This Week in TV: The Ultimate Fight

Samurai Jack

Season 5 Ep 1: XCII

Jack is back! And it is amazing! From watching the show when I was younger I know I was awed by the action and beautiful visuals but know getting to come back to the world that is so much the same yet so different is delightful. From the opening scene, we are given this powerful depiction of the samurai even though all we see is a mask, it is tense and full of action all while having emotion.This balance is carefully created not only in the opening but throughout the episode. We see that much has happened since we last saw him all those years ago and it is weighing down upon him. There is a sadness under all of his hair and it evident without him having to say a word. I believe that one of the most powerful parts is the fact that there is only dialogue when it is needed and allows viewers to focus on the important parts.

From a filmmaking perspective, almost every second of this episode is a piece of art on its own. Whether it be an action scene or just Jack sitting, it is composed perfectly. This is made even better by the choices to use different aspect ratios to frame different moments in certain ways. Whether we are seeing a full screen, film ratio or anything in between, it adds to the drama in the scene. Often times they even create inconvenient frames either within the aspects of the shot or with the actual video and creates this unique style that shows only what is needed and truly gives this epic feel to the show. It was a solid to start with the new version of this show and I can’t wait to see how it continues.

Feud

S01E02 The Other Woman

This episode was interesting because it went back in time to give some historical context to the characters that we are seeing now. It allowed me to get a better idea of what the actual feud is between the main characters. With the past in the rearview, now we got to dive into what we will be focusing on for the rest of the season! The characters that we meet are fully fleshed out and we get to see the versatility of what they are doing. The wrath of both women are starting to unfold and the newspaper and gossip columns are in the middle for the episode. With Hedda Hopper and her amazing hats playing both sides of the coin, we get to see how cunning both of these women are. Even though we are shown them as friends for the first part of the show, it’s unraveled by the director of the film Robert Aldrich as played by Alfred Molina. He wants the best for the film and having the two stars at odds is just that.

Yet again we get to take this breathtaking trip back to the 60’s and every set is beautiful and all the dresses and suits are marvelous. In this episode we get to meet Jack Warner as played by Stanley Tucci properly and he is both scummy and creepy while being powerful at the same time. It is interesting to see these strong powerful women juxtaposed against these powerful men. One interesting part of this episode is that it seemed to focus in slightly on the people that surround the main stars.With Davis’ daughter, Crawford’s husband and Aldrich’s wife we see the impact of what is happening on the surroundings and how they are negatively affected in a way that is harming their lives. Starting to get really invested in this show.