TV News (Kinda): So, this is a whisper out there to HBO/MAX/Warner Bros. Discovery, and that is that giant promo you ran before The Penguin sounded super cool… I don’t know any of it. I have no idea what to be hyped for. In comparison, as this was obviously a huge show for you, and I can’t see the Series Finale of Somebody Somewhere with a teaser like that, Disney Plus also had a big show in Agatha All Along. They did the same thing, which was to run a promo for what was coming in 2025 from Marvel. It was audio described, so i actually know what is coming, and to be excited for specific projects. you put together a hodgepodge of likely excellent shows, like presumably Season 3 of The White Lotus, but no audio description. So, I can only guess. With the Dune show on the horizon, try doing it for that one?
TV Shows Watched: The Penguin: S1E8 (MAX) with audio description, The Franchise: S1E6 (MAX) with audio description, Like Water For Chocolate: S1E2 (MAX) with audio description, Somebody Somewhere: S3E3 (MAX) with audio description, Tracker: S2E5 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Last Week Tonight: most Recent (MAX) no audio description, and Frasier: S2E? (Paramount Plus) with audio description.
Podcasts: Streaming Things (The Penguin Finale)
YouTube: The Oscar Expert (Review: Gladiator 2), Adam Does Movies (review: My Old Ass)
Movies Watched: The People’s Joker (Screener) no audio description, Borderlands (Apple Store) with audio description
One show to rule them all. The finale of The Penguin. And, if you’ve read me before, you know I don’t typically break down and recap, so this isn’t it. but, I do want to give very specific praise in a very specific few sequences, that really shaped the finale for me. little moments. Huge fucking spoilers though. So, you have been warned. Sorry, it’s a finale. Everything is a spoiler.
First, huge kudos to describing the sequence where Oz is leading Sophia across the bridge, and we’re given this excellent camera angle showing her in profile. While I had heard the earlier scene with oz trying to push everything on Sophia, I did think that a body is a body, and he was possibly going to pull the trigger, and we were lined up for what would be a brutal headshot. It focused on Sophia non-verbally coming to terms with the moment, and then she doesn’t die. The cops come in, but that scene was held so well, and really showcased the director’s intent on closing in on her head, showing the profile, and Dakota knocked that out of the park.
Second, That final scene. The penthouse. Everything was so well described, the emptiness of the room that he had just for his vegetative mother. But, what I really loved was the tear. The tear suggests tht she’s aware. She’s in a body that can’t move, and her greatest fear is realized from an earlier episode, of losing her dignity. She technically has exactly what oz promised, a huge penthouse with a view, and oz is now on top, but there’s nothing for her to enjoy. her life is a living nightmare. Without the tear, or acknowledging the tear, if would be easy to write her off as being in some kind of life support state where she doesn’t know what is going on, but she clearly does.Game changing.
But wait. I have one thing I think I was missing. So, the way some sighted recappers have detailed the opening sequence is that Mama Cobb, while going through that red light therapy and revealing her past, is shown in flashbacks. I’ve heard that it was the actress at her age now, and not de-aged, but she does catch glimpses of herself in a reflection of her younger self. Also, Sophia and Julian might have been visible. The funny thing is, as is, I thought the scene was well described. This is one of the reasons I still check other recappers, because I want to make sure that something huge wasn’t missed, like the entirety of Chip and Dale’s rescue rangers. But, here, it is just an effect for the flashback, and I didn’t pick up what some other people have described from this sequence from the audio description. however, if I never knew another sighted person, I would have been fine. So, this is one of those bridging the gap things, where because we often live around sighted people in our friends and family circle, i would have leaned in more on the specific choices for the flashback.
An excellent show, with pretty exceptional audio description all the way. So much so, Variety wrote about audio description. When the big boy trades start talking about accessibility, you know you are making waves.