Tag: HBO

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Loving “The Last of Us”

Image of an old TV set

I have a healthy amount of skepticism about movies and shows adapted from games. Clue was a rare exception, but it’s hard to go wrong with a cast that includes Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, and the amazing Madeline Kahn. The list of bad or aggressively mediocre media spun off from games is too long to list. The Last of Us isn’t on it.

The first two episodes of The Last of Us were good. Good enough that I wanted to watch more. A little predictable, but Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey improve the material enormously.

But, without any spoilers, episode three was incredible. I knew Nick Offerman was going to be in the episode, but I expected a comic turn with his role. Not… not so much.

There were a few moments in the episode where I thought I had everything figured out. Bad habit, but I like to try to guess where the plot is going to go before it gets there. Whether the writers are leaning too hard into predictable plots and tropes, or if they can set up a story that surprises and entertains me without being predictable.

“Long, Long Time” displayed some really confident writing. Only three episodes in and they step (mostly) away from the primary characters to Offerman’s story. It does weave in, when the time is right, and it serves the plot well.

I’m happy as hell that Bella Ramsey has a good role after her turn in Game of Thrones. She was quite possibly my favorite character in the entire series, excepting Arya. (And Tyrion but it’s not really fair to judge others against the standards set by Peter Dinklage. Dude could read an IKEA catalog at the camera for 30 minutes and make it fun.)

Usually I’ll plow through episodes as soon as they’re available for a show I enjoy this much, but I’m savoring it. No more than one episode a day, when I have time to really enjoy it.

Here’s hoping that all the shenanigans over at HBO Max don’t muck it up. They’ve got a pretty good thing going with this show, hope it continues.

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[Review] The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood

Cover image of The Corner by David Simon, Ed Burns

A few years ago, I came late to The Wire, but caught up quickly. Usually I’m not one to buy the hype for television series, but I had to admit that The Wire was every bit as powerful, funny, and eye-opening as its fans claimed. It’s a show that you tell friends “you need to watch this” rather than “you’ll really enjoy it,” because they really do need to watch it.

The Wire is necessary because it actually provides a glimpse into the reality of ground zero in the War on Drugs – a topic that any person (at least in the U.S.) should be well-educated on, but probably is not. And if The Wire is required watching, the book that preceded and inspired it should be required reading. It should be required reading, starting in jr. high if not sooner.

The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, by David Simon and Edward Burns, is as gripping and compelling as any work of fiction I’ve ever read. But it has the virtue of being a true story, and true journalism. Simon and Burns spent months getting to know the subjects in the book, then a solid year following their lives on the corner. Interviews, observation, and follow-ups after the year was over.

The Corner gives a first-hand look at what life is like for those living in the middle of one of the worst neighborhoods in the United States. It provides a look at what growing up in poverty is really like, and why it’s not just as simple as “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.” It might surprise people to learn that the corner that Simon and Burns chose is near the birthplace of H.L. Mencken, the sage of Baltimore. The world of Mencken and the world of teen drug slingers and desperate dope fiends are separated only by a few decades and less than a mile.

And The Corner tells the tale from the beginning. Simon and Burns cover the scope of Baltimore’s downfall, from the early 1900s when the McCullough family first settled into Baltimore, through four generations of McCulloughs. From stand-up citizen and family man, to his fallen son who essentially abandons his son to pursue his addiction, to a teen who plays at slinging drugs and fathers his own son while still too young to drive. This is how fast our cities decay.

You’ll find some hope, but not much, at the end of the book. The book is set in 1994, and published in 1997. More than a decade and a half later, we know how the story goes for many of the people in the book.

As a work of journalism, I’m simply in awe. We need so much more of this. I can’t say that I “loved” the book in the same way I enjoy a good book of fiction or entertaining non-fiction. After 500+ pages, I was ready to leave this world behind and only regretted that there isn’t more of Simon’s work out there to take on next. (Simon has only two books to his name, this and Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.)  This book is a five out of five stars, perhaps six. It should certainly be required reading for anyone who aspires to have an opinion about the war on drugs or welfare policy in the United States.