This is the SECOND PART of an article by Bryant Burnette summarizing the Golden Years television show. As Bryant pointed out in the first post, we should not confuse the television series with the 3 hour hashed movie.
This was originally posted at Burnette's blog, thetruthinsidethelie.blogspot.com
Episode 2 (airdate
07/18/1991)
The second episode was written by Stephen King
and directed by Allen Coulter. [IMDb lists Michael Gornick as the director, but
don't you believe it; it says "Allen Coulter" on the episode, and that's
evidence enough for me.] [P.S. -- IMDb also lists titles for the seven
episodes, but those appear to have been concocted by somebody who had no
affiliation with the production. Rocky Wood has verified for me via email that
the original screenplays, which he has read, have no episode titles.]
Coulter had only been directing about three
years at that point, and had episodes of Monsters and Tales from the
Darkside to his name; presumably, it was his association by producer
Mitchell Galin -- who worked on both of those shows -- that got Coulter hired
for this job. He would go on to direct two more episodes of Golden
Years, and after that, things eventually heated up for him a bit: he did
three episodes of Millennium, and one of The X-Files, and then got
himself a job directing episodes for HBO. Eight episodes of Sex and the
City, two of Rome, one of Six Feet Under, and, most
importantly, a solid twelve of The Sopranos, which makes him one of the
key contributors to one of the great television shows in history. Among his
episodes: "College," which is generally considered to be one of the very
best.
Lately, Coulter has directed six episodes of
Boardwalk Empire, and for cinemas, he directed the excellent movie
Hollywoodland, which starred Ben Affleck and dealt with the sad life of
Superman actor George Reeves.
Here, Coulter's talents are obviously
undeveloped, but nascent; it's cool that such an important director cut his
teeth on King material.
The plot for this episode:
Dr. Ackerman meets with Dr. Akins, the eye
doctor who performed the re-exam for Harlan; Akins tells him all about how he'd
been ordered to fake a passing grade, but ended up not needing to, on account of
how Williams passed with flying colors. Unbeknownst to the two doctors, the
fellow at the next table over in the coffeeshop is recording their conversation;
he later takes it to Jude Andrews. Andrews then pays Ackerman a visit, and
tells him to spill the beans, whatever beans he's got; and make sure not to
leave anything out. Ackerman does just that; Andrews promises that if he finds
out Ackerman has held out on him, he'll be back to perform some radical dental
work ... with a power drill. Andrews later pays Akins a visit, too, and shoots
him through the forehead.
Meanwhile, Gina confronts Harlan about his
advancing condition of incipient youthfulness. Harlan at first tries to bluff
Gina into thinking it's not as serious as it seems, but it doesn't work, and he
admits that a scar -- one he got when he was 67 -- has gone away completely.
There is no denying it: physically, he is getting younger by the day. Gina
tells him he has to go see a doctor, even if it's only Ackerman.
Harlan goes, and of course, Ackerman reports
the details of their meeting back to Andrews. Ackerman tells Andrews that
Williams is getting younger, not merely in empirical ways (such as the
lightening color of his hair, and the disappearance of his scar), but in less
easily-explainable ways; he likens it to the process by which, when he was
younger, fewer people every year carded him when he bought alcohol ... except,
in Williams' case, in reverse. Speaking of Harlan, he sees Ackerman meeting
with Andrews, and -- correctly -- suspects the worst. He goes home, and tells
Gina to pack a bag and be ready to go on the run when he gives the word.
Elsewhere in the episode, Andrews visits the
place where Reddings' body is being kept. Reddings was one of Toddhunter's
assistants; he died, obviously, but not before glowing green for a while and
losing certain scars that he had had for years. Terry discovers the body --
which she planned to use against Toddhunter -- is missing, and is none too
pleased. She's also none too pleased by a visit she receives from the annoying
Major Moreland, who suspects -- both rightly and wrongly -- that chicanery and
hanky-panky lie behind Williams' success at his eye exam do-over. Terry
promises the Major that she'll inform General Crewes of his concerns.
Harlan visits a beauty parlor and asks them to
dye his hair ... white. Back at home, he's feeling frisky, and he and Gina
dance. He twirls her around, and seemingly causes a twinge in her back. "I
can't keep up with you," she says, sadly.
And that's the episode.
It's a fairly good one. The performances
continue to be solid, especially Szarabajka, Sternhagen, and Call. The scenes
between Andrews and Ackerman stand out; King clearly relishes writing dialogue
for Jude Andrews, who reminds me just a wee bit of Alexis Machine, the character
"George Stark" wrote about in The Dark Half.
Bonus points to this second episode for airing
on my birthday! I turned seventeen that day. Seems like forever ago. (And
stirring up a little agita on the subject seems thoroughly appropriate given the
subject matter of the show itself.)
No comments:
Post a Comment