I've been watching Pan Am. It's pretty decent. The 707 is a beautiful jet. It's been getting soapy towards the latter half of the season, but I really like Colette's character and Kate's spy work is enough to distract from excessive soapiness. Also the cast is gorgeous, except for Ted, his teeth are fucked up and he has shifty-looking eyes. I'm having trouble generating sympathy for Bridget, even though she's in the toughest spot of everyone, but that's a mix of her Britishness, and the fact she was MIA for most of the season. It also amuses me that Colette is supposed to be Française, but the actress is actually Québécois.
It's been good fluff to watch in the background while studying. The entire first season is on Netflix. It got cancelled earlier this year so there is no second season.
Anyway I was watching episode 12 and
it's got Ted and his fiancée Amanda coming to terms with her attraction to women (she suggests they get married anyway and they can both see whoever they like) only for it to be interrupted by the Kennedy assassination. Aside from the fact everyone gets upset and starts freaking out before the main cast knows what is going on, and even crying as the radio says "breaking news" (if it's breaking into the broadcast why is everyone in the gallery crying already?) it felt like a copout from resolving the Ted/Amanda line, and a way of squeezing it into the series. There's no time for a reaction, since it's at the end of the episode. Maggie's reaction seems the most honest, but it's a really good impression of shock by Christina Ricci, not good writing.
Mad Men did the Kennedy assassination better.
Re: I want to be a Pan Am stewardess
Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2012 10:35 pm
by timmy
I'd like a time machine so I could work for a defunct company as well.
Seriously though, your review intrigues me and I might give it a go.
Re: I want to be a Pan Am stewardess
Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 5:18 am
by thejester
I could never really get into mad men cause of that fetishisation of the camelot period
it's like a giant, multi-season version of that 'they're by some guy called Picasso' line in Titanic
OH MY GOD WE WERE SO STYLISH AND WE USED TO HIT EACH OTHER'S KIDS IN THE 60s BUT WE ALL KNOW THAT VIETNAM AND THE HIPPIES ARE COMING TO RUIN EVERYTHING AND THEY DON'T
James Ellroy already did it
Re: I want to be a Pan Am stewardess
Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 5:32 am
by Phantasee
Mad Men was my first real big look at the 60s. I didn't know that much about that period until I watched the show.
Anyway I finished Pan Am and it got horribly soapy at the end. Pregnancies, engagements, CIA, mistresses, princes, double agents… Colette is easily the best character in the series. I liked her, her backstory is the most heart string-tugging, her acting is great.
I suppose any guesses at what season 2 would have given us would be speculation, but assuming the soapiness continued I'd guess
Amanda lied about the pregnancy and Bridget made another bid for Dean (at which point I would hate her no matter how sympathetic I was to her this season). Maggie and the Sky God would have some entertaining shenanigans, Kate would come back as a CIA agent/Pan Am stewardess.
Re: I want to be a Pan Am stewardess
Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 5:33 am
by Phantasee
Also episode 13 is supposed to be before the Truth or Dare episode but it's out of order for some inexplicable reason.
Re: I want to be a Pan Am stewardess
Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 11:12 pm
by F.J. Prefect, Esq
If I were a chick I would totally wear a neckerchief
Re: I want to be a Pan Am stewardess
Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2012 11:20 pm
by weemadando
Now we know why you're going down a certain career track.
Re: I want to be a Pan Am stewardess
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 7:29 am
by Questor
You lack several requisite qualifications...
and are overqualified in another area.
At least if my assumptions about you are true.
Re: I want to be a Pan Am stewardess
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 7:54 am
by F.J. Prefect, Esq
assume nothing
Re: I want to be a Pan Am stewardess
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 6:01 am
by Questor
F.J. Prefect, Esq wrote:assume nothing
I was referring to Pan Am boy...
Re: I want to be a Pan Am stewardess
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 10:48 am
by evilsoup
when you assume you make an ass out of u and me
Re: I want to be a Pan Am stewardess
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 2:10 pm
by Phantasee
Questor wrote:You lack several requisite qualifications...
and are overqualified in another area.
At least if my assumptions about you are true.
Please state your assumptions.
Re: I want to be a Pan Am stewardess
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 11:12 pm
by RogueIce
I don't know about Questor, but I'm reasonably sure Pan Am's guidelines would not have let you be a stewardess while wearing white clown makeup.
