We tend to not think about the order of episodes in an anthology series. After all, the stories are not serialized, so they don't immediately present themselves as existing in a continuum. But despite the narratives being self-contained in The Romanoffs, it's clear that these episodes are meant to be in conversation with one another in some way, and "Panorama" was the first one that really made me think about how its placement adds to that conversation. It functions as if it might be the cornerstone of this whole enterprise, gaining more impact because of the specific stories that came before it.
At its base level, the story of "Panorama" isn't particularly compelling. It starts off on the wrong foot with the voiceover narration from Abel, which features some severely purpose prose. The issues don't stop there -- Abel himself isn't all that engaging of a character, and his budding relationship with Victoria is pretty stock romance stuff. The weakness of the story could be alleviated if the performances were anything special, but they're mostly pretty stilted, especially Bonenfant as Victoria's ill son. It's hard to even get a read on Abel as a character because Castaneda doesn't imbue him with much personality. And this is also the first time I've had any issues with the expository dialogue that people have been complaining out in previous weeks, because it's awfully glaring and unnatural here.
But this is an ideas episode more than a story episode, so the narrative itself takes a backseat to what it's actually trying to say. And there are indeed a few interesting themes that "Panorama" tosses around. So many of the previous stories in The Romanoffs have centered on what many would describe as "first world problems." They're about how, when you're afforded the privilege that these Romanov descendants and the people in their social strata have, you're given the luxury of worrying about things like inheriting expensive apartments, whether cheating on your wife will heal the boredom of your life, and neighborhood gossip about your kid's piano teacher. When you're shielded from having to reckon with things that are actually necessary for survival, trivial things become life or death. In the form Victoria and Nick's story, this episode offers a contrast to that. As the doctor mentions to Abel early on, "God does not discriminate between the rich and the poor when it comes to disease."
One of the first places Abel takes Victoria and Nick is the National Palace, which features Diego Rivera's mural The History of Mexico. After the Mexican Revolution ended in the 1920s, the government commissioned Rivera and other artists to paint scenes depicting Mexican history. Rivera, famously a Communist radical, took on this project and used the mural to celebrate the victory of the government and its overthrowing of the previous regime. The History of Mexico mural imagines history as something that is non-linear, something that exists all once, the past lingering in the present and hanging around to inform the future. That's one of the central ideas that The Romanoffs wrestles with as a series. And it's something the forms the foundation of an episode like "Panorama" too, even though it takes a while to become clear. Late in the episode, Victoria reveals to Abel that she is descendant of the Romanov family and that she's responsible for her son's hemophilia, as the disease runs throughout their line. "You'd think that royal blood dilutes over time, but the poison survives," she laments.
It's fitting that the Romanov reveal doesn't come until an hour into the episode, because it isn't about them just as much as it is. The previous five episodes have focused on these people who have connections to this royal family from generations ago, but "Panorama" makes an effort to show how small their impact is in the wider scope of global history. As we see in Rivera's mural and all throughout the episode, there's an entire fabric of culture and history that exists completely outside of those concerns of the rich. The story of Mexico is one of real struggle, of real adversity. It's the exact kind of revolution that the Romanov family were on the opposite end of.
These are intriguing questions to ponder, but does it make for a good episode? Not necessarily. "Panorama" is the first offering I'd qualify as a bit of a dud. It's not a complete failure, because it's nice to get something a little more cerebral, but it would've been even nicer to have a more engaging story happening on the surface. Still, if this ends up being the only miss, that would be a pretty good track record for the series.
Bonus Points
-"Panorama" was co-written by Matthew Weiner and Dan LaFranc, and was directed by Matthew Weiner.
-This episode contains the least amount of star power out of all the installments so far. The biggest name here is Griffin Dunne, who's relegated to a bit part as Abel's boss. David Sutcliffe, whom you may remember as Rory's dad in Gilmore Girls, also appears in a couple of scenes as Victoria's ex-husband.
-The doctor about whom Abel is writing the investigative piece is named Siquieros, which is the same name as one of the other artists commissioned by the Mexican government to create artwork about the history of the country.
-Say what you will about the episode, but it certainly makes the most out of its location. The shots of all the Mexican locales are gorgeous.
-The street performer song at the end of the episode was written and performed by Regina Spektor. Remember her?
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ReplyDeleteYeah don't worry this is the clear low point of the season
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