6 — Thursday, September 7, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

 
NETFLIX

Stars of Netflix’s ‘Wet Hot American Summer’ revival
Ian Harris: The problem 
with neverending shows
How the resounding influence of ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and 
‘Wet Hot American Summer’ turns to beating a dead horse

“Let’s all promise that in ten 

years from today, we’ll meet 
again, and we’ll see what kind 
of 
people 
we’ve 
blossomed 

into.” These words, spoken by 
Bradley Cooper in the original 
“Wet Hot American Summer,” 
form the basis for the second 
season of the Netflix revival 
that began two years ago with 
“First Day of Camp.” “Wet Hot 
American Summer” is just the 
latest franchise to enter into 
a state of what I like to call 
“Perpetual Ending Purgatory.” 
Other offenders of this include 
“Arrested Development” and 
the 
BBC 
series 
“Sherlock.” 

In essence, these are series 
that never truly end, but also 
do not continue in any kind 
of 
regular 
fashion. 
There 

won’t be another season of 
“Sherlock”... 
until 
there 
is. 

“Arrested Development” fans 
have spent the better part of a 
decade now waiting on a Season 

5 to wrap up story threads left 
over from the long gestating 
Netflix-sponsored Season 4. All 
this after the show originally 
concluded in a pretty satisfying 
way back in 2005.

This 
“Perpetual 
Ending 

Purgatory” 
is 
especially 

prevalent 
among 
Netflix 

revivals 
and 
other 
kinds 

of 
sporadically-appearing 

television series that don’t air 
every year in the way most 
series do. And while this is 
potentially cause for rejoice 
for the various fans of these 
shows, it also makes it harder 
for audiences to interpret what 
it is they are watching. Take 
“Wet Hot American Summer: 
Ten Years Later.” At surface 
level, it would seem like this is 
the natural place to conclude 
the “Wet Hot” franchise once 
and for all. They have now gone 
back in time with “First Day of 
Camp” and made it all the way to 
the point originally mentioned 
in the feature film. One would 
think there isn’t much more 
that can be mined out of these 
characters and storylines at 
this point. But without any 
kind of confirmation one way 
or the other that this is really 
the grand finale for the Camp 
Firewood gang, the climax of 
the miniseries loses much of its 
potential impact.

“Sherlock” Series 4 is another 

example of why it’s important 
for an audience to know if they 

are 
watching 

the conclusion 
to a story or 
merely another 
chapter. 
That 

whole 
series 

focused a lot on 
the impact that 
Sherlock 
and 

John Watson’s 
adventures 
had had on the 
people around 
them 
and 
it 

really tried to 
bring the series 
full 
circle 

in a number 
of 
ways. 
It 

ended 
in 
a 

way that could 
be viewed as 
an 
ending, 

but 
could 

also 
easily 

be 
continued 

on from any 
number 
of 

years 
from 

now. 
To 
an 

extent 
that 

was 
probably 

the 
point. 

But should it 
have 
been? 

We live in a 
culture 
that 

is 
obsessed 

with 
dusting 

off old things 
and 
bringing 

them back to 
go 
through 

the 
same 

motions 
all 

over again and 
this 
inability 

to let anything 
end is slowly 
but 
surely 

degrading 
the 
overall 

quality of long 
form western 
storytelling.

Even 
the 

creators 
of 

these 
shows 

don’t 
have 

IAN HARRIS

Daily Entertainment Columnist

REPRISE RECORDS

Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day

CONCERT REVIEW

All hail Green Day: on the 
punk band’s lasting legacy

Green Day’s recent concert at Darien Lake in Buffalo is a 
testament to what makes the band a uniting, everlasting force

When you mix a couple rock 

stars in their 40s with copious 
amounts 
of 
pyrotechnics, 

a few killer sax solos, the 
energy of DIY punks and a 
groundbreaking catalogue of 
music, you get the greatest 
band in the world playing 
music today. But before I dive 
into the details of Green Day’s 
set at Darien Lake, NY, we’re 
going to rewind to March of 
this year to the third Green 
Day show I had ever attended.

It’s the evening of Mar. 27, 

a Monday, and I’m making my 
way into Joe Louis Arena to 
wait for my friend to arrive 
while enjoying one of punk 
rock’s most important bands, 
Against Me!, open the show. 
After their set, my friend and 
I make our way into the crowd 
to find her (now our) friend, an 
incredibly special fan from the 
U.K. she had met a few years 
ago in Europe at a Green Day 
show.

This special fan is Fran 

Green — yes, her last name 
is literally Green — and her 
dedication to Green Day is 
on a newsworthy level (she’s 
actually been interviewed by 
the local news in Iowa). Fast 
forward to the morning of Aug. 
26 to find me on my way to 
Darien Lake (just past Buffalo) 
with my friend and none other 
than Fran Green herself after 
spending four weeks in the 
United States following Green 

Day’s tour. That evening, I saw 
Green Day for my fourth time; 
for Fran, it was her 57th show.

Ms. Green’s dedication is 

a small component of what 
has made and kept Green Day 
so important over the years. 
Green Day is a band that unites 
people 
across 
continents, 

forms friendships and shapes 
adolescent identities. She’s not 
alone in her adoration, as Green 
Day continues to play stadiums 
and arenas to hundreds of 
thousands of fans; rising from 
modest roots in the East Bay 
punk scene, the band found 
quick success in cementing 
themselves in the annals of 
punk rock’s history. Having 
been formed over 30 years ago, 
the band hasn’t missed a beat 
in performance, performing 
with youthful energy entirely 
unique to Green Day within 
the arena rock scene.

Green Day’s performances 

have turned them into legend, 
striking awe into the crowd 
while retaining the down-to-
earth relatability that is the 
basis of punk music. During 
“St. Jimmy,” an excited fan 
screamed from behind me, “I 
love you, St. Jimmy!” reflecting 
Armstrong’s 
mythological 

status as a musician, blurring 
the line between fictional and 
real hero. When Armstrong 
looks into the eyes of his fans, 
the 
connection 
is 
electric. 

Whether 
he’s 
playing 
to 

thousands — which I witnessed 
last fall at the Fillmore Detroit 
— or tens of thousands, the 
frontman exudes an aura of 
understanding, comfort and 
passion. After all these years, 
you just know he still gets it.

And this is Green Day’s real 

magic. They’re all about having 
fun 
(i.e. 
their 
outlandish 

attire during “King for a Day,” 
which included tutus, pirate 
hats and funky sunglasses), 
but they also don’t shy away 
from real life issues; Billie 
Joe isn’t afraid to say “This is 
for all the weirdos out there” 
or just a straight up “Fuck 
Trump.” I mentioned this in 
the past in my review of 2016’s 
comeback record Revolution 
Radio, but Green Day has a 
knack for mixing important 
personal and political notions 
into their music — something 

that 
translates 
into 
their 

performance.

As a now “seasoned” veteran 

of Green Day performances, 
my only real qualm with their 
set is the elaborately drawn 
out “King for a Day.” The 
song itself is fun and all, but 
the approximately 20-minute 
charade with inclusions of 
cover snippets from “Shout,” 

“Hey, Jude” and other rock 
classics 
starts 
to 
drag 
in 

comparison to their own music. 
They could easily fit four songs 
in that time frame, even treat 
the longtime fans to oldies like 
“One of My Lies” or “One for 
the Razorbacks” to supplement 
the usual staple “2,000 Light 
Years Away.”

Nonetheless, it’s a treat in 

itself to still have Green Day 
performing at the top of their 
game. With sets including 
classics 
from 
the 
’90s 
to 

modern bangers off their most 
recent record, the band shows 
no signs of slowing in the 
near future. Having already 
garnered multiple generations 
of fans passed along from 
parent to child and friend to 
friend, Green Day is a band built 
upon emotional connection — a 

DOMINIC POLSINELLI

Daily Arts Writer

Green Day’s 
performances 
have turned 

them to legend, 
striking awe into 
the crowd while 

retaining the 
down-to-earth 

relatability that is 
the basis of punk 

music

Ms. Green’s 
dedication is a 

small component 
of what has made 
and kept Green 
Day so important 

over the years

This “Perpetual 

Ending 

Purgatory” 
is especially 

prevalent amongst 

Netflix revivals

DAILY ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE COLUMN

any idea if they are ever done. 
Both the creators of “Wet Hot 
American Summer” as well 
as the creators of “Sherlock” 
have been coy about whether 
or not there will be more 
seasons 
of 
their 
respective 

shows, and Mitch Hurwitz (the 
mastermind behind “Arrested 
Development”) has been very 
open about saying he has long 
had the last beat of the current 
“Arrested” storyline planned 
out with the feeling that beat is 
supposed to give the audience 

being, “Oh wait, so there’s 
more.”

Oh wait, so there’s more. 

Those 
five 
words 
could 

essentially sum up the entirety 
of the way stories have come 
to be told on the big and small 
screens in the 21st century. The 
end is never the end. Sure the 
credits might roll but there’s 
always something after the 
credits. Maybe this is the end 
for this particular group of 
characters, but it’s certainly 
not the end of this universe. 

There will be prequels and 
sequels and reboots until the 
end of time and for the most 
part we will gladly accept these 
derivative works into our lives 
because they provide us with 
more of the same. But without 
the ability to provide us with 
true endings, more and more 
movies and TV shows are 
failing to provide us with true 
meanings. That is the greatest 
sin of all. Oh wait, so there’s 
more. Just once, it would be 
nice for there not to be.

Arts

ACROSS
1 Drains
5 Takes from page
to screen, say
11 One of
Beethoven’s
nine: Abbr.
14 Party with tiki
torches
15 Flashy Chevy
16 With 36-Down,
Dr. Seuss classic
with the subtitle
“The Simplest
Seuss for
Youngest Use”
17 Cowardly Snoopy
nemesis?
19 Seagoing “I see”
20 French film icon
Brigitte
21 “The Racer’s
Edge”
22 Urban air
concern
23 Much
25 Curriculum __
27 Gloomy route to
Oz?
32 Actress Vardalos
33 Butte relative
34 RadioShack
predecessor
35 Automaker
Ferrari
37 Watched closely
40 Fictional London
alter ego
41 United
43 Halt
45 Belonging to us
46 Embarrassed
three-person
Vegas act?
50 Kentucky pioneer
51 Divided sea
52 Applaud
54 Old PC monitor
56 “Altogether ooky”
family name
60 Rocker Ocasek
61 Primary mixes
that affect 17-,
27- and 46-
Across
63 Query
64 Fire up
65 Attract pigeons
for, say
66 Bluster
67 Colorful fish
68 2016 N.L. East
champs

DOWN
1 Untidy type

2 Certain
something
3 Early late-night
host
4 Ice cream treat
5 Polish removers
6 Apply carefully
7 Latin I verb
8 “Friday the 13th:
Jason Lives,”
sequentially
9 Torrid Zone
parallel
10 Junior
11 Words of
reproach
12 Up-and-down toy
13 Downloaded
video format
18 Jewish folklore
figure
22 Mother of Isaac
24 Recipe amt.
26 B’way buy
27 Many of its knives
have a limited
lifetime warranty
28 Arkansas team
29 Mrs. Gorbachev
30 Compute
31 Salon worker
32 Twice-monthly
tide
36 See 16-Across
38 Sicilian high point

39 Track events with
mechanical lures
42 “Strange Magic”
gp.
44 Museum with
Goyas and El
Grecos
47 Recital bonus
48 Red wine option
49 Gary who played
Beethoven in
“Immortal
Beloved”

52 Outcropping
53 Songwriter 
Loeb
55 __ de force
57 “Dancing 
Queen” 
quartet
58 Bubbly maker
59 Old fast fliers
61 Player in an
indoor tree
62 Soweto’s
country: Abbr.

By Kurt Mengel and Jan-Michele Gianette
©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/07/17

09/07/17

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, September 7, 2017

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

xwordeditor@aol.com