Joel Fry-days: Diggers (2023)

This is an odd little short, more about mood/notion than tangible story. It’s also the shortest one I’ve watched so far, with the credits starting right around the six-and-a-half-minute mark. So yeah, this review may very well be longer than the short itself.

Two men walk into the woods to dig a hole. In between their work, they discuss their lives.

As I said, not much in the way of a story here. Certain questions are left ambiguous, and certain surprises pop up late in the game. For the most part, though, this is just a little piece between these two characters, with the question of the hole they’re digging widening amid their gentle banter. Joel Fry and Cary Crankson (the other actor in this short) both get a story credit alongside the writer/director. Not sure if that means they were actually writing it together or if it means a fair amount of the dialogue is improvised.

But for all that there’s not a lot here, I still found myself liking it. It put me in the mind of Shakespearian grave diggers, or maybe Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Watching them dig and talk, there’s some softly pleasant humor as they misunderstand each other, and they hint a little at the philosophical of the mundane. Not I think this approaches the feat of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, obviously, but that’s the vibe I got.

Joel Fry plays Griffin. From the banter, we know more facts about him than we do about the other digger, Michaels. Griffin’s been saying for years that he’s going to quit smoking, he’s a relatively new dad, and his wife makes him put piccalilli on his sandwiches. These small details give us a bit of a snapshot of this man, while the tone and tenor of Fry’s performance gives some texture to those details. 

Griffin is dwelling heavily on how being a dad changes things for him, but he balks when Michaels asks him about fatherhood. “Well, when you say ‘fatherhood,’ it makes it sound like I’ve been doing it for ages,” he counters. “It’s only been six months.” He’s not able to engage with the question until Michaels amends it to “dadness.”

Accent Watch

London.

Recommend?

In General – Maybe. I like the feel of it.

Joel Fry – Maybe. It’s not a must, but I enjoy what he does here.

Warnings

Thematic elements.

Other Doctor Lives: W1A: Series 1, Episode 4 (2014)

*Spoilers from episode 3, as well as the end of Twenty Twelve*

Okay, you know what? The series 1 finale is actually pretty good. Stuff happens! Some good narration from David Tennant too. Might be a low bar, but I enjoyed it. And while I think it makes a difference that we get more direct ties to Twenty Twelve here, that’s only part of it.

The newspaper article about Ian is more than just harping on his (apparently exorbitant) salary. It also details allegations that he misused funds when he was on the Olympic Deliverance Commission, and the whole thing is turning into both a professional and personal shitstorm. Lucy is languishing on Britain’s Tastiest Village, which has become a bit of mess, when she really wants to be working on the comedy-drama script she pitched alongside the show’s writer in episode 3. Siobhan brings Barney to the BBC to present their ideas for the logo rebrand.

When Ian’s time with the commission was nearing its end, he’d mentioned to Sally that he was interested in taking a holiday in Italy when it was all over. Sally being Sally, she went above and beyond, planning the whole trip for him—that’s where the allegations came from, because she all did this while she was on the clock. What’s more, at the last minute, Ian invited Sally to come with him to Italy. Now the whole story is being dragged through the press, including pictures of Sally, and reporters are waiting outside the BBC for Ian every morning.

Ian responds to this with some of his usual fecklessness. His attempt to send Sally an apology bouquet backfires in a big way, and there’s an entertaining scene where Ian has to sit listening to all the higher ups spitball figures on reasonable reductions to his salary. But at the same time, this experience helps Ian discover a bit of backbone and ingenuity. We see him taking some much-needed proactive steps here, on behalf of himself and another character.

Our character of the week is Simon Harwood, played by Jason Watkins. Simon is the BBC’s Director of Strategic Governance—he’s who most characters in the show report to on a day-to-day basis, although there’s a Big Boss who gets namedropped. His main quirks are 1) passing duties onto someone else and 2) enthusiastically agreeing with the person who last spoke, regardless of how much they contradict the previous person he agreed with.

It’s clear that Britain’s Tastiest Village has all but collapsed due to its various complications, yet it’s still limping along. If Lucy’s heart was ever in it, she’s completely over it now. And Siobhan and Barry’s presentation is amusing. They manage to accidentally reinvent the Star of David, so Siobhan evidently doesn’t know any more about religions than she did on Twenty Twelve.

After being a little down on David Tennant’s narration in the first three episodes, this is honestly a good episode for him. He’s got some funny lines in the season finale! Here are my favorites:

• When Ian gets to the BBC in the morning, a gaggle of reporters are waiting outside for him – “He’s already late for work, but he’s about to discover he’s not as late yet as he’s eventually going to be.”
• There’s a minor subplot about concerns over the wardrobe of a female news commentator “who’s been accused of wearing clothes that are inappropriately watchable” – good line!
• This sums up the state of affairs with Britain’s Tastiest Village – “Despite Lucy’s concerns about the basic premise of the show itself, the question of who’s going to present it is much more important than that.”
• This line cracked me up – “Elaine Pearson walks Ian through some of the advantages of cutting his current salary (which we are unable to reveal here for ethical reasons) to a level comparable with someone who earns a lot less than that.”

Y tu Luna también: Maya and the Three: Episode 7 – “The Divine Gate” (2021)

*Episode premise spoilers.*

I didn’t review episode 6, which doesn’t have Diego Luna in it, but I still recommend watching it, especially for its terrific fight sequence. But moving along, episode 7 comes at you hard. It brings emotion, action, and comedy, all served up with fantastic animation and strong character work.

Maya and the Three are finally prepared for the great task the prophecy has called them to: passing through the Divine Gate to do battle with the gods. Despite worries and nerves, all the warriors have faith in each other and their own skills, and Maya is champing at the bit to take on Lord Mictlan. But the god of war is like nothing they’ve ever faced before.

Even before we get to the big fight, this episode has all kinds of goodness going for it. Just getting the Divine Gate to open for a group of still-corporeal mortals is a tall order. I love the various ways the gang tries to open the gate, from Picchu pummeling it with a “puma punch” to Rico trying to bribe it open, and the true key to opening the gate is wonderfully done.

This is also as good a time as any to mention Ah Puch, a forest spirit voiced by the incomparable Rita Moreno. Ah Puch provides guidance to Maya throughout the miniseries, but her kookiness and architectural feat of a hairstyle keep her from feeling too much like a wise/spiritual plot device. After popping in and out of the story a lot to check in on Maya, I like seeing her meet the others here, approaching each of them on their level.

Onto the main event. When the heroes face off against the Big Bad in episode 7 of a 9-episode miniseries, you know things aren’t going to go awesome. The crew takes a hard hit in this one, and the stakes are very real. As Lord Mictlan wages war against Maya and her friends in the way that only he can, it’s interesting to see some of the interplay between the gods. Lord Mictlan has always been one to rule through fear and intimidation, and in private, plenty of the gods aren’t as loyal as they profess to be, instead looking out for themselves above all else. As such, I like watching their reaction to seeing this demigod and her human friends taking on the big boss.

Some nice Zatz material in this one. When our heroes get to the underworld, it’s time for Zatz to decide once and for all who he’s fighting for, and that leads to some strong interactions. (He’s so goth and so chivalrous, I love it.) The battle has very personal stakes for him too, and Diego Luna imbues his lines with so much feeling.

On another note, a very young Zatz makes a cameo in the opening flashback, which deals with the circumstances of Maya’s birth. As Lord Mictlan rages to Lady Micte about why she brought this demigod into the world, it’s affecting to see little Zatz hiding behind his dad. He already has his eyepatch, so you know this kid’s been through it.