In Treatment 3x24

Adele left a message earlier in the week because an hour had opened up that Paul might perhaps take advantage of so they may return to their truncated session and discuss some lingering concerns. Her awkward voice message is loaded with meaningful pauses, significant silences. And Paul certainly picks up on the fact that she called him first thing in the morning, from her private number. Apparently that makes him feel he has an advantage, because he doesn’t catch bait. Adele begins the regular session asking about Sunil. Paul interprets this as an invitation to act out his fantasy of discussing his patients with her. She is just concerned that Paul is unable to separate himself from his patients, is unable to act decisively, and is blind to the fact that Sunil is a potential threat to his surroundings. Just like Sunil, Paul is stuck debating the difference between “pushing” someone and “pushing past” someone. The moment they disagree, Paul reverts back to platitudes that she doesn’t understand the situation, doesn’t know the intricacies, and has no idea what she is talking about.

Then they are interrupted by the phone ringing, and while Adele apologizes for the interruption, Paul notices that she is several months pregnant. He gets dismissive, he feels betrayed and refuses to engage any further. He assumes that she is in a happy relationship, growing a family. But we know different: she’s alone, facing the challenge of raising a child on her own, and drawn to Paul’s fantasy of sharing their experiences as equal partners. His behavior is so childish, I can only imagine that she feels disappointed. She has been trying to encourage him to break through the paralysis, whether in his therapy or in his private life. He wants her to know what specifically she wants him to act on, believing she is offering him to live out his dream, as if they have not discussed his inability to make decision for himself over the course of the past sessions. He still believes he is developing Parkinson’s, despite a second opinion that proves otherwise, and he has no answer to Adele’s question what would have been so different if the neurologist could have told him with absolute certainty that he will or will not get the disease. Isn’t that uncertainty what every person has to deal with? Somehow Paul keeps using the “wait-and-see” attitude as an excuse not to do anything. Adele repeats that his inability or refusal to act in Sunil’s case may cause harm to Julia and her children, and wonders if this is his subconscious way of sabotaging his career. That evening Paul does call Julia, apparently to discuss Sunil’s violent fantasies with her.

Overall, Paul has hardly gotten anywhere with his patients, certainly not with Sunil, Jesse is still very volatile, perhaps only Frances is ready to face her situation. Adele pointed out that she feels Paul may be identifying too much with Sunil, a foreigner forced to migrate to America, alienated by his new environment, and fascinated by the attraction of an impossible relationship. We could add that Paul also recognizes himself in Frances, her fear of dying, her struggle to get diagnosed for breast cancer, her trauma of losing her mother, her inability to communicate with her daughter, her sense of loneliness. Even in Jesse Paul can see part of himself, the feeling of rejection and abandonment, the inability to break through paralyzing thoughts that leaves him incapacitated to establish meaningful relationship and recognize the people who love him. There’s just one more session for each of them left. I am curious how things are going to wrap up in the next four episodes.

Shameless 5x02

This one is all about Mimi, the boss lady of the Irish mob on Chatsworth Estate. Back in the day there was the other Paddy, a bigger fish even that Paddy Maguire. Now he’s out of jail and has business to discuss with Mimi’s Paddy. Paddy Maguire is so nervous, he almost chokes on a cashew nut in the Jokey. It’s our Frank who’s Paddy’s guardian angel that saves his life. From the start of his meet with other Paddy, Paddy’s off on the wrong foot. A drink at the Jokey is his first stop, but other Paddy’s really hoping Paddy set up a woman for him. They walk into the pub, other Paddy admires sexy kitten Karen (as we all do), but seeing Mimi from behind, he asks “It’s not her, is it? A rhino on a joy bag?” Unwittingly, other Paddy sets off marital crises at the Maguires as Mimi spirals into a self-loathing depression, certain her Paddy can’t love her the size she is. There’s nothing her Paddy can do, she throws him out, and in his desperation he ties and gags other Paddy up, for Mimi to finish off as a make up gift. After the situation spirals even further out of control, Mimi and Paddy bond over who is more willing to kill other Paddy out of love for the other. But what business did he have to discuss with Paddy anyway? Other Paddy is retiring, off to Cyprus, wanting to sell Paddy one of his patches to go with some of the others the Maguires stole from him while he was in jail. After all that happened, he’ll ask somebody else!

Meanwhile, Lip has returned to Nottingham University, Ian is hoping to shag up with Carl’s teacher, Carl is hoping to score some girls, Debbie is worried Monica might steal her room, and Liam is becoming a little pyromaniac just like Marty. Outside, Monica’s ex-girlfriend Norma is dealing with a rodent plague, while at the Maguires Shane’s python eats Mimi’s puppy dog and Mick is determined to prove he’s a hard working man, living in his pink Cadillac, sure no one knows he’s gay. “It’s not pink! It’s fuchsia!” Definitely homo. The show is still wicked smart and uproariously funny. Yet it is getting progressively more difficult keeping track of all the characters. I didn’t even mention the idiotic scene at Yvonne’s local shop with the moronic police force, or Mandy’s well-meaning attempt to resolves the Maguires’ crisis. This lack of focus hinders maintaining the audience’s interest in all the various characters. Many, in fact, remain no more than caricatures. The beauty of the series, at first, I felt was its portrayal of the British underclass, drinking and cursing, fucking and fighting, but still managing to get by, by sticking together. There was a bittersweet sordid sense of humor through all the drama, but it was easy to relate to the Gallaghers. Now, I just miss Fiona and Steve, Kev and Veronica; Marty and Sheila are gone, and so is Lip. What is left is mostly meaningless fun at the expense of the criminally poor and the criminally insane.

Spirited Away

As most of you probably already know, Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away is a beautiful animated movie about a ten-year old spoiled little brat of rich parents and her journey into the realm of ghosts and spirits in search of herself. The pouty girl, Chihiro, and her parents become lost while driving with their car through the woods. When they stop the car, and walk through a dark tunnel, they find themselves at an abandoned amusement park. In this empty ghost town, her father finds a sumptuous buffet and her parents eat all they can until they turn into pigs. Whiny Chihiro finds help from a little boy, Haku, who indicates they have met before. They are now in the world of ghosts. Haku smuggles her into a bathhouse for the gods, worked by spirits, run by the witch Yubaba, and he tells Chihiro to make sure she finds employment there until he comes back to rescue her. In the bathhouse, the clumsy girl gradually learns to become resourceful, help the spirits and make friends under straining circumstances. The story unfolds against a backdrop of fantastic, well-nigh psychedelic dream pastel colors. This fairy tale for grown-up kids is reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, but this Cricket was also reminded of Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Terry Gilliam’s Brazil – if that makes sense.

Chihiro’s journey represents a quest for moral individuality in a world inhabited by faceless spirits, nameless ghosts, voiceless soot sprites, wicked witches, dangerous dragons and stink gods, all with their own absurd rules. Underneath the girl’s rite-of-passage there is another story: a social critique of sorts. The abandoned amusement park hints at the Japanese economic bubble of the late-twentieth century, while the buildings in the park, particularly the bathhouse of the gods, hark back to the Meji Restoration. The rich and young of the twenty-first century have lost their respect for tradition, have lost their connection with their past – filled with magical mystery. This commentary on modernity subtly runs throughout the film: Chihiro’s parents gorge themselves on food so much they turn into pigs; the river-god is mistaken for a stink-god, because he is covered in waste, and proceeds to vomit all the trash that humans dump into the river; the faceless spirit bribes everyone at the bathhouse with his gold, but makes no friends save the little heroine – and he, too, starts vomiting when Chihiro asks him if he has no home to return to. The gorging, bribing, and vomiting are obvious allusions to the ills of modern consumerism.

The beauty is that Miyazaki succeeds in keeping his fairy tale filled with ambiguity – nothing is what it seems: a stink-god turns out to be a river-god, parents turn into pigs, a dangerous dragon turns out to be Haku in disguise, an enormous baby turns into a mouse, weird creatures turn out to become friends, a piece of flying paper turns into a witch, a threatening faceless spirits turns out to be a lonely soul; what seemed frightfully evil turns out to be good and friendly. Such moral ambivalence keeps this film from becoming standard Disney fare. Through the Looking Glass of Miyazaki, there is good in all creatures, but there is also evil lurking everywhere. If we overcome our fears, trust our instinct, return to our innocence, find our inner selves and retain our individual moral uprightness, we can face reality and live meaningful lives. If somehow you have missed Spirited Away – like your Cricket did – it might be time to catch up and enjoy this wonderful movie.

Benidorm 4x03

Mateo is late for his water aerobics class at the Solana. His outfit is hilarious! But he is livid. “Lady, I look like a homosexual gay,” he tells Janey. “Looking good, handsome,” Lesly winks from behind the bar. Alas, the work-out is too much for poor Donald. “You look like you’re going to die,” little Michael tells him. A little later Donald falls over into the water. Janey is furious at Mateo, threatening to sack him if Donald dies. In fact, she sends him packing anyway. Sweet Lesly comes up with an idea to help Mateo keep his job. His dimwitted son forges an affidavit in M. Garvey’s name claiming that Donald’s accident did not occur while he was taking part in Mateo’s class. Oh, you have to know the series to fully grasp all the levels of funny at play here.

Meanwhile two big men dressed in black suits walk into the poolside. While Mick is eavesdropping, the suits tell Lesly they are looking for Madge Harvey to settle a debt with her. Mick tries hiding the problem from his family. Then Lesly compliments Madge, “Well, you are an amazing woman Misses Harvey. All I’m saying is that if two big hairy gorillas just threatened to kill me over an unpaid debt, I’d be putting my knickers on the boil wash by now. Heheh heheh heh.” Obviously his family isn’t going to let Mick deal with the situation on his own. I can’t begin to describe the showdown in the run-down theme park with Mr. Pink, the flamboyant gangster who is demanding his money. You have to see it for yourself. It really is rolling-on-the-floor uproarious! And Madge gets off scot-free, her debt cleared. Better still, Mr. Pink sends her a suitcase full of cash. Those tears your Cricket’s crying are from laughing, I swear!

For her part, Pauline keeps nagging at her mother and plans to leave. Gavin and Kenneth keep bickering, too. “Could’ve been you there in the pool,” Kenneth says. “I beg your pardon,” Gavin replies. Then suddenly Kenneth rushes off without so much as an explanation. When he returns, men keep passing by who seem to know Kenneth. Diverting the conversation, Kenneth asks Gavin out for a pizza. Suddenly he has money he earlier claimed he didn’t bring with him. You and I both know what Gavin is suspecting! At dinner Kenneth even wears an expensive watch he bought that afternoon to treat himself. “Faggots!” Donald shouts, as they’re eating meatballs. “How dare you! Did Judy Garland die for nothing? Oh, hello Donald.” And off Kenneth goes with another man. Gavin follows him up to the room and overhears Kenneth saying, “Now, it’s up to you to tell me how far you wanna go.” Gavin barges in, only to find Kenneth doing a little hairdressing on the side to earn some extra spending money. Yeah, this show is brilliant!

Boardwalk Empire 1x11

Jimmy gets a call from his mother Gillian that his father, the Commodore, is dying. On his deathbed, the Commodore proudly brags he built Atlantic City and tells Jimmy that the wrong man is running town. After eating a biscuit, Jimmy doesn’t feel well, washes his face in the bathroom, and throws up. Gillian later reminisces about how she first met the Commodore, through Nucky, and how Nucky always took good care of them. Jimmy cannot shake off the thought that Nucky was no more than a pimp who brought young girls to the Commodore. He was fifty four, she was thirteen. That night, when visiting the Commodore again, a doctor runs some tests. Richard Harrow stops by after doing some reconnaissance about the D’Alessios, suggesting he kills the brothers’ mother, sisters, and one brother who is working in Philadelphia as a dentist, to give the dagos a warning. The doctor interrupts them, confiding to Jimmy that the test results show that somebody has been poisoning the Commodore with arsenic. Jimmy remembers the biscuit that made him vomit, and tactfully asks his mother a few questions. But she has no idea what he is talking about. He shows her the “Paris Green” arsenic he found in the kitchen closet.

For his part, Agent Van Alden discusses to botched transfer of witness Winslow with his assistant Sebso over dinner in a Chinese restaurant. Van Alden drills him about his chop stick skills, his reasons for joining the Bureau, and the incident. Van Alden knows Sebso is lying. How could Winslow approach him unexpectedly and hit him on the forehead with a rock, while he was supposedly about to urinate? Sebso feels the pressure and calls Nucky in a panic. Nucky advices him to divert Van Alden’s attention, perhaps wrap up a bootlegging operation, and even hands him a tip about a possible location in the woods. At the riverside in the woods, Van Alden and Sebso find a makeshift congregation witnessing a baptism. Van Alden gets evangelically inspired, calling Sebso a Jew bound for eternal damnation. But they find no illegal distillery. Later Sebso applies for a transfer to Detroit to get from under Van Alden’s scrutiny. Van Alden criticizes him for his expensive new shoes. “Temptation knows no rank.” Then they return to the site of the riverside congregation. Van Alden forces Sebso to accept a baptism and a forcefully tense scene ensues in which Van Alden’s evangelism turns diabolical. He drowns Sebso.

Meanwhile, Margaret is starting to resent her affair with Nucky, how he takes advantage of her political acumen, disagreeing with his illegal business, worrying that Van Alden is right about the death of her husband, and wondering when she will be replaced by another mistress. They have a confrontation in which he accuses her of using Lysol as a contraceptive, and she accuses him of getting her husband killed. When Eli catches wind of the row, he throws Nucky a tantrum how she is a liability of his own creation. The Democrats are very close to winning the elections, the D’Alessio brothers are coming after them, Eli’s life is on the line, and meanwhile Nucky prances about town with his mistress, getting ass-kisses by everyone who’s after his money. Nucky compares Eli to Hardeen, “if he wasn’t Houdini’s brother, nobody would give a fuck.” Nucky later informs his Republican friends that Eli has resigned and promotes Deputy Halloran to Sheriff. When Nucky arrives at Margaret’s apartment, he discovers she has left with the children. At the same time, Angela prepares to leave for Paris with Mary Dittrich and little Tommy. She packs a small suitcase and leaves a note for Jimmy. Then, when she arrives at the photo shop, the Dittrichs have both left without her. Then there’s Arnold Rothstein, who is about to be indicted for fixing the World Series. His lawyer suggests he comes to Chicago if he knows anyone powerful enough who is willing to do him a favor.

Community 1x07

Annie is excited to get extra credit organizing a Día de los Muertos party. But don’t call it the Mexican Halloween, Señor Chang warns, because that’s offensive if you’re familiar with the (no doubt completely fictitious, but absolutely hilarious) sexual position. Jeff claims he has a conflict, “It conflicts with the enjoyment of my life.” He then asks Britta if their relationship will ever move on beyond strictly platonic, and when she denies, he tells her he’ll chase after his hot statistics professor instead. He immediately approaches Prof. Slater aggressively, get’s turned down, but refuses to budge. He asks for a chance to change her mind. “Oh, I know you can. That’s why you’re not getting a chance,” she replies with a seductive smile that says “follow me to my office and you’ll get some.” But Annie prevents him, begging him to join the party. Best part of the Día de los Muertos: Abed as Batman, Troy as Lionel Ritchie, Pierce as the Beast Master, Britta as squirrel, Shirley as Harry Potter? Tough choice. Then Chang offers to take Jeff to the faculty Halloween party, where he arrives as cowboy stirring his spurs for Slater’s female Robin Hood. His friends arrive to save Annie’s party. He tells them to leave, but still has no chance with Prof. Slater. Chang whispers a few words of advice in his ear. Jeff returns to her and begs, “Please sleep with me, please. Pretty please! I’m so lonely, I haven’t slept with anyone in a very long time, and you are so good looking. Please do me the favor of having sex with me.” It works like a charm. They walk out of the party together, past the library, and get stopped by Troy, because Pierce is tripping out on the ecstasy pill Starburns gave him.

This show is so much fun! I love all the characters. They each have something adorable – and something absolutely annoying. Troy and Abed are a terrific team. Their bits at the end of each episode are some of the funniest moments in recent comedy. It’s takes a while before Annie and Shirley grow on you, but you’ll soon enough love them with all your heart. Every guy wants to be Jeff. And Britta ... hot damn! Enough said. Chevy Chase’s Pierce Hawthorne is such character, too! He’s one of these people who buys all the latest useless gadgets, but doesn’t know what to do with them. When he gets an “ear-nocular” (some type of in-ear mini radar for listening in on conversations), he believes everyone is gossiping about him. He keeps trying to use voice command on his cell phone, but it won’t work. “It’s like my mother,” he sighs. “Calling mother,” his cell responds. “Hello Pierce! How’s school going? Are you popular?” his mother asks with his phone on speaker! I can’t pick a favorite. I’m glad I’m watching this show and I hope you all do, too. Spread the word.

In Treatment 3x23

After the panic attack that set off their last session, Jesse has calmed down. No longer the hyperactive foulmouthed kid, but depressed, resentful and self-pitying. Jesse is deaf and blind to the Paul’s counsel. So it’s small wonder that he starts the session with questions about the whole point of therapy. Mixing metaphors, Paul explains that many people live in a fog, and he helps to unlock their inner selves. He has been trying to make Jesse see that he is unconsciously obstructing developing meaningful relationships with his adoptive parents, his birth parents, his friends and lovers, because he drives them away with his behavior. Yet, all Jesse can wonder is why nobody wants him, why everyone rejects him. He’s oblivious to the fact the he himself rejects them, pushes them away, drives them to anger, and only remembers their anger, the feeling of abandonment, or worse the kicks and punches. His depression is severe enough that it worries Paul hearing that Jesse would like to ride up a glass elevator on his own to the top of the atrium at the Time Square Marriott and disappear. Paul urges him, not as his therapist, but as someone who cares about him, to go home and be with the people who love him, his adoptive parents Marisa and Roberto. Instead, Jesse says he was invited for an interview at the Rhode Island School of Design. Again he is setting himself up for disappointment and rejection, for the school offers no financial aid, and there is no way he or his adoptive parents can afford tuition. Then Jesse asks Paul if he would like to join him for some ice cream, and Paul suggests they call Roberto and Marisa to pick him up. Jesse just asks if he can stay a little longer, to which Paul agrees.