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Thursday, May 19, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ARTS
MUSIC REVIEW
‘Scandal’ hype
slowly derailing
By ALEX INTNER
Summer Managing Arts Editor
During the season five episode
of “Scandal” titled “Thwack,” the
story seemed to be zipping along.
Then,
with
a
“Thwack,”
all
momentum
completely
collapsed. Olivia
Pope
(Kerry
Washington,
“Django
Unchained”),
who has been
held up as a white hat for justice
(despite some dark marks on her
name), murders the former Vice
President of the United States.
The episode revisits a point of
huge emotional turmoil in Olivia’s
kidnapping and was actually doing
quite well up until the “Thwack,”
but it changes her character in a
completely unnecessary manner.
This episode is representative
of the fifth season of “Scandal”
as a whole. Every time the drama
seemed to be taking a step forward
in both regaining narrative focus
and creating a compelling story, it
took two back. For every episode
focusing on a presidential debate,
there was one pulling the show
deeper into the B-613 hole. It’s
frustrating
because
there
are
points at which the series puts out a
moment, sometimes a fleeting one,
which reminds me of why I loved it
in the past, but those are starting to
become fewer and farther between.
Many of “Scandal” ’s problems
seem to revolve around one key
group of characters, and the finale
doubles down on keeping them
around as key parts of the show. One
of the major conflicts was an inane
story involving Jake Ballard (Scott
Foley, “The Unit”) trying to get
Olivia to save him from her father,
Rowan (Joe Morton, “Eureka”). It
ends up not with an Olivia win, but
rather with Rowan getting what
he wanted all along: Ballard on the
Republican ticket alongside Mellie
Grant (Bellamy Young, “Criminal
Minds”).
I’m tired of B-613 as both a group
of characters and a plot device. The
series uses it to artificially inflate
the drama, but I can only listen to
so many monologues from Rowan
about how he’s not only doing this
for his own power, but rather for the
the people he cares about. There’s
only so many times I can see Rowan
commit some horrible act to gain
power. There’s only so many times I
can see Olivia lose to these people.
The show views these characters as
viable antagonists, but it’s repeating
the same devices over and over
again until they lose their impact.
Though Rowan and Jake were
involved
the
whole
way,
the
election storyline was a glimmer
of hope among the B-613 bullshit.
The Republican battle between
Mellie and Vice President Susan
Ross (Artemis Pebdani, “Another
Period”)
made
for
compelling
television. The plot twisted and
turned in a traditional “Scandal”
manner, as the characters plotted
to win their ideal candidates the
nomination. The campaigns fought
bitterly, stabbing each other in
the back and digging up dirt on
each other, and the ups and downs
of their candidacies were highly
entertaining.
What especially made the fight
engrossing was how it tested the
relationship between Olivia and
Abby (Darby Stanchfield, “Mad
Men”) by pitting them against one
another. Their friendship has always
been a powerful core of the show.
Olivia has always been a mentor
to Abby, so to see them battle,
and to see Abby betray Olivia by
thinking about using Liv’s abortion
against her and accidentally telling
President Fitzgerald Grant (Tony
Goldwyn, “Tarzan”) about it, pained
my heart. It brought a new level to
the relationship, and, in a season
in which the series used quite a bit
of repetitive storytelling, it made a
huge difference.
All “Scandal”’s problems are a
damn shame, because there’s still
a great show somewhere in there.
Shonda Rhimes (“Grey’s Anatomy”)
and crew have driven themselves
too far into the weeds. The finale
pushed further into the depths of
this terrible storyline, which doesn’t
leave much hope that it can course-
correct and save itself. Maybe
there’s a glimmer in the next season
only being 16 episodes, instead of
22 (requiring tighter storytelling),
but unless they dump B-613, the
potential could easily be lost.
‘Pool’ a graceful release
Radiohead brings
a much-welcome
maturity to “Pool”
By ANAY KATYAL
Summer Senior Arts Editor
Radiohead has a long history of
its releases containing a rare level
of profundity. And in their thirty-
some year exis-
tence,
their
staying power
is only a testa-
ment to their
continued
lyrical and cre-
ative
solidity.
With A Moon
Shaped Pool, it
was hard for
fans to know what to expect —
the band’s illustrious discography
has commented on arguably every
major aspect of life and society
one could imagine. But in their
ninth release thus far, Radiohead
exchanges continued social com-
mentary for material only tell-
ing of their everlasting ability to
work both listener’s minds and
ears. Contained within A Moon
Shaped Pool is a kind of wisdom
that can only be afforded to a band
whose content and thoughts have
garnered
continued
relevancy
decades after its release, provid-
ing listeners with an exploration
of their emotions, thoughts and
ideals. The band has always flirted
with experimentation, but, in Pool,
Radiohead brings a change of con-
tent that serves as the perfect hom-
age both to the kind of material
they’ve put out and the reputation
it has cemented for them. It’s an
enlightening level of maturity from
a band already lauded for its astute
body of work.
Much of Pool’s material has
either been leaked in some form or
teased by the band at various con-
certs over the past two decades.
In the album’s opener, “Burn the
Witch,” the band crafts a time-
less, but pointed, political mes-
sage, using the imagery of a lynch
mob to frame the song’s message
as a critique of the devolvement of
Western society’s social discourse.
Though recordings of the song have
floated around for a little over a
decade now, the song is as apt with
today’s controversies over trans-
gender bathroom use and institu-
tionalized xenophobia as it is with
the kind social issues that plagued
society at the cusp of the new mil-
lennium. The string arrangements
and subtle use of electronica (a
contrast from Radiohead’s last few
releases) bring to life the kind of
melancholy engendered by those
very social issues before descend-
ing into sounds of feral anger, illus-
trative of the state of the modern
West’s political scene.
If Radiohead’s last few releases
have been outward critiques of the
various ill components of society,
Pool is an exploration of the emo-
tions and feelings tied to those
components. Rather than continu-
ing to criticize from the stands, the
band has taken the opportunity to
introspect on their longstanding
thoughts and feelings, exchang-
ing lyrics with linear meaning
for layered instrumentation that
expresses their emotions better
than any words could. Expansive
and diverse in content, the album
permeates with a divergent sound.
“Ful Stop” and its vengeful synth
descend into a palpable madness,
juxtaposed with Thom Yorke’s sig-
nature moans and the band’s token
interlacing guitar rhythms; “Tin-
ker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man
Poor Man Beggar Man Thief,” in
all its reverberating glory, strad-
dles the line between acoustic and
electronic sound, creating a rich
sound bursting with wry feelings
of dread and sadness. The instru-
ments throb, the lyrics wail and
the listener unwittingly embraces
sounds wrought with deep-seated
emotion.
Closing the album is a much
storied (and sought after) piece by
Radiohead — crude concert record-
ings of “True Love Waits” have
been floating around the internet
for around two decades now, and
the lack of an official studio release
(bar its appearance on their 2001
live album I Might Be Wrong) was
met with the constant chagrin of
Radiohead’s most loyal patrons
(and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t
among those complaining). The
album’s version is bare-boned and
raw, with nothing but a piano back-
ing Yorke’s croons. “I’m not living,
I’m just killing time,” Yorke sings in
a rather personal and transparent
display of his psyche. Though the
rich guitar and emotional depth in
Yorke’s singing on past versions are
still sorely missed relative to Pool’s
spin on the track, the revealing
humanity of “True Love Waits” is
still a welcome addition to the bar-
rage of emotional fervor contained
within A Moon Shaped Pool.
While Radiohead’s discography
has a set of established fan
favorites (ask a few Radiohead fans
what their favorite songs are and
you’ll probably find an amusing
pattern), few underpin the band’s
thematic approach as much as OK
Computer’s “The Tourist.” Though
its importance doesn’t really lie
in its relative musical excellence
(with plenty of other masterful
songs it has to rub shoulders
against on OK Computer alone), it’s
a song emblematic of a philosophy
that’s remained a constant in
Radiohead’s work. With Jonny
Greenwood’s
shoegazey
guitar
anchoring the song and Yorke
crooning lyrics like “Hey man,
slow down, slow down / Idiot, slow
down,” the song begs people to take
a step back and savor what’s around
them. Considering that, to judge a
Radiohead record so closely after
its release is a fairly futile task.
With their penchant for layered
lyrics and imagery that takes even
the keenest of fans months (or
even years) to fully comprehend,
drawing an immediate appraisal
out of thin air for a band like
Radiohead, especially in today’s
world of throw-away consumption,
is a big ask. Even in my pre-
adolescent years, listening to In
Rainbows thirty-some times in
a row (while also wallowing in
my budding angst) was the only
way I could draw a conclusion as
to what made the album so great.
Considering that A Moon Shaped
Pool is effectively the band’s most
pointed, thoughtful and mature
work to date, enjoying it like any
other mainstream record out today
would be doing both the band and
its album a disservice. In their
effort to erase themselves from
the internet and tease the album’s
release with a more orchestral
single than what fans are used to,
Radiohead harkens back to simpler
days, separating any potential
distractions from their work and
boiling down their art to a rather
bare, humble form — the strongest
echo of the band’s undying credo
to date. With its lyrical focus and
messages of social and emotional
consciousness, what’s the use of A
Moon Shaped Pool if we can’t slow
down a bit and embrace it for what
it’s for?
A
A Moon
Shaped Pool
Radiohead
XL Recordings
B-
Scandal
Season 5 Finale
Thursday at 9 p.m.
ABC
TV REVIEW