"The Maestro" is one of the show's better episodes. For one thing, it features Colm Feore in what will be the first of his two performances on the show. I don't know why it took the casting department so long to get Feore, but he's perfect for the show. This is the better of Feore's two performance (the second is in season 3's "Mightier Than the Sword"). He plays Anton Pascola as a driven performer who eventually puts his life where his mouth is.
It wouldn't work with most of the cursed antiques, but here the nature of the symphonia means that Anton can sacrifice himself for "the death". Which is something he keeps telling his dancers they must do. So it's nice, and non-hypocritical, to see Anton do the same.
Also, Feore is good as the driven choreographer that gives everything for his art. That's a theme throughout the episode, repeatedly ad infinitum to the point where it gets a bite tiresome. But at least the episode _says_ something about art, and the price you pay for it. Many of the episodes are good, but any message/theme they have is minor at best. "The Sweetest Sting" comes to mind. "Maestro" hits the viewer over and over again with the theme that great art requires pain. It's a bit anvilicious, but at least the theme is maintained throughout and Anton is both the main protagonist and dies for his art. So it works.
Feore is not only good as the obsessed artiste, but as the creepy choreographer, too. His inviting the barely-overaged Grace to move in with him is both creepy and... charming. Maybe "charming" isn't the word, but Feore makes it clear how he could convince a pupil to move in with him. Even if it's kind of icky.
The scenes of the dancers dancing to their deaths, because of the cursed symphonia, are nicely directed.
The episode once again goes with the plot convenience that the trio "just happens" to come across the symphonia. When one of Jack's friend's daughter, Grace, falls under Anton's sway. It's a bit too convenient, but now we've all accepted that the trio are magnets for Lewis' cursed antiques. Right?
The episode suffers from most of the flaws of the show. The trio of antique hunters don't do anything. But Wiggins gives good "sorrow", as always, even though we find out nothing about Grace's father, Jack's friend. And we don't find out much about Grace, either. Other than that she's easily swayed and kind of dumb. At the end of the third act, she sneaks into Anton's studio and sees him tell the corpse of the female dancer, Cartier, that she's a failure for not completing the dance. But then Grace goes on and dances anyway. If she just that dumb or is Grace looking to die to perform? We don't learn enough about her to tell, and we the viewers are never told.
So "The Maestro" is a good episode for the cinematography (I like the close-up scenes of the symphonia winding away like clockwork, while the dancers die horribly trying to complete the dance), and the theme. And for Feore'e performance, which makes dying for one's art more believable than the character saying "Art requires pain" over. And over. And over again. That helps to list it a bit above the average episode.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
It wouldn't work with most of the cursed antiques, but here the nature of the symphonia means that Anton can sacrifice himself for "the death". Which is something he keeps telling his dancers they must do. So it's nice, and non-hypocritical, to see Anton do the same.
Also, Feore is good as the driven choreographer that gives everything for his art. That's a theme throughout the episode, repeatedly ad infinitum to the point where it gets a bite tiresome. But at least the episode _says_ something about art, and the price you pay for it. Many of the episodes are good, but any message/theme they have is minor at best. "The Sweetest Sting" comes to mind. "Maestro" hits the viewer over and over again with the theme that great art requires pain. It's a bit anvilicious, but at least the theme is maintained throughout and Anton is both the main protagonist and dies for his art. So it works.
Feore is not only good as the obsessed artiste, but as the creepy choreographer, too. His inviting the barely-overaged Grace to move in with him is both creepy and... charming. Maybe "charming" isn't the word, but Feore makes it clear how he could convince a pupil to move in with him. Even if it's kind of icky.
The scenes of the dancers dancing to their deaths, because of the cursed symphonia, are nicely directed.
The episode once again goes with the plot convenience that the trio "just happens" to come across the symphonia. When one of Jack's friend's daughter, Grace, falls under Anton's sway. It's a bit too convenient, but now we've all accepted that the trio are magnets for Lewis' cursed antiques. Right?
The episode suffers from most of the flaws of the show. The trio of antique hunters don't do anything. But Wiggins gives good "sorrow", as always, even though we find out nothing about Grace's father, Jack's friend. And we don't find out much about Grace, either. Other than that she's easily swayed and kind of dumb. At the end of the third act, she sneaks into Anton's studio and sees him tell the corpse of the female dancer, Cartier, that she's a failure for not completing the dance. But then Grace goes on and dances anyway. If she just that dumb or is Grace looking to die to perform? We don't learn enough about her to tell, and we the viewers are never told.
So "The Maestro" is a good episode for the cinematography (I like the close-up scenes of the symphonia winding away like clockwork, while the dancers die horribly trying to complete the dance), and the theme. And for Feore'e performance, which makes dying for one's art more believable than the character saying "Art requires pain" over. And over. And over again. That helps to list it a bit above the average episode.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?