The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Thursday, February 20, 2020 — 5
You know those shows that have a season-ending
cliffhanger that makes you scream to yourself,
“HOW IN THE WORLD AM I SUPPOSED TO
WAIT FOUR MONTHS TO FIND OUT WHAT
HAPPENS?” Well, it’s been years since the season
seven finale of “Homeland” and somewhere along
the way, I stopped caring.
To
refresh
your
memory, when we last saw
Carrie Mathison (Claire
Danes, “A Kid Like Jake”),
she had spent six months
undergoing
intense
interrogation in Russia
without her meds to treat
her
bipolar
disorder.
When
Saul
Berenson
(Mandy
Patinkin,
“Criminal
Minds”)
negotiated her release, she
was unable to recognize
her longtime boss. When
the new season opens,
we have already skipped
through most of Carrie’s
recovery
process,
yet
the repercussions of her
imprisonment will be felt
for weeks to come.
Saul, who now serves as the National Security
Advisor to the President, is in Qatar trying to
negotiate a peace agreement with the Taliban that
would get U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. Once
negotiations break down due to resentment from
Abdul Qadir G’ulom, Afghanistan’s vice president,
Saul rushes to grab Carrie from Germany, where
she’s recovering, because she’s an “old friend”
of G’ulom’s and, more importantly, Saul’s most
accomplished agent. No one — except for Saul and
Carrie — thinks it’s a good idea to put her back in
the field. With this, the status quo of “Homeland” is
forcefully reinstated.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, the nerdy Max
Piotrowski’s (Maury Sterling, “Girlfriends’ Guide
to Divorce”) mission to replace a listening device
by the Pakistan border presents nothing more than
a convoluted storyline meant to add some gunfire
to an episode relatively devoid of violence. A more
optimistic outlook on the season opener’s B-plot is
that it highlights the instability and danger taking
place in the region. Regardless, the arc that is being
set up for the season to come is whether or not the
United States can see if real peace in the region is
still on the table.
Unlike other long-
running shows that fail
to utilize the worlds
they
spent
seasons
building, “Homeland”
brings us back to where
we started: Nearly a
decade after fans spent
a
season
wrestling
with whether or not
al-Qaeda prisoner of
war Nicholas Brody
(Damian
Lewis,
“Billions”) could be
trusted,
the
same
tactic is being used to
create intrigue with
Carrie. After spending
seven
months
held
in a Russian prison
without her medicine,
it’s very possible that
Carrie
could
have
given up vital information. Carrie herself isn’t even
sure what she’s done — she can’t remember 180
out of the near-210 days spent in imprisonment. As
Carrie waits for her meeting with G’ulom, she spots
her Russian captor Yevgeny Gromov (Costa Ronin,
“The Americans”). Haunted with memories of her
clinging to Yevgeny and begging him not to leave,
we’re left wondering if a severe case of Stockholm
Syndrome caused Carrie to betray her country.
Something feels very right about “Homeland”
ending with a storyline about Carrie’s bipolar
disorder possibly being used as an asset by foreign
enemies. The series truly comes full circle — Carrie,
who was uncertain if she could trust the man she
fell for, ends up being unsure if she can even trust
herself.
‘Homeland’ is finally back
after two-year hiatus
JUSTIN POLLACK
Daily Arts Writer
TV REVIEW
It’s almost a pity to ground Michael McElroy’s
words in text when his everyday way of talking
is so expressive and passionate. The director
of “Sonnets, Soliloquies, and Soul”’s gesturing
hands and ever-shifting facial expressions
engaged me completely in his words, and I
hadn’t even gotten around to seeing the run-
through of the show yet. We surveyed the
jumble of actors milling around below from
the balcony of the Arthur Miller Theater and
chatted about Shakespeare, soul music and how
torn apart our world is today.
I have never been a fan of Shakespeare. To
me, his work has always seemed to be something
people attest to liking
to prove their well-read
character.
However,
McElroy’s words – along
with the passionate, non-
traditional mediums of
song and modern dance
with which the piece was
performed — made the
bard seem accessible at
last.
McElroy got involved
with
acting
in
high
school, and was cast in his
first musical theater piece
by
Vincent
Cardinal,
director of the Musical
Theater program at the
university. He has done
on
and
off
Broadway
performances, has been
nominated for a Tony
and currently teaches at
New
York
University’s
Tisch
program.
He
is
most comfortable as an
actor and directs only
because he must find a
way to express his love
of creating. Directing is
a way to help display that
creativity.
“Sonnets,
Soliloquies,
and Soul” takes the work
of Shakespeare and makes
it musical, using genres
such
as
soul,
gospel,
R&B and pop. It will play in the Arthur Miller
Theater at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, then 8
p.m. Friday and Saturday, finishing with a 2
p.m. matinee on Sunday the 23. McElroy began
writing the show by sitting down and looking
at different Shakespeare sonnets, trying to find
the thread of emotion that connected them.
Shakespeare used to write for the masses,
describing the elements that make humans
tick and creating our concept of humanity as
we know it. Hundreds of years later, he is still
relevant; it must be for a reason.
Then, putting it all together, he asked
himself, “Where’s that grain of truth in the
human experience that can be articulated the
same way but through a different lens?” That
different lens, he decided, is African American
music. With that, he sent out requests to friends
to write a handful of songs for the show, even
contributing some himself. All songs featured
are originals intended for this piece. The cast is
diverse enough in race, ethnicities and gender
identities to be able to accurately use this music
to bring across the theme: Love is universal, no
matter who you are.
The piece is split into different parts.
Some display the happy sides of the theme
(“Blossoming Love” and “Eternal Love”). Some
are sad, such as “Love Loss” or “Rejected
Love.” “Self Love” sends a badass message
of
independence,
especially directed at
females.
The diverse theme is
reflected through the
range of the music. The
audience
experiences
everything
from
Motown
group-style
singing, to soft R&B/
pop, to hip-hop. Lines
such as “cause baby,
you are my summer’s
day”
makes
the
complicated
language
in
Shakespeare
accessible. The talented
cast
members
make
direct
Shakespeare
quotes feel everyday;
the warm, casual tone
makes it welcoming to
the audience.
McElroy
aims
to
find
the
intersection
between Shakespeare’s
times and now, mixing
the classical with the
modern,
and
finding
the human themes that
still
resonate
today.
It is fitting that the
show opens with the
prologue from Romeo
And Juliet, as McElroy
intends for the piece to
“hold a mirror up to the
world in which we live.” McElroy resents the
polarizing “you’re either with us, or against
us” mentality of the world today. He hopes
the audience will learn not to focus on their
differences, and that this show will challenge
the viewer to broaden their mind. As the
timelessness of Shakespeare’s themes show, we
are more alike than we are different.
Sonnets, Soliloquies, and Soul is on Feb. 20,
7:30 pm, Feb. 21 and 22, 8:00 pm, & Feb. 23,
2:00 pm at the Arthur Miller Theater. GA: $20,
Student: $13
‘Sonnets, Soliloquies, and
Soul’ seeks to open minds
ROSA SOFIA KAMINSKI
For the Daily
The first time I met Lara Jean Covey, I was a
freshman in high school reading Jenny Han’s newest
release, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” in an
armchair at the Barnes and Noble on Washtenaw. I
distinctly remember swooning at every flirtatious
scene between Peter and Lara Jean and it really wasn’t
any different for either of the movies.
The latest release in the series, “P.S. I Still Love
You,” follows Lara Jean (Lana Condor, “Alita: Battle
Angel”) and Peter (Noah Centineo, “Sierra Burgess
is a Loser”) as they navigate the ups and downs of a
high school relationship. Addressing everything from
jealousy to old flames, the film is the epitome of a high
school romantic comedy. Though the soundtrack is
much better than anything I ever listened to in high
school, “P.S. I Still Love You” is still dripping with
the mortifying characteristics of teenagers convinced
that they’re in love. And maybe they are, but Lara
Jean is still a character whose only understanding of
what “love” is comes from romance novels written by
ghostwriters trying to make money off of lonely people
in airports.
This aspect of her character shouldn’t be surprising
— the films and books are relatively similar, and for how
much I enjoyed “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,”
once the novel experience of the love letter played out,
there isn’t much left that makes Lara Jean’s character
interesting, or Peter’s for that matter. The two live in
the suburbs of Portland, Peter plays lacrosse and Lara
Jean doesn’t like to drive in the snow. That’s it. The
drama that ensues is a result of poor communication
skills and two people who aren’t confident enough in
themselves to truly trust one another.
The introduction of John Ambrose Mcclaren (Jordan
Fisher, “Grease Live!”) only heightens this mistrust,
pushing Lara Jean, and the audience, to try and choose
between the two boys. The fact that she is even able to
make this choice, though after a considerable amount
of consideration and drama, is a surprising character
development for Lara Jean. Frankly, “P.S. I Still Love
You” focuses on the wrong characters. We know Lara
Jean and Peter are going to have issues, that’s a fact. It
wouldn’t be a healthy relationship otherwise. It’s her
father and Mrs. Rothschild, excuse me, Trina, who
we want to see. The budding relationship that plays
out in the background of the film has all the makings
of another cliché romantic comedy without the
unnecessary drama of high school.
Despite its clear lack of understanding for what
high school actually is, “P.S. I Still Love You” is, for
lack of a better word, really pretty. The film looks like
a teenage girl put it through the VSCO C4 filter, but
she doesn’t know how to use the toggle features of
the editing app. And it’s perfect. The over-saturated
warm tones give “P.S. I Still Love You” a nostalgic feel
that is necessary to enjoy any kind of movie set in high
school. And while I might have been screaming at the
fact that Lara Jean paints “PK” on her face on the day
of Peter’s lacrosse game, at least the rich yellow of the
school bus was still enjoyable. Beyond the comforting
colors, “P.S. I Still Love You” also has beautifully
framed scenes. Particularly, the driving transitions to
literally anywhere — the drone shots of a
car driving through a winding road with
either trees or mountains on the side —
were prevalent throughout the second
film and, though a little overused, they
were incredibly satisfying to watch.
Both the film and the books read like
a young girl’s fantasy of the high school
experience. They take what we expect
high school to be like, based on movies
like “Pretty in Pink” and “Sixteen
Candles,” and turn them into something
Hollywood considers more “realistic.”
But it’s not the ’80s, it’s not even the 2010s
anymore, so why are we still pretending
anybody has time to break another
person’s heart in high school?
EMMA CHANG
Daily Arts Writer
FILM REVIEW
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
“Homeland”
Season 8 Premiere
Showtime
Sundays @ 9:00pm
Review: ‘To All The Boys’ 2
NETFLIX
‘The World Beneath Their
Feet’ is almost too precise
EMMA DOETTLING
For The Daily
“Mountaineering, madness, and the deadly race to
the summit of the Himalayas.” The catchphrase on the
cover of the novel “The World Beneath Their Feet” by
Scott Ellsworth says it all.
An epic account of the Great Himalayan Race in
the years leading up to the Second World War, the
new novel follows the many successful and failed
attempts to climb the so called “Achttausender” (the
world’s highest mountain range, stretching over 8000
meters into the sky). This elite class of mountains
consumed the hearts and minds of mountaineers
all over the world in the mid to late 1930s and sent
countries scrambling to be the first to send climbers
to seemingly unreachable peaks. Each team attempted
the mountain in its own distinct way, and with every
new chapter, Ellsworth describes a different summit
attempt and the variations in strategy that the different
players brought to the game.
The conditions of the world in the 1930s play an
important role in the story as well. As the Nazi party
in Germany gained power, the battle to the top of the
“Achttausender” became a matter of national pride.
The Nazi party vied to be the first to ascend the highest
mountains in order to showcase the superiority of
their people, while representatives of other countries,
in turn, strived to bring glory to their home countries.
The confusion that arose from competing climbers
and expeditions resulted in a chaotic race to the top
of the world, and every detail of this complex struggle
is thoroughly recounted in the pages of “The World
Beneath Their Feet.”
The story is beautifully written. Ellsworth describes
the vast Himalayan mountain stretch with reverence,
recounting the incredible beauties and horrors that
the climbers faced there. Through his carefully chosen
words, the mountains come alive like ancient and
temperamental beasts, and the mere humans striving
for the lofty peaks are lowly slaves to their volatile
whims. His fervent words attest to the humbling
power of the Himalayas, telling of a “landform so
vast and impenetrable that it altered the very course
of history” and “behemoths of rock and ice so large
they created their own weather systems.” Ellsworth
describes the uncharted wonders to be found in depths
of the Himalayas, from hidden paradises to “deadly
crevasses and towering seracs” to dangers at every
turn. It is easy to fall under the spell Ellsworth paints
through his rapturous words in the first few chapters.
Though beautifully written, it soon becomes clear
that the story doesn’t have any real direction. It falls
into a repetitive cycle, where every few pages a new
expedition is described in unnecessary detail without
the necessary emotion to compel the reader to keep
reading. Ellsworth breezes by the death, hardship
and trials of the human spirit that characterize these
grueling expeditions with a nonchalant ease, leaving
us with a novel that describes these events with an
almost textbook impartiality. “The World Beneath
Their Feet” is meticulously researched, but the
level of detail that Ellsworth incorporates about the
innumerable climbers he discusses makes the novel
dense and unpleasant to read. The result is a barrage
of names, dates and purposeless facts that only serve
to confuse the reader and draw all emotion out of
the story. Each new climber Ellsworth introduces
becomes just another faceless individual, lost in the
sea of dreamers who more often than not do not
achieve their goals. Then Ellsworth is off to the next
expedition and the next set of climbers, leaving us with
no emotional connection to the people who put their
lives on hold and threw themselves into harm’s way
just to summit the Himalayan titans. What made them
do it? Why did they risk everything just to climb these
monstrous peaks? Ellsworth has no answer for us, only
more trifling facts about equipment, food and weather
conditions.
“The World Beneath Their Feet” has potential
that stretches as high as the towering mountains it
so lovingly describes, but in the end it falls short. The
novel drags toward the middle and end, and reading
it becomes a slow and sluggish process when it could
have been a moving account of human achievement
with just a little bit more emotion. Though an avid
mountaineer may enjoy this novel, it is inaccessible
to the average person looking for a glimpse into the
mysterious minds of Himalayan climbers. If you are
looking for a book about the awe-inspiring realities of
mountaineering, stick to John Krakauer’s “Into Thin
Air.”
SHOWTIME
I have never been a fan of
Shakespeare. To me, his
work has always seemed to
be something people attest
to liking to prove their well-
read character. However,
McElroy’s words – along
with the passionate, non-
traditional mediums of
song and modern dance
with which the piece was
performed — made the bard
seem at last accessible.
BOOKS REVIEW