The Hunger for Something More - Friday video distractions with Mike Norton

  How are you doing?
  It's a time unprecedented in nearly all of our lives. The stresses are enormous, ranging from basic, personal, mortal fears, to likely much greater concerns for friends and loved ones, and the broad, deep worries about economic forces as our economy virtually implodes due largely to the mostly necessary shut-downs of normal business operations.

    A time of too much uncertainty, as trustworthy sources and reliable predictions are elusive at best. A time when most of us are looking for some sense of security and purpose as the normal patterns of our lives are suddenly blocked and changed.

    This may be an ideal time to set this reality aside, rather than get caught up in a masochistic infotainment loop, and get lost in another one, an almost magical one hidden just behind the scenes of the mundane world we all took too much for granted just weeks ago.

    The 10-part series Dispatches From Elsewhere, began running Sunday March 1, the second episode following the next day, in what will be it's normal Monday night spot for the remainder of the run.

    Set and mostly shot in Phildadelphia, PA (some 19 miles or so from where I sit), the series revolves around a small group of people who are drawn together by the mystery of a hitherto unknown to them organization, the Jejune Institute, and before long they're drawn into the rivalry between that group and the Elsewhere Society.
    Each of the first five episodes is titled for one of the main characters.    While we are introduced to the core four - offered each in turn as our possible surrogates - in the first episode, each of those named episodes focuses on the titular character.
    Episode one, "Peter"(played by series star and creator, Jason Segel), introduces us to a man stuck in a joyless, numbingly predictable routine. No highs nor lows. An employee with a music streaming service, who we very quickly learn has come to accept his existence in lieu of the vagaries of an actual life. But... has he? A series of bizarre flyers posted along his route to work begin to catch his attention, giving him a hint of potentially wondrous things seemingly happening nearby. Moved to respond to one of them, Peter soon finds himself drawn into a strange introduction and interview at the Jejune Institute. Touched with hope, he's ultimately moved to tears.
    Before long, he's introduced to far more visceral, forceful and cynical Simone (played by Eve Lindley.) As they begin to tug at the clues given them they are eventually introduced in rapid order to generally optimistic empty-nester Janice (played by Sally Field) and the analytical, off-putting, conspiracy-minded Fredwynn (played by Andre Benjamin.) Through a combination of their own backgrounds, temperaments, and how they came to be aware of both the Jejune Institute and their opposite number, the Elsewhere Society, the latter decrying the former as a sinister organization with a veiled and oppressive agenda, each has a different perspective on what they've seen. Is it a game? A come-on to some eventual marketing pitch? A dark conspiracy? Or simply and almost magically, just real?    The second episode focuses on Simone. A trans women with an arts degree, who is a docent - a knowledgeable guide - at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We come to learn more about her rough and rocky life, and of the pains that have formed her.
     Episode three gives us greater background and a focus on Janice.
The fourth gives us a better understanding of Fredwynn.
    In the fullness of disclosure, I'll note that the series is based on a 2013 documentary titled The Institute (not to be confused with the 2017 James Franco film of the same name), which was in turn based on events in San Francisco back in 2008. The documentary's available to be streamed on Amazon Prime, but it's part of some separate layer of subscription service I've yet to look into. I've read just enough about the background for the documentary that I don't want to watch it until sometime after having seen all ten episodes of the ongoing series. Sure, there are elements that are treated as secret that seem reasonably evident to me, but I'm enjoying the willing suspension of disbelief. I need it right now.
  If your cable service includes AMC, you should have access to all five of the episodes that have already aired. My experience is that those can be twitchy - they sometimes pull earlier episodes down before long, so I'd advise you to check soon and start watching.
    Episode 6 will be this upcoming Monday, the 30th, and it's set to air each subsequent Monday until the finale on April 27th. It's become a bit of human-generated magic I'm interested in letting myself get happily lost in as they dole it out, keeping the distant hope that by the time this wraps that our own reality, in some ways permanently transformed, will have become more stable and normal, whatever the details of that new normal will be.
   Next week I'll aim to to more of a broad sweep, with lighter touches on a variety of shows and/or movies. I'm still adjusting to the ever-shifting sand under my feet. Same as you.
   -Mike
Shows and movies hit on in previous posts:

 Sept. 20th: Mindhunter (Netflix)

     Sept. 27th: What's The Matter With Helen, The French Connection, and Frenzy. (Early '70s R-rated movies I saw with my mom)

     Oct. 3rd:    Preacher (AMC), Stumptown (ABC), Sunnyside (NBC), The Good Place (NBC), and Jack Ryan (Amazon Prime).

     Oct. 11th:  Joker (still in theaters), and In The Tall Grass (Netflix)

     Oct. 18th:  El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix)

     Oct. 25th: Dolemite Is My Name (Netflix)

     Nov. 1st:   Watchmen (HBO series), The Kominsky Method (Netflix)

     Nov. 8th:   Seconds (1966 movie, currently available as part of Amazon Prime)
     Nov. 15th: Dr. Sleep (current theatrical release, but probably not for long), Horace and Pete (2016 web-produced series, currently on Hulu)
     Nov. 22nd: NOS4A2 (AMC, now on Hulu) and Man In The High Castle (Amazon Prime)

     Nov. 29th: The Irishman (Netflix), The Mandalorian and The World According To Jeff Goldblum (both on Disney+), light touches on Watchmen (HBO) and Ray Donovan (Showtime)
  Dec, 6th: The Booth At the End (Amazon Prime), and Us (HBO).

Dec 13th:  Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime), The Feed (Amazon Prime), 6 Underground (Netflix movie).

  Dec 20th:A Christmas Carol (FX), The Expanse (Amazon Prime), Killing Eve (BBC America)
  Dec 27th: Lost In Space season 2, and first impressions of The Witcher, both on Netflix.
  Jan. 3rd: Black Mirror (Netflix) and Phillip K. Dick's Electric Dreams (Amazon Prime). 
  Jan 10th: Undone (Amazon Prime), Witcher (Netflix) and Dracula (Netflix/BBC One). 
  Jan 17th: Kidding (Showtime) 
  Jan 24th: No shows, just some movie mentions as I recall some places that no longer exist.
  Jan 31st: October Faction (Netflix) and the finale of The Good Place (NBC).
  Feb 7th: Messiah (Netflix)
  Feb 14th: Locke & Key (Netflix)
  Feb 21st: Skidoo (1968 film, available free on YouTube)
  Feb 28th: The Lighthouse (2019 movie)
  Mar 6th: Kidding (Showtime; second season),  Avenue 5 (HBO), Better Call Saul (AMC.)
  Mar 20th: Monk (streaming on Amazon Prime)

Go to next C7 post