Saying goodbye to Don Draper
A Series of Unfortunate Events, Season 2 Available now
Last year we got the start of the tale of the Baudelaire orphans. And, now, along comes the middle: 10 episodes dedicated to a book in the saga created by writer Daniel Handler. This will be the longest of the three seasons, and though we’re now into territory uncharted on screen (the 2004 film covered the first three books), this is the one most likely to test a binge-watcher’s patience.
The Unfortunate Events are an ever-looping structure, with poor Violet, Klaus and Sunny (the superb and understated Malina Weissman and Louis Hynes, plus often digitally-enhanced toddler Presley Smith) escaping one horrid location and the greasy clutches of a poorly disguised Count Olaf (a brilliant Neil Patrick Harris) only to end up in an even more gruesome one, and back in those aforementioned greasy clutches. To some it will feel repetitive, to others it has the comfort of a familiar storyline and there is still plenty of more material to adapt.
Hanna (2011) Available today
Oh, we can’t get enough of our Saoirse these days and here she is again in one of her lesser-known works. She plays the titular Hanna, a girl who has spent most of her life in the inhospitable wilds of Finland, learning from her father (Eric Bana, with a very odd accent) how to become an elite assassin.
His teaching methods are unforgiving and Hanna’s training has been harsh. Now, however, with half her teen years behind her, she decides that she is ready to enter society.
Her first mission is to infiltrate a secure US government installation in Europe and kill Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett with an equally distracting accent), the woman responsible for Hanna’s mother’s death.
It’s an intriguing, original thriller that owes as much of a debt to the likes of Frankenstein, the Brothers Grimm, David Lynch, and A Clockwork Orange as to The Professional and The Bourne Identity. And, though it isn’t Saoirse’s strongest work, she is as compelling as always.
First Match (2018) Available now
This is more like an indie Million Dollar Baby meets Dangerous Minds. It’s the debut feature from Olivia Newman and deals with a young African-American girl’s tempestuous relationship with her father. The girl, Monique, is distrustful of people, having spent most of her life in the foster care system in New York. Once her father, Darrel (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), a former secondary school wrestling star, is released from prison, she joins her own school’s wrestling team to both impress Darrell and channel her anger into something positive. Monique proves to be a natural on the mat, and as the film follows her success and acceptance by her teammates, the wrestling team comes to function as the stable family unit that’s always eluded her. It’s not without its coming-of-age cliches and sometimes lapses into well-worn sports movie territory, but the wonderful central performance makes this well worth watching.
Mad Men, season 7 Available today
Most TV shows would steam into their finale, accelerating towards the finish line. The much-loved Mad Men, instead, feels like it’s just gearing up for more.
This final season stretches over 14 episodes — how many other shows would start their last hurrah with an episode titled “The Beginning”?
At the end of last season, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) admitted that much of his life was a lie, a move that got him placed on leave at work but could start to repair his relationship with his daughter, Sally (Kiernan Shipka).
Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), meanwhile, has moved up in the brutal ad-agency world at the expense of her personal life.
Without wishing to spoil anything, the finale is really magical, providing delicious resolution for Stan and Peggy, and earned rave reviews when it aired on AMC in the US a few years ago.
“People come and go but no one really says goodbye,” Don Draper, himself, once said, but the final moments here will linger in the consciousness like a farewell kiss at a train station.