The audience doesn’t need to be told why they might identify with Peter, as Coleman does by saying, “Peter is you if you ” - wake up to your iPhone, or work a reliable but uninspiring corporate job, or any number of common activities for a single 30-something. (Grant), promised he wouldn’t waste our time with the “unnecessary filmmaker convention” of introducing our protagonist by listing “his occupation, the particularities of his life, and, most importantly, the obstacles that stand in the way of his happiness.” (Of course, Coleman also admitted he lied once during his introduction, so maybe that was it.) Peter isn’t a hard man to understand because he’s not designed to be, and yet these meta promises expose the show as being a little too simple itself. The problem is our narrator, Octavio Coleman, Esq. He apologizes to his therapist - who he only sees because she’s included on his medical plan - for not “bringing more to the table.” Yes, Peter is so boring, he apologizes to his therapist for boring her, but the problem isn’t that Peter is boring to watch - Segel, who’s exaggerated delivery is still formulated for sitcoms, is still an easily identifiable sad-sack, even a decade removed from “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” Straight white man Peter (played by Segel) is lonely, bored, and fully aware of both. ‘The Idol’ Episode 3 Awkwardly Confronts the Myth of Tortured ArtistsĪs an ensemble drama trying its damnedest to weigh each cast member equally, the first four episodes tell one character’s story through their own point of view, but the premiere does itself little favors by starting with a very common onscreen protagonist. Like a scavenger hunt you can’t take part in, the 10-episode series is easy to appreciate from the outside without actually drawing you in. “Dispatches From Elsewhere” has a few moments of genuine insight, mostly found through Simone, played by newcomer Eve Lindley, but a patronizing tone and grating execution limit the show’s impact. Yet covering all this delightful tomfoolery is a sense of sincerity and superiority that make it feel like the show is daring you to laugh at it before bothering to earn your respect. Grant serves as a not untrustworthy narrator for and character within the increasingly quirky narrative. A hidden 3D city is unveiled from a specific rooftop viewpoint dolphins are trained to communicate with human divers a wandering Bigfoot carries his own ID card (name: Professor Foot), and, perhaps most charming of all, Richard E. What feels like a wake-up call for anyone who’s been binge-watching TV too long (yes, hello, it is I, your diligent TV critic), the hourlong AMC drama begs its viewers to stop watching life and live it by stacking the screen with peculiar wonders. Either way, Dispatches From Elsewhere arrives sometime next year, so we can all find out then.There are isolated moments of grandeur within “ Dispatches From Elsewhere,” an eccentric new anthology series from creator and star Jason Segel. As they begin to accept the mysterious Dispatches from Elsewhere challenges, they come to find that the mystery winds deeper than they imagined, and their eyes are opened to a world of possibility and magic.” Aw! Okay, so probably no horrible murder. Grant, who appears to be the game master or mental figment or alien overload in charge of this crazy, mixed-up universe.Īccording to AMC’s IMDB description of the series, the show follows four regular people who “stumble onto a puzzle hiding just behind the veil of everyday life. You never know with TV these days.)Īs the hour-long anthology series’ creator and star, Segel climbs inside in the puzzle box alongside costars Sally Field, Eve Lindley, André “3000” Benjamin and Richard E. (Though, there could still be a horrific murder. Based on the rainbow of pastel umbrellas and flash mob in the park, however, we’re thinking Dispatches’ mystery will focus less on, say, horrific cult murders and more on the fantastical mystery that is being alive. Approximately 1000% of modern television shows seem to center around One Giant Mystery, and Jason Segel’s new series for AMC Dispatches From Elsewhere is no different. A sprinkle of Westworld, a pinch of Homecoming, a heaping dollop of The OA.
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