Other Doctor Lives: Twenty Twelve: Series 1, Episode 5 – “Cultural Curator” (2011)

Parts of this episode work for me and are really funny, but I think it devolves in the second half. It leans too heavily on the idea of “diversity appointments” in a way that’s more annoying than funny.

The commission needs to hire a new curator for the Cultural Olympiad, spearheading a series of artistic exhibits, performances, and events around the country ahead of the Olympics. Although no one on the commission is exactly sure what the Cultural Olympiad really ought to be, they take their best stab at it as they conduct interviews.

Our character of the week is Nick Jowett, head of contracts. He’s played by Vincent Franklin, who I really liked as Stewart on The Thick of It. But while Stewart is the epitome of pointless corporate buzzwords and synergizing, Nick is plain-spoken and has no time to waste on useless fluff. Throughout this episode, he repeatedly cautions the others that the Cultural Olympiad always winds up being nothing but “guys on stilts.”

The interviews themselves are a hoot. There’s the incredibly dry but keen business type, the nepo baby who’s prepared nothing, and the director who says that what art and sports have in common is “the human body,” which is worrying given his history of staging naked flash mobs. The commission doesn’t quite know what to do with any of these people.

But when it comes to picking the best candidate, that’s where the episode falls flat for me. The story is set up in such a way that there’s only one logical choice, but meddling from upstairs suddenly means the commission’s hands are tied. Essentially, they’re pressed multiple times to make a diversity appointment, reinforcing the notion that affirmative action-type policies are about unqualified BIPOC candidates taking away jobs from qualified white candidates, rather than ensuring that qualified BIPOC candidates get the opportunities they should. The commission, especially Ian, deals with it in their usual feckless way, but the whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

What this episode does have is some delightful narration from David Tennant. He’s really good at conveying the very slight absurdity of these lines within his very measured, mellow delivery. Here are my favorites:

• “The main item on this week’s agenda is the appointment of a new curator of the Cultural Olympiad, following the departure of the previous incumbent after what were described at the time as ‘uncreative differences of vision.’”
• “As the interview continues, it’s becoming clear that for Roshanara Khan, the Cultural Olympiad is much more about questions than it is about answering those questions.”
• “More recently, he hit the headlines when violence broke out following a performance of his all-male stage version of Little Women in Venice.”

One Battle After Another (2025, R)

*Premise spoilers*

I had my back up a little going into this film, because I know One Battle After Another has been positioned as Sinners’s main competition in some of the big categories, and I’d heard it described as more of a “Black story for white audiences” film, compared to Sinners. On the whole, I’d say my feelings about the film are mixed-to-positive—there’s some good stuff here, as well as some frustrating stuff.

Back in the day, Pat was a revolutionary with his lover Perfidia. But then everything went sideways, and Pat had to flee with baby Charlene. Now named Bob and Willa, they’ve been hiding out for 16 years. When a powerful old enemy named Col. Lockjaw comes looking for them, Bob’s old comrades mobilize to help. It’s been a long time since Bob’s revolutionary days and he’s hopelessly out of his depth, but he’s bound and determined to protect Willa any way he can.

This movie is nominated for thirteen Oscars. Among others, they include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and four acting nods.

One thing I appreciate is that this is not a Taken-style movie where Bob unleashes his deep well of lethal skills to rescue his daughter from the bad guys. Bob can’t do that. He’s spent the last 16 years in a drugs-and-alcohol-fueled stupor—he’s not remotely on his A-game here. He’s scrambling around in a bathrobe doing his best and looking for anybody who can help him.

That’s where the supporting players come in. The surviving members of the French 75, Bob’s old group of revolutionaries, are on top of shit. They’re the ones who tell Bob that Lockjaw is coming after him, and at that point, they’ve already extracted Willa and are taking her to a safe location. The trouble is, Bob doesn’t remember all the old codes and secrets, so he isn’t sure where she is. He needs help to contact them again and get the information he needs. This leads him to Willa’s karate teacher Sergio, who isn’t part of an established operation like the French 75 but who’s fighting the power on a more grounded level, protecting his immigrant community.

Then there’s Willa herself. Naturally, you can’t introduce a vile antagonist who’s hellbent on finding her and then keep her away from him the whole movie, and so eventually we see Willa in danger and separated from her allies/protectors. In her view, she’s been raised by a paranoid dad who flips out about her wanting to have a phone or invite friends to the house, insistent on staying off the grid. And she comes by that perspective honestly. In her life, she’s never seen any of the kinds of threats Bob has warned her about, and meanwhile, she’s had to bust his ass about driving drunk. But then she finds out it’s all real, and when she’s in the lion’s den on her own, Willa does whatever she can to stay alive. Good for her!

So I like that Bob is a mess who’s trying badly, that his friends—old and new—are the ones holding it down for the most part, and that Willa needs help without being entirely helpless. I’m less impressed with how Perfidia is portrayed/used within the story. She feels thinly written, much more like a device than a character. While Lockjaw is an effective enough villain, he’s honestly kind of repellent to watch onscreen. And really, there’s no reason this movie had to be over two-and-a-half hours long. I’ve seen Oscar movies this year that earned their length, but I don’t think this is one of them.

Like I said, there are four nominated actors here. Leonardo DiCaprio turns in a strong leading performance as Bob—he’s one of those actors that I think got the chance to be a lot more interesting after aging out of his heartthrob era. While this isn’t totally out of the ballpark of some of his other wild/unhinged roles, like his characters from The Wolf of Wall Street and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood…, he gets the job done. He’s funny, affecting, and intense as the story calls for, and he’s not afraid to look bad or ridiculous. For supporting actors, we have Sean Penn as Lockjaw and Benicio del Toro as Sergio. For my money, I favor del Toro here, and not just because Lockjaw is so terrible. Penn’s performance here is broad and actorly in a way that kind of “shows the strings” on the marionette, while del Toro’s feels much more organic and lived-in. And Teyana Taylor is recognized as a supporting actress in her brief role as Perfidia. To the extent that the character works for me, it’s because of what she does with it, not the writing. Beyond the award nominations, I want to shout out Chase Infiniti, who does a really nice job as Willa, and the always-great Regina Hall, who’s excellent as Deandra (one of Bob’s old revolutionary friends.)

Warnings

Violence, sexual content, language (including racial slurs,) drinking/smoking/drug use, disturbing images, and strong thematic elements.

Joel Fry-days: Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 2 – “The House of Black and White” (2015)

*Spoilers from season 4*

It didn’t stand out as much to me in the last episode, but this one really jogs my memory for how many of the season 5 plots didn’t fully pan out for me. Back when these episodes first aired, I remember being excited about a number of the storylines—for a lot of them, though, the execution wound up being more of a letdown. Let’s get into it.

Arya has arrived in Braavos, where she seeks out her old friend/assassin, Jaqen H’ghar. Brienne and Podrick have an unexpected encounter on the road. When one of the Sons of the Harpy is caught, Daenerys takes counsel on what to do with him. After the brutal death of Oberyn Martell last season, Cersei worries about her daughter’s continued safety in Dorne, and with good reason—Ellaria is out for blood. The Night’s Watch elect a new Lord Commander.

• When Arya arrives at the temple of the Faceless Men, she begs to be let in, saying, “Please! I crossed the Narrow Sea. I have nowhere else to go” – I love the Faceless Man’s simple response, “You have everywhere else to go.”
• As usual on Game of Thrones, we see that the stalwart characters are no match for the cunning characters. Brienne has the truth on her side, but it’s child’s play for Littlefinger to twist it around and make her look bad.
• It’s funny—for years, Anton Lesser was “Qyburn from Game of Thrones” to me. But when he popped up in this episode, my brain immediately went “Partagaz!” The power of Andor!
• I believe this is our first look at Doran Martell, played by the always-welcome Alexander Siddig. As Ellaria itches to avenge Oberyn, Doran demonstrates one similarity he and his late brother shared when he flatly tells her, “We do not mutilate little girls for vengeance. Not here. Not while I rule.”
• Tyrion and Varys are in the traveling portion of their storyline, so not much happening here – I do like Varys drawling, “Are we really going to spend the entire road to Volantis talking about the futility of everything?”, to which Tyrion replies, “You’re right, no point.” Ha!
• My favorite stuff at the Wall in this episode, once again, are the scenes with Shireen. This time, her reading lessons are with Gilly instead of Ser Davos, and I really like the conversation they have about greyscale.

It’s not the best episode for Daenerys. With the prisoner, her advisors variously urge execution and mercy, haste and caution, and things somehow wind up with the least desirable outcome. And I’m sure part of it is because I’m biased toward Grey Worm and against Daario, but it annoys me when Daario repeatedly lectures Grey Worm while searching for the Sons of the Harpy, belaboring how this is a job so much more suited to Second Sons rather than Unsullied. With Daario, it sometimes feels like the show is trying too hard to make fetch happen, and I definitely don’t like them doing it at Grey Worm’s expense.

This is the first episode where Joel Fry appears in two sequences instead of just one. Although that doesn’t actually amount to more screentime for Hizdahr, we get to see him in a new context, which is interesting. In his previous episodes, nearly all of his dialogue has been just with Daenerys. But sitting on Dany’s council, we see him interact with other characters—particular Mossador, a former slave. Unsurprisingly, Mossador is advocating the hardest for the prisoner to be executed, wanting to send a blunt message to the Sons of the Harpy. Hizdahr never actually says what he wants to happen to the man—again with his savviness in front of Dany—instead making tempering arguments like, “Why should [a poor freeborn man] want to bring back slavery? What did it ever do for him?”

In this way, Hizdahr is still careful about the things he chooses to say, but he’s a little less precise in how he speaks here, getting slightly heated. From Mossador’s side, the “former slave speaking to former slaveholder” dynamic is clear. While it’s not as pronounced from Hizdahr’s side, it is evident that he’s less patient with Mossador than he is with anyone else. There’s an air of entitlement that can’t help coming out a bit as they’re going back and forth. Nice work on Fry’s part, showing the contrast to how intentional and calculated Hizdahr is in his private audiences with Dany in earlier episodes.

Also, Hizdahr pulls out the “I’m the head of a Great Family” card when that is the opposite of a selling point to every other person in the room. For all his talk about how willing he is to adjust to Dany’s brave new world, old habits die hard.