Manhattan 2.03
Oct. 28th, 2015 07:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakThis show wins for continuity and character development, all the way. I am ever more impressed.
With a very minor quibble - at the start I wasn't sure whether or not making Frank the one who first got worried re: possible nuclear bomb - giving him essentially Einstein's role by making him the one to lobby Einstein to lobby Roosevelt - was a step too far in terms of historical fiction. But then again, it heightens the sense of personal responsibility for him even more now that he's found it it's not even sure whether there IS a German nuclear atomic bomb program, and of course it makes for a wrap with the May 1945 flash forward featuring Liza going to Einstein at the end end. The flashbacks also show what the Winters marriage is made off and why Liza is fighting for Frank so fiercely now when during the first season he hardly, until the end, communicated with her at all. By showing Frank supportive and tender when Liza is going through her terrible crisis of the mind, the series balances their state of being last season. Liza and Frank being depicted on the s2 poster completely makes sense now.
Also: great way of bringing back Glenn in a logical way, i.e. not to Los Alamos but in Frank's flashback and Liza's flash forward.
And speaking of fleshing out: we find out the two reasons why Meeks became a spy, and when he did. A) Because of Sid Lao getting shot, and b) because he doesn't want the army who regards this as an okay measure to be the only ones in possession of the ultimate weapon. Mind you, what with Stalin's murder record, he makes Darrow (who is shaping up to be an absolutely chilling antagonist, even more than Fisher last season) look like a saint by comparison, but Meeks is living in 1944 in the US, and if he hasn't been interested in politics before Los Alamos, he probably has little idea even given the small percentage of what WAS known re: Stalin in 1944. (Who was an US ally at that point anyway.) But this is what I mean about continuity: Dunleavy shot Sid in the pilot, and the show is still making us feel the aftereffects, both with Dunleavy (helping Liza now) and Meeks. Who got disillusioned about the US army then and got disillusioned about spying via Fisher's death now, but also gets a reality check by his new contact (btw, great new character, played by Mamie Gummer who reminds me a bit of a younger Ellen Barkin) that once you're in the game, bowing out saying that you've changed your mind just isn't an option. (She also has a point when asking whether Sid would have been shot if he'd been white. Note that Frank still isn't, though Darrow actually makes true of his threat to Liza of punishing her husband if she continues to oppose him.) I also appreciate she is a dedicated Communist and spy, but instead of cultivating the cold ice queen persona most media would give such a character is cheerful and earthy instead. The Meeks subplot bursts with layers anyway; on the one hand, the episode showcases his sincere friendship with Fritz, otoh, it shows him in the end using that friendship to get back to a position where he can be of use as a spy once he's accepted there's no way out.
Abby is another one finding out you can't go home again. I had the impression that dinner with the Oppenheimers, listening in on Oppenheimer's calls and trying to play the knowledge she gained as a card when talking to Kitty Oppenheimer was an attempt to go back to her social ambition for Charlie from early last season, to that self now that she's decided to stay with Charlie and have the second child. Except that that attempt at creating intimacy and/or blackmail misfires, which I knew it would because every version of Oppenheimer's life I've encountered so far has Kitty as a cynic who knew perfectly well he was still in a relatonship with his old flame Jean. Her blasé reply in the previous scene when Abby still tries to make social chit chat and asks how the Oppenheimers met was downright Noel Coward:
"Well, we met when I was newly married to my third husband. Robert being not the type to steal another man's wife, I had to nail him the old fashioned way. I got pregnant." *pats her pregnant again belly* "This one's just for added measure."
And the other fictionalized versions I've encountered certainly had a vicious streak as well, so the put down to Abby's attempt at whatever it was meant to be with the "he's cheating on you" info later with "I don't need marital advice from a deviant" feels in line with that. Abby's shock when she realizes that knowledge of her affair with Eloise has made it beyond Fisher is palpable.
Incidentally: while this sequence brings Kitty Oppenheimer to life in a short narrative space, Robert Oppenheimer, who seems to be more involved with the narrative this season, is still very bland and shadowy. When first Helen said that without Frank, Los Alamos wouldn't exist, and then Abby told Charlie he should have Oppenheimer's job, it occured to me that one reason for this is that several of his historical attributes and actions are handed over to our fictional main characters. Frank got to be the obsessed, charismatic leader who manages to invoke loyalty in people even when he's driving them, Charlie got to be the young ambitious social climber who is also an idealist but lets his ambition win over his ideals, he also got to be the Jewish scientist who is very much motivated by the current genocide in Europe, and he even got the marital problems with the mistress who is a scientist and the wife who is socially ambitious. Even Liza's psychiatric problems might owe their existence to the fact that Dr. Jean Tatlock, the woman historical Oppenheimer had been romantically involved with on and off since the 30s, was suffering from severe depression. Not to mention that both Charlie and Frank are/were seen working for the project, whereas the show hasn't yet given Oppenheimer a scene where he does anything but playing cold boss. I suspect this might stay a continuing flaw (flaw because it begs for the question of why Oppenheimer IS heading the project if you're only familiar with the show's version), even if they use the character more now. Though the fact he's offered Helen a promotion after witnessing her outburst vis a vis Charlie and himself might mean the actor will actually be given stuff to do, only I suspect it's probably going to be an affair with Helen (if we're in 1944 now, Jean Tatlock should soon commit suicide), which doesn't equal characterisation. The basic problem is that having handed over key aspects and actions to other characters, there isn't much left for the writers to justify his existence with, but they're historically stuck with him.
But that's really the only problem right now I can see, and it's a minor one, because the main ensemble is so compelling in their shades of greyness, and their stories all fascinate me now. Such a great show.
With a very minor quibble - at the start I wasn't sure whether or not making Frank the one who first got worried re: possible nuclear bomb - giving him essentially Einstein's role by making him the one to lobby Einstein to lobby Roosevelt - was a step too far in terms of historical fiction. But then again, it heightens the sense of personal responsibility for him even more now that he's found it it's not even sure whether there IS a German nuclear atomic bomb program, and of course it makes for a wrap with the May 1945 flash forward featuring Liza going to Einstein at the end end. The flashbacks also show what the Winters marriage is made off and why Liza is fighting for Frank so fiercely now when during the first season he hardly, until the end, communicated with her at all. By showing Frank supportive and tender when Liza is going through her terrible crisis of the mind, the series balances their state of being last season. Liza and Frank being depicted on the s2 poster completely makes sense now.
Also: great way of bringing back Glenn in a logical way, i.e. not to Los Alamos but in Frank's flashback and Liza's flash forward.
And speaking of fleshing out: we find out the two reasons why Meeks became a spy, and when he did. A) Because of Sid Lao getting shot, and b) because he doesn't want the army who regards this as an okay measure to be the only ones in possession of the ultimate weapon. Mind you, what with Stalin's murder record, he makes Darrow (who is shaping up to be an absolutely chilling antagonist, even more than Fisher last season) look like a saint by comparison, but Meeks is living in 1944 in the US, and if he hasn't been interested in politics before Los Alamos, he probably has little idea even given the small percentage of what WAS known re: Stalin in 1944. (Who was an US ally at that point anyway.) But this is what I mean about continuity: Dunleavy shot Sid in the pilot, and the show is still making us feel the aftereffects, both with Dunleavy (helping Liza now) and Meeks. Who got disillusioned about the US army then and got disillusioned about spying via Fisher's death now, but also gets a reality check by his new contact (btw, great new character, played by Mamie Gummer who reminds me a bit of a younger Ellen Barkin) that once you're in the game, bowing out saying that you've changed your mind just isn't an option. (She also has a point when asking whether Sid would have been shot if he'd been white. Note that Frank still isn't, though Darrow actually makes true of his threat to Liza of punishing her husband if she continues to oppose him.) I also appreciate she is a dedicated Communist and spy, but instead of cultivating the cold ice queen persona most media would give such a character is cheerful and earthy instead. The Meeks subplot bursts with layers anyway; on the one hand, the episode showcases his sincere friendship with Fritz, otoh, it shows him in the end using that friendship to get back to a position where he can be of use as a spy once he's accepted there's no way out.
Abby is another one finding out you can't go home again. I had the impression that dinner with the Oppenheimers, listening in on Oppenheimer's calls and trying to play the knowledge she gained as a card when talking to Kitty Oppenheimer was an attempt to go back to her social ambition for Charlie from early last season, to that self now that she's decided to stay with Charlie and have the second child. Except that that attempt at creating intimacy and/or blackmail misfires, which I knew it would because every version of Oppenheimer's life I've encountered so far has Kitty as a cynic who knew perfectly well he was still in a relatonship with his old flame Jean. Her blasé reply in the previous scene when Abby still tries to make social chit chat and asks how the Oppenheimers met was downright Noel Coward:
"Well, we met when I was newly married to my third husband. Robert being not the type to steal another man's wife, I had to nail him the old fashioned way. I got pregnant." *pats her pregnant again belly* "This one's just for added measure."
And the other fictionalized versions I've encountered certainly had a vicious streak as well, so the put down to Abby's attempt at whatever it was meant to be with the "he's cheating on you" info later with "I don't need marital advice from a deviant" feels in line with that. Abby's shock when she realizes that knowledge of her affair with Eloise has made it beyond Fisher is palpable.
Incidentally: while this sequence brings Kitty Oppenheimer to life in a short narrative space, Robert Oppenheimer, who seems to be more involved with the narrative this season, is still very bland and shadowy. When first Helen said that without Frank, Los Alamos wouldn't exist, and then Abby told Charlie he should have Oppenheimer's job, it occured to me that one reason for this is that several of his historical attributes and actions are handed over to our fictional main characters. Frank got to be the obsessed, charismatic leader who manages to invoke loyalty in people even when he's driving them, Charlie got to be the young ambitious social climber who is also an idealist but lets his ambition win over his ideals, he also got to be the Jewish scientist who is very much motivated by the current genocide in Europe, and he even got the marital problems with the mistress who is a scientist and the wife who is socially ambitious. Even Liza's psychiatric problems might owe their existence to the fact that Dr. Jean Tatlock, the woman historical Oppenheimer had been romantically involved with on and off since the 30s, was suffering from severe depression. Not to mention that both Charlie and Frank are/were seen working for the project, whereas the show hasn't yet given Oppenheimer a scene where he does anything but playing cold boss. I suspect this might stay a continuing flaw (flaw because it begs for the question of why Oppenheimer IS heading the project if you're only familiar with the show's version), even if they use the character more now. Though the fact he's offered Helen a promotion after witnessing her outburst vis a vis Charlie and himself might mean the actor will actually be given stuff to do, only I suspect it's probably going to be an affair with Helen (if we're in 1944 now, Jean Tatlock should soon commit suicide), which doesn't equal characterisation. The basic problem is that having handed over key aspects and actions to other characters, there isn't much left for the writers to justify his existence with, but they're historically stuck with him.
But that's really the only problem right now I can see, and it's a minor one, because the main ensemble is so compelling in their shades of greyness, and their stories all fascinate me now. Such a great show.
