With Sherlock coming to an end after three episodes, the questions have been asked: where are the convincing villains?
The first episode was largely about the rekindling of the Sherlock-Watson relationship, and ultimately hitched to a stop-the-bomb plot with an enemy of impressively poor ability to construct a bomb. The second episode, by contrast, was almost a stand-up comedy show with a Cluedo-style pay-off where the photographer did it.
This one is more convincing, with the steely Charles Augustus Magnussen (Lars Mikkelsen) wandering into the field of play. With basis in real-life media personalities, serial blackmailers and Bond villains, there's a lot more conviction in they enemy, and somebody to counterpoint its excellent titular sleuth (Benedict Cumberbatch) and associate (Martin Freeman).
But this is not the only enemy at play, and a surprise one thrown into the mix to disrupt the equilibrium set up here. It also works out the intricate long game that has been played by the scriptwriters.
We begin with the appearance that, for inspiration, the BBC scriptwriters have been watching the news in preparation for this one. The opening sequence is an eerie satirical rendition of the 2011 meeting between Rupert Murdoch and the MP's Home Affairs Select Committee, with the magnate Magnussen conducting an impressive run-through on how to take out the people opposite the table.
But it then follows itself on with the further continuation of the main target of the hearing with his attempts to stalk the MPs involved.
This is some of the sinister satirical bite the writers are more capable of, and had been missing at times from the other episodes earlier in this season when they were busy having Sherlock on the piss... although that was amusing in fairness.
The amusing quips and occasional side-lines appear here and there, but aren't as full-on. This time, however, there is a more coherent and solid plot to back them up.
Our introduction to Sherlock sees him hiding out in a drug den after Watson and his wife Mary (Amanda Abbington) had somehow stumbled across him. This is initially attempted to be a ruse, so as to attract the media magnate with a phony drug habit
This eventually sees a return to 221B Baker's Street, where Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) is helping an intervention only to be warned away from his bathroom, and ends with him sternly warning his brother from his pursuing the case.
Like a moth to a flame, this attracts Magnussen, who struggles to find a focus point to badger Sherlock with, but chooses to make a mark on him by pissing in his fireplace anyway.
This leads to an attempt to raid his London office, via manipulation of his PA Janine (Louise Brealey), who Sherlock has developed his own relationship with after meeting her last week.
But here, the plot diverges and takes on surprising twists.
Rather than finding a dominant man behind a desk surrounded by henchman, bodyguards and protecting assassins, Sherlock finds one person - namely Mary, who has a gun to his head. She duly shoots Sherlock when Holmes tries to blow everything.
This divergence and detour also takes us on a tour through the exquisitely-realised mind palace of Sherlock Holmes, as he attempts to escape death by this shot, taking in a whirlwind of names throughout the series, including the ghost of the long-deceased Moriaty (Andrew Scott).
Having blown open the Mary character arc, it sets about trying to set up a meeting that blows the mirage, via a resuscitation for Mr. Holmes - the second time he's cheated death already this year, which is an achievement in itself.
The domestic arguments are restrained, which is a shame as it would have been interesting to fully explore the depths her character has really made with the duo really in the room. There's a reveal an abandoned house, and an argument around the fire at Christmas time.
But the revelations aren't far away from appearing. It takes a full dive into the vaults of Magnussen to even glimpse at the truth that lurks beneath this character's surface, and create his mental make-up.
It also reveals, by and large, a villain that has many of the roots that make up Sherlock. Just like Mr. Holmes, he is in charge of an enormous range mental of capabilities and has most of the sociopathic tendencies that are the essence of Sherlock.
It ends seemingly with a huge problem for the detective, as Mr. Holmes is held captive and trapped after falling into Magnussen's intricately weighted one.
Suddenly, there comes the get-out clause super-villains fall into regularly, and an even more well-worked way to get him out of his charge. The pro's of relations in high places, probably.
There's a better sense of conviction here, as if it now knows kind of programme it wanted to be when it returned for its third season, as it seems the titular character is heading for a sunset far away from his investigative partner.
It seems like that was going to be that. But even after impressively utilising the first two episodes' seeds to create a marvellous plot that surpasses all the other episodes of this year, there's still time for another ace to be pulled from their sleeve.
An impressive manipulation of the end-credits has certainly provided the next season with a potentially inviting set-up, as well as giving an important plot point from which to build this series from.
As well as providing another "back from the dead" scenario, the show's favourite villain gets another chance to perfect his evil mannerisms, not to mention the covert homoeroticism which has so far yielded a lot of fans.
The next year will see plenty of online speculation as to just how Moriarty survived, or indeed, if he's simply pulling a trick from beyond the grave. But it'll be interesting to see what this is...
With confirmation series four is already planned out, all we can do is wait and see how he can gets out of this rather impressively worked tight spot.
Your move, Moffat...
4.5/5
Sunday, 12 January 2014
Sunday, 5 January 2014
Sherlock - Season 3 Episode 2 Review
With the return of Sherlock rendering its fandom speechless as it bought back its titular detective, the question is: "Now what?"
The return of Benedict Cumberbatch was to widespread critical acclaim with an impressive episode documenting the way the detective evaded death, while rekindling a broken friendship with Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman) and stopping a fairly pathetic bad guy's attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
But the question is simply "What's next?"
Well, summoning a police detective from the arrest of his life and further bringing in a horde of police cars and helicopters to help write a best man speech is a hilarious ice-breaker for this episode.
Watson is getting married to Mary Malone (Amanda Abbington), which is a concept that - predictably - eludes Sherlock's logic and sees no sense. Or, to paraphrase,"Two people living together have an expensive party, go on holiday, then carry on living together"
To make things more... odd... Sherlock has been given the gig of being Watson's best man. The story behind the generation of the speech and the awkward delivery of the according speech are played alongside one another. Eventually it ends in the traditional matter with Sherlock talking his awful side up and saying it as a compliment towards Dr. Watson that he asked him to be his best men.
But it has an odd effect of elongating the programme just to kill part of the 90 minutes of time of film. It also leads to an absurdly-long flashback in Sherlock's search for "a funny story", which kinda stretches what most people would call "funny", and would be very pointless at a wedding.
A lot of the episode primarily consists of these flashbacks, more or less as an insight into the worlds the group act within. But it also seems to try and give the hardcore fans a looksie into stuff not covered, such as drunk Sherlock and his attempts to investigate while pissed up.
Predictably, it ends badly, although it does at least provide an amusing sequence of events and answers the question. But it also provides intriguing evidence towards the suggestion argued by some people that Sherlock is resembling a more comic programme than the first two series. Its an odd way to go about it, even if it does at least provide some amusing one-lines.
Somehow, the long-winded narrative arc through flashbacks actually provides an impetus that leads to a solution for the two seemingly-unrelated crimes that Sherlock was trying to solve at the time. But blimey, its takes one hell of a time to reach this moment. A best-man speech lasting around 30-40 minutes would be exhausting.
The first episode played on the relationship between the two main characters and also had sections that felt like they were written by the show's large and manic fanbase on Twitter, Tumblr and the likes.
The erratic nature of this edition of the programme made it, at times, very hard to follow the central concept of the plot, if there was any.
The strongest part, no doubt, is the end, which sees the twin mysteries elegantly deduced and solved, the quite impressive wedding waltz performed by Sherlock on violin, a new mystery that may appear in the next episode (or series?) and the questioning of one thing - can Sherlock find love?
Its an odd construct that has the potential for character development, given that one would possibly question what attracts women to psychopaths like Sherlock... or a "high functioning sociopath with your number" as he put it.
But in terms of the episode, it tailed off alarmingly. The middle half-hour or so killed a lot of the momentum and made for a confusing, hard-to-follow section. It would've been better arranged if these bits were placed before the wedding, with minimal flashbacks allowing for the solution.
This is what nags at the episode. There's plenty to admire - not least the acting, as per usual - but as a whole, this episode was just not what it could have been.
Next week is the series finale and it should at least be better than this. Which shouldn't be too hard if you just follow a plotline and not opt for an overdose on confusion.
3.5/5
The return of Benedict Cumberbatch was to widespread critical acclaim with an impressive episode documenting the way the detective evaded death, while rekindling a broken friendship with Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman) and stopping a fairly pathetic bad guy's attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
But the question is simply "What's next?"
Well, summoning a police detective from the arrest of his life and further bringing in a horde of police cars and helicopters to help write a best man speech is a hilarious ice-breaker for this episode.
Watson is getting married to Mary Malone (Amanda Abbington), which is a concept that - predictably - eludes Sherlock's logic and sees no sense. Or, to paraphrase,"Two people living together have an expensive party, go on holiday, then carry on living together"
To make things more... odd... Sherlock has been given the gig of being Watson's best man. The story behind the generation of the speech and the awkward delivery of the according speech are played alongside one another. Eventually it ends in the traditional matter with Sherlock talking his awful side up and saying it as a compliment towards Dr. Watson that he asked him to be his best men.
But it has an odd effect of elongating the programme just to kill part of the 90 minutes of time of film. It also leads to an absurdly-long flashback in Sherlock's search for "a funny story", which kinda stretches what most people would call "funny", and would be very pointless at a wedding.
A lot of the episode primarily consists of these flashbacks, more or less as an insight into the worlds the group act within. But it also seems to try and give the hardcore fans a looksie into stuff not covered, such as drunk Sherlock and his attempts to investigate while pissed up.
Predictably, it ends badly, although it does at least provide an amusing sequence of events and answers the question. But it also provides intriguing evidence towards the suggestion argued by some people that Sherlock is resembling a more comic programme than the first two series. Its an odd way to go about it, even if it does at least provide some amusing one-lines.
Somehow, the long-winded narrative arc through flashbacks actually provides an impetus that leads to a solution for the two seemingly-unrelated crimes that Sherlock was trying to solve at the time. But blimey, its takes one hell of a time to reach this moment. A best-man speech lasting around 30-40 minutes would be exhausting.
The first episode played on the relationship between the two main characters and also had sections that felt like they were written by the show's large and manic fanbase on Twitter, Tumblr and the likes.
The erratic nature of this edition of the programme made it, at times, very hard to follow the central concept of the plot, if there was any.
The strongest part, no doubt, is the end, which sees the twin mysteries elegantly deduced and solved, the quite impressive wedding waltz performed by Sherlock on violin, a new mystery that may appear in the next episode (or series?) and the questioning of one thing - can Sherlock find love?
Its an odd construct that has the potential for character development, given that one would possibly question what attracts women to psychopaths like Sherlock... or a "high functioning sociopath with your number" as he put it.
But in terms of the episode, it tailed off alarmingly. The middle half-hour or so killed a lot of the momentum and made for a confusing, hard-to-follow section. It would've been better arranged if these bits were placed before the wedding, with minimal flashbacks allowing for the solution.
This is what nags at the episode. There's plenty to admire - not least the acting, as per usual - but as a whole, this episode was just not what it could have been.
Next week is the series finale and it should at least be better than this. Which shouldn't be too hard if you just follow a plotline and not opt for an overdose on confusion.
3.5/5
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
American Hustle - Film Review
With award's season looming large on the horizon, it usually means the big hitters anticipated for potential gongs are about to arrive.
Usually, Oscar-nominated films come out in the last few weeks before the awards themselves. This year is little different, with likely front-runner 12 Years A Slave due to be released next week, and potential nominees The Wolf of Wall Street and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom also due release in January.
Another potential winner is also arriving, with American Hustle now getting a full nationwide release after a partial release in the London West End cinemas just before Christmas.
The hype around this one is at epic proportions. Director David O'Russell's previous projects The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook were Oscar nominees and also included American Hustle cast-members Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence - the latter of whom won an Oscar for her role in SLP.
Certainly, this is enough to create a whirlpool of hype for a film based upon an FBI operation similar to the News of the World's attempts to use a Fake Sheikh.
The real Fake Sheikh-based ABSCAM operation in the late 70s/early 80s saw the FBI use convicted con artists to help them try and ensnare corrupt political figures.
But while the film is loosely based on reality, there is a reason for the line "Some of this actually happened" - although the events depicted had some happenings, they were not quite in the ways this film depicted. Certainly, the figures the characters are based on are not quite as smooth as here.
The story begins with a flash-forward mid-way through the con, to scenes where its going badly, and the first half of the film is more or less a narration of how we reached this moment.
We meet Irving Rosenfeld (Bale), a small business owner and con-man living in New York City in 1978 content to run a variety of scams alongside his dry-cleaning business. This business includes fake art and phony loan agencies, and gives him a reasonable earner.
While at a mob party, he meets Sydney Prosser (Adams), who is a stripper that has conned her way into a job with Cosmopolitan Magazine. They bond, form a relationship and go into a con-business together, where they convince struggling businessmen to give them $5,000 under the pretence they'll give them a loan, before fraudulently running off with said deposit.
They name their business London Associates, for which Sydney puts on a surprisingly convincing faux-British accent and gives herself the name "Lady Edith Greensley", with claims of London banking connections that don't exist.
During this period, Irving and Sydney grow even closer behind the back of Irving's wife Rosalyn (Lawrence). Irving is fearful of Rosalyn for her unpredictable and unstable nature, but is also unwilling to leave her for fear that she will deny him visitation rights for her son, who he adopted.
Irving puts these concerns aside for his business routine, where the partners are attempting to con another businessmen. Unfortunately, Richie diMaso (Bradley Cooper) turns out to be an FBI agent, who arrests Sydney and throws her in jail.
Despite arresting her, Richie is attracted to Sydney - or more rather, her Edith persona given that's all he knows of her - and offers to make her and Irving a deal. They will be granted immunity if they help aid this system with other cons to help bring down corrupt politicians using a Fake Sheikh.
The team decide to turn their attentions to Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), who is the beloved mayor of Camden, New Jersey, and a state representative of New Jersey. He is also aiming to push for the renovation of Atlantic City through a series of new casinos and hotels.
This is where one of the film's major problems arises. While the real character Carmine is based on was known for a variety of corrupt activities, the film's depiction makes him appear a lot more morally-upstanding - very much a community cornerstone, and one aiming to improve lives for the people of his city. Exactly why he's on suspicion and in trouble with the Feds is not made clear, and it feels bizarrely overlooked.
The man who gets an even shorter stick is Richie's FBI boss Stoddard Thorsen (Louis CK), who opposes the plan and attempts to block the moves. But when Sydney befriends and convinces an FBI secretary (Colleen Camp) to wire the required $2M funding anyway, it leads to FBI Head Anthony Amado (Alessandro Nivola) giving Stoddard credit for a proposal he thought was stupid.
Stoddard's miserable run doesn't end there, with all attempts to block the excess of the scheme overriden seemingly at will, and he even receives a punch in the face later on in the movie from Richie for good measure along the way for trying to keep a lid on it.
Nevertheless, as a result of the initial approval from the top brass, play continues to the point where we entered the room - Carmine has sensed trouble from Richie's eagerness to hand him a briefcase full of monies and has left the room.
Irving runs out to try and convince him that its worth sticking around for and somehow he succeeds, to the point where its arranged for the two and their wives to head out for dinner. But its also where he begins to doubt his motivation for going along with this scam.
Unfortunately for the hopes of a smooth-running operation, this means bringing along Rosalyn, who is only invited to the grand reception after insistence from Carmine. She duly confronts and kisses Sydney, then runs into the arms of a local mobster called Pete (Jack Huston).
Meanwhile, the three amigos put aside their increasingly-difficult love triangle to a meeting with the violent Mafia overlord Victor Tellegio (Robert de Niro). Although bringing a Fake Sheikh (Michael Pena) that knew very little Arabic to a meeting with a one-time Arabian casino director wasn't a great idea, Tellegio nevertheless approves the deals on behalf of even more financial figures.
Not that this helps the operation, which is now reaching sky-high madness and is certainly a questionable use of taxpayer cash.
This has pulled the players in deep. Irving and Sydney attempt to run away but find out legging it will be certain death, while Rosalyn blabs to Pete of Richie's involvement with a federal agency - albeit not the IRS, as she claimed - a scenario that leads to another threat on all their lives.
Stuck in this, a new plan is created that eventually leads to the success snaring of corrupt Congressmen and Senators, albeit at the cost of Irving and Carmine's friendship.
At this point comes the big reveal, and who had the bigger con on who. Its an impressively elaborate manipulation that certainly ties things up and allows the end of the road for all involved.
It also provides another interpretation for a film that, by and large, has one too many tones in its mix. There's comic elements - mostly from CK and Lawrence's characters - alongside more dramatic ones, romantic ones, thriller ones, satirical ones and the con artist touch.
Some reviews have called American Hustle a sort of Goodfellas-lite but its a questionable comparison considering there is not that much violence going on here, and even less mafia satire.
In a way, its a satire of convoluted political operations and the idea of being in too deep with such dumb ideas. But the combination of touches feels like it detracts from the overall plot.
In promotional interviews, Christian Bale has said that most of his lines with his co-stars were improvised because O'Russell wanted it to be more on characters than plot. While its a testament to Bale's activity that he does come across very well, it also acts as a weakness because it complicates the moods and tones of the film's lines at the expense of moving things along.
As for the Oscars next month, the thing most worthy of recognition at next month's Academy Awards is the hair. There's scenes featuring Adams and Cooper with reams and reams of hair curlers - Cooper's certainly provoked a few laughs. But the big hair star is certainly Renner's impressive quiff and the blonde hair-mountain that Lawrence supports.
It fits in as much with this aesthetic that the first shot of this movie sees Bale applying a quiff and burying it in a hugely unconvincing combover. Certainly, its a bizarre touch to have seen Bale go from the suave and trim Bruce Wayne to fat conman in dodgy suits, and all in a year and a half.
The costumes are an odd choice as well, not least for Adams, who has an entire wardrobe of figure hugging dresses that leave very little to the imagination. Nevertheless, her performance is among the ensemble's best of the lot, and she certainly does her bit in aiding the film's progression.
The performances are impressive and this part of the movie convinces, but if they had something cohesive to hang of, then this could be a lot closer to justifying the hype and recognition falling its way. It almost feels like these are good performances in spite of the movie as much as anything.
This isn't film of the year material and its certainly not 100% all that it could be. Nevertheless, the performances are enough to justify going through the doors and if you go, its worth enjoying the ride.
3.5/5
Sherlock - Season 3 Episode 1 Review
Its hard to think of a TV series with such big hype and success on so few episodes.
Sherlock has become a programme of humungous
One way is even to re-think of Sherlock as individual movies, each following this particular depiction of Arthur Conan Doyle's literary detective figure as he runs through modern day London town solving murders and mysteries with a psychopathic glee on his face.
Its certainly been an impressive showreel for Benedict Cumberbatch, with the actor earning himself plaudits, fanbases and even major Hollywood blockbuster roles (Star Trek and The Hobbit) following this success.
Quite right too. The first two seasons of Sherlock were very impressive, and so you can imagine the revival of his character was much anticipated, not least given he ended the last series faking his own death on the rooftop of St. Bart's Hospital.
So... the big question is how did he do it?
The big revelation of how he faked his own death is a much-delayed one. It seems as though we get an immediate revelation through the use of bungee jumps, a team of prosthetic surgeons to make the corpse of Moriaty look like the corpse of Sherlock and the use of Derren Brown to manipulate Watson into believing Sherlock had just flung himself from the hospital rooftop.
This would be the ultimate cop-out, but this turns out to be a conspiracy from two media individuals getting coffee at the trial that acquitted Sherlock of the events during The Reichenbach Fall. Although Sherlock is still alive, he still finds himself on the road in a much different and more dangerous place - being tortured in a pit in Serbia. His exit instead sees his brother Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) has infiltrated a criminal ring to sneak him out and bring him back to London to help the prevention of a potentially large terrorist attack.
Two years have passed since everyone thought the detective had killed himself, and in that time, Dr. Watson (Martin Freeman) has grieved, grown a bizarre moustache, found a woman (Mary Morstan, played by Freeman's real-life spouse Amanda Abbington) and moved on.
There are plenty of fandom-tempting moments here, which it seems has seen the creators notice the reaction and have fun incorporating it here and there. The wry "I Don't Shave for Sherlock Holmes" routine is probably going to be developed into a t-shirt somewhere, as Mary suggests, while the faint homo-erotic air is embraced by one of the "Sherlock Lives" conspiracy theorists who says that Sherlock and Moriarty laughed and had a kiss after Sherlock flung a fake corpse off the side of the hospital.
While this is also not how Sherlock faked the death, he is still in the mood to try and reunite with John. But Sherlock's return does not impress John, who decides that a number of attempted discussions into the manner of his death-faking were enough to convince him that he should move on anyway.
Stung but not unbowed, Sherlock carries on in his attempts to investigate the possibility of terrorism striking the nation's capital. He arranges for an admirer to accompany him on doing the rounds through a possible lead buried underneath the city and a London Underground employee wondering why a passenger vanished from the last train of the night between Westminster and St. James' Park stations the previous Friday night.
Not helping his attempts to do this is the abduction of John, where is unfairly and unceremoniously shoved under a bonfire outside a church in St. James' Park.
While it turns out to be more relevant towards what could be an overreaching arc, it does at least provide a clue for the inspiration behind the bomb, the location and the rest.
This is more or less the cue to stop the V for Vendetta moment, although rather than Hugo Weaving blowing up Parliament to kill an oppressive government, the Detectives' aim is to stop a terrorist Lord - weirdly - from blowing up the Houses of Parliament during a highly-anticipated vote that will contain all the members of both houses.
This leads to classic "stop the bomb" territory, the surprising moment that Sherlock is stumped on how to prevent the explosion and a touching moment that they realise that this is truly the end. But it then reveals how Sherlock managed to fake his death and leg it.
No revelations about the way here, but it was a surprisingly convincing method. Saying that, the nicer touch is that the full revelation was made in a video recorded with the conspiracy theorist, and the theorist being disappointed in the way he faked his death, who it turns out planted the fake body with the "How I Did It" by Jack the Ripper novel buried beneath the city that transpired not to be a lead.
The fact this is dated after the stop-the-bomb already reveals they're going to stop the bomb, which is down with almost hilarious ease - something Sherlock seems to agree with, given the fact he found an off switch so easily very funny. Not that John agrees, who thinks he has been conned into an emotional situation with Sherlock.
There is a quibble that says that they could be doing a more convincing, more elaborate and much more seemingly-unstoppable event that would take faster pacing to solve. Its certainly, at its heart, not the most convincing terrorist activity ever depicted in fiction.
But the bomb thing is not the most important part of the story, in a way. If anything, just as important is the fact that this episode is about the return and revival of Holmes, and being able to return to his job at hand of being London's premiere detective.
On that basis, it does quite well for itself, and there's plenty of lines to broadcast the fine spectral range that has been coiled together for Cumberbatch's adaptation of one of the literary world's biggest names. The fact he continues to bounce off Watson well is also a plus, and provides scope for our latest trio of episodes.
So... by all means, as you were gentlemen...
4/5
Sherlock has become a programme of humungous
One way is even to re-think of Sherlock as individual movies, each following this particular depiction of Arthur Conan Doyle's literary detective figure as he runs through modern day London town solving murders and mysteries with a psychopathic glee on his face.
Its certainly been an impressive showreel for Benedict Cumberbatch, with the actor earning himself plaudits, fanbases and even major Hollywood blockbuster roles (Star Trek and The Hobbit) following this success.
Quite right too. The first two seasons of Sherlock were very impressive, and so you can imagine the revival of his character was much anticipated, not least given he ended the last series faking his own death on the rooftop of St. Bart's Hospital.
So... the big question is how did he do it?
The big revelation of how he faked his own death is a much-delayed one. It seems as though we get an immediate revelation through the use of bungee jumps, a team of prosthetic surgeons to make the corpse of Moriaty look like the corpse of Sherlock and the use of Derren Brown to manipulate Watson into believing Sherlock had just flung himself from the hospital rooftop.
This would be the ultimate cop-out, but this turns out to be a conspiracy from two media individuals getting coffee at the trial that acquitted Sherlock of the events during The Reichenbach Fall. Although Sherlock is still alive, he still finds himself on the road in a much different and more dangerous place - being tortured in a pit in Serbia. His exit instead sees his brother Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) has infiltrated a criminal ring to sneak him out and bring him back to London to help the prevention of a potentially large terrorist attack.
Two years have passed since everyone thought the detective had killed himself, and in that time, Dr. Watson (Martin Freeman) has grieved, grown a bizarre moustache, found a woman (Mary Morstan, played by Freeman's real-life spouse Amanda Abbington) and moved on.
There are plenty of fandom-tempting moments here, which it seems has seen the creators notice the reaction and have fun incorporating it here and there. The wry "I Don't Shave for Sherlock Holmes" routine is probably going to be developed into a t-shirt somewhere, as Mary suggests, while the faint homo-erotic air is embraced by one of the "Sherlock Lives" conspiracy theorists who says that Sherlock and Moriarty laughed and had a kiss after Sherlock flung a fake corpse off the side of the hospital.
While this is also not how Sherlock faked the death, he is still in the mood to try and reunite with John. But Sherlock's return does not impress John, who decides that a number of attempted discussions into the manner of his death-faking were enough to convince him that he should move on anyway.
Stung but not unbowed, Sherlock carries on in his attempts to investigate the possibility of terrorism striking the nation's capital. He arranges for an admirer to accompany him on doing the rounds through a possible lead buried underneath the city and a London Underground employee wondering why a passenger vanished from the last train of the night between Westminster and St. James' Park stations the previous Friday night.
Not helping his attempts to do this is the abduction of John, where is unfairly and unceremoniously shoved under a bonfire outside a church in St. James' Park.
While it turns out to be more relevant towards what could be an overreaching arc, it does at least provide a clue for the inspiration behind the bomb, the location and the rest.
This is more or less the cue to stop the V for Vendetta moment, although rather than Hugo Weaving blowing up Parliament to kill an oppressive government, the Detectives' aim is to stop a terrorist Lord - weirdly - from blowing up the Houses of Parliament during a highly-anticipated vote that will contain all the members of both houses.
This leads to classic "stop the bomb" territory, the surprising moment that Sherlock is stumped on how to prevent the explosion and a touching moment that they realise that this is truly the end. But it then reveals how Sherlock managed to fake his death and leg it.
No revelations about the way here, but it was a surprisingly convincing method. Saying that, the nicer touch is that the full revelation was made in a video recorded with the conspiracy theorist, and the theorist being disappointed in the way he faked his death, who it turns out planted the fake body with the "How I Did It" by Jack the Ripper novel buried beneath the city that transpired not to be a lead.
The fact this is dated after the stop-the-bomb already reveals they're going to stop the bomb, which is down with almost hilarious ease - something Sherlock seems to agree with, given the fact he found an off switch so easily very funny. Not that John agrees, who thinks he has been conned into an emotional situation with Sherlock.
There is a quibble that says that they could be doing a more convincing, more elaborate and much more seemingly-unstoppable event that would take faster pacing to solve. Its certainly, at its heart, not the most convincing terrorist activity ever depicted in fiction.
But the bomb thing is not the most important part of the story, in a way. If anything, just as important is the fact that this episode is about the return and revival of Holmes, and being able to return to his job at hand of being London's premiere detective.
On that basis, it does quite well for itself, and there's plenty of lines to broadcast the fine spectral range that has been coiled together for Cumberbatch's adaptation of one of the literary world's biggest names. The fact he continues to bounce off Watson well is also a plus, and provides scope for our latest trio of episodes.
So... by all means, as you were gentlemen...
4/5
Monday, 23 December 2013
2013 - Year in Review
So, in keeping with the fast pace of modern life, it appears we have blinked and 2013 has turned into 2014.
Some years in history leave a bigger mark than others, whether its events of historical or cultural significance that stand out bigger than others. It is certain that 2013 will go down as a big year for a number of people, with a lot taking place that the future will look at as surprisingly significant.
At the very least, 2013 will go down as a more eventual start than 2012, which took a while to get going. The year had barely blinked into life when Britain's news channels were crying foul at the horse meat scandal.
This was mainly played by many for its comedic potential - top marks go to university students that dressed as a pantomime horse and loudly shouted "WHERE'S MY MUM?!?!?!" in the frozen food aisle - but it also provided plenty of thought and comment on food standards.
With banking and political figures taking hits since the start of the global recession in 2007, this duly increased the scope of doubt and agitation at major players in public life. Grumblings had been loud and vocal with the tax-dodging affairs of various banks and high street presences like Vodafone and Starbucks, but this exacerbated the misery and it was only going to get louder as 2013 went on.
January got plenty of mileage out of horse meat but just as it seemed to run out of steam, February provided a whirlwind of stories for media mileage.
Roughly in order, things began in the middle of February when North Korea commenced further nuclear testing. For a nation already ostracised by everyone, this was a bold move. It duly allowed North Korean supreme leader Kim Jung-Un a chance for some fairly by-the-numbers rhetoric about "crushing our neighbours in a sea of holy fire". More or less.
Only a few days later and television news suddenly turned apocalyptic. Mercifully, it was nothing to do with the North Koreans lobbing nukes, which turned out to be a damp squib as expected. Instead, similarly astonishing scenes from Siberia were broadcast of a meteor plummeting from the sky into the ground outside a town, causing scenes of destruction.
February continued another bad year for British politicans, with the UK losing its triple-A credit score. Chancellor George Osborne had an awful year in 2012, ranging from being booed at the Paralympic Games to getting in trouble for trying to dodge the first class fare on trains, and this was duly the icing on the cake of a terrible time of it.
Things improved a little for him when the UK avoided a triple-dip recession, which he duly claimed as a victory in December, but with growth slow at best and still struggling outside London, its questionable how much of a victory it is for people that don't work in banks.
British politics had another terrible year, with the credibility of mainstream politicians continuing its seemingly unstoppable erosion. But while the Tories were the main party to get a kicking in 2012, this time it was Labour who took it in the neck the most. Political sniping, problems with unions and the like meant Ed Miliband's third year in charge was not a comfortable one, and at times it led to the Tories getting an easy ride despite their increasingly ugly polices.
The Liberal Democrats had an easier time of it, but only because they really have now hit rock bottom and nobody cares anymore. The main story for them in 2013 turned out to be the jail term of former cabinet minister Chris Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pyrce, who were jailed for a myriad of stupid incidents.
Political apathy led to the rise of UKIP, who were big winners in May's local elections but its questionable how much of an impact, if any, Nigel Farage's party can make. If anything, as the year wore on, the bubble seemed to burst and UKIP began to slide back out of the pitcure.
February hadn't even ended when one of the surprise stories of the year emerged, with the sudden news of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI - the first pope to voluntarily resign from poping in just under 720 years.
This was particularly interesting given the continuation of the litany of scandals the Catholic Church has found itself pursued by in the early part of the 21st century, and has dealt with poorly. The resignation was officially put down to "ill health" but some people cried conspiracy following 2012's Vatileaks Scandal in Italy, which accused the Catholic Church of corruption and blackmailing.
After a few weeks deliberating, the Vatican people bought in their new Pope, as Pope Francis I took control in early March. This has led to the creation a whole new image for the Church, which has been a lot more human-looking since the Argentine took office, much to the displeasure of the right-wing religious zealots on Fox News.
April saw tragedy strike America, when explosions injured over 260 people at the Boston Marathon. This was duly followed by a manhunt across half of Boston, perhaps not helped by repeatedly inaccurate speculation passing as news on CNN.
Across the Atlantic, Britain took to mourning the death of Margaret Thatcher in a very divided way. This perhaps was in keeping with the character, who divided the nation in spectacular fashion when she was leader - a split that has perhaps never fully healed.
While the media and (most of) the South East took to mourning and eulogising the one-time Prime Minister, the North of England opted to dust off the champagne bottles and begin celebrating. This drew plenty of self-righteous opposition fury and similarly self-righteous defending of these actions. In truth, this divisive celebration felt appropriate for a politician who was loved and hated in equal measure, and who is not really accepted north of Nottingham.
The funeral, by contrast, passed by relatively event-free as the woman was laid to rest to a crowd of well-wishers and PR-hungry Tories.
May was a month of finales for football, with a number of players making their big exit. David Beckham, Michael Owen, Paul Scholes and Jamie Carragher were four of the big players who all ended their stints as sport stars. But no departure captured the public imagination quite like the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.The Manchester United manager called it a day after 26 years at Old Trafford, and signed off in the traditional style - with a Premiership trophy added to his collection.
How Man U fans wish it didn't end now, given that David Moyes has begun life roughly with a number of defeats against opponents United were beating comfortably and regularly in previous seasons.
The 2013-14 football season, when it began again, is so far proving to be refreshingly unpredictable. While it was easy to predict the ebb and flow at times at the end of the previous year, a whirlwind of managerial changes, new players and more trust in team's attacks means that its been harder to predict results, but its proving more fascinating to watch.
The month ended in much more bleak fashion, when a British soldier was killed in South East London by a man with an axe. With the trial ongoing, reporting on the sorry saga is tricky, but it was certainly a hugely unpleasant sight to see and hear about, and a sight reported in huge detail following a cavalcade of video footage. Three brave women who confronted the killers certainly deserved commendation.
June saw the internet shit hit the fan big time. CIA intelligence contractor Edward Snowden leaked news of the depressingly-huge array of intricate spying techniques. Revelations from this continued in their thousands of files throughout the rest of 2013, along with associated issues including the detention of David Miranda for carrying the files on his laptop on a flight to South America, and the pointless interrogation of Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger by MPs who seemed to be reading a script provided by the Daily Mail.
In terms of the revelations themselves, it is worrying just how far they go in eroding liberties. But its equally bizarre just how little surprised people are, given that it could well be their Facebook, Twitter, Google, Skype and other accounts being monitored.
There have been films that are based on the premise of constant surveillance, and the idea of it has certainly been given legs by various familiar online concepts, such as cookies, Google advertising and even something as humble as your search browser remembering your search history.
Even so, its questionable how much of this spy hardware is actually beneficial to the war on terror. The National Security Agency in the USA admitted it only caught one terror suspect, and its questionable at best if terrorists use Facebook to plan atrocities.
June also saw another huge surprise, as a British tennis player finally won the men's singles tournament at Wimbledon for the first time in 77 years. Andy Murray had come so close to victory in the same field in summer 2012, although he did win Olympic Gold and the US Open later that year. But this time around, the Scotsman secured the victory that Britain had been hoping for.
British sporting happiness would also continue that summer with a win for the British & Irish Lions in Australia, in one of the team's biggest ever wins, and a second successive Brit winner of the Tour de France in the form of Chris Froome. There was also another Ashes victory over Australia, although this would later backfire in a return series Down Under that the Aussies have already won after 3 tests.
Britain had another go at this celebration lark in July, as the world decided the imminent arrival of a new Royal Baby was worth flying thousands of journalist to London and queuing in a strong and surprise heatwave, and providing hour on hour of inane dispatches.
Eventually, Prince George was born on July 22nd, and will undoubtedly not become the first Royal that grows up to live on a council estate with 16 children.
August saw the headlines eventually come to be dominated by one very stupid thing. There had been a minor musical storm over Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines, which would eventually be the year's highest selling individual song despite its extremely questionable lyrical content and the lawsuit from Marvin Gaye's estate about copying his musical style. But at the MTV Video Music Awards at the end of the month, the song's notoriety reached peak exposure thanks to Miley Cyrus, a skin-coloured latex bikini and the "twerk".
This proved to be one of the year's dodgiest and dumbest moments, with acres of trees chopped down for comment on how Miley's influence is harming the new generation. As well as that, it also was a prime example of how much news values have changed, considering it happened on the same weekend as a harrowing chemical weapons attack in Syria yet dominated Twitter and other new-news media for a few days.
The crisis in Syria has been going on since 2011, and has now surpassed the 1,000 days mark. August ended with the shocking news of a massive chemical weapon attack and calls for yet another Middle Eastern war.
But the calls for once were not felt unanimous. While the Americans and French were practically loading the bombers, others felt not so sure it was a good idea considering the recent track record for Middle East intervention has resulted in the destruction of Iraq's political system and a 10-year long conflict in Afghanistan that seems to be ending with the Taliban returning to power.
With these kind of recent failures playing on their minds, the British government surprised everyone by voting not to engage in a conflict. Even more surprisingly, a Russia-led attempt at a peace summit and getting Syrian President Al-Assad to give up all and any chemical weapons he owned.
Similarly peaceful deals were brokered in Iran, which points to hope under the new Iranian President. But the Syria deal was still not playing well with the American leaders that had moved their fingers towards the triggers.
A miserable time for Obama was then further exacerbated in October, when a Republican Party that had spent most of the year blocking all his reforms decided the bet way to fight his signature healthcare policy was a government shutdown after a failure to agree financial policy for 2014.
Ultimately, this backfired more on the Republicans, who ended up giving in and essentially gaining nothing. Not that Obama could toast victory, given that his Obamacare site - the thing the whole charade was centered on - has yet to work properly, with the site subject to repeated glitches and faults in its roll-out.
In Britain, dissatisfaction with politicians was still carrying on. It reached a surreal point in November, when Russell Brand attempted to position himself as a political figurehead and the voice and leader of a revolution.
With faint predictability - this is Britain, after all - he was duly scorned by other comedians and by political figures. But this is as much telling of how little pop culture is willing to go about politicians. For every satire like The Thick of It or The Daily Show, you're more likely to get standalone comedies and dramas about the everyday matter as much.
Brand is probably not going to be the head of any revolution, but its hard to say at face value that he was not reflecting the fact people are increasingly unhappy and annoyed at the political system.
As the year was ending, the news began to get increasingly bleak. September saw the unbelievable horror of the raiding of a shopping centre in Africa by Somalian terrorists, who executed dozens of people, while November was begun with a typhoon in the Philippines, and shocking scenes of cities reduced to rubble.
The Philippines disaster was among a number of horrible natural disasters to take place in 2013, in a year that is now seeing climate change returning to a point of mainstream discussion. Meanwhile, the media in the UK missed the mark badly on their coverage of the Nairobi mall massacre by claiming it was masterminded by the widow of a 7/7 bomber, only for it to be revealed she'd had no involvement.
November and December in the West were dominated by drug stories, which was oddly fitting for a year where marijuana became more and more legal in America. The criminal lawsuit around former aides to Charles Saatchi and Nigella Lawson became a bafflingly huge news topic following revelations that Lawson took coke to cope with her violent husband, while drugs also bought Canadian politics to surprise prominence after Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was caught doing crack, among other increasingly bizarre antics.
Attempts to purchase crack and crystal meth also bought shame to Co-operative Bank chief Paul Flowers at a time his bank was failing. This saga is hardly one to put trust back into the banking system, which still has a poor reputation following the 2008 financial collapse.
Drugs had also provided the basis of one of the unlikeliest TV phenomenons of recent years, as the acclaimed drug-based drama Breaking Bad finished in 2013. This bought to an end to the adventures of school teacher turned drug kingpin Walter White. It also marked a year when streaming became more popular, with the exclusive deal to show Breaking Bad one of the things that made Netflix a major player in TV.
Television had another unusual year, with fading old baggy shows long past their prime cluttering the schedule. The X Factor continued to soldier one despite fewer and fewer people caring, while The Voice was practically dead on arrival. More recently, Homeland continued its plummet from grace, with a show once described as Barack Obama's favourite programme becoming universally despised after its 3rd season climax.
November saw the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, with the legendary sci-fi hobo in a blue box engaging in an epic adventure that finally filled in some of the gaps between the 8th and 9th Doctors (or is Christopher Eccleston now technically the 10th Doctor?)
It also set up the Christmas special, which will see Matt Smith leave after almost 4 years in the TARDIS. His departure was only confirmed by a leaked e-mail by careless BBC staff, but he will be replaced by Peter Capaldi. The Scot does have potential to be an interesting helmsman, but will sadly not be likely bringing over some of the moods that defined his most famous role as foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker.
Meanwhile, the drug that is technology continued its latest attempts at trying to advance the cause of human kind one expensive and some might say needless innovation at a time. While Apple and Android continued their war of minimally advanced smartphones - this time on the shelves rather than in the courts - in November, Sony and Microsoft launched the Playstation 4 and the XBox One next-gen gaming consoles. The gaming press and general reception has given PS4 a slight advantage, but with neither title's game launches that good, it means it'll take time for a console wars winner to emerge.
Particular proof of the minimal advance is FIFA 14, which isn't quite fully revolutionised. The version that has made it to PS4 has some incredible detail on replays and in cut scenes. But in terms of gameplay, it feels to have made a step backwards from FIFA 13 and the actual main play graphics look no better than the PS3 version of the same game. FIFA 15 may bring an improvement but until then, who knows.
Other entertainment forms struggled. The stellar success of Iron Man 3 and Despicable Me 2 hid the fact 2013 was not as strong a year for cinemas. The likes of Oblivion, World War Z, Man of Steel and Pacific Rim were all much hyped but flattered to deceive at the box office, while comedies such as The World's End and Anchorman 2 were funny but not the home run that their advance reputation suggested.
The music industry stayed in its usual state of flux, with EDM pop acts beginning to lose their lustre. The much anticipated Lady Gaga album turned out to be an uninteresting dud, while the move to disco-inspiration proved to be the winning formula for the much reviled Robin Thicke and the almost-universally adored Daft Punk.
It appears that Beyonce is set to eclipse all in the pop world before her, with the star's surprise album earning rave reviews. Meanwhile, rock enjoyed an odd year, with established acts like Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys and Kings of Leon enjoying good album sales but few breakout stars truly emerging.
December then saw the death of Nelson Mandela. The South African President was an inspiration to many figures and his death was a time for the world to mourn the passing of one of the 20th century's most iconic individuals.
This was marked by a funeral week which included a public memorial service at the Soccer City stadium that held the 2010 World Cup Final. Such a venue proved more bizarre moments, with a handshake between Obama and the Cuban President Raul Castro providing attention, along with the odd sight of Obama, David Cameron and the Danish Prime Minister going for a selfie.
All in all, it helped to contribute to the end of a surreal and confusing year in news. 2013 will be marked out for a number of momentous events, and the deaths of some of the 20th century's most iconic political figures. It remains to be seen what 2014 will provide, and this year promises to provide yet more momentous events.
All we can do now is wait for them to happen.
Some years in history leave a bigger mark than others, whether its events of historical or cultural significance that stand out bigger than others. It is certain that 2013 will go down as a big year for a number of people, with a lot taking place that the future will look at as surprisingly significant.
At the very least, 2013 will go down as a more eventual start than 2012, which took a while to get going. The year had barely blinked into life when Britain's news channels were crying foul at the horse meat scandal.
This was mainly played by many for its comedic potential - top marks go to university students that dressed as a pantomime horse and loudly shouted "WHERE'S MY MUM?!?!?!" in the frozen food aisle - but it also provided plenty of thought and comment on food standards.
With banking and political figures taking hits since the start of the global recession in 2007, this duly increased the scope of doubt and agitation at major players in public life. Grumblings had been loud and vocal with the tax-dodging affairs of various banks and high street presences like Vodafone and Starbucks, but this exacerbated the misery and it was only going to get louder as 2013 went on.
January got plenty of mileage out of horse meat but just as it seemed to run out of steam, February provided a whirlwind of stories for media mileage.
Roughly in order, things began in the middle of February when North Korea commenced further nuclear testing. For a nation already ostracised by everyone, this was a bold move. It duly allowed North Korean supreme leader Kim Jung-Un a chance for some fairly by-the-numbers rhetoric about "crushing our neighbours in a sea of holy fire". More or less.
Only a few days later and television news suddenly turned apocalyptic. Mercifully, it was nothing to do with the North Koreans lobbing nukes, which turned out to be a damp squib as expected. Instead, similarly astonishing scenes from Siberia were broadcast of a meteor plummeting from the sky into the ground outside a town, causing scenes of destruction.
February continued another bad year for British politicans, with the UK losing its triple-A credit score. Chancellor George Osborne had an awful year in 2012, ranging from being booed at the Paralympic Games to getting in trouble for trying to dodge the first class fare on trains, and this was duly the icing on the cake of a terrible time of it.
Things improved a little for him when the UK avoided a triple-dip recession, which he duly claimed as a victory in December, but with growth slow at best and still struggling outside London, its questionable how much of a victory it is for people that don't work in banks.
British politics had another terrible year, with the credibility of mainstream politicians continuing its seemingly unstoppable erosion. But while the Tories were the main party to get a kicking in 2012, this time it was Labour who took it in the neck the most. Political sniping, problems with unions and the like meant Ed Miliband's third year in charge was not a comfortable one, and at times it led to the Tories getting an easy ride despite their increasingly ugly polices.
The Liberal Democrats had an easier time of it, but only because they really have now hit rock bottom and nobody cares anymore. The main story for them in 2013 turned out to be the jail term of former cabinet minister Chris Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pyrce, who were jailed for a myriad of stupid incidents.
Political apathy led to the rise of UKIP, who were big winners in May's local elections but its questionable how much of an impact, if any, Nigel Farage's party can make. If anything, as the year wore on, the bubble seemed to burst and UKIP began to slide back out of the pitcure.
February hadn't even ended when one of the surprise stories of the year emerged, with the sudden news of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI - the first pope to voluntarily resign from poping in just under 720 years.
This was particularly interesting given the continuation of the litany of scandals the Catholic Church has found itself pursued by in the early part of the 21st century, and has dealt with poorly. The resignation was officially put down to "ill health" but some people cried conspiracy following 2012's Vatileaks Scandal in Italy, which accused the Catholic Church of corruption and blackmailing.
After a few weeks deliberating, the Vatican people bought in their new Pope, as Pope Francis I took control in early March. This has led to the creation a whole new image for the Church, which has been a lot more human-looking since the Argentine took office, much to the displeasure of the right-wing religious zealots on Fox News.
April saw tragedy strike America, when explosions injured over 260 people at the Boston Marathon. This was duly followed by a manhunt across half of Boston, perhaps not helped by repeatedly inaccurate speculation passing as news on CNN.
Across the Atlantic, Britain took to mourning the death of Margaret Thatcher in a very divided way. This perhaps was in keeping with the character, who divided the nation in spectacular fashion when she was leader - a split that has perhaps never fully healed.
While the media and (most of) the South East took to mourning and eulogising the one-time Prime Minister, the North of England opted to dust off the champagne bottles and begin celebrating. This drew plenty of self-righteous opposition fury and similarly self-righteous defending of these actions. In truth, this divisive celebration felt appropriate for a politician who was loved and hated in equal measure, and who is not really accepted north of Nottingham.
The funeral, by contrast, passed by relatively event-free as the woman was laid to rest to a crowd of well-wishers and PR-hungry Tories.
May was a month of finales for football, with a number of players making their big exit. David Beckham, Michael Owen, Paul Scholes and Jamie Carragher were four of the big players who all ended their stints as sport stars. But no departure captured the public imagination quite like the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.The Manchester United manager called it a day after 26 years at Old Trafford, and signed off in the traditional style - with a Premiership trophy added to his collection.
How Man U fans wish it didn't end now, given that David Moyes has begun life roughly with a number of defeats against opponents United were beating comfortably and regularly in previous seasons.
The 2013-14 football season, when it began again, is so far proving to be refreshingly unpredictable. While it was easy to predict the ebb and flow at times at the end of the previous year, a whirlwind of managerial changes, new players and more trust in team's attacks means that its been harder to predict results, but its proving more fascinating to watch.
The month ended in much more bleak fashion, when a British soldier was killed in South East London by a man with an axe. With the trial ongoing, reporting on the sorry saga is tricky, but it was certainly a hugely unpleasant sight to see and hear about, and a sight reported in huge detail following a cavalcade of video footage. Three brave women who confronted the killers certainly deserved commendation.
June saw the internet shit hit the fan big time. CIA intelligence contractor Edward Snowden leaked news of the depressingly-huge array of intricate spying techniques. Revelations from this continued in their thousands of files throughout the rest of 2013, along with associated issues including the detention of David Miranda for carrying the files on his laptop on a flight to South America, and the pointless interrogation of Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger by MPs who seemed to be reading a script provided by the Daily Mail.
In terms of the revelations themselves, it is worrying just how far they go in eroding liberties. But its equally bizarre just how little surprised people are, given that it could well be their Facebook, Twitter, Google, Skype and other accounts being monitored.
There have been films that are based on the premise of constant surveillance, and the idea of it has certainly been given legs by various familiar online concepts, such as cookies, Google advertising and even something as humble as your search browser remembering your search history.
Even so, its questionable how much of this spy hardware is actually beneficial to the war on terror. The National Security Agency in the USA admitted it only caught one terror suspect, and its questionable at best if terrorists use Facebook to plan atrocities.
June also saw another huge surprise, as a British tennis player finally won the men's singles tournament at Wimbledon for the first time in 77 years. Andy Murray had come so close to victory in the same field in summer 2012, although he did win Olympic Gold and the US Open later that year. But this time around, the Scotsman secured the victory that Britain had been hoping for.
British sporting happiness would also continue that summer with a win for the British & Irish Lions in Australia, in one of the team's biggest ever wins, and a second successive Brit winner of the Tour de France in the form of Chris Froome. There was also another Ashes victory over Australia, although this would later backfire in a return series Down Under that the Aussies have already won after 3 tests.
Britain had another go at this celebration lark in July, as the world decided the imminent arrival of a new Royal Baby was worth flying thousands of journalist to London and queuing in a strong and surprise heatwave, and providing hour on hour of inane dispatches.
Eventually, Prince George was born on July 22nd, and will undoubtedly not become the first Royal that grows up to live on a council estate with 16 children.
August saw the headlines eventually come to be dominated by one very stupid thing. There had been a minor musical storm over Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines, which would eventually be the year's highest selling individual song despite its extremely questionable lyrical content and the lawsuit from Marvin Gaye's estate about copying his musical style. But at the MTV Video Music Awards at the end of the month, the song's notoriety reached peak exposure thanks to Miley Cyrus, a skin-coloured latex bikini and the "twerk".
This proved to be one of the year's dodgiest and dumbest moments, with acres of trees chopped down for comment on how Miley's influence is harming the new generation. As well as that, it also was a prime example of how much news values have changed, considering it happened on the same weekend as a harrowing chemical weapons attack in Syria yet dominated Twitter and other new-news media for a few days.
The crisis in Syria has been going on since 2011, and has now surpassed the 1,000 days mark. August ended with the shocking news of a massive chemical weapon attack and calls for yet another Middle Eastern war.
But the calls for once were not felt unanimous. While the Americans and French were practically loading the bombers, others felt not so sure it was a good idea considering the recent track record for Middle East intervention has resulted in the destruction of Iraq's political system and a 10-year long conflict in Afghanistan that seems to be ending with the Taliban returning to power.
With these kind of recent failures playing on their minds, the British government surprised everyone by voting not to engage in a conflict. Even more surprisingly, a Russia-led attempt at a peace summit and getting Syrian President Al-Assad to give up all and any chemical weapons he owned.
Similarly peaceful deals were brokered in Iran, which points to hope under the new Iranian President. But the Syria deal was still not playing well with the American leaders that had moved their fingers towards the triggers.
A miserable time for Obama was then further exacerbated in October, when a Republican Party that had spent most of the year blocking all his reforms decided the bet way to fight his signature healthcare policy was a government shutdown after a failure to agree financial policy for 2014.
Ultimately, this backfired more on the Republicans, who ended up giving in and essentially gaining nothing. Not that Obama could toast victory, given that his Obamacare site - the thing the whole charade was centered on - has yet to work properly, with the site subject to repeated glitches and faults in its roll-out.
In Britain, dissatisfaction with politicians was still carrying on. It reached a surreal point in November, when Russell Brand attempted to position himself as a political figurehead and the voice and leader of a revolution.
With faint predictability - this is Britain, after all - he was duly scorned by other comedians and by political figures. But this is as much telling of how little pop culture is willing to go about politicians. For every satire like The Thick of It or The Daily Show, you're more likely to get standalone comedies and dramas about the everyday matter as much.
Brand is probably not going to be the head of any revolution, but its hard to say at face value that he was not reflecting the fact people are increasingly unhappy and annoyed at the political system.
As the year was ending, the news began to get increasingly bleak. September saw the unbelievable horror of the raiding of a shopping centre in Africa by Somalian terrorists, who executed dozens of people, while November was begun with a typhoon in the Philippines, and shocking scenes of cities reduced to rubble.
The Philippines disaster was among a number of horrible natural disasters to take place in 2013, in a year that is now seeing climate change returning to a point of mainstream discussion. Meanwhile, the media in the UK missed the mark badly on their coverage of the Nairobi mall massacre by claiming it was masterminded by the widow of a 7/7 bomber, only for it to be revealed she'd had no involvement.
November and December in the West were dominated by drug stories, which was oddly fitting for a year where marijuana became more and more legal in America. The criminal lawsuit around former aides to Charles Saatchi and Nigella Lawson became a bafflingly huge news topic following revelations that Lawson took coke to cope with her violent husband, while drugs also bought Canadian politics to surprise prominence after Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was caught doing crack, among other increasingly bizarre antics.
Attempts to purchase crack and crystal meth also bought shame to Co-operative Bank chief Paul Flowers at a time his bank was failing. This saga is hardly one to put trust back into the banking system, which still has a poor reputation following the 2008 financial collapse.
Drugs had also provided the basis of one of the unlikeliest TV phenomenons of recent years, as the acclaimed drug-based drama Breaking Bad finished in 2013. This bought to an end to the adventures of school teacher turned drug kingpin Walter White. It also marked a year when streaming became more popular, with the exclusive deal to show Breaking Bad one of the things that made Netflix a major player in TV.
Television had another unusual year, with fading old baggy shows long past their prime cluttering the schedule. The X Factor continued to soldier one despite fewer and fewer people caring, while The Voice was practically dead on arrival. More recently, Homeland continued its plummet from grace, with a show once described as Barack Obama's favourite programme becoming universally despised after its 3rd season climax.
November saw the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, with the legendary sci-fi hobo in a blue box engaging in an epic adventure that finally filled in some of the gaps between the 8th and 9th Doctors (or is Christopher Eccleston now technically the 10th Doctor?)
It also set up the Christmas special, which will see Matt Smith leave after almost 4 years in the TARDIS. His departure was only confirmed by a leaked e-mail by careless BBC staff, but he will be replaced by Peter Capaldi. The Scot does have potential to be an interesting helmsman, but will sadly not be likely bringing over some of the moods that defined his most famous role as foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker.
Meanwhile, the drug that is technology continued its latest attempts at trying to advance the cause of human kind one expensive and some might say needless innovation at a time. While Apple and Android continued their war of minimally advanced smartphones - this time on the shelves rather than in the courts - in November, Sony and Microsoft launched the Playstation 4 and the XBox One next-gen gaming consoles. The gaming press and general reception has given PS4 a slight advantage, but with neither title's game launches that good, it means it'll take time for a console wars winner to emerge.
Particular proof of the minimal advance is FIFA 14, which isn't quite fully revolutionised. The version that has made it to PS4 has some incredible detail on replays and in cut scenes. But in terms of gameplay, it feels to have made a step backwards from FIFA 13 and the actual main play graphics look no better than the PS3 version of the same game. FIFA 15 may bring an improvement but until then, who knows.
Other entertainment forms struggled. The stellar success of Iron Man 3 and Despicable Me 2 hid the fact 2013 was not as strong a year for cinemas. The likes of Oblivion, World War Z, Man of Steel and Pacific Rim were all much hyped but flattered to deceive at the box office, while comedies such as The World's End and Anchorman 2 were funny but not the home run that their advance reputation suggested.
The music industry stayed in its usual state of flux, with EDM pop acts beginning to lose their lustre. The much anticipated Lady Gaga album turned out to be an uninteresting dud, while the move to disco-inspiration proved to be the winning formula for the much reviled Robin Thicke and the almost-universally adored Daft Punk.
It appears that Beyonce is set to eclipse all in the pop world before her, with the star's surprise album earning rave reviews. Meanwhile, rock enjoyed an odd year, with established acts like Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys and Kings of Leon enjoying good album sales but few breakout stars truly emerging.
December then saw the death of Nelson Mandela. The South African President was an inspiration to many figures and his death was a time for the world to mourn the passing of one of the 20th century's most iconic individuals.
This was marked by a funeral week which included a public memorial service at the Soccer City stadium that held the 2010 World Cup Final. Such a venue proved more bizarre moments, with a handshake between Obama and the Cuban President Raul Castro providing attention, along with the odd sight of Obama, David Cameron and the Danish Prime Minister going for a selfie.
All in all, it helped to contribute to the end of a surreal and confusing year in news. 2013 will be marked out for a number of momentous events, and the deaths of some of the 20th century's most iconic political figures. It remains to be seen what 2014 will provide, and this year promises to provide yet more momentous events.
All we can do now is wait for them to happen.
Saturday, 21 December 2013
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues - Film Review
It is hard to think of a place that has escaped usage of a promotional outlet for this movie.
A litany of real life US news broadcasts, various late-night entertainment shows, duets with Robin Thicke and One Direction, promotions with Tango and Ben & Jerry's, "Great Odin's Raven"-brand Scotch, and even announcements on Virgin Trains services have borne the face, voice and lines from one of the film world's most infamous characters.
In the discussion on the attempts to promote the brand, the makers discussed they wanted saturation. Based in the face of such overwhelming Ron Burgundy promotion, its hard to evade it.
The world of Anchorman 2 is certainly different at first to the world Anchorman 1 created. It begins a few years after the panda birth that ended Ron's time in San Diego local news and sent him to the big time.
Ron (Will Ferrell) and his wife Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) are now big-time anchors for a New York news station. Ron's hero Mack Tannen (Harrison Ford) summons them to his office after a seemingly strong broadcast to announce Veronica as his replacement, and dismisses Ron for his continually poor behaviour.
The resulting friction is enough for Ron to walk out on Veronica and their son Walter (Judah Nelson), and he later re-appears in San Diego fired from the Seaworld centre and botching a suicide attempt. But after this, a corner turns when an agent looks to hire him for the 24-hour Global News Network.
Ron eventually agrees and runs about recruiting the old news gang. Champ (David Koechner) is now in charge of a fried chicken/bat restaurant, Brian (Paul Rudd) is now a celebrity cat photographer and Brick (Steve Carrell) inexplicably shows up at his own funeral convinced he's dead.
Newsteam reassembled, they crash their way back to New York City to find they're in the 2am slot on GNN's launch day. Things then get worse when a fight with GNN primetime anchor Jack Lime (James Marsden) ends in a bet over ratings, with Ron vowing to give up journalism if he loses.
This is the point where the film attempts to be something more than a vehicle for its laugh rate. The first part of the film is content to make a mixture of jokes - some land, some fail, most provide a wry smile at least, but at this point, the film attempts to curate itself as satire of modern news.
Ferrell has form with attempts at satire, having previously attempted goes the loss of Christmas spirit (Elf), corporate finance sharks (The Other Guys), political corruption (The Campaign) and George W. Bush (the one-man Broadway show You're Welcome America). But this feels a lot more closer to its subject because it takes the structure of the first movie and gives it a huger, albeit excessively exaggerated, scope to mirror the failings of the real world news.
Its also no denying that there's a few pot shots in turn for the US networks, with the boss an obvious stab at Rupert Murdoch and a number of views of CNN and Fox News - both much-maligned targets, not least by John Stewart.
Ron's attempt at winning the ratings war is telling people what they want to hear, which leads to sensationalist and absurd news stories at the expense of actual news. But this proves to be success - his project sees huge ratings, he wins the bet, sees his team's formula bumped into a primetime slot and sees a scramble of rival channels to make it his.
The weakest sequence of the film sees Ron fall in love with network chief Linda Jackson (Maegan Good), which leads to a series of uncomfortable and unnecessary race-based humour. This is a weird counterpoint to Brick falling in love with a similarly dim-witted co-worker Chani (Kristen Wiig), which provides some lovably odd moments.
Very much like in the first movie, Brick is a whirlwind of confusing and often astounding lines that often deliver in spades. But his simple presence also provides a poignant moment in the film's trajectory, as Ron shouts at Brick, which leads to an argument that ends in the newsteam deserting Ron and his fame-enhanced ego.
This soon reaches the end of the road, and within months, Ron is a recluse living alone with his dog Baxter in a lighthouse. But soon he has rehabilitated thanks to surgery and the revival of his relationship with Veronica and the long-overdue creation of one with Walter.
This is the strange touch as the film is another comedy attempting a serious narrative about its main hero. But it also incorporates a lot of references to film number one. This is not least near the end, where the legendary Newsteam Fight sequence is expanded exponentially and massively, including a shedload of celebrity cameos and the classically inexplicable acquirement of assorted weapons.
The laughs are not the fresh-out-the-box laughter that number one was. But it feel more an even distribution of amusing laughter, with some bigger gags scattered around when needs be. These usually involve Brick, with the comedic potential of Champ and Brian both fizzling out by the end.
This is not quite legendary, but those who buy into the hype will get enough entertainment and there is plenty that captures enough of the spirit of the first film to sustain amusement in the fate of all the characters. At the end of the day, that should be enough to justify the sequel.
3.5/5
A litany of real life US news broadcasts, various late-night entertainment shows, duets with Robin Thicke and One Direction, promotions with Tango and Ben & Jerry's, "Great Odin's Raven"-brand Scotch, and even announcements on Virgin Trains services have borne the face, voice and lines from one of the film world's most infamous characters.
In the discussion on the attempts to promote the brand, the makers discussed they wanted saturation. Based in the face of such overwhelming Ron Burgundy promotion, its hard to evade it.
The world of Anchorman 2 is certainly different at first to the world Anchorman 1 created. It begins a few years after the panda birth that ended Ron's time in San Diego local news and sent him to the big time.
Ron (Will Ferrell) and his wife Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) are now big-time anchors for a New York news station. Ron's hero Mack Tannen (Harrison Ford) summons them to his office after a seemingly strong broadcast to announce Veronica as his replacement, and dismisses Ron for his continually poor behaviour.
The resulting friction is enough for Ron to walk out on Veronica and their son Walter (Judah Nelson), and he later re-appears in San Diego fired from the Seaworld centre and botching a suicide attempt. But after this, a corner turns when an agent looks to hire him for the 24-hour Global News Network.
Ron eventually agrees and runs about recruiting the old news gang. Champ (David Koechner) is now in charge of a fried chicken/bat restaurant, Brian (Paul Rudd) is now a celebrity cat photographer and Brick (Steve Carrell) inexplicably shows up at his own funeral convinced he's dead.
Newsteam reassembled, they crash their way back to New York City to find they're in the 2am slot on GNN's launch day. Things then get worse when a fight with GNN primetime anchor Jack Lime (James Marsden) ends in a bet over ratings, with Ron vowing to give up journalism if he loses.
This is the point where the film attempts to be something more than a vehicle for its laugh rate. The first part of the film is content to make a mixture of jokes - some land, some fail, most provide a wry smile at least, but at this point, the film attempts to curate itself as satire of modern news.
Ferrell has form with attempts at satire, having previously attempted goes the loss of Christmas spirit (Elf), corporate finance sharks (The Other Guys), political corruption (The Campaign) and George W. Bush (the one-man Broadway show You're Welcome America). But this feels a lot more closer to its subject because it takes the structure of the first movie and gives it a huger, albeit excessively exaggerated, scope to mirror the failings of the real world news.
Its also no denying that there's a few pot shots in turn for the US networks, with the boss an obvious stab at Rupert Murdoch and a number of views of CNN and Fox News - both much-maligned targets, not least by John Stewart.
Ron's attempt at winning the ratings war is telling people what they want to hear, which leads to sensationalist and absurd news stories at the expense of actual news. But this proves to be success - his project sees huge ratings, he wins the bet, sees his team's formula bumped into a primetime slot and sees a scramble of rival channels to make it his.
The weakest sequence of the film sees Ron fall in love with network chief Linda Jackson (Maegan Good), which leads to a series of uncomfortable and unnecessary race-based humour. This is a weird counterpoint to Brick falling in love with a similarly dim-witted co-worker Chani (Kristen Wiig), which provides some lovably odd moments.
Very much like in the first movie, Brick is a whirlwind of confusing and often astounding lines that often deliver in spades. But his simple presence also provides a poignant moment in the film's trajectory, as Ron shouts at Brick, which leads to an argument that ends in the newsteam deserting Ron and his fame-enhanced ego.
This soon reaches the end of the road, and within months, Ron is a recluse living alone with his dog Baxter in a lighthouse. But soon he has rehabilitated thanks to surgery and the revival of his relationship with Veronica and the long-overdue creation of one with Walter.
This is the strange touch as the film is another comedy attempting a serious narrative about its main hero. But it also incorporates a lot of references to film number one. This is not least near the end, where the legendary Newsteam Fight sequence is expanded exponentially and massively, including a shedload of celebrity cameos and the classically inexplicable acquirement of assorted weapons.
The laughs are not the fresh-out-the-box laughter that number one was. But it feel more an even distribution of amusing laughter, with some bigger gags scattered around when needs be. These usually involve Brick, with the comedic potential of Champ and Brian both fizzling out by the end.
This is not quite legendary, but those who buy into the hype will get enough entertainment and there is plenty that captures enough of the spirit of the first film to sustain amusement in the fate of all the characters. At the end of the day, that should be enough to justify the sequel.
3.5/5
Friday, 6 December 2013
South Park: A Song of Ass and Fire Trilogy Review
Season 17 has so far not been the most memorable season for South Park.
A number of undercooked ideas ranging from crossbreeding Yo Gabba Gabba with Miley Cyrus to the halfway-house idea of Kyle being Gandhi in suffering Cartman's farts have dominated most of the series.
Yet somehow, they've pulled a cohesive trilogy among their best efforts in the last few series.
Three episode arcs seem to allow more time for concepts, ideas and stories to breathe than a bog-standard 21 minute episode, and the marriage of Game of Thrones, Black Friday, the Xbox One and PS4 launches and all sorts of other throwaway gags would've been very tricky to squeeze into one episode.
Its a lot of conceptual stuff as well for people who aren't as well-versed in the works of George R. R. Martin, or foreign viewers like us Brits not well acquainted with Black Friday.
Its certainly a brutal US tradition, which sees the day after Thanksgiving devoted to massive reductions in prices at shops. This year was as brutal as ever, with the headline-grabbing incident being a woman tasered in a fight in a Philadelphia shopping mall, as well as shootings, stabbings, pepper spray attacks, mayhem, riots and the like.
In a decade where the increasing commercialism of society has come under fire at more time than any other, this is consumerism in its most brutal and shocking form. Its even more disconcerting that, rather than fully animating it, footage from real Black Friday brawls is used in and amongst the animated battles.
The first two episodes set up the preparations for war. This part is a good set-up, as it establishes the tribe of boys wanting their new consoles and divides them up into two teams united under the flag of one console each - the XBox One army, led by Cartman, and the PS4 Army, led by Stan. There's the divide of them spoken through the shortcomings of each console, and the attempt to assemble teams that can brave the Black Friday bloodshed to get the new gaming console.
The teams are also decked out in the wizard clothing from the much-delayed South Park: Stick of Truth game, which has hit several snags in its long and winding production. In fact, its not out until March next year, having previously had a launch date of December 2012.
There's even a snarky line from the Wizard King Cartman on how a pre-ordering is basically "just committing to paying for something that some assholes in California haven't even finished working on yet." Coincidentally the game pre-order is still on Amazon, for those who fancy committing to paying the South Park Studios for a game yet to be finished.
Anyway, the first part sets up the stakes. There's the mall security staff, including Randy and his attempts to get bargains from the inside, while Butters voices his agitation of Game of Thrones' obsession with penises, and the dividing faction's hopes of the bargains are under threat from people who want the lovably un-PC "Stop Touching Me Elmo" doll.
The set-pieces and humour are impressively crafted, and for GoT fans there is plenty of fun references and use to direct it towards satire.
This continues for part two, which begins with a narration from the now-Princess Kenny is so daft its almost believable, in a similar way to Idris Elba's speech on "cancelling the apocalypse" from Pacific Rim.
Equally bizarre is the recurring skit of the Betrayal Garden, which somehow manages to deliver both on its promise on changing the stakes as in the real thing and amusing gags as Cartman and a man from his bedroom exchange barbs.
The more glacial pace of this episode is better than the "cram-it-all-in", as it helps keep the story building, introduces more elements - Bill Gates' brutal murder of the sole voice of reason aka the Microsoft CEO, George R. R. Martin's penis obsession, Princess Kenny - that keeps things in a bizarre whirlwind of character introduction but still keeping it interesting and funny.
Then, things get even more insane when Princess Kenny is given the full-on anime treatment for one scene near the end of A Song of Ass and Fire and even more during 3rd and final segment Titties and Dragons.
This is not excluding the first episode with a full choir fully blowing up the penis obsession into "Weiner Party!" to the tune and rhythm of the actual Game of Thrones theme tune, in front of an increasingly pissed off Butters and an unwell Scott Malkenson, who have been kept prisoner while George R. R. Martin piles it on.
It maybe overkill for some but for a show largely touted as "sex, blood and dragons" with a lot of emphasis on the former, its fairly accurate. It also allows for the expert "the pizzas are coming and they're gonna be huge!" reference that passes for dragons.
But even so, the wiener stuff is dialled down. Its condensed use in Part 3 is in keeping with the mood and works a lot better in a smaller package (yeah yeah).
The climax is then given a set up early on when the boys decide to work together and hire the Red Robin burger restaurant for a wedding, evoking the Red Wedding concept. However, its not quite the infamous Red Wedding Massacre that Game of Thrones infamously pulled off.
There's no massacre here. But there is a realisation and a set up for the titanic battle between Bill Gates and Sony CEO Kazuo Harai, which is built up on Stan's moment of zen - that this war is just manufactured to whip up hysteria and advertising, and the kids decided they should finish their war themselves. Gates even said as much after killing the voice of reason in Part 2.
In keeping with this bizarre moment, it came after the series of betrayals had culminated in the end of Stan and Kyle, after Kyle made Stan take the fall for Cartman making good on his promise of taking a shit in the Betrayal Garden after another confrontation with the old man.
This was mistaken identity after Randy had somehow become Head of Mall Black Friday Security following a number of deaths. This allowed for a number of great lines about dispensing with characters just as we'd made heavy emotional investment.
It also created more comic betrayal as mall bargain increased - 96% off means a PS4 is $16, or about £10 if we did a similar concept. Plus it allowed a hugely comic scene similar to the White Walkers or for the Walking Dead, as hordes of shoppers awaited to be let in.
After the hordes entered - chopping off George R. R. Martin's weiner in the process - it ended up with the boys alone surrounded by rivers of blood, corpses and loose Stop Touching Me Elmo dolls, all to finally get their hands on XBox One's.
Probably no surprise given the Microsoft console sponsored the middle episode, but even more of a surprise was the realisation that, like in love, the thrill was more in the chase than having the object of desire.
It ended with the most devious double-cross plug, saying "All we need to play is stuff like this stick!" before a cheeky plug for that much-delayed game.
It suitably bought the curtain down a myriad of humorous layers and was a delightful way to end. Maybe South Park should do 3-parters more often if they're always this good...
4.5/5
A number of undercooked ideas ranging from crossbreeding Yo Gabba Gabba with Miley Cyrus to the halfway-house idea of Kyle being Gandhi in suffering Cartman's farts have dominated most of the series.
Yet somehow, they've pulled a cohesive trilogy among their best efforts in the last few series.
Three episode arcs seem to allow more time for concepts, ideas and stories to breathe than a bog-standard 21 minute episode, and the marriage of Game of Thrones, Black Friday, the Xbox One and PS4 launches and all sorts of other throwaway gags would've been very tricky to squeeze into one episode.
Its a lot of conceptual stuff as well for people who aren't as well-versed in the works of George R. R. Martin, or foreign viewers like us Brits not well acquainted with Black Friday.
Its certainly a brutal US tradition, which sees the day after Thanksgiving devoted to massive reductions in prices at shops. This year was as brutal as ever, with the headline-grabbing incident being a woman tasered in a fight in a Philadelphia shopping mall, as well as shootings, stabbings, pepper spray attacks, mayhem, riots and the like.
In a decade where the increasing commercialism of society has come under fire at more time than any other, this is consumerism in its most brutal and shocking form. Its even more disconcerting that, rather than fully animating it, footage from real Black Friday brawls is used in and amongst the animated battles.
The first two episodes set up the preparations for war. This part is a good set-up, as it establishes the tribe of boys wanting their new consoles and divides them up into two teams united under the flag of one console each - the XBox One army, led by Cartman, and the PS4 Army, led by Stan. There's the divide of them spoken through the shortcomings of each console, and the attempt to assemble teams that can brave the Black Friday bloodshed to get the new gaming console.
The teams are also decked out in the wizard clothing from the much-delayed South Park: Stick of Truth game, which has hit several snags in its long and winding production. In fact, its not out until March next year, having previously had a launch date of December 2012.
There's even a snarky line from the Wizard King Cartman on how a pre-ordering is basically "just committing to paying for something that some assholes in California haven't even finished working on yet." Coincidentally the game pre-order is still on Amazon, for those who fancy committing to paying the South Park Studios for a game yet to be finished.
Anyway, the first part sets up the stakes. There's the mall security staff, including Randy and his attempts to get bargains from the inside, while Butters voices his agitation of Game of Thrones' obsession with penises, and the dividing faction's hopes of the bargains are under threat from people who want the lovably un-PC "Stop Touching Me Elmo" doll.
The set-pieces and humour are impressively crafted, and for GoT fans there is plenty of fun references and use to direct it towards satire.
This continues for part two, which begins with a narration from the now-Princess Kenny is so daft its almost believable, in a similar way to Idris Elba's speech on "cancelling the apocalypse" from Pacific Rim.
Equally bizarre is the recurring skit of the Betrayal Garden, which somehow manages to deliver both on its promise on changing the stakes as in the real thing and amusing gags as Cartman and a man from his bedroom exchange barbs.
The more glacial pace of this episode is better than the "cram-it-all-in", as it helps keep the story building, introduces more elements - Bill Gates' brutal murder of the sole voice of reason aka the Microsoft CEO, George R. R. Martin's penis obsession, Princess Kenny - that keeps things in a bizarre whirlwind of character introduction but still keeping it interesting and funny.
Then, things get even more insane when Princess Kenny is given the full-on anime treatment for one scene near the end of A Song of Ass and Fire and even more during 3rd and final segment Titties and Dragons.
This is not excluding the first episode with a full choir fully blowing up the penis obsession into "Weiner Party!" to the tune and rhythm of the actual Game of Thrones theme tune, in front of an increasingly pissed off Butters and an unwell Scott Malkenson, who have been kept prisoner while George R. R. Martin piles it on.
It maybe overkill for some but for a show largely touted as "sex, blood and dragons" with a lot of emphasis on the former, its fairly accurate. It also allows for the expert "the pizzas are coming and they're gonna be huge!" reference that passes for dragons.
But even so, the wiener stuff is dialled down. Its condensed use in Part 3 is in keeping with the mood and works a lot better in a smaller package (yeah yeah).
The climax is then given a set up early on when the boys decide to work together and hire the Red Robin burger restaurant for a wedding, evoking the Red Wedding concept. However, its not quite the infamous Red Wedding Massacre that Game of Thrones infamously pulled off.
There's no massacre here. But there is a realisation and a set up for the titanic battle between Bill Gates and Sony CEO Kazuo Harai, which is built up on Stan's moment of zen - that this war is just manufactured to whip up hysteria and advertising, and the kids decided they should finish their war themselves. Gates even said as much after killing the voice of reason in Part 2.
In keeping with this bizarre moment, it came after the series of betrayals had culminated in the end of Stan and Kyle, after Kyle made Stan take the fall for Cartman making good on his promise of taking a shit in the Betrayal Garden after another confrontation with the old man.
This was mistaken identity after Randy had somehow become Head of Mall Black Friday Security following a number of deaths. This allowed for a number of great lines about dispensing with characters just as we'd made heavy emotional investment.
It also created more comic betrayal as mall bargain increased - 96% off means a PS4 is $16, or about £10 if we did a similar concept. Plus it allowed a hugely comic scene similar to the White Walkers or for the Walking Dead, as hordes of shoppers awaited to be let in.
After the hordes entered - chopping off George R. R. Martin's weiner in the process - it ended up with the boys alone surrounded by rivers of blood, corpses and loose Stop Touching Me Elmo dolls, all to finally get their hands on XBox One's.
Probably no surprise given the Microsoft console sponsored the middle episode, but even more of a surprise was the realisation that, like in love, the thrill was more in the chase than having the object of desire.
It ended with the most devious double-cross plug, saying "All we need to play is stuff like this stick!" before a cheeky plug for that much-delayed game.
It suitably bought the curtain down a myriad of humorous layers and was a delightful way to end. Maybe South Park should do 3-parters more often if they're always this good...
4.5/5
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