Fall TV sizzles: ‘Outlander’ returns, ‘The Deuce’ debuts
“YOU have no idea howharditistoliveout a great romance,” confided Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, many years after she watched King Edward VIII abdicate his throne for her — “the woman I love” — as he famously broadcast his renunciation of royal duty to the world.
WELL, in truth ,the hardpartofWallisand the Duke’s romance was the crushing dissatisfaction, ennui and boredom of their life after they became roaming ex-pats from Britain, bitter, brittle and pointless.
A genuinely difficult, truly great romance might be exemplified by the beloved fictional characters Claire Randall and Jamie Frasier of the “Outlander” books and the TV series.
The show returned Sunday night via the Starz network, in dazzling style — heartbreaking, brutal and romantic.
The three main actors — Catriona Balfe (Claire), Sam Heughan ( Jamie) and Tobias Menzies (in the dual role of Jack Randall — the obsessed 16thcentury Jamie-torturing villain and confused 20th-century hubby to Claire) — remain superb. As does every asp ectof the series; based on the season opening, anyway. Best were Claire’s attempts to adapt to the restrictive standards of the 1948 world she has returned to (for nonviewers, time travel is involved — just go with it!)
Also, one of the most brutal extended execution scenes ever filmed, as British soldiers dispense with Scottish rebels. The horror is not in what is shown, graphically, but what one doesn’t see, and how the soldiers coldly, calmly announce, “Who will be next?”
ALSO ON Sunday night was the premiere of HBO’s highly anticipated “The Deuce” about the seedy world of New York’s prostitution and porn life, circa 1971. This is everything HBO’s failed music ‘70sera series, “Vinyl” was not. It is dazzling, dissolute, magnificently acted (yes, James Franco, playing twin brothers, finally has something he looks truly involved in). Maggie Gyllenhaal, as the prostitute, working 42nd Street is sensational. (This is go-for-broke performing for Gyllenhaal who, at age 39, eschews all vanity for the role.) The recreation of Manhattan at its grimiest — but most compellingly pulsating — is incredibly rendered. I’ve rarely been as impressed and instantly hooked by a series. Fair warning — graphic to the max. MUSIC NOTES: On ept.22oneof the most controversial and criticized Rolling Stones albums, 1967’s “Their Satanic Majesties Request,” will receive a deluxe re-release, on vinyl and CD, with mono and stereo versions and the original cover art. (Lenticular, or depth of vision — it was consid-
Sered very “dr uggy”in that very druggy era.
The cover was more discussed at the time than the songs!)
Although the album did reasonably well, it was compared negatively to The Beatles “Sgt. Pepper,” which came out the same year. But it’s been 50 years, and since the Stones are still vibrantly with us — for heaven’s sake, Mick is still producing children! —ABKCOMu sic thinks it is time for a re-evaluation. In fact, the record is not nearly the “rubbish” some of the Stones themselves thought it was. It is a considerably more interesting effort than the one small hit that it spawned, “She’s a Rainbow.”
Speaking of that tune, in connection the rerelease of the album, a new music video has been created, by Lucy Dawkins and Tom Reddy. It’s called a “lyric video” because aside from fantastical visuals, the song’s (rather lame) lyrics are shown. But it’s afun thing to watch, showing most lyf amous women who were subjects of art from the Victorian, classical, romantic and renaissance eras. It’s amusing, colorful and you can find it on the Jezebel website.