Alive" for portal. THF13 posted:Episode 3 convinced me to watch the rest of the season. It seemed a lot more together compared to the earlier episodes now that most of the setup and introduction is done.
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Jun 28, 2016 17:41
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Tiggum posted:If I'd heard that the show was going to include songs by Jonathan Coulton I never would have watched it, but those songs are actually pretty great. Heard similar to this a few times now, I didn't know people disliked him (things that are not good tend to slip under my radar because nobody recommends them.) I was only aware of the portal song from him, and now this... I actually think having a recap song instead of normal opening credits is one of the best parts about the show.
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Jun 28, 2016 19:31
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Tiggum posted:Well, that's just speculation by the characters, we don't know that. Agreed, it was even phrased as a guess.
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Jun 29, 2016 02:04
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I managed to turn a coworker onto the show last week, and earlier today, he played You Might Think by The Cars real loud on a bluetooth speaker outside my office and stood near the window with a thousand yard stare. My god, what have I done?
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Jun 29, 2016 02:55
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Not the kitty.  I'm really enjoying this show.
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Jun 29, 2016 04:40
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Slamhound posted:Not the kitty. Same. Poor kitty. 
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Jul 1, 2016 03:25
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Gonz posted:I managed to turn a coworker onto the show last week, and earlier today, he played You Might Think by The Cars real loud on a bluetooth speaker outside my office and stood near the window with a thousand yard stare. The right thing?
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Jul 9, 2016 05:14
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Quote is not edit
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Jul 9, 2016 05:18
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My god, you monsters, not the cat.
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Jul 12, 2016 03:09
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Spacebugged NEA guy is terrifying and amazing.
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Jul 12, 2016 03:44
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Holy gently caress that swandive. END OF SHOW EDIT: This show is goddamn great. And it looks like we get Margo Martindale next week! DivisionPost fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Jul 12, 2016 |
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Jul 12, 2016 03:59
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The swandive was just so completely out of nowhere. 
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Jul 12, 2016 08:34
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This show is great and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise.
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Jul 13, 2016 14:59
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No episode tonight because of the Republican Convention, and it looks like CBS is moving this thing to Sundays starting next week. I'll get a mod to change the thread title later.
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Jul 19, 2016 03:39
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DivisionPost posted:No episode tonight because of the Republican Convention, and it looks like CBS is moving this thing to Sundays starting next week. I'll get a mod to change the thread title later. First episode on Sundays is the 24th.
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Jul 19, 2016 04:11
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It was back tonight, and I am really really glad the week and a half break we had wasn't after the end of this episode. To celebrate its return, here's the four main cast figuring out who said it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuxXPhkn5LI
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Jul 25, 2016 05:17
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My mom told me about this before it started because it's right up her alley, and I'm loving it so far. Except, and it's a very big except, the kitty looks exactly like my kitty, and I feel the trust between us is sleeping.
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Jul 26, 2016 14:00
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Confirmed: Ric Ocasek is from space.
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Aug 1, 2016 10:56
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Absolutely no one is watching this show, but I think it's pretty fun. I hope they go nuts with it since there probably won't be a second season. "That's what they asked your father..." was legit spooky.
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Aug 2, 2016 23:39
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I like the show quite a bit and am trying to turn as many heads onto it as possible, but it's harder to do this than with CXG because of all the schedule dickery.
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Aug 3, 2016 03:28
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So who was shocked by that plot twist? No? Me neither. Also Aaron Tveit's livetweeting is great. 
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Aug 8, 2016 04:03
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Hey so because of the schedule shenanigans I missed last week's episode. I saw this week's, but as whimsical as the "Previously on..." songs are they aren't very good at conveying actual details, so I have no idea how the "Laurel gets the bugs in her ear" situation was resolved. Anyone care to enlighten me?
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Aug 9, 2016 00:43
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ShakeZula posted:Hey so because of the schedule shenanigans I missed last week's episode. I saw this week's, but as whimsical as the "Previously on..." songs are they aren't very good at conveying actual details, so I have no idea how the "Laurel gets the bugs in her ear" situation was resolved. Anyone care to enlighten me? Since the bugs control the left side of the brain, things that use a lot of the left side force them out. So, getting drunk and singing and dancing, but especially cumming.
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Aug 9, 2016 01:39
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ShakeZula posted:Hey so because of the schedule shenanigans I missed last week's episode. I saw this week's, but as whimsical as the "Previously on..." songs are they aren't very good at conveying actual details, so I have no idea how the "Laurel gets the bugs in her ear" situation was resolved. Anyone care to enlighten me? They hosed and also ate salami.
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Aug 9, 2016 20:38
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Black lives matter!
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Aug 9, 2016 23:03
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Senerio posted:They hosed and also ate salami. Orgasms and umami are the cure
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Aug 12, 2016 03:32
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Show is still great. Did not expect Michael Moore
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Aug 22, 2016 17:50
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Michael Moore was somehow the MVP of last night's episode. The associated Tvomit scene (to quote the actor himself!) was also good.
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Aug 22, 2016 17:53
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Popelmon posted:Show is still great. Did not expect Michael Moore I didn't realize one could have an existential crisis over the prospects of Michael Moore having sex.
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Aug 23, 2016 09:11
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