[6.8/10] I’ll confess, I’m not immersed in 1980s pop culture to know for sure whether this was an homage to Heat or Scarface or Miami Vice or all of them at once or something else entirely. Whatever it was, it felt strangely out of step with Black Monday’s usual vibe. I can kind of admire what it’s doing if it’s going for a high concept pastiche of those 1980s drug flicks, but without really being immersed in the source material it’s referencing, “Idiot Inside” just plays out like a weird bit of half-serious, half-joking dose of action shtick that didn’t really work for me.
For instance, I don’t know how to read the scenes between Mo and the wife and sons of one of his friends caught in the Black Panthers sting. If the episode is playing those moments straight, then it feels like a block of cheese and sentiment that the show hasn’t really earned in a relationship that it just deposits into the series with little-to-no setup. But if it’s a parody of the way plenty of action movies do the exact same shtick for cheap sentiment? Then there’s something mildly inspired about it.
In the same way, the tense stand-off scene with a cartel boss is a cliché, and Mo’s toblerone routine doesn't do much to spice it up. While it’s nice to see the Squat Cobbler guy from Better Call Saul present as the “in over my head” bank manager trying to get into money laundering, the scenes between Mo and the cartel boss go on too long and can’t muster the tenseness and stakes the episode seems to want to go for. But if it’s poking fun at movies that use that same sort of deal? Then sure, I can appreciate that as a concept at least.
The closing action sequence feels more like something out of Archer than this show. I can appreciate the misdirect of the sense that the cartel negotiation will be interrupted by a bank robbery, only to show that it’s a proposal. By the same token, there’s some nice setup and payoff to show that all the bystanders who get killed are bad people. But the whole thing feels contrived in a way that only works if you think the show is spoofing eighties actioners that pull the same trick.
The only thing I really loved in this one is the scene between Mo and Keith at the end. I like the turn, I like their conversation and what it reveals about Keith’s family and state of mind, and I like Mo genuinely wanting to be out. We’ll see if it lasts, but it’s still intriguing as a development if nothing else.
Overall, this was a weirdly calibrated episode, which I can at least admire if it’s aiming to admiringly make fun of 1980s drug/action movies, but which seems to be playing the tropes too straight for me to fully enjoy.
[8.0/10] On Black Monday, the line between someone who loves you and someone who will fuck you over for their own ends is blurry, and sometimes downright invisible. Mo and Dawn seem to genuinely care for one another, but have also had a long list of reasons to ignore that and hate each other. Blair and Tiff seem to harbor some genuine, platonic affection for one another, but when their wants and wills conflict, the accommodations disappear.
Both stories are interesting and a little heartbreaking. The show continues to get the Mo and Dawn dynamic just right, where one minute they’re back in their old playful patter, the next they’re bringing up every stubbed toe and knife to the ribs they ever inflicted on one another, and the minute after that they’re back to doing business. The show plays the complicatedness of their relationship -- romantically and professionally -- extraordinarily well, and Regina Hall and Don Cheadle rock their scenes together.
There’s a lot to like about the pairing after all that’s happened. Mo seems genuinely joyous to see Dawn again. The mercurial shifts in tone of their conversation are a delight laden with so many memories both good and bad. And Dawn buying Mo out, echoing his own “you can shop the deal, but where will you go?” is devastating but fair.
The line between friendship and utility, between business and pleasure, has always been fuzzy for the two of them, as is evident in their beachside flashback. That manifests in Mo’s ultimate decision here. He seems genuinely happy to be out of the rat race, willing to leave the beach bum life and make peace with it. But then Dawn returning stirs something up in him. Maybe it’s a reminder of the life he used to have, maybe it’s anger and a desire for revenge, or maybe it’s just a reminder that love him or hate him, it’s the only way to keep Dawn in his life.
Blair has the opposite problem. He and Tiff are house-shopping, which leads them, by a bizarre set of developments, to possibly buying Tiff’s parents house. There’s a lot of good humor here, from Scraps the denim pony, to Barbie’s friend midge, to “come on, we’ve all seen it.” But the emotional quotient is really good too.
Tiff has a quality monologue where she basically acknowledges that as perfect as their life looks on the outside, the fact that it’s not real on the inside leaves her feeling just as empty. She wants to reconcile with her parents because it’s the chance to connect with something real, to the dream she harbored since she was a little girl, not just the outward appearance of it.
Given the choice between vindicating his wife’s deeply-felt life desires and continuing to have sex with Congressional boytoy, Blair lies to Tiff so that her parents’ old apartment can be his new private love nest. It’s maybe the most heartless thing we’ve seen from Blair on the show. He lies to Tiff about her dad wanting to reconcile in order to be able to keep sleeping with his boyfriend, causing her to sever those ties in the name of soundproof walls. It’s not exactly Machiavellian, but it’s harsh and duplicitous in a way that feels less like turnabout as fair play in Blair’s prior schemes.
All while this is going along, the show brings the fire with the comedy. It’s such a boon to get IASIP’s Artemis Pebdani on the show. She gets maybe three minutes of screen time in the episode, but they’re the funniest three minutes. And it’s just as fun to see Kieth in his Freddy Mercury-imitating, beachside roller-skating, cartel coke-dealing Miami guise. His shtick is as fun as ever, and him playing third wheel to Mo and Dawn is a laugh too.
Overall, this is another winning episode, with good complex relationship between two couples who are a particular kind of dependent on one another, but whose blurred lines between mutual care and pure self-interest threaten to sink both.
[8.0/10] Here’s the funny thing about Black Monday. I really like it’s character stories and plots within an episode, but I kind of roll my eyes at its long term plotting. I’m very compelled by the narratives “Mixie Dixie” puts forward -- of Dawn and Blair trying to make it on their own and running into different roadblocks that make them question themselves. But I’m way less interested in the Amerisavings and Loan time bomb, or Blair being involved in banking deregulation, or god help me, Lenny Lehman being still alive in some kind of contraption trying to get revenge on Mo.
And yet, this is still a great episode because it focuses more on those character stories and is content to just lay out the basics of the overarching plot. It’s 1988. Mo is on the run from the law and on the hook for Jammer’s (and Lenny’s) death. Dawn and Blair are in charge of what was the Jammer group, with the former calling the shots at the office and the latter trying to muster a charm offensive in Washington D.C.
Dawn’s story is my favorite in this one. There’s a strong idea here about Dawn working hard, finally achieving her dream of being a partner and someone in charge, and finding that despite all her brilliance and success, she still can’t get the respect she wants and which is owed to her by the establishment. The fact that Blair is getting magazine covers, while she’s getting sexualized caricatures in the Wall Street Journal is infuriating, and I like the idea that her frustration from that B.S. makes her understand Mo’s brand of B.S. a little (and even emulate it).
She’s filled the office with fellow glass ceiling-breaking women. She’s declared this a different era and rules the roost. But when things go poorly, she flies off the handle in the same way the guy she resents, claims not to think about at all, and drunkenly admits she misses would. Regina Hall owns the screen in all of this, and it’s great to see her get to own the spotlight and nail it in the same way the great Don Cheadle did in the series premiere.
Blair’s story is a good one too. I like him and Tiff schmoozing their way around Washington, trying to play the image of the perfect New York couple. There’s a nice story here about Blair still trying to figure out who he is and trying different personae on for size. Both he and Dawn are trying to be Mo in different ways -- with Blair aiming to assume the role of schmoozing shark. Tiff’s right that it doesn't fit him, and it’s interesting to see the way their relationship, his image of himself, and his plan to get a Congressman to lift banking regs all end up intersecting with his sexual orientation and his upbringing.
Both members of “TBD” are aiming to be one thing and claim success, and end up falling back on old habits. That’s almost always an interesting story.
But so is the flashback to 1978, where we see Dawn and Mo meeting, proving their worth to the dismissive Lehmans, stealing a rolodex of the Lehmans’ most important clients, and starting Jammer together. It works on multiple levels, chief among them the fact that it shows Mo and Dawn as flirty, partners in crime, in a way that makes their romance believable in the past in a way that didn’t always work in the present. But the other is that it shows how Dawn is constantly taken advantage of in this way, having to do the hard work for others while they get the credit and acclaim, whether it’s Mo or Blair or the Lehmans. It’s an origin story of sorts, but one that puts current challenges into relief.
And if that weren’t enough, it’s a damn funny episode. Patrick Fabian makes for a great guest star with a fun comic monologue about common phrases having been created by lobbyists. Dawn gets to rock the wordplay and jibes as the head of the TBD group in a very funny way. Blair and Tiff’s dynamic continues to be hilarious. The jet/jets/jet stream magazine confusion is a superb running gag. Plus, the show’s insult humor and rapid fire dialogue still sings. And hey, Snoop Dogg as Moe! So much fun!
Overall, it feels like Black Monday hasn’t missed a beat since last season. For 85% of the show, that’s a good thing, with the same rich but funny characters and the same knowing, motor-mouthed, 1980s comic bent. But the other 15% percent is where the season’s going in terms of the long game, and that still leaves me as leery as an investor on the real Black Monday.
I am incredibly grateful to Game of Thrones for this adventure I have found myself sucked into for some years now. I am grateful for all the emotions it brought me since day one, bitter and sweet alike. I am grateful for all the laughs, all the tears, all the jokes and gags, every single bit of it, I really am grateful and appreciative of it all. It's been just... wonderful.
That said, I am feeling robbed and betrayed right about now. This ending is arguably one of the worst series finales in the history of television and trust me I realize how bold of a statement that is. The terrible violations the characters have suffered this season, the lack of proper resolution to many of the plots and narratives developed over seasons worth of buildup, the seeking of shock value at the expense of quality writing... that and much much more solidified this as an absolute disappointment of a finale, as opposed to the marvel wrap it could've given this cultural phenomenon.
This episode does have its positives, as always the score, acting and cinematography are perfectly performed but I just do not think it's nearly enough to compensate for how lackluster the writing has been, as much as I wish they did. Oh well, sad as it may be, I'll just hold on to the good stuff and hope that GRRM's book, once finished, will tackle the ending in a more coherent, more respectful and more meaningful way. It's been real y'all...
P.S: I'll leave this here lest some people jump me again. This comment is a representation of my own personal opinion, I am entitled to one just as all of you are. If you enjoyed this season and felt this finale delivered what you were looking for then more power to you mate, but that doesn't nullify my opinion nor does it make yours any valid. If you want to discuss or challenge my views, I'd be more than happy to engage you on that basis but if all you have to offer are petty remarks then please keep them to yourself.
