I feel like I gotta pause because nothing's worse than the one friend shouting about a thing the crew doesn't care about (edit to acknowledge I neither paused nor fucked off, lol)


But I'll just let this be the moment I noticed the sub conversation in the Saul thread about there not being another show for this little crew to obsess over when this show is RIGHT THE HELL HERE


So until next episode I'll just say again that the show doubles down on jargon in a way that would evoke Mad Men if it were contemporary but instead might alienate Succession fans because it doesn't give a fuck about being relatable


And I guess my only rebuttal is that I'm the guy that kept $10 in a savings account without ever knowing why, loves seeing big numbers in his checking account just for the immediate comfort of it, because I just can't wrap my head around investments, escrow, portfolios. This show is shooting wide, wide, wide of my natural interests. Yet, I'm absolutely infatuated with a show that explicitly frames me as an idiot, because these people all seem to recognize that they're also not money people because of the money but because of the grift that makes the money move. It's VERY impressive how they've harvested enjoyable characters out of this weird scenario in ways that would edge a Silicon Valley fan and frustrate a Billions fan at the same time.


I've really tried to pin this down and I think I've got it? If Succession or Mad Men played to or established what an imminently watchable show about people being or trying to make it rich looks like, with Harper as the anchor character Industry can accept it's fascinated by a culture it fully hates. Season 2's 2nd and 3rd episode make super clear what the entire first season set up: it absolutely must be fun to insert yourself into the marketplace of ideas, but if you're fighting your way into that world with any kind of self-awareness are you honestly happy when you laugh or sad when you cry?


I find myself talking about this show so high-falutin'ly it's worth acknowledging again that this is also a show where a woman edges a man at an employee party until he spurts on a wall mirror, more than one prospective hire DOES enjoy the money so much they overdose, many of the comic relief characters (naturally, which is also impressive) become key plot drivers and it's not out of line for most characters to get themselves off one way or another. WHICH ALSO, like, thematic storytelling? Something like that?


But they're also telling stories Euphoria seems afraid to tell. There's a moment in this season's 3rd episode where, if you've used that drug, been on or off it, this show gets it and doesn't either fantasize about it like Euphoria or exploit it like Girls. Both characters react to it with their history of using on their shoulders. It's boring, and boringly beautiful.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz