Jim McFarlin, an ex-Detroit who watches TV more than casually, is intrigued by AMC's second hour of "Low Winter Sun" -- but isn't infatuated with the Detroit-based drama about death, drugs and double-dealing.
Mark Strong co-stars at Det. Frank Agnew.
(AMC Photo/Alicia Gbur)
In a summary/review of "The Goat Rodeo," airing Sunday at 10 p.m., McFarlin praises "one beautiful bit of cinematography" and voices hope that we won't see a third episode open "with a long, lingering closeup of Det. Frank Agnew's face."
If executive producer Chris Mundy (who also wrote the episode) intends to keep using this device, let's hope he and director Ernest Dickerson at least vary the faces from time to time. Athena Karkanis (Det. Dani Khalil) would be a lovely change of pace. I mean, Mark Strong (Agnew) has an interesting, rugged mug, but no one is likely to mistake him for Bradley Cooper. He could be scaring off prospective viewers.
McFarlin's spoiler-filled critique, which ranks the ep as a "B," compares an element of the unfolding plot to a 1944 film noir masterwork directed by Billy Wilder.
As the full depths of [Det. Joe] Geddes' corruption are peeling away like the layers of an onion, like Fred MacMurray's classic analogy in Double Indemnity, Frank knows he and Joe are stuck together on this death car till the end of the line.
The former Detroit News entertainment writer (1979-95), who contributes to Metro Times, watches these days from Champaign, Ill. -- and savors reminders of his old turf.
Among the Detroit references in this episode: coneys, Van Dyke Avenue, the Dream Cruise (although linked to a sexual favor I'm fairly certain isn't a standard part of the weekend experience), the Free Press and, sadly, stripping copper from abandoned houses. Keep that authenticity coming, folks.
-- Alan Stamm
