One's fantasies are not merely a function of one's upbringing and temperament, but also one's age.
My current fantasy (will kindly spare you the earlier versions) would be to see Sorkin and Moffat co-write something. Each is arguably among the best writers of our generation, if not actually THE best. To see them work together would be something.
This episode hit all the right notes but lacked the emotional punch of episode 5 because, to match that, Sorkin would ACTUALLY HAVE TO COME TO YOUR HOME AND WALLOP YOU IN PERSON.
Oddly, it reminded me of the EMBER ISLAND episode of THE LAST AIRBENDER, an animated series which (justifiably) had aspirations far above its station. In that 'sode, one of the best of the series, the writers took a timeout to have the main characters attend a local play where their own story (ie, the story of the main characters, their legend) was being acted out on stage by amateurs.
In the time of Shakespeare, that device was a "play within a play" and the extensive use of flashbacks here (made possible by modern tech) achieves essentially the same effect.
If you are fan of the series (probably the only reason you would be reading this, methinks) then the effect is mesmerizing. You watch these snippets and you realize that Sorkin and his team IN BARELY THREE SHORT (very short!) seasons have made these characters feel like family.
Your family.
You will hear a lot of fans tell you a lot of reasons why this episode is brilliant (or not brilliant, as the case may be) but I humbly suggest that the real power of this one lies is its ability to remind the viewer, to bring to the surface, to underscore, how potent, how powerful, this production has been.
And it has.
My current fantasy (will kindly spare you the earlier versions) would be to see Sorkin and Moffat co-write something. Each is arguably among the best writers of our generation, if not actually THE best. To see them work together would be something.
This episode hit all the right notes but lacked the emotional punch of episode 5 because, to match that, Sorkin would ACTUALLY HAVE TO COME TO YOUR HOME AND WALLOP YOU IN PERSON.
Oddly, it reminded me of the EMBER ISLAND episode of THE LAST AIRBENDER, an animated series which (justifiably) had aspirations far above its station. In that 'sode, one of the best of the series, the writers took a timeout to have the main characters attend a local play where their own story (ie, the story of the main characters, their legend) was being acted out on stage by amateurs.
In the time of Shakespeare, that device was a "play within a play" and the extensive use of flashbacks here (made possible by modern tech) achieves essentially the same effect.
If you are fan of the series (probably the only reason you would be reading this, methinks) then the effect is mesmerizing. You watch these snippets and you realize that Sorkin and his team IN BARELY THREE SHORT (very short!) seasons have made these characters feel like family.
Your family.
You will hear a lot of fans tell you a lot of reasons why this episode is brilliant (or not brilliant, as the case may be) but I humbly suggest that the real power of this one lies is its ability to remind the viewer, to bring to the surface, to underscore, how potent, how powerful, this production has been.
And it has.