Before every episode, there's a warning that "this series contains strong language, some nudity and strong sexual content" (I would've used an Oxford comma there, myself). To me, this seems a relic of the time when gay stuff was considered automatically judged more harshly than straight, because seriously, this is PG-13 at most. It's a little suggestive in parts, I guess, but there's very little nudity and no full frontal, and not much in the way of "strong language" either. Well, okay, there are a few f-bombs. WHATEVER. HMPH.
Episode Seven, "The Sun Also Rises"
Nico Muhly
Huh. Nico Muhly. I know that guy! I mean, not super-well, and I wouldn't exactly call myself a fanboy, but his Marnie was on the Met's Live in HD, and as I think about it, I'm pretty sure that was my first contemporary opera (I've also seen his short piece called The Glitch). I don't remember being overly in love with it, but I wasn't very good at watching opera at that time, so you can't take much from that. And even if it wasn't that great, that may be due more to the source material being kinda bad than anything else. For copyright reasons, it's based on the book that the Hitchcock movie was based on rather than the movie itself, but either way, it's a kind of unpleasantly misogynistic story. Not a fan, me. But that is neither here nor there.
The music is about the same thing as ever, really, more or less. It's fine! But the story doesn't leave me much the wiser, and makes me reeeeaally wonder how they're going to end this thing (I'm writing this without having watched the final episode). We open with voiceover from Ion's dead lover Rufus, setting him free and directing him to do his thing. Then we see Cass and Sunny, who are arguing. Sunny feels she has been betrayed by...whatever it is that Cass is doing with this inn and all. Hard to say. Then it's Ion and Federico; he orders Ion to leave, because regardless of his feelings, he doesn't feel able or willing to betray Sunny and Cass, and again, I don't know what that betrayal would entail. Bentrail. Well, we'll see what happens, but after seeing this, I really don't feel I know any more about what's going on that I did before; it seems like something you could just cut out without really losing anything. That's not great; every episode should contribute something.
Episode Eight, "Tell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us"
Michael Abels
Well...yes. This episode DOES feature the return of the Lounge Singer, who definitely shakes things up in a fun way. After a little voiceover from her, we have Federico, who tells Ion that he had some sort of "crash" (which is presumably where he lost his leg), and Cass took him in: he's not really Sunny's sister; the whole thing is a lie. I guess Cass, like, implanted a memory in his head? We ALSO learn that Sunny either doesn't exist or at least isn't here: Cass is, apparently, in the same situation as her customers. Ion offers to give her...something, which she allegedly wants, and whatever it is, it's visualized as his room key. But she doesn't want it, and he runs off into the desert. There are voiceovers of that old guy, Derek, who apparently died, as well as Sunny; all playing over Cass in her darkroom. Derek wants to stay to see his dead girlfriend again (even though earlier it was his son). Um...right. And the last scene is a new guy at the inn, begging her to do the magic thing to let him see his dead boyfriend. And that...is all.
Is this ending satisfying? Well...not hugely. I guess I sort of have an idea of what's happening, but it just kind of stops. Not much in the way of closure. Still, there are a lot of interesting ideas here, and some musically striking moments. Probably I should watch the whole thing again before making any final judgments; this is definitely not your average opera, and maybe you need to learn how to watch it. This coming Wednesday, there's going to be an online livechat with the producers. I'll probably check that out and if I get any notable insight, report back here. Or not! It remains to be seen.
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