Showing posts with label HBO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HBO. Show all posts

Sunday, May 09, 2021

S2 "Pennyworth" | Artwork Foretells the End

If you have not watched all of season 2 of "Pennyworth" on EPIX, please consider this a warning that there will be spoilers ahead. This post will explore the use of artwork to foretell the end of season 2 and includes an analysis of the character Capt. Gulliver "Gully" Troy.
Left to right: Alfred "Alfie" Pennyworth (Jack Bannon)
& Capt. Gully Troy (James Purefoy)
EPIX's season 2 episode 5 "The Bleeding Heart," involves a scene at the home of Capt. Gulliver "Gully" Troy (James Purefoy). He expounds on how he "commanded a thousand men in battle...sat with kings" while in the same shot is a print of a famous painting directly to his left, "The Relief of the Light Brigade, 25th October 1854," by Richard Caton Woodville (1856-1927). [View a larger version here.] Intriguingly appropriate that this is the only piece of art symbolically on display next to where he leads a meeting about the job that the team will undertake in the same episode.
Next to Capt. Troy hangs "The Relief of the Light Brigade," by Richard Caton Woodville (1856-1927), 1897
The artist captured the moment the British and the Russians brutally clashed during the famous battle of the Crimean War. The British cavalry, under the command of the Earl of Lucan and Lord Fitzroy Somerset Raglan, heroically charged towards the Russians who were shooting their rifles and muskets at them. It's an image depicting the soldiers ferociously charging on their horses with swords in hand into the vast landscape towards the Russian troops who inevitably slaughter the cavalry.

The appearance of Woodville's painting in "Pennyworth" hints at what is to come during the epic finale of season 2. Episode 10, "The Lion and the Lamb," provides us an exciting final four minutes in which we watch Alfred "Alfie" Pennyworth (Jack Bannon) in command of his team of soldiers supporting The English League, aka the good guys, leading their charge towards the Raven Union soldiers while shouting, "Forward!" Indeed, The League's "light brigade" possesses the same immense rage and courage as the British troops of the 19th century. It's one of the most heroic endings to a season with a super-charged weapon, that being Capt. Gulliver Troy using himself as an unstoppable, stormcloud weapon.

In addition to the Woodville painting, consider the text of the poem about the same battle. If you were one of the lucky students in grade school to be asked to read a verse from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade, it was apparent that the writer was proud of the British cavalry's act of sacrifice during this battle in the Crimean War. Here is the first stanza:
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
See more about the painting and the poem in this scholarly article, "The charge of the light brigade and the Crimean War" by Alastair W. Massie here.

Capt. Gully Troy is a lifelong, fearless, decorated, and dedicated soldier at heart. He openly admires fellow brave soldiers who served alongside him and who continue to work with him under his leadership. For example:
  • In S2, E1, Capt. Troy tells Alfie, "I love a crisis."
  • Alfie pays a visit to Capt. Troy's home in E3, "The Belt and the Welt" and the first photos on display are of Capt. Troy in uniform, and at least in one of the photos, he's aiming his rifle. More photos of him are scattered throughout the sitting room.
  • In episode 5, he recruits Alfie to help with a robbery at the arena, and we see how he loves the pressure of racing against the clock. Refusing to abandon the safe, saying, "Who dares wins, eh?" The British SAS's motto. Gully's response is, "Bad things happen in combat; we move on." 
  • In episode 7, "The Bloody Mary," he stitches the cut on his upper arm after his wife Melanie (Jessica De Gouw) slashed him up. Even in pain, he maniacally chuckles at the fact that he survived another "battle."
  • In episode 8, "The Hangman's Noose," we finally see more of Capt. Troy's playful lunacy as he calls out to Alfie while chasing after him into the forest like they're playing a game.
    "It doesn't get much better than this, does it? Just you, me, and the woods, Alfie."
    A knife fight between the two ends up with Alfie triggering the release of the Sumatran Trap. However, Capt. Troy, even while struggling in pain, expresses his admiration for the fact that Alfie learned to make the trap from him, and he learned it from the Dayak headhunter, whom he killed.
    "Had seven wives, you know? And a throne of skulls," says Capt. Troy. 
  • Excerpt from web article, "Pennyworth producers Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon felt 'lucky' to get season 2 out during COVID" by Veronica Elizabeth Bruno
    Culturess: What can you both tease about James’s character [as Captain Gulliver Troy] coming on board?
    Heller: It’s a very James Jamesy character. He's Alfie’s old commanding officer back from his fighting days. And he is one of those guys who, even more so than Alfie, is really made for wartime and has a very difficult time adjusting to the civilian world. A lot of great soldiers are, to all intents and purposes, sociopaths in, you know, the normal world and Gully Troy, who James plays is that kind of guy. Very charismatic, more than a little crazy.
from "Pennyworth" season 2, "The Lion and the Lamb"
The League's secret super-charged weapon:
Capt. Gulliver Troy (James Purefoy)
Read EPIX's press release about the new series regulars who appear in season 2. Fans are definitely watching for any news in the coming months about if we're going to get a third season of "Pennyworth." This blog will post any updates if such news is announced. In recent news, HBO Max is looking at having "Pennyworth" on its network, especially if a third season is picked up. 

Finally, as a side note, we should think about if Capt. Gulliver Troy was created with a wink to the writer and director John Milius. He wrote Apocalypse Now, and furthermore, created the character Col. Kilgore, played by Robert Duvall, who possesses similar traits as Capt. Gully Troy. Milius created and was executive producer of HBO's "Rome" series before HBO hired Bruno Heller (Pennyworth's exec. producer, developer & writer) to be the executive producer. It is no surprise that Heller would have James Purefoy play Gully with knowing he was perfect in the role of Mark Antony. Would Heller have been thinking about Col. Kilgore's eccentric side, even just a little bit, in creating this new character? Certainly, this blog writer easily imagines Col. Kilgore and Capt. Troy sharing a bottle of Scotch while they exchange tales, say, in Cuba in the 1950s; Hemingway laughing with them at the table, too. Although not part of the DC Universe, I recommend to those who want to know more about John Milius to queue up the documentary about him here.
Robert Duvall as Col. Kilgore (center) in a scene from Apocalypse Now

Sunday, August 07, 2016

68th Emmy Awards - Nominees - Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series

The Korner is providing reflections on the 68th Emmy Award nominees. Feel free to comment at the end of this post about your favorites or who doesn't deserve the nomination.

The top pick here is for "The Americans" for the episode "Persona Non Grata," written by Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg (FX Networks). This is a spoiler-free post so all that can be said is that it is the best example of how the team that creates each episode for this intense drama series and executes it perfectly each time. The suspenseful nature of a clandestine meeting is told with meaning by deeply emotional characters. The outcome for the main characters is full of metaphors and the rollercoaster of their story is hovering at the top, readying them for the dive of their lives. Writers Joseph Weisberg and Joel Fields are enjoying their first ever Emmy nomination for "The Americans," which is a longtime coming and so well-deserved.


The Korner cannot speak for the nomination of "Downton Abbey," episode 8 (PBS) written by Julian Fellowes, based on the fact that it is not a show that has been watched by The Korner. It can, however, appreciate the work by Julian Fellowes, a writer who won the Oscar for the screenplay of Gosford Park (2002). Fellowes won the Emmy for writing Downton Abbey in 2011. Fellowes has a talent for detail in the character development. We're sure that Fellowes will be a top vote for many of the Emmy voters.

Many times nominated, one-time winners in 2015 for Outstanding Writing, both David Benioff and D.B. Weiss share the nomination again in 2016 for "Game Of Thrones" for the episode "Battle Of The Bastards" (HBO). Indeed, this is a tremendous feat, writing an epic battle for the end of season 6. Scenes with the key characters are not overwritten and their actions speak much louder. It is an exhausting episode and ends in a victory for the victims. The Korner would not disagree that these writers deserve the Award for Outstanding Writing.

Writers Robert King and Michelle King are facing their second Outstanding Writing nomination for "The Good Wife" and this time for the series finale, "End" (CBS). While The Korner followed this series faithfully, this wasn't the best written episode of "The Good Wife," but perhaps it made an OK finale for the series because of the outcome for the main character. So much had to be packed into this episode. The Kings were previously nominated for the series's pilot episode and as executive producers for Outstanding Drama. The voters could strongly favor them due to the fact that the series has ended and also there is a spin-off on the table, expectedly for the characters played so well by Christine Baranski and Cush Jumbo. We expect that they'll have other guests including Carrie Preston playing Elsbeth Tascioni. (In a future post, we'll talk about supporting actor nominations covering Preston and others). We just hope it means a return of the character played by Archie Panjabi. The Korner would be shocked that it would win the top Outstanding Writing vote by the Emmy voters.

Sam Esmail is a newer writer and producer, most famous for the show for which he is nominated, "Mr. Robot" and its pilot, "eps1.0_hellofriend.mov," (USA). Regrettably, The Korner didn't make time in its schedule to watch "Mr. Robot," but appreciates and understands this newcomer being an underdog in the competition, however is not sure it can top the votes against the above list. Maybe in 2017 after it has at least two seasons behind it. (Edit: The Korner will watch Season 1, perhaps even Season 2, before The Emmy Awards air).

The other tough-to-win contender is for Marti Noxon and Sarah Gertrude Shapiro for "UnREAL" and the episode "Return" on (Lifetime). Noxon is well-known to The Korner for her work on Joss Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" from 1997-2002. Definitely she's overdue for an Emmy win and this is her first Emmy nomination, but do the voters watch "UnREAL"? It is an interesting concept of how reality shows get made. I think Noxon and Shapiro have a hard battle to win this Emmy, just as much as perhaps "Mr. Robot," but it is a key nomination as the third season of "UnREAL" is being developed.

Friday, December 26, 2014

End of Year Review

I'm sorry for not posting more often this year. Work piles up and writing more at the end of the day gets to be difficult. I did have time to review two shows of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. You can read those reviews in the August 2014 issue of RE/Search's newsletter. Here are a few other events, TV shows, and memorable moments I enjoyed over this past year (no order, just a list)

In the coming year, I'll try to post a few words for each event, TV show or memorable moment for which I either view or attend just to keep the Korner active. One thing to look forward to (I miss "Pan Am") is the TV miniseries "Lizzie Borden: The Fall River Chronicles" on Lifetime coming in 2015 starring Christina Ricci. She starred in the Lifetime movie "Lizzie Borden Took an Ax" nearly a year ago. It was panned, so I don't understand the miniseries being picked up.

There's so much I could say about my favorite "guilty pleasure" TV shows which include The Mindy Project, The Walking Dead, The Good Wife, The Comeback, Homeland, The Affair, Veep, Castle, New Girl, American Horror Story, and Z Nation. I look forward to seeing more excellent writing in 2015.

Write in the comments what your favorite moments of 2014 included. Do we have anything in common?

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Captivating documentary on HBO

HBO Documentary Film series has featured Heidi Fleiss, Roman Polanski, and another must-see is Rory Kennedy's "Thank you Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House". I just loved the scenes they had of Nixon and Clinton. Really amazing that the White House Press Corps. tries to keep the President of the U.S.A. honest, yet the president's aides are actually telling the president not just what to say but what he cannot say. Who is really leading the country? What I saw here in the documentary makes a shadow government seem evermore possible.