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Arts
Thursday, November 16, 2017 — 5

STARZ

Kerrigan and Seimetz are back again with season 2 of ‘The Girlfriend Experience”
‘Girlfriend’ revels in its
darker, radical season 2

A show centered on the lives of escorts returns with a twist

TV REVIEW

Last season, we uncovered

that the world of an escort
is
overflowing
with
lies,

secrets,
scandals,
and
the

obvious,
sex.
Thanks
to

dynamic character arcs and a
re-invented structure, season
two of Starz’s “The Girlfriend
Experience” is racking up to be
even darker, bolder and more
mystifying than the first. This
time around, the dramatic
thriller
diverts
from
its

singular storyline format and
enables showrunners, Lodge
Kerrigan (“Keane”) and Amy
Seimetz (“Upstream Color”),
to indulge in their individual
inspirations
and
construct

two
separate
narratives

—
which
air
successively

yet never intertwine. This
autonomy, stemming from the
creators’ desire to rupture the
boundaries of premium-cable
TV, not only allows audiences
to explore the varying realm
beyond the work of an escort,
but
also
to
consider
the

psychological
complexity,

corruption, and divide between
the socially high and low.

Kerrigan’s
story,
titled

“Erica and Anna,” invades
midterm election season in
Washington, D.C. where Erica
(Anna Friel, “Limitless”), the
authoritative investment head
of a Republican political action
committee, drafts call girl,
Anna (Louisa Krause, “The
Abandoned”) to dig up dirt
and slaughter the reputation
of her client and dark money
donor, Mark (Michael Cram,
“Flashpoint”). This account,
through its themes of apathy,
the connection between human
relationship and currency, and
blatant coldness, is reminiscent
of season one of the series, and
once again offers a glimpse
into the twisted relationship
linking sex, money, and power.

The story is dark and sterile,
both in concept and staging,
as almost no light enters the
hotel room or office where
the drama ensues. This aura
strategically mirrors the gritty
nature of the clandestine plot,
and successfully promotes the
show’s overall dismal tone.

Moreover,
Friel
and

Krause’s discerning execution
of their characters showcases
an
interestingly-ironic

emotionality
and
honesty

inside of two icy, success-
hungry
personas.
Is
Anna

breaking
confidentiality

agreements to simply make
money? To seek justice? And
just what she is willing to

expose and exploit to gain
what she wants? The skillful
cast
of
actors
is
enough

alone to keep watching “The
Girlfriend Experience,” and
the weight of their paltry
characters’
significance
in

a much grander U.S. affair
is extremely relevant in our
current political landscape.

On the other hand, Seimetz’s

story,
titled
“Bria,”
seems

as though it will offer more
drastic
and
introspective

character development, using a
humanizing lens to document
the life of an escort. This
narrative follows former GFE
worker, Bria (Carmen Ejogo,
“The Purge: Anarchy), who,
along with her reluctant and
bratty step-daughter, enlists
in
the
Witness
Protection

Program
to
escape
the

impending
danger
of
her

abusive
relationship.
She

is trained by U.S. Marshal
Ian
(Tunde
Adebimpe,

“Portlandia”) to believably take
on a new name, background,
and job, and is relocated to a
small town in New Mexico to
spend some time off the grid.
However,
halfway
through

her premiere, she is willfully
tempted back into escorting
and is on the hunt to make
extra money from high-profile
clients.

This story sheds light on

the persuasive and addictive
essence
of
escorting,
and

sharply
juxtaposes
Bria’s

carefree, high-profile life with
the culture shock that emerges
after
she
is
thrust
back

into a dull and unfulfilling
environment. The acting is
impeccable, the concept is
intriguing and I envision this
storyline as provoking even
more hair-raising moments of
screaming “No, don’t do it!”
at the screen. Due to Ejogo’s
nuanced portrayal, after just
one episode I already find
myself rooting for Bria, and
hoping that she will come to
realize the extent of the peril
of re-entering the sex business.

Ultimately,
the
second

season
of
“The
Girlfriend

Experience”
has
a
lot
of

potential to comment on the
deeper social and internal
struggles of the leading ladies,
chronicling their raw emotion
in a stern and poker-faced
world.
The
experimental

structure leaves room for a
multitude of twists and turns,
and the expert acting brings
characters normally left in
the shadows to the forefront
of their narratives. While the
duo of unrelated stories may
seem distant from each other,
an underlying motif of deceit
ties them together and further
unearths the unique artistic
value of this series.

MORGAN RUBINO

Daily Arts Writer

The Girlfirend

Experience

Season 2
Premiere

Thursdays at

9:00 p.m.

Starz

BOOK REVIEW
Obsession & reinvention in
Trevor’s ‘Book of Wonders’

Characters in the recent collection struggle with a loss of control

“If literature should teach

us anything, surely it should
teach us that literature is not
the only thing that matters in
life.”

Such a peculiar conclusion

for a character to come to
in a short story, but it is the
one that Theobald Kristellar
reaches at the end of “Sonnet
126.” It is the conclusion, as
a matter of fact, that many
characters in Douglas Trevor’s
recent collection “The Book of
Wonders” eventually reach.

The stories in this collection

broach many subjects — lost
love, neglect, embezzlement,
fraud, the classics — but they
are all united under one:
obsession. It is present in
each story, be it an obsession
with
literature,
a
person,

their studies, a library or
faucets (yes, water faucets). It
is the paranoid fixation of an
obsession that seizes us when
the rest of our life is falling
to shreds. And that’s where
the characters of “The Book
of Wonders” find themselves:
falling to pieces in one way or
another and trying to rebuild
on a cracked foundation.

Colin, Herbert and Theo, the

protagonists of “The Detroit
Frankfurt School Discussion
Group,”
“The
Program
in

Profound
Thought”
and

“Sonnet
126”
respectively,

display this struggle to rebuild
in the face of depression. They
are all professors of literature
caught in the barren world of
middle age having experienced
little
success
professionally

or romantically. Faced with
their
own
stagnancy
and,

subsequently,
their
own

mortality,
these
characters

find
themselves
floating,

almost ghostlike, in a world
devoid of meaning outside their
copies of “Paradise Lost” and
Horkheimer’s “Critical Theory.”
So instead they try to become
alcoholics, commit fraud to
feel alive or simply isolate
themselves from the rest of the
world and hide in a library, until
one small shift in what seems
to be their predestined demise
causes them to stop, reevaluate
and rebuild.

Their
trajectory
is

reminiscent of Newton’s First
Law: An object in motion must
stay in motion until acted on
by an outside force. In the
case of these characters, they
are on their slow descent into
meaninglessness until some
unsuspected force intervenes.
For Colin it is a stranger from
Detroit looking to apply the
Frankfurt School of Thought
to his perishing community,
for Herbert it is a new dean
who finally notices the money
he has been embezzling from
Excellence University and for
Theo, it is a lost Shakespearean
couplet.
All
big
or
small

events in their own right, but
they provide enough of a jolt,
enough of a force, to ignite
change in the three men’s lives.
Because in the obsessions of

others, these characters find
a renewed sense of meaning in
their own lives.

“Detroit Frankfurt School”

and “Sonnet 126” draw us near
to various obsessions, wrap us
in a character’s intense fixation
on the Frankfurt School of
Thought
and
Renaissance

literature and make us feel it,
while “Profound Thought” lags
behind in this regard. There
is some charm missing from
Herbert’s plight that makes it
less enrapturing than Colin’s
and Theo’s; a piece of personal
familiarity that leaves us less
invested in Herbert’s demise
than the others. “Endymion”
leaves us on this note as well.

Literature is heavily inlaid

with other protagonists’ and
supporting characters’ lives
outside the realm of academic
work. As we see in “Endymion”
this extends as far as a Greek
mythology meeting the streets

of Boston. Taking the myth of
Endymion, a beautiful man
cursed to forever sleep beneath
Selene, the moon, who was in
love with him, Trevor reverses
the roles. Endymion is obsessed
with
turning
our
narrator

Cynthia into his moon, and
lonely and desperate as she
is, she gives into it, no matter
how much weight it means she
may have to gain to achieve
this.
Like
Herbert’s
story,

however, her narrative lacks
balance; there isn’t enough of
a compromise between plot
and character, and as a result,
Cynthia’s internal monologue
inspires more revulsion than it
does sympathy.

But
even
in
their

shortcomings,
these
stories

still succeed. It is simply
because
they
stand
in

comparison
to
perfectly

crafted
stories,
like
“The

Librarian” and “Faucets,” that
their quality is questioned. To
speak of the role of obsession
in this collection is to speak
of “The Librarian,” “Faucets”
and “Book of Wonders.” These
stories drag us deep into the
psyche of their protagonists, as
we are exposed to their hopes,
fears
and
uncontrollable

tendencies.
One
centers

around a child’s need to turn on
faucets, another a librarian’s
inability
to
stop
touching

things — tables, books, plants,
faces, eyelashes, things — and
a woman’s possessive control
over a singular notebook.

Unlike
“Frankfurt”

and
“Sonnet
126”
whose

protagonists find themselves
saved in another’s obsession,
these stories take us into
people who foster them, whose
identities are intrinsically tied
to the compulsive behaviors
that
envelope
them.
And

because they cannot separate
themselves from what compels
them, they find themselves
clinging to this false sense of
control, making their stories
so devastating. There is little,
if anything, indicating to them
that this sense of control is
exactly that: false. There is
little, if anything, to suggest to
them that their obsession isn’t
the only thing that matters in
life. So it’s that much harder
for them to reach the same
conclusion Kristellar does.

NATALIE ZAK

Managing Arts Editor

“The Book of

Wonders”

Douglas Trevor

SixOneSeven

Books

October 17,

2017

SINGLE REVIEW

Just over three years after
releasing their most recent

album Keep You, Pianos
Become The Teeth has

finally resurfaced with a new
single from their forthcoming

record Wait For Love, titled
“Charisma.” The track kicks
the band into an uncharac-

teristically quick tempo while

retaining its penchant for

tender melodies.

The track immediately greets

us with a driving bassline,
noting significant change
from their pacing on Keep

You. The rest of the composi-

tion follows suit and keeps
up with fuzzy rhythm guitar

and soaring melody guitar
joining the rapid bass and

drums. The song is an unde-

niable departure from the

atmosphere on Keep You,
but it also holds a familiar
structure of softly blended
compositions that undercut
emotional vocals, character-

istic of PBTT’s most recent

work.

As a former screamo band,
PBTT has a come a long way
from their previously abra-
sive, albeit still gorgeously
composed style. On “Cha-
risma,” lead vocalist Kyle

Durfey has traded in the pen-
sive, withdrawn tone that was

used on much of Keep You for
an outward, observant sound,
mirrored in the track’s lyri-
cism. It’s warm and inviting,
far from the suffocating long-

ing on the band’s previous

material.

“Charisma” begs the obvious

question of where exactly

the band is headed with this
new record. The track sees
PBTT at their poppiest yet,
using their unique melodies
to welcome and uplift in an
unprecedented form for the
band. Never stagnant, PBTT
has consistently evolved their
sound with each release, and
if “Charisma” is any indica-
tion, Wait For Love won’t be

an exception.

— DOMINIC POLSINELLI

EPITAPH

“Charisma”

Pianos Become

the Teeth

Epitaph

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