Review: Holding Out for a ‘Hero?’

Based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Lisa Belkin, HBO’s newest miniseries, Show Me a Hero, focuses on Nick Wasicko, a reluctant mayoral candidate for the city of Yonkers in 1987. Directed by Oscar-winner Paul Haggis, Show Me focuses on one man, but it chronicles race relations of Yonkers with an easy quietness amid a roaring uprising from its residents. While the first hour of this new drama busies itself with introducing a tapestry of characters, the continued drama indicates a strong ensemble to come in the next coming weeks.

Due to the mishandling of federal funds, the city of Yonkers must build 200 units for low-income housing. The good ole white people of Yonkers do not like this decision and Wasicko builds a campaign on the promise that the decision will be overturned with an appeal if elected. When the appeal is very quickly overturned, Nick has a mess on his hands, and, surely, the drama begins to unfold. Nick’s excitement and ambitiousness drain from him almost quicker than his enthusiasm to become mayor. No one said being a politician was easy, buddy.

The first hour of Show Me is a bit trying, to be honest. The court jargon is flying a mile a minute, and one might assume all this mumbo jumbo is a tad boring. Haggis and creator David Simon (The Wire) don’t allow the characters enough time to connect with the audience, especially the residents of Yonkers who would benefit the most from the housing decision. The names of these people are actually unclear as the first episode draws to a close and Nick Wasicko celebrates his mayoral win.

Though the writing may turn off viewers for the first 60 minutes, the acting is impressive and lived in from all of the performers. One of the best elements of the first segment is the relationship between Nick and his confidant, Vinni, played by Winona Ryder. They only get a few scenes together, but it starts to really shine in part II when she expresses her boredom of being out of office. He nods his head sympathetically, but one might wonder if this new mayor is actually listening to his old work friend.

Oscar Isaac proves himself to be the best kind of troubled leading man. His Llewyn Davis was “unlikable” and fickle, and he plays a quiet mad scientist in this summer’s unnerving sci-fi thriller, Ex-Machina. He is an actor who obviously wants meaty material, and Nick Wasicko isn’t one-note or simple. Donning a sleazy, pornstache, his Wasicko is at once eager but easily wearied. It’s going to be fascinating how his character evolves throughout these short three weeks. Isaac seems to resist his own star-making allure with every role he takes on.

Show Me a Hero isn’t flashy, but it’s compelling once it gains its footing. The second episode loosens itself up a bit, and Catherine Keener pops up as a stern supporter of the housing appeal. These are great actors. Let’s just hope the material doesn’t let them down.

Series Review: ‘Humans’ Justifies a Second Season

Having already announced that the semi-sci-fi family drama Humans will venture into a second season, another cluster of eight episodes, this does to a large extent signify the success of the show. In fact Humans appears to be the most successful broadcast on Channel 4 in terms of viewing figures in over twenty years. It started airing in USA and Canada too, running two weeks later than in the UK (it is nice to come first for a change), and has just started in Australia. Here in the UK the marketing campaign heading into this phenomenon was extraordinary, ranging from window display in London’s very own Regent Street, to a TV advert for Personal Synthetics billed as these robots-dressed-as-humans being an actual product / family friend you can own. A convincing, stirring concept indeed, given our somewhat innate fear of machines taking over our planet, but also the notion of having such a presence in our own homes.

Humans tackles this very subject, the disruption and paranoia it can bring to the everyday family environment – as well as some compelling, relevant sub-plots about the background, current dilemmas and unknown future for these synthetics. The prominent family here are the Hawkins: parents Laura (Katherine Parkinson) and Joe (Tom Goodman-Hill), and three children, teenagers Mattie / Matilda and Toby, and youngest Sophie. In a society were this new artificial intelligence dynamic is becoming an ordinary way of life, from the outset the traits of this particular family are made clear, as Joe and Sophie purchase their new synthetic (Gemma Chan), whom they soon name Anita.

Joe is ignorantly blissful about the new gadget, while Sophie is of course as curious and excited as any normal child would be. Back home, Anita is greeted with some hostility by Mattie, a somewhat orthodox reaction to most things at that age you might think, where Toby is more smitten by the attractive physical appearance – again, a standard response from a teenage boy perhaps. Then there is the mother / wife Laura, who never wanted this new addition in the first place, and is annoyed and discomforted by her husband’s decision. We soon realize that family values are extremely important to these people, but is somehow demonstrated through an inner tension built from something we do not yet know long before the synthetic was even a mere notion.

Elsewhere, what we are made to assume are synthetics on the run, a sub plot featuring Leo (Colin Morgan) has a fugitive-style quest for lost synths. Leo is joined by friend Max. Both seem to have characteristics much more related to humans than robots – so your intrigue levels ought to be flashing off the scale even at these very early scenes. There’s police detective Drummond (Neil Maskell), down-in-the-dumps not helped by his disabled wife Jill being more satisfied by her own younger, fitter synth Simon than her own husband. Drummond is professionally partnered with detective inspector Voss (Ruth Bradley), who we later find out is also a conscious synth. Lost yet? Of course, to fill out the science villain parts to some extent, Hobb (Danny Webb), a professor, is perturbed by the missing synths, and seemingly working with government officials to track them down. His own synth Fred soon finds himself in danger too.

Humans3

The real treat for many might be William Hurt as George, a retired doctor and researcher of artificial intelligence. He has a sweet bond with Odi, a sadly malfunctioning synth, soon replaced by battle-axe synth Vera who seems to be more gestapo than care-giver. George is later visited by Niska (Emily Berrington), yet another conscious synth who was working as an escort before she broke free of that lifestyle to bitterly self-discover.

The build-up and the development of the drama driven by this fascinating subject is delivered brilliantly. As you may have noticed, there are plenty of characters and potential story arcs and back-stories to allow the narrative to leap frog from one group of characters to the next. The Hawkins’ habitat is the front-line plot, as the holes in the family’s bond grow bigger. Anita’s limited slip into human behavior is soon noticed by Mattie, who so happens to be a bit of an expert with all things computer – a hacker you might say. And Laura’s suspicious and anger that Anita is perhaps looking after her kids better than she is continues until she too witnesses distinctly emotional responses from the synth. The main damage though comes when Joe sleeps with Anita, his son Toby unscrupulously covering for him temporarily. Beyond the family drama, the discover that Anita is in fact an old version of a synth and actually corrupted, as former name Mia, is linked right across to Leo and his search. It’s a compelling, frantic journey, switching between genuine suspense, and dynamics of emotional story-telling constantly questioning our perception of these characters.

Humans combines the boat-rocking and acclimatizing of robots and humans co-existing, with the adrenaline of the conspiracy, chase plot. As well as a steady balance of emotive responsibilities, the show adds drops of justified violence, often shocking in the context of what is a very grounded production. Niska actually kills a client of the brothel when she has finally had enough (the swine does ask her to pretend to be young and scared). She is also close to stabbing another man later until she hears him speaking of his small daughter. And when Jill is unable to fight off the sexual advances of her synth Simon (after she had instigated the intercourse), unwanted husband Drummond is the one to batter Simon to the ground, destroying him. Sadly, that for the couple it is not quite a knight in shining armor moment.

The whole thing is, I won’t say completely resolved, but kind of. There is still plenty to think about and perhaps even more of a journey to behold some of these characters. As things are brought to a boil, the major synths (Niska, Leo, Fred, and of course Mia / Anita) are assisted by the Hawkins family, who in the end, in spite of their preconceptions, have all played a part in this roller-coaster ride. The show’s closure overall doesn’t throw too many awful or upsetting twists at you, but does certainly leave the book open for further reading later.

From the initial, clever advertising (I know for a fact those Personal Synthetic ads blew a few human minds), to the trailers leading up to the first episode, Humans has delivered an alternating degree of drama, ultimately television entertainment feeding to our own desires and intrigue. Well-designed, and with little opportunity for a break-down in plot or character invested interest, this crams a significant amount into the eight episodes, and suspect we are already digging deep to our conscious minds to wonder where it might go next. Here’s hoping it at least keeps to this kind of standard and packaging.

Humans2

EmmyWatch: Two-week Voting Sprint Starts Monday

So it’s come down to this…

The Television Academy begins the two-week voting process on Monday, extending it until Friday, August 28 at 10pm PST. Emmy voters have had access to an online viewing site since the beginning of August, allowing them to uniquely stream series and actor tape submissions without stacks and stacks of DVDs to plow through. The two-week voting window may seem narrow, but remember that the voting process is uniquely online, something the Emmys have done before without significant issue or noise. Very different from the noisier Oscar voters who apparently don’t know how to log into their email accounts.

The biggest and potentially most impactful change this year is the broadening of the Emmy voter pool. In previous years, a “blue ribbon panel” of Emmy voters was selected, and the smaller groups would determine the winners. These voters were a microcosm of the larger Television Academy body, so the Emmy winners were often more unpredictable and potentially eschewed the broader tastes of the Academy community at large. This year, anyone in a specific peer group (actors, etc) can vote as long as they demonstrate no noticeable conflict of interest and they have watched all submissions within the category in which they’re attempting to vote.

The ramifications of this change could be huge. More likely now than ever before, the winners could be more buzzed, more popular shows than in past years when the final voting pool was approximately 200 members. Now, thousands of Television Academy members have the right to vote as long as they meet the pre-defined criteria. So, what does that really mean in terms of winners? Well, you’re less likely to see a left-field Julianna Margulies Lead Actress win as in last year’s ceremony (doubly so this year since she’s not even nominated) and more likely to see a buzzier candidate win. Does this mean Taraji P. Henson has it in the bag thanks to her broad character appeal and her seemingly everywhere persona? Or does it open up Viola Davis’s perceived lead thanks to a win in the similar voting structure of the SAG Awards? Does it make it easier for Jon Hamm to win based on his personal likability and “it’s time” awards narrative? Does William H. Macy win for his likability as well?

In terms of series winners, the focus should be on series with broader appeal as well. Much like the Oscars, the Emmys dangers on becoming even more of a popularity contest now that the voter pool is open to the entire Television Academy membership. As much as people would like to disagree, I personally think the case for Modern Family to repeat becomes even stronger with the change in voting strategy. The past Emmy winner is the only show in the Comedy Series nominees with broad appeal. As I’ve said before, it’s the only series you can show anyone without alienating a viewer. Plus, every single other nominee in the category can be considered a “niche” show: too political, too indy, too silly, etc. Modern Family, the most watched series of the group, doesn’t offend, and, given its large cast, it has something to which nearly everyone can related. Plus, it’s the most openly emotional series of the bunch. I know the Internet doesn’t want to hear it, but, frankly, I don’t think the Emmys really care.

Drama Series is trickier, and I’m not exactly sure how the broader voting window really affects the winner here honestly. All the signs point to Game of Thrones as your winner: most nominations (including Direction and Writing), most watched, buzziest, etc. Does the broader voting pool effectively eliminate the bias against fantasy series (Lost being the only show with fantasy elements to win the big prize – of course that was in its first season before the central mythology of the show nearly derailed it)? With a reported 20 million viewers an episode (all-in, including HBONow and HBOGo – I’m assuming Emmy voters aren’t pirates), it’s by far the most watched series. Even as a fan of the series, I still can’t shake the feeling that, as great as this season ultimately was, it’s not The Season to reward the show.

It’s hard to gauge the popularity of its competition too. Since Netflix refuses to issue meaningful metrics on their viewership, it’s impossible to gauge just how popular shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black really are in comparison. Downton Abbey is most assuredly a highly rated show, but no one really feels that deserves to even be in the running, let alone to win. Homeland Season Four is exciting, and they’ve picked strong representations of the best of the season in their Emmy selection pack. But has it been tainted by Season Three? Will Emmy voters go for it just because it’s a better season? Once you’ve been down the problem path, it’s difficult to return to the winner’s circle. Better Call Saul has its supporters, but it’s Mad Men that comes up most often as a direct competitor to Game of Thrones. Will the Academy want to reward the series yet another Emmy win though? It’s not like last year’s winner Breaking Bad where a quality series that caught the zeitgeist after being nearly ignored in the Drama Series race for so many years. Mad Men has won multiple series trophies already. Does anyone think it deserves another?

Of course, the broadening of the voting pool could not impact the series categories as much as it would the acting categories. Voters have to prove they’ve watched all six online submissions for each show in order to vote in that category. Simple math tells you that voters have to watch 42 drama episodes and 42 comedy episodes in order to vote in that category. That’s a lot of television watching for people working long hours on now-filming fall series or the occasional films.

It’s a lot of television watching for anyone.

X-Files Flashback: ‘End Game’

Season 2, Episode 17
Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: Frank Spotnitz

“Colony” bleeds into “End Game,” thus concluding the newest X-Files double feature, if you will. It ends just as you want these things to end with the second episode expanding on the ideas of the first part and escalating them to newer, dizzying heights. Whereas the “Duane Barry” / “Ascension” pairing started on such a high note that it became impossible to sustain, “End Game” amps up the suspense, the scale, and the ideas introduced within “Colony.” It’s a fantastic one-two punch that provides not only some of the best work in the series but also serves to strengthen The X-Files‘ emotional backbone.

The prologue kicks off as an American sub discovers the assassin’s spaceship from the first episode. After given orders to shoot and destroy, they are attacked, and all systems flatline, effectively leaving them stranded underwater beneath the Arctic ice shelf. It’s a chilling (no pun intended), claustrophobic beginning to the episode, and it appropriately sets the tone for what’s to come. We then revisit “Mulder”  (the shape-shifting assassin) as he attempts to beat information out of Scully. He takes her prisoner and later has her call the real Mulder to establish an exchange: Scully for Samantha. Samantha gives Mulder some backstory about the assassin/bounty hunter: he has been sent to erase a collection of cloned alien colonists who are degrading their genetic makeup by mixing it with human DNA.

The exchange happens on a deserted bridge in Maryland. It is a tense sequence with Skinner and an FBI sharpshooter positioned in the nearby woods to take out the bounty hunter by shooting him in the base of the neck. Samantha agrees to be exchanged for Scully (more on this later), but the sharpshooter only wounds the assassin who pulls Samantha into the icy river below. The next day, Samantha’s body washes ashore, and, as it begins to warm, it deteriorates in a manner similar to the doctor clones from “Colony” – it’s not the real Samantha. Meanwhile, Mulder tearfully tells his father that Samantha has been lost again, and his father blames him for the event, leaving a note from Samantha which points the remorseful Mulder to a women’s clinic. There, he finds the truth: Samantha was another clone, and there are more of her in the clinic. Unfortunately, the assassin finds his way there, blows through Mulder, and burns down the clinic, killing the clones in the process.

Mulder proceeds to track down the assassin to prevent him from returning to his home planet by finding the submarine from the prologue. Scully uses both Skinner and X (who engage in an epic fight sequence) to find Mulder’s location, but she’s nearly too late. Mulder runs afoul of the assassin in the submarine and, after attempting to shoot him in the back of the neck, is infected with the viral blood of the alien, which is toxic to humans. The alien escapes in the submarine, narrowly killing Mulder in the process. This returns us to the first scene in “Colony” where Scully saves Mulder’s life thanks to her recently obtained knowledge of the virus. Mulder awakens, shaken by the experience but with renewed faith to keep looking for his sister as the assassin revealed she is still alive.

“End Game” covers a lot of territory, but it moves seamlessly and swiftly. The various set pieces (the bridge exchange, the submarine, the fight between Skinner and X) are substantial pieces of work both expensive looking and essential to the overall story. This episode feels like a turning point for the series in multiple ways. First, the metaphor of and consistent usage of ice or cold represents Mulder’s hardening sensibilities throughout Season Two. The government interference with The X-Files, Deep Throat’s death, Scully’s abduction – it all blended together to shift Mulder’s mindset, to make him resentful of his search for “the truth.” But Scully’s constant support and literal thawing of Mulder’s frozen body illustrates his renewed resolve, basically that he has warmed again to the idea that the truth is indeed out there, that is his sister is indeed alive, and that he must continue to search for her. It also further melts the icy professionalism between Mulder and Scully, something that admittedly has been happening for several episodes now. But with yet another attempt on Scully’s life and with Mulder’s near-death experience, the two appear to be completely linked now. There is no separating them.

Then, in terms of the craft of filmmaking, “End Game” feels like the most expansive episode they’ve done yet. It’s a signal that those financing the series realize what they have on their hands, and they’re starting to fund it well enough to take it to the next level. The episodes appear more polished, more assured in their cinematic qualities. I would argue that the two episodes could have been spliced together and made into a complete film that arguably would have been a better experience than the eventual films that came later.

Still, I do have a few quibbles with the episode, nothing terminal but minor annoyances. First, I remain unconvinced why the assassin had to remain tucked away in the submarine until Mulder found him. What exactly was he waiting for? Dramatic tension, I know, but there is apparently no stopping the creature, so why have him wait in hiding taking on the appearance of a submarine crew member? The bigger offense in the series is something I mentioned with my “Colony” review: the persistent victimization of the heroine Scully. She is made a plot point once more as she is kidnapped and used as bait by the assassin. Scully is smarter than that, but the writers felt it was still appropriate to make her the “damsel in distress” yet again, an event underscored by Scully’s cowering in Mulder’s car after being released by the assassin. The event wouldn’t seem so egregious had the director not chosen to include that shot. As it is, it feels cheap and out of Scully’s character.

Still, “Control” and “End Game” pack an amazing one-two punch as The X-Files further matures as a television series. Perhaps the most surprising event of the episodes was Mulder’s regression to boyhood in front of his disapproving father. It gave David Duchovny the opportunity to showcase a side of Mulder we’ve rarely seen, childlike vulnerability. It’s a reminder that the most important aspects of long-standing series aren’t necessarily the wiz-bang special effects but the emotional truths explored with characters you’ve grown to deeply appreciate. Emotional connections are sometimes the greatest special effects of all.

X-Files Flashback: ‘Colony’

Season 2, Episode 16
Director: Nick Marck
Writer: Chris Carter

The X-Files hit its first series 2-part episode a few back with “Duane Barry” and “Ascension,” which detailed the probable alien abduction of an endangered (and pregnant) Scully. It’s the first one we’d encountered, and the effect was significant. Watching the two back to back certainly gave a more cinematic sensation – something The X-Files would legitimately attempt a few years later with their big-budget motion picture. With “Colony,” they attempt the same effect again, and, while the episode is intriguing and entertaining enough, it feels a little soon to be jumping back into a continuing storyline.

“Colony” begins with an apparently injured Mulder checked into a field hospital suffering from hypothermia. As doctors place him into a bath for treatment, Scully bursts onto the scene warning the attending physicians that the cold is the only thing keeping Mulder alive. As if by cue, he begins to flatline. Cut to two weeks earlier, crew on a freighter spot a UFO hovering above them that seems to crash into the sea. As they rescue the sole occupant, the event is reported as a downed Russian fighter, but the pilot re-appears in Pennsylvania and attacks a doctor by stabbing him in the back of the neck, causing the doctor to bleed a bubbly green substance and die. Mulder and Scully are pulled into the events after an anonymous source sends Mulder a series of clips illustrating the deaths of other doctors. Photographs show that all three doctors are identical, and other identical doctors exist in multiple locations.

Mulder and Scully play beat the clock to save these seemingly twin doctors from their assassin, a shape-shifting being who is easily able to assume the appearance of anyone he’s seen. As the assassin finds and murders more twins, Mulder receives a phone call from his parents and returns home to Massachusetts where his alien-abducted sister supposedly reappears. She and Mulder re-connect as Scully further investigates the mysterious assassin and the twin doctors. Scully finally stumbles upon a lab that contains large vats of a viscous green fluid and what appear to be tiny cloned babies. The lab is eventually destroyed by the assassin, but Scully finds the remaining four doctors who are reportedly Russian clones. Taken into custody, the doctors are nonetheless murdered by the assassin in prison as he, naturally, assumed the identity of an authority figure. Scully and Mulder finally reconnect as she receives a phone call from him – just as “Mulder” knocks on her hotel room door.

As I’ve said before, it’s difficult to gauge the merits of a story when you only know the first half of the tale. Without knowing the end game, the juxtaposition of Mulder’s returned sister and the cloned doctors seems to overstuff the episode. The focus is clearly on the doctors’ storyline, so, after a year and a half of episodes during which Mulder pines for his missing sister, Samantha, it’s odd to only receive five minutes of screen time dedicated to the story. If it is her… Still, I’m very intrigued as to where the second part of the storyline goes and, particularly, how the two halves truly mix together.

Otherwise, the shape-shifting serial killer is effectively scary, particularly when he impersonates Mulder at the end of “Colony.” Is it a new turn of events to place Scully in mortal danger again? Not really. In fact, it’s a little tiring to see such a strong woman placed into danger situations demanding rescue by Mulder time after time in Season Two. Scully’s character arc has shifted from one of strength and resolve in Season One to one of the damsel in distress in Season Two, a little bit of a step back if you ask me.

X-Files Flashback: ‘Fresh Bones’

Season 2, Episode 15
Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: Howard Gordon

Voodoo, if you’re even slightly inclined to believe, is a creepy and unsettling thing. The fear of the unknown symbols, language, and artifacts instills a sense of dread that is as compelling as any actual magic. That fear of the unknown drives a lot of the unease in The X-Files‘s “Fresh Bones,” a slow-moving episode that, despite the persistent influx of voodoo, never really takes hold until the very end.

Mulder and Scully are contacted by the widow of Private Jack McAlpin, a Marine who in a fit of madness drove his car into a tree and died on impact – the second local soldier to seemingly commit suicide. A voodoo symbol was found on the tree and was also seen on a shell buried beneath the soldier’s house and in the first soldier’s suicide. Attempting to perform an autopsy on the Marine’s body, Scully instead finds the emaciated corpse of a dog. An imprisoned Haitian, Pierre Bauvais, seems to have knowledge of the events and gives a thinly veiled threat to Scully and Mulder if they continue involvement in the case. On the way back from the base, they nearly run over McAlpin who is absently stumbling along the road, leading Mulder to believe he was zombified. Another soldier tells Mulder and Scully that Colonel Wharton, the local commanding officer of the processing facility, is abusing Bauvais in retaliation and, eventually, has Bauvais beaten to death.

Mulder and Scully continue the investigation and eventually are made the target of voodoo tactics themselves. A local boy, Chester, earlier sold them a voodoo charm, which comes in handy when Wharton is seen performing voodoo rituals over Bauvais’s coffin. In a massive hallucination, Scully sees a man crawl out of a cut on her hand and strangle her while Mulder is made the victim of Wharton’s magic. Scully grabs the charm, and the attacking entity disappears. Bauvais’s spirit appears and neutralizes Wharton. As Mulder and Scully leave town, they discover Chester was killed in a riot six weeks earlier. The episode closes with Wharton being buried alive.

A voodoo X-Files episode is a thing we need for certain. Yet, “Fresh Bones” spends an great deal of time exploring the convergence of a North Carolinian military culture with Haitian voodoo subculture, and the mixture of the two isn’t entirely successful. Mulder and Scully spin their wheels in the plot, and X even manages to show up mysteriously at one point, offering nothing to advance the overall plot. It doesn’t really come together until the end when things accelerate dramatically, and voodoo hallucinations, magic, and an eerily lighted graveyard take center stage. THAT is the voodoo-tinged episode of The X-Files I anticipated, not the bloated three-quarters leading into it.

Podcast Preview: If We Had a Ballot

Dropping Monday, the Water Cooler Podcast gang of Clarence, Megan, and Joey put down the Emmy prediction game for a week and make their personal picks in the major 2015 Emmy categories. Categories covered include Comedy, Drama, Limited, Movie/Mini, Reality, and Variety series. This coincides with the opening of the Emmy voting period, so it’s a good time for our team to gather around the Cooler and share their personal preferences in the Emmy season. Again, this is not who we think will win – just who we would vote for if we had an Emmy ballot.

Want to play along at home? Prepare your own Emmy ballot and share it with us in the Comments section below! We’ll read some of them aloud on the Podcast if you’d like a shout-out. Want to email your ballot? Send it to Clarence, and he’ll tally the viewer’s choices for the podcast.

Categories and nominees covered on the podcast are listed here.

Making the Case for ‘Veep’

Note: Over the next two weeks, the Awards Daily TV crew will be Making the Case to win for each nominee in the Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Drama Series categories in random order. We’ll be dropping one each day through the Emmy voting period. Share/retweet your favorites to build the buzz!

HBO’s Veep

Metacritic Score: 90
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
Number of Nominations: 5
Major Nominations: Outstanding Comedy Series, Lead Actress (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Supporting Actor  (Tony Hale), Supporting Actress (Anna Chlumsky), Direction (“Election Night”), Writing (“Testimony”)

My fellow Americans…

I come here to sing the praises of Selina Meyer as portrayed by the brilliant Julia Louis-Dreyfus. To proclaim the unparalleled greatness of HBO’s brilliant political satire. To tell Emmy-voting men and women across this great nation that now is the time to make a bold choice with their vote. Not just a bold choice, but a necessary choice – one that tells the world that Modern Family‘s history-making reign must come to an end. For its time has come.

This is Veep show runner Armando Iannucci’s final season on the HBO comedy, and he’s going out on a very, very high note. Veep‘s fourth season focuses on Selina Meyer’s unexpected presidency, an event that rivals the great failed presidential campaigns littered throughout history in comic ineptness. Plagued on all sides by scandals, self-serving staffers, and a spotlight-usurping VP candidate (the excellent but overlooked Hugh Laurie), Meyer’s journey toward her potential legitimate election as president is pockmarked with golden nuggets of comedy, proving once again that Veep is one of the smartest, sharpest comedies on television today.

It is time for a new perspective, a new appreciation for American comedy. That vision comes in the guise of a can-do-no-right administration. An administration that, because of all its faults and misses, makes us cry with laughter with each episode thanks to both sly political commentary and brilliant physical comedy. There are many deserving contenders to strip away Modern Family‘s crown. On the precipice of an election year where reality may overtake the absurdity of the Veep world, it is time to give this show the recognition it so richly deserves with the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series.

There are a thousand points of light illustrating the ways that Veep is one of the sharpest comedies to come to the small screen in decades. How can you ignore a comedy series that rips from the headlines the controversial saga of American privacy and the government’s potential infringements on it and spins it into comedy gold? How can you ignore a comedy series that dedicates an entire episode to the lunacy of a Congressional hearing? How can you ignore a comedy series who makes a path forward for the first female president only to have her eviscerated by her once-loyal campaign aide? I fondly remember the words so eloquently spoken by Amy Bruckheimer (Emmy-nominee Anna Chlumsky) as she rises up and speaks her mind with passion, eloquence, and conviction:

Amy: I have bitten my tongue so long, it looks like a dog’s cushion. But no more! You have made it impossible to do this job. You have two settings—no decision and bad decision. I wouldn’t let you run a bath without having the Coast Guard and the fire department standing by, but yet here you are running America. You are the worst thing that has happened to this country since food in buckets and maybe slavery! I’ve had enough. I’m gone.
Selina: [as Amy walks to the door] Well, I guess she’s finished with her little…[Amy walks back to her] oh, nope, look at that, there’s more.
Amy: You have achieved nothing apart from one thing. The fact that you are a woman means we will have no more women presidents because we tried one and she fucking sucked. Goodbye, ma’am.

It is a moment heard from the coffee shops of Seattle to the dairy farms of Nebraska to the cotton fields of North Carolina. Amy’s words are the joyous cries out of those who suffered Selena Meyer in silence, smiling through gritted teeth, never once dreaming that their time would come. It reminds me of an earlier moment in the season where Gary Walsh (Emmy-nominee Tony Hale), having suffered the embarrassment of planning a little too extravagant State Dinner for President Meyer, erupts and expresses his pent up frustrations in a way that echoes any American who has long endured the thankless job of upholding their superior. These words are spoken by comic actors – funny moments indeed – but they speak to a larger theme of average citizens crying out against those who lead not by right but by privilege. This is what great comedy can do.

To paraphrase the great Lyndon B. Johnson, an Emmy voter’s task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right. They must not only reward Veep for its remarkable writing and expert direction but also recognize the intelligence and comic timing of its cast, a tight-knit first family of comedy. Aside from those blessed with Emmy nominations, let us sing the praises of the slick opportunist Reid Scott. Let us raise our voices in unison as we proclaim the collective brilliance of Timothy Simons, Matt Walsh, Sufe Bradshaw, Kevin Dunn, and Gary Cole. And let us shout from the highest mountain top that cast addition Hugh Laurie elevates the entire proceedings to levels not yet seen. A machine is only as strong as its weakest link, and this engine of comedy runs on all cylinders with the greatest of American ingenuity shepherded by the brilliant comic mind of Armando Iannucci.

In conclusion, I look to you, Television Academy, to set aside your political differences and persuasions. To cast out the urge to look for the easy path toward the Emmy. To truly appreciate and embrace the high degree of comedic difficulty achieved by those who have worked so hard and fought so long for an honorable laugh. In this Emmy voting period, we ask the tough question that many have wondered all season long, “Is this the year that a comedy comes along and grabs that golden Emmy statue from the tired hands of Modern Family?” Can we vote for a new American comedy winner?

And in standing behind Veep I say…

… yes we can.

X-Files Flashback: ‘Die Hand Die Verletzt’

Season 2, Episode 14
Director: Kim Manners
Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong

“Die Hand Die Verletzt,” German for “the hand that wounds,” really couldn’t have had a more perfect beginning. In a small town in New Hampshire, a high school faculty meeting appears to take an extremely conservative slant as they debate the appropriateness of kids performing Jesus Christ Superstar. The head of the meeting (Dan Butler, Frasier) even stifles a yawn as the proceedings drag on, but, as it wraps up, they embark on a prayer. A Satanic prayer. The theme of a threat coming from unexpected, near idyllic circumstances, is one that runs throughout much of the series. That dichotomy practically defines The X-Files thus far, and, as a representation of that juxtaposition, “Die Hand Die Verletzt” should be considered one of the defining moments of the series.

After the Satanic school board meeting, a group of teenagers venture into a dark wood to conduct a dark magic spell, which has unexpected and frightening results. All teens flee the scene save one who is lifted from the ground by an unseen foe. The next morning, Mulder and Scully are called to the scene to investigate the teen’s death, particularly his body’s mutilation (his eyes and heart have been removed). The Satanic adults play ignorance and profess extreme Christianity while blaming the kids for unleashing evil on the town, but the real culprit is the seemingly prim schoolteacher Mrs. Paddock. One by one, she orchestrates the deaths of another student and, eventually, the faculty members themselves after deeming their Satanic faith lapsed. She disappears from town, leaving the eerie message “Goodbye. It’s been nice working with you.” scrawled across the board.

This is a particularly theme-heavy episode, aside from the overall series theme of horror in innocuous places. The character Jim Ashbury played by Dan Butler is given a rare monologue that explains his background into Satan worship, something you don’t see every day on network television. In fact, the episode takes a somewhat risky stance by proclaiming that some of those who profess to be strong Christians aren’t really following through behind closed doors. Speaking of doors, doors also factor into the episode multiple times, including in the opening sequence, the door to Mrs. Paddock’s office, and the door in Ashbury’s home hides a dark closet that we can only imagine is used for nefarious purposes.

In addition to theming, this is just a particularly nasty episode with both human and swine dissections, organs popping up all over the place, and a sequence in which a character is eating alive by a giant snake. Perhaps the most disturbing sequence, though, is the revelation by Ashbury’s daughter, Shannon, that she was made to participate in Satanic worship, was impregnated multiple times, and had her babies murdered to use for ceremonial activities. These events are never confirmed, but the scene is exceedingly unnerving considering the vehemence and conviction the actress employs to recall her trauma. Remember this episode aired in the early 90s when alleged child and daycare sex abuse scandals were all over the news. The X-Files dips into that paranoia cleverly with this episode even though it takes the proceedings to an extremely dark place when, before, it remained devilishly playful.

And like many of the best X-Files episodes, there is no clear resolution. But that’s part of the fun, isn’t it? Knowing that “Mrs. Paddock” could be anywhere, anytime? It’s a terror that the director accentuates by filming Mulder and Scully on the outside of a classroom looking in on them as if being watched by Mrs. Paddock, indirectly implicating the audience in the episode’s horrific crimes.