Togetherness blew me away tonight.
I never thought I’d write that sentence, but here I am. This was a great episode of television, and that confuses me. By my count (and apparently not widely-held opinion), this show had one great episode, two good episodes, three okay episodes, and two terrible episodes; the thing that is weird is that it didn’t start off bad and then get better. It started off kind of meh and then more meh, followed by two rays of sunshine and then utter garbage before finishing with a right hook.
How a show can have two episodes so terrible as the penultimate and it’s predecessor and then end as it did is beyond me. It’s like someone kicking you in the testicles twice and then giving you a million dollars for your troubles. Like, I appreciate it, Duplass brothers, but can we just skip to the money-giving part next time?
What’s funny is how little I’m into the Alex/Tina stuff. I’ve been firmly in their corner since minute one, but at this point, I just don’t care. The Alex/Brett relationship and even the underutilized Alex/Michelle relationship are far more interesting at this point than the boy-chase-girl sort of thing they’re doing. But for the time being, I’m going to shelve those complaints, because besides the Alex/Tina stuff in this episode, I was in love.
The thing that amazes me the most is how the whole is bigger than the parts. Taken individually, I’m not all that enamored with the episode; in particular, I thought that Michelle’s moment in the sun was really overblown and accidentally hilarious. She gave the most basic, unprepared speech of all time, and the people on the council were like “Yooooooooo” and just fell at her feet. The way the music built up and people smiled at her, you’d think she was Al Pacino. But when looked at as a whole work, it comes together so, so nicely.
I know I sound like I’m giving the most backhanded compliments possible, but I’m truly not. Breaking Bad, arguably the greatest and most complete TV drama to ever air, is just like this. The best episodes of Breaking Bad (“Ozymandias,” “One Minute,” “Face Off”) are better than their individual parts. That’s television, ladies and gentlemen. That’s what you’re supposed to do. You’re supposed to take a grab bag of characters, plots, and visuals and make them fit. Togetherness did so, finally and wonderfully.
The last five minutes of this episode were worth watching the whole episode for. I felt the tension as David and Michelle flirted with one another and then couldn’t sleep without the other. I put down my notepad and watched intently, as Michelle put shaking fingers on the piece of paper she half-slid under her door, stuck in both worlds and not sure which side to fall into. I froze in place as the music played and the door on his side opened and let in the light, and I watched with bated breath as she stood with slow purpose and opened the door. It was a truly well-crafted scene. It was a scene that took what came before it and made it matter. That’s what television is. Togetherness made television tonight, and it was an experience that I’ll always remember.
Stray Thoughts:
– “The Wilhelm Scream” by James Blake was a ridiculous good choice of music. It’s Emmy-worthy on that moment alone.
– The Alex/Tina stuff needs some cleaning up. That’s all I say.
– I am actually happy this show is coming back for a second season. I hope Jay and Mark Duplass let the weirdness run wild.
[Photo via HBO]
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