What I’m Watching: Gaslit (Series Finale)

Gaslit: Season 1, Episode 8 “Final Days” (B+)

There have been so many limited series recently that have started out so well and then ended with a bit of a whimper and I’m pleased to report that, even though I wasn’t entirely fond of the episode before this one, this was a very strong finish. Opening with Martha Kelly’s Rose Mary Woods showing scientifically how she must have pushed the wrong button while she was stretching to erase the tapes highlighted the absurdity of all this in an episode that wasn’t quite as over-the-top as the rest. Paul and Angelo were thrilled to be able to come arrest John and parade him out in front of the press, though somehow he managed to escape severe punishment despite his explicit role in all of this. Seeing Dean and the other top dogs, including Halderman, Colson, and Magruder out working in the prison yard discussing whether they were guilty or whether, as Dean put it, they were “all Nixon,” was an interesting reflection on their degrees of complicity. Liddy being in the same room at the courthouse with Dean and telling him how he had learned how to kill a man using just a pencil was a perfect coda for those two characters and the way in which they’ve both played a part in all this. It’s sad to see Martha’s fate, but at least Winnie tried to pay tribute to someone she judged initially but then really got to know when she gave her a chance. This has been quite a ride, with such a terrific cast and a great way to learn about a relatively exaggerated but still worthwhile chronicle of history.

Series grade: B+
Series MVP: Shea Whigham as Gordon Liddy

What I’m Watching: Gaslit (Penultimate Episode)

Gaslit: Season 1, Episode 7 “Year of the Rat” (B)

In keeping with many other second-to-last installments, this hour started with a flashback to much better times, when Mitchell first met Martha and was much more enamored that he now finds himself. Previously, we had seen him express restraint and disappointment in her for meddling in affairs that he didn’t think were her business, and now he’s absolutely terrible, choking her and celebrating that, for once, he couldn’t hear her. It’s the ultimate sign of how he’s exactly like what he pretended not to be, putting on a publicly supportive face but being even more judgmental and controlling than anyone else. Ensuring that she wouldn’t have an audience at her testimony was particularly cruel, and leaving with their daughter was the worst blow he could have dealt. This episode did take a turn for the maniacal when it showed Martha’s despair and then checked in with Liddy in jail, who was going a bit stir-crazy and trying to outsmart the animals around him via his toilet and other weapons at his disposal. Dean and Mo posing for Playboy and talking about everything as if they had won got a devastating reality check when he found out that he was still likely going to have to serve five years behind bars, another instance of how bad behavior isn’t rewarded simply because someone else was even badder. I’m eager and curious to see how this all ends since I haven’t done any digging into the history of how things panned out for everyone involved.

What I’m Watching: Gaslit

Gaslit: Season 1, Episode 6 “Tuffy” (B+)

It was interesting to see Frank show back up in the limelight when he really doesn’t want to be associated with all of this Watergate press, and it feels like he’s living a completely different existence. Getting let go from his job because he was too much of a distraction was an unfortunate fate, but he also didn’t seem to want to fight against the machine he managed to sort of stop through simply doing his job in the first place. John’s attempt to convince Martha not to testify by saying that he supported whatever she decided to do didn’t seem to be working at first and then looked like it might, but one of the great enemies of compromise is the introduction of an uncooperative element that just shows how much better victory would be. I’m always thrilled to see Amy Landecker in any role, and she was perfectly cast as Lurleen, one of the few people who was happy to see Martha in Arkansas but who revealed a deeper shame that, coupled with the cruel way she was treated, pushed her to go through with what she had intended all along. Magruder’s testimony was a disaster worthy of mockery by puppets, and Dean going in without a lawyer didn’t seem like the best plan. While he did decently and felt quite good about it, the bombshell news that there were bugs in the office is going to ruin all that. Even while suffering through a miscarriage, Mo has done a great job of bolstering him, which may not continue if certain conviction looms.

What I’m Watching: Gaslit

Gaslit: Season 1, Episode 5 “Honeymoon” (B+)

I know some of the history of how this whole scandal played out but not enough to know who’s going to go down, though I’m pretty sure that this idea that only “leftist Democrats” are alleging criminality won’t continue to be the case, even if that’s what we’ve come to expect in modern society. Rightfully so, Martha is going all-in on her case against Nixon, accusing her of imprisoning her on a talk show and now, after catching her husband on the phone arranging a meet with his secretary, she’s ready to testify, which is sure to be damaging. The person this all looks worst for is Dean, who got sent to Camp David on a mini honeymoon of sorts only to be told to sign off on an investigative report he hadn’t even come close to properly preparing and to have it forced on him when he earlier said no thanks to Nixon’s announcement of it on television. I did enjoy the reactions Paul and Angelo had to Gray telling his whole staff that he had been leaking details of the investigation to its very targets, and Hamish Linklater’s Jeb Magruder ended up in quite the hot seat thanks to their newly-focused approach and his wife’s pizza-assisted desperation. Liddy did not do much to contain his fury and blow his cover by threatening to kill McCord in the courtroom, and his praising of someone who sounded a whole lot like Hitler to his family from behind the glass in jail was somehow as shocking as the gathered group that tried to gaslight John into thinking that none of them had ever met Liddy. What a mess this all is.

What I’m Watching: Gaslit

Gaslit: Season 1, Episode 4 “Malum in Se” (B+)

Dean really was feeling on top of the world at the start of this episode, and it didn’t take too long for him to realize that he didn’t enjoy quite the prized position in the Nixon administration that he thought he had earned. But he did do a remarkable job of stonewalling and ensuring that everyone from CREEP who was questioned by Angelo and Paul said absolutely nothing, which made for a hilarious montage of absurdity, showing just how little he wanted to cooperate with very simple asks that showed that they were clearly hiding something. History knowing now that it was Mark Felt who was secretly Deep Throat makes all this seem even wilder, since Gray was actively working to suppress the information that his agents were finding and Felt was just going straight to Woodward and Bernstein to tell them what was really happening. As usual, this show finds great talent to portray these people, with Reed Diamond from “The Shield” playing the part. I’m also happy to see the always terrific Marin Ireland as Judy Hoback, who went around Dean’s efforts to suppress her from sharing anything by telling the truth outside of the office. Sacrificing those who have been caught, like McCord, surely won’t lead to anything good, but the biggest problem Nixon might have right now is Martha. She’s understandably experiencing trauma from Peter’s treatment of her, and after a little encouragement, she’s ready to talk to the press. Her husband walking by her without even acknowledging her suggests that decision won’t be without consequences, but she seems very set on fighting back after being preemptively silenced.

Take Three: Gaslit

Gaslit: Season 1, Episode 3 “King George” (B+)

My favorite scene from this episode was the one where Howard Hunt, played fantastically by J.C. MacKenzie, who appeared very recently as the judge in “The Girl from Plainville,” struggled to remember the combination to the safe that he had been given in the White House office that someone had stupidly assigned him considering he had been hired to do criminal work on behalf of the president. I enjoyed recognizing Carlos Valdes from “The Flash” as Paul Magallanes and Chris Messina as Agent Lano, and though the two got off to a rocky start, they’ve turned into a productive duo, one who, as Paul theorized, is going up against a bunch of idiots. Liddy explaining to Dean how he had discreetly entered the White House to come see him was yet another instance of him being highly and hilariously theatrical, and, like in so many cases, being the one to tell someone information they should very much already know. Being so close to Nixon might be a good thing for Dean if Nixon was going to survive this, but we know he doesn’t, and bringing the files to John Carroll Lynch’s acting FBI director to destroy probably was not a smart move. Martha proved her resilience by burning herself so that she could get a copy of a newspaper and then making a phone call for help when she got the chance to Winnie, and John firing Peter and leaving the White House (or getting fired, as Dean was told) doesn’t feel like quite significant enough to undo that damage. John may be ready for retirement, but he’s done a lot and Martha definitely isn’t ready to leave any of it behind to embrace a life of relaxation far from politics.

Round Two: Gaslit

Gaslit: Season 1, Episode 2 “California” (B+)

I wasn’t sure how much this show was actually going to focus on Watergate itself, but that was the meat of this episode. Though it’s an event I’ve heard about so much and which had such an incredible impact on the United States government, leading to the only presidential resignation in the history of the country, it’s still fascinating to see the simplicity – and stupidity – of how it played out. The effectiveness of the dramatization here was aided considerably by the performances from Shea Whigham as Gordon Liddy and Chris Bauer as James McCord. It’s fun to see them in these roles since I think I know them best from playing polar opposites of their characters here, Whigham in much more buttoned-up parts on “Boardwalk Empire” and “Homecoming” and Bauer as the wild and unfiltered Andy Bellefleur on “True Blood.” Frank Wills really came through in his first night on the job noticing that tape and calling it in, and there was some real drama when Dean called in from the rain to report what had happened to John. Seeing more of the dynamic between John and Martha is interesting, as well as how they talk to others, like Nate Corddry’s Michael Deaver, who was rather shocked by Martha clarifying that she wasn’t comparing Jesus to Nixon, but saying that he wouldn’t make it through the Republican primary. Being sequestered in her room and not allowed to watch TV or make a phone call was made even more ominous by the casting of Brian Geraghty from “Boardwalk Empire” and “Big Sky” as the man guarding her who got less nice as the conversation went on.

Pilot Review: Gaslit

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