He huffs, he puffs, he snorts yards of blow up his nose.
Its a sometimes thrilling period piece dulled by new century Bleak TV blah blah blah.
is an allegory for culture making.
I thinkVinylis calledVinylonly becauseEmpirewas already taken.
The show gives good Me Decade optics.
MaybeVinylcan ultimately become that trailblazer.
(Im imagining theInglorious Basterdsversion ofVinyl, a show that plays to history, then blows it up.
The series finale: Richie changes history by turning The Ramones into the biggest band ever.)
Both are true to Richie.
He walks away from this punk Pentecost with his brain on fire and inspired to re-energize his moribund label.
But he also walks away from this brush with death with his old drug addiction violently reactivated.
Scorsese gives us an image of Richie as revenant, emerging from the ground and covered with dust.
Hes born again a walking dead at the same time an illuminated zombie.
Having spiritually sold-out long ago, theyre ready to cash-out as we find them in the premiere.
Richies actions derail their retirement plans and threaten the security of their twilight years.
I wasnt blown away by Scorseses direction ofVinylsbloated pilot.
It alternately lacks for energy and personality, or gives too much.
While finding itself, or trying to,Vinylamuses with dark comedy and clever intersections with music history.
Vinylsperspective on music is romantic, but its also consistently tempered with sober wisdom.
Punk is framed as pure, raw, invigorating energyanddead-end nihilism.
New and alive is subjective, she says, choosing her words carefully.
Its not a vision for a company.
WhereVinylstruggles the most is getting you invested in the characters and caring about their ambitions.
While the dark comedy can entertain, it can also subvert.
That aforementioned absurd and oopsie crime is also a miscalculation.
Because Team Scorsese cant resist indulging their crime-pulp worldview/orientation?
but its a bad idea.
Im counting the minutes untilVinylfinds a way to wriggle free of it.
Cannavale gives it everything hes got, but Richie himself isnt worthy of this effort.
Hes got a failed artist issue.
Hes got daddy and mommy issues.
Hes wracked with guilt.
Hes starved for significance.
Hes an addict.Man, is he an addict.
And maybe I will.
Episode 4 gave me hope.
Written by Deborah Cahn and directed by S.J.
IfVinylcan make more music like this, it might be able to pop.B
