{"id":6958,"date":"2018-08-28T13:00:57","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T20:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6958"},"modified":"2018-08-27T06:12:42","modified_gmt":"2018-08-27T13:12:42","slug":"mark-watches-slings-arrows-s01e02-geoffrey-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/08\/mark-watches-slings-arrows-s01e02-geoffrey-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Slings & Arrows’: S01E02 – Geoffrey Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second episode of the first season of Slings & Arrows<\/i>, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to put on a show. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Slings & Arrows<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of grief<\/b><\/p>\n

There really is<\/i> a lot going on here, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m astounded at how well the writers manage to juggle such a big change. Because holy shit, Oliver really is dead<\/i>. I almost cant believe it, except that manages to take a trope I normally don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care for\u00e2\u20ac\u201dkilling off a gay character to develop the straight characters\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand manages to make it funny?<\/i> Plus, the character is actually still around, though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure in what capacity we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see Oliver in later episodes.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s deal with Oliver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fascinating how much chaos<\/i> his death caused. There are multiple threads throughout \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Geoffrey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Return\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that are all mired in ramifications. Who replaces Oliver as Artistic Direction? Will that person understand the complications of the current iteration of the festival? Can Kate manage her career when opportunities suddenly appear? Is Richard able to balance his own desires with those of Holly? How does Ellen deal with the emotional nightmare of working with Geoffrey again? Who in town is able to strip the flesh and muscle from a human head?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I want to start with Richard because there were so many moments in this episode that reminded me of the sort of narrow-minded approach you often see in business men. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m referring specifically to the type of guy who cannot see the world outside of his MBA, outside of the confines of capitalism and profit and loss, who deals with the world by trying to logic it all away. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Richard is as extreme of an example, as I got a sense that he really understood how devastating this was for others, particularly Anna. But, goaded on by Holly, he tries to be a tough, distantly supportive boss, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s NOT GOOD AT IT IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER. And I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to attribute too much of this to Holly, either. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly an influence on him, pushing him to be more assertive in all the wrong ways, but before she even arrived, Richard was still pretty clueless with Oliver. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just that his cluelessness is amplified because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so obsessed with all the details, with the way he can best represent the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153business\u00e2\u20ac\u009d rather than these people<\/i>.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why he makes so many crucial mistakes here. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rude to Anna, someone who is clearly trying to grieve the loss of her colleague. He makes choices for the funeral with the optics<\/i> in mind. Will someone mention God? Will it look like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s staged in a theater? Who cares if Oliver would have hated all of it! This is a business, remember? Those concerns are all<\/i> that matters to Richard, and\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get there. It backfires, essentially.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But Slings & Arrows<\/i> isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t content with just showing a trainwreck. The show manages to be a comical behind-the-scenes look into modern theater\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwe got a lot of that in the previous episode and in Kate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhile also managing to be<\/i> remarkably Shakespearean. I truly feel like the Mortimer brothers (one of whom is Julian Richings!!!) are the kind of odd characters who belong in a Shakespeare play, ruminating about death and just being WEIRD. And then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the shocker of Oliver, who TALKS TO GEOFFREY THROUGHOUT THIS EPISODE. Like, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not lost on me that this happening just before the New Burbage Fest begins rehearsal for Hamlet. HAMLET. In which a ghost encourages someone to do\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, okay, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hope these two plotlines aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t identical because WOW, this would get real violent? WHO IS GETTING STABBED THROUGH A CURTAIN. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping that Geoffrey stays throughout this because it is a delight to see Paul Gross act shocked as hell<\/i> as he tries to keep moving through all these scenes while being the only person who can see Oliver.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In terms of the behind-the-scenes stuff, though, Kate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plotline was SO GODDAMN REAL. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true of a lot of people trying to make it in the creative industries: sometimes, we have to do things that get us a paycheck. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what Geoffrey rejected all those years, but you can also see that he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the success other actors do, even if he has the reputation<\/i>. Kate, on the other hand, has neither. Some success\u00e2\u20ac\u201dshe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gotten hired, at least, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand she has no reputation. Thus, commercial work is<\/i> work. It gets her a paycheck, and it is true that sometimes, that line of action leads to better parts or, at least, more commercial work. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on her trip back home from Toronto (I assume that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where she went since the bus said it was heading there, and this show seems to take place in Ontario) that she sits next to someone who claims to be a movie star. I want y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all to know that it is entirely believable for a random stranger on a Greyhound bus to say THIS EXACT FUCKING THING, and I have experienced far, far worse than that. But isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that the dream<\/i>? Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it what many up-and-coming artists wish for? That you randomly end up next to some superstar and they help you with your career? Like, I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deny that networking can be a powerful thing! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just so funny to me that Kate tries so hard, and then coincidentally ends up next to the big Hollywood star hired by the New Burbage Festival to play Hamlet. AND SHE DOESN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T EVEN KNOW.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, Kate. YOU TRIED.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I felt a little<\/i> prepared for the funeral, given that it was clear to me that it would be disastrous in some way. Richard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s insistence that Anna find anyone<\/i> who could speak about God was a huge red flag, and yet??? GUESS WHO STILL WASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T PREPARED. The set was incredibly tacky, though there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a part of me that can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get over how theater people still can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t resist putting on a show any chance they get. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what Oliver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funeral came off as throughout this: another performance. You could tell that Richard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heart wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really in it; he just wanted things to look<\/i> smoothly. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think he cared all that much about giving people a genuine attempt to express their grief. Then there was Claire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s monologues, and THEY HURT ME SO VERY MUCH. For me, she represents the person who believes they have more talent than they actually do, but no one can quite muster up the courage to tell them so.<\/p>\n

Then there was Geoffrey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s speech, which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 lord. Oliver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ghost disappeared as Geoffrey got cornier, and I believe that is intentional. Part of why Geoffrey and Oliver had the working relationship that they did was because of their intensity, their willingness to tell the truth over telling a comfort. And once Geoffrey realizes that, he changes. He becomes more like himself, criticizing the New Burbage Festival and Oliver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s last few years of work, all because it lacks the sense of urgency and revolution that Oliver used<\/i> to care about. Little does Geoffrey know just how influential that eulogy becomes, and thus, I like seeing Oliver as almost chaotic-like being\u00e2\u20ac\u201dperhaps like Puck, if you will\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwho influences the plot for his own amusement, despite that he has died. Because what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more chaotic than Geoffrey becoming the interim Artistic Director? He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got to direct the wide-eyed newbie (Kate,) the wholly inexperienced Hollywood actor (Jack), his ex (Ellen), and the one convinced they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re better than they are. (Claire). On top of this, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a furious Holly and a bewildered Richard, and there is no way you can convince me that this won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be a terrible, terrible mess.<\/p>\n

Oh god, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to use Oliver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s skull in that one scene in Hamlet<\/i>, aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t they???<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Geoffrey Returns\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now out in the world!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"