7.5/10. A little better than the season premiere. The absolute highlight is Jane giving her "lesson" on General Custer to the camp's schoolchildren. Her conversations with Martha, and the way she delivers her story to the kids shows the ornery sweetness of the character, who is certainly a few "fucks" short of dignity or sophistication, but who was such an endearing way about her that it's hard not to love and root for the character, even as she's being self-destructive.
Her old running buddy, Charlie Utter, had the scene of the episode. When Joanie tells him about her self-loathing and suicidal tendencies, Utter responds that Wild Bill saw himself in the same terms, and if she thought him a good and worthy soul independent of how he saw himself, she ought to allow herself the courtesy and appreciate the fact that others think quite highly of her. His subsequent hand-holding in the context of the speech was a very touching way for him to declare his intentions, and the scene itself was an interesting look at how people view themselves versus how others see them, and how that contributes to our views of our own self-worth.
There's also great work from Jim Beaver in the episode. His quiet but clearly both hurt and angry response to Alma's spoken wish that Sophia be left in Seth Bullock's care in the event that she dies told the story without him ever having to deliver the exposition on that front. I'm not especially on board with the Alma story here, if only because it seems like a sort of contrived drama (though given what we know about Alma's medical history, maybe it makes sense). That said, I do appreciate how it throws a monkey wrench into the growing affections between Seth and Martha Bullock. Their little conversation about how Seth likes his tea and his gentle caress show how the two have become closer after the death of William, and the idea that old ghosts are popping back up to undercut that is interesting.
Again, I'm less interested in the Al-Hearst conflict. I do appreciate the blocking and framing of the scene of their confrontation. The visuals convey how Al is outmatched here, or at least facing a challenge, in the way that Hearst looms over Al physically. Al's smart-mouthed resistance to Hearst, even after he's been pistol-whipped by Hearst's hatchetman shows Al's propensity to, as he put it last season, take some pain, stay standing, and plan to give some back, and him trying to brush the whole thing off in public afterward adds some intrigue. Overall though, I'm just not that moved by the two of them butting heads.
Tolliver's bit with Andy is more precious overacting from Powers Boothe that does little for me. Not really sure why he or the character are still around, but his anti-religious antagonism directed at Andy would be interesting coming from Al but flounders with Boothe's delivery.
The election speeches themselves were pretty uneventful otherwise. As a Jew, I found Farnum's clear attempts to undermine Sol based on his faith amusing in their bluntness. There's some of the show's political commentary at play, where in public, people are making tepid, sometimes bigoted speeches about why they should assume elected office, mostly to disinterest from the crowd, while the real conflict for power, between two big businessmen who aren't afraid to murder their way to success, happens behind closed doors where that jockeying for position is hidden when both are in the public view.
A minor improvement from the last one, but still nothing to blow you away just yet.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-07-30T13:07:39Z
7.5/10. A little better than the season premiere. The absolute highlight is Jane giving her "lesson" on General Custer to the camp's schoolchildren. Her conversations with Martha, and the way she delivers her story to the kids shows the ornery sweetness of the character, who is certainly a few "fucks" short of dignity or sophistication, but who was such an endearing way about her that it's hard not to love and root for the character, even as she's being self-destructive.
Her old running buddy, Charlie Utter, had the scene of the episode. When Joanie tells him about her self-loathing and suicidal tendencies, Utter responds that Wild Bill saw himself in the same terms, and if she thought him a good and worthy soul independent of how he saw himself, she ought to allow herself the courtesy and appreciate the fact that others think quite highly of her. His subsequent hand-holding in the context of the speech was a very touching way for him to declare his intentions, and the scene itself was an interesting look at how people view themselves versus how others see them, and how that contributes to our views of our own self-worth.
There's also great work from Jim Beaver in the episode. His quiet but clearly both hurt and angry response to Alma's spoken wish that Sophia be left in Seth Bullock's care in the event that she dies told the story without him ever having to deliver the exposition on that front. I'm not especially on board with the Alma story here, if only because it seems like a sort of contrived drama (though given what we know about Alma's medical history, maybe it makes sense). That said, I do appreciate how it throws a monkey wrench into the growing affections between Seth and Martha Bullock. Their little conversation about how Seth likes his tea and his gentle caress show how the two have become closer after the death of William, and the idea that old ghosts are popping back up to undercut that is interesting.
Again, I'm less interested in the Al-Hearst conflict. I do appreciate the blocking and framing of the scene of their confrontation. The visuals convey how Al is outmatched here, or at least facing a challenge, in the way that Hearst looms over Al physically. Al's smart-mouthed resistance to Hearst, even after he's been pistol-whipped by Hearst's hatchetman shows Al's propensity to, as he put it last season, take some pain, stay standing, and plan to give some back, and him trying to brush the whole thing off in public afterward adds some intrigue. Overall though, I'm just not that moved by the two of them butting heads.
Tolliver's bit with Andy is more precious overacting from Powers Boothe that does little for me. Not really sure why he or the character are still around, but his anti-religious antagonism directed at Andy would be interesting coming from Al but flounders with Boothe's delivery.
The election speeches themselves were pretty uneventful otherwise. As a Jew, I found Farnum's clear attempts to undermine Sol based on his faith amusing in their bluntness. There's some of the show's political commentary at play, where in public, people are making tepid, sometimes bigoted speeches about why they should assume elected office, mostly to disinterest from the crowd, while the real conflict for power, between two big businessmen who aren't afraid to murder their way to success, happens behind closed doors where that jockeying for position is hidden when both are in the public view.
A minor improvement from the last one, but still nothing to blow you away just yet.