Customer Reviews

ONCE AND AGAIN:SEASON THREE

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

March 11, 2002. Six months to the day have passed since the terrorist attacks, and many Americans feel that the world is hopelessly overrun by hatred and violence. We're looking for something to remind us of beauty, kindness, love. Like always, we watch television, and I for one have made it a point to watch the new episode of 'Once and Again' tonight. For months ABC has been batting it around the schedule, much as a house cat does with a dead mouse that it still finds slightly amusing. Now the series appears to have an actual timeslot again. This is fortunate for fans of the show, because everything between now and the series finale is payoff.

All the core cast members are back in fine form. Shane West really comes into his own, and Susanna Thompson will be famously robbed of an Emmy for pulling off a demanding transformation of her Karen that would have been impossible with a lesser performance. Julia Whelan and Evan Rachel Wood emerge as the two best actors of their generation, playing off each other in scenes that resonate like music because of what they are able to do. Sela Ward is never better than here, as Lily Sammler, anchoring the series as the young matriarch of the blended family at the center of a sublime circus of people and events. There are also unforgettable guest appearances by Eric Stoltz, Mischa Barton, Saul Rubinek, Patrick Dempsey and, yes, Ally Sheedy. One expects the occasional standout performance in a dramatic series, but seldom are so many this good at the same time. Nuance, originality, and authenticity become commonplace.

There is worthy material to be covered, with screenplays from a rotating lineup of writers who seem to have been assigned their episodes by omniscient masterminds who knew exactly what they needed out of each. Echoes of previous episodes ring through the house on Oak Street, the halls of Upton Sinclair High School, and the other interior spaces that have become familiar. When the unlikely happens (Lily's new job, the plumber at Thanksgiving, or the snow plow, for example), there's a zany surrealism holding those scenes together, a sense of fun and whimsy that invites us to smile and follow along. The producers are winking as they set us up for what is to come and, when it does, we're fully invested; we're on the inside with these characters, and we'll go anywhere with them.

Together, it's synergy. It swings for the bleachers and never lets up. As the final episodes resolve some conflicts, rest some on uneasy plateaus, and scatter fragments of others over an expansive blast area, the viewer is left with the feeling that there aren't real answers, there aren't endings; there are only moments, but those moments can be real and very powerful, and we can find something there to better ourselves.

That's what the third season of 'Once and Again' is about. It's about where you can go and what you can do with a dramatic series after you've spent two seasons meticulously developing its characters and story arc with the best scripts and actors that network television has seen in a long, long time. Free from most of the limitations that hobble lesser productions, it soars into new territory and crackles with verve and invention at key moments. Observe how the sexual energy between Jessie and Katie is developed. Mischa Barton finds the right notes here. Certain of Katie's desire, yet so awkward and sweet in how she reveals it, she gives a performance that rings true to the spirit of teenage love and its earnest passion for purity and ideals. The misinformed have sometimes dismissed that plot element as a ratings stunt and, while it may have been promoted as one in the week leading up to "that scene," it doesn't play that way. Most series that exploit lesbian relationships for ratings don't earn the right, aesthetically and emotionally, to use the material that they're showboating. Here's a situation where it's done so well that it feels right, deserving, and never -- never -- cheap. This is the signature 'Once and Again' treatment of delicate issues, to approach with great care, compassion, and intelligence, and explore the real dramatic potential that lies beyond the reach of weaker writing and acting teams.

Fans of the show know what I mean when I say that the March 11, 2002 episode is the crowning glory of the series. It contains the most beautiful, cathartic moment between two people that I've seen on TV. It came at a delicate time and really had an impact on viewers. Apparently, I am not alone in my regard for this particular scene; there are entire websites devoted to it and the relationship that centers around it.

Believe it or not, there are several other third-season threads that are equally well done and potentially more powerful. The writers have much to say about the appropriateness of various kinds of interpersonal relationships, and how they build their case for each is a marvel to watch unfold. Depending on your background and situation, you may find that another of these is special to you in some way. You might feel it all the way down to your bones, and that's the kind of magic that dramatists fantasize about and work their entire careers trying to capture.

So for 'Once and Again', the third and final season is the pinnacle. If a single season of a single television series ever deserved immortality on DVD, it is this one. I've been dreaming of it for three and a half years.

Ah. The third season of "Once And Again" is finally available. So much happened in this season, and it's a shame that it was the last for this wonderful series. Lily underwent a major career change, Rick and his friend Sam worked on a hotel redesign, Judy and Jake (and eventually Eli) are working together at what was once "Phil's" restaurant, and the kids (particularly Jessie and Grace) took center "stage" (as in school play) for much of the season. Oh, and let's not forget Susannah Thompson's Karen. She endures major depression, and just when she's starting to recover, a life-altering automobile accident happens, changing her world, and that of everyone around her. (She should have won an Emmy for that episode, titled "Gardenia", but in an incredible showing of shortsightedness, she wasn't even nominated.) So many storylines were put forward, and it's a shame that we never saw a fourth season, to see how they played out. I have the first two seasons, and the third season is the DVD release I have been looking forward to most of all.