What I’m Watching: Roar (Season Finale)

Roar: Season 1, Episode 8 “The Girl Who Loved Horses” (B)

This episode was not what I would have wanted to end on given the strength of some of the other installments, and, like the second episode starring Nicole Kidman, I just didn’t really see the draw in the same way. I guess I have seen actress Fivel Stewart before on “Atypical,” but I didn’t remember her, though I was very excited to see Kara Hayward, an exceptional actress from “To the Stars,” as her friend who was not enamored with horses. I enjoyed their banter and their dialogue, and that to me kept the episode more engaging than the overarching storyline. I was also surprised to see two supporting actors whose resumes are radically different: Leslie David Baker, best known as Stanley on “The Office,” and Alfred Molina, who recently returned as Doc Ock in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” This show certainly has no shortage of talent, and the performances from Stewart and Hayward show that. But especially in a series that took place almost exclusively in the present, or at least appeared to, this was a strange note on which to end. I’m terming this a season finale since I have a feeling that it may return for more episodes, though Apple hasn’t been entirely consistent about which shows it renews enthusiastically. With a new show premiering almost every week and plenty more on tap for the months to come, it’s hard to know what they’ll opt to continue. Overall, I think this was interesting, and I would love to see what talent is tapped next.

Season grade: B+
Season MVP: Merritt Wever

What I’m Watching: Roar

Roar: Season 1, Episode 7 “The Woman Who Returned Her Husband” (B+)

What I like most about this show is how its unbelievable plotlines are posited as normal and not worth questioning. The notion that a husband could be returned because everything in America can be returned was a humorous setup for Anu to be able to, for the first time, really think about what she wanted for herself. Meera Syal was a great choice to play that lead, and I enjoyed seeing Bernard White opposite her in a lighter part than the one he’s currently playing on “Big Sky,” similar to his “Silicon Valley” and “Kidding” characters. Seeing how his value went down because he got returned again as she tried out a few other options who didn’t end up being right for her either. It was fun to see Julie White as the neighbor who had apparently always had a crush on him and who wanted to act on it, which in turn prompted considerable resentment from the original “buyer” since he hadn’t put that kind of effort into their relationship in a very long time. It was sweet, and perhaps a bit expected, to see that she ended up back in the store and eager to steal him rather than buy him even at a low price, allowing them to do something unlike the people they used to be and infuse a bit of adventure into their lives. This was definitely the most harmless and accessible episode thus far, sparing any trauma and violence and instead navigating the intersection of boredom and unhappiness.

What I’m Watching: Roar

Roar: Season 1, Episode 6 “The Woman Who Solved Her Own Murder” (B+)

What a cast for this episode, bringing back another star of “GLOW” for a truly terrific experience. I saw Alison Brie in the SXSW movie “Spin Me Round” recently, and she’s always at the top of her game. In this case, we got to see her express tremendous frustration at the incompetence of two detectives and make some humorous and pointed quips along the way. Hugh Dancy and Chris Lowell were great choices to play those detectives, who had radically different approaches to their work but weren’t nearly as focused as Rebecca would have liked given the gravity of the work they had to do. To top it all off, we also got Jillian Bell as Rebecca’s friend and briefly suspected murderer, and Ego Nwodim as the up-and-coming local sheriff’s department employee who did indeed deserve a raise rather than to be barked at to get coffee by a condescending detective who can’t be bothered to actually investigate a case. I like that Rebecca got to gradually discover what she could and couldn’t do, and that she was able to break the boundaries of her ghostly presence to actually influence people and touch things when she got angry or passionate enough. Brie’s commentary made the episode more than anything, responding to the insults people were making about her in the wake of her death and noting how annoying it was that Dancy’s detective was actually kind of attractive. I couldn’t help thinking of a term popularized by “Ghosts” to describe what happened to her in the end: getting sucked off, but in a more appropriate and celestial way.

What I’m Watching: Roar

Roar: Season 1, Episode 5 “The Woman Who Was Fed By a Duck” (A-)

I’m such a big fan of Merritt Wever and would happily watch her in anything. For a while, I was expecting her to get two Emmy nominations a few years ago, for “Run” and “Unbelievable,” and then the former got cancelled and she got snubbed for the latter. There’s something about her onscreen presence that is just spectacular, and this episode was no exception. She was able to create chemistry with a duck who wasn’t even visibly moving its bill, which I think was a smart choice given that the mere fact that she could hear him was the important part. It took me until just before the end of the episode to land on exactly who was voicing him and I figured it out in the nick of time. Justin Kirk is also superb, and he was a great choice to play the duck who initially seemed like the best guy in the world until he revealed his baser, manipulative, male instincts. The dialogue in this episode was fantastic, and I’m still impressed that this concept didn’t seem all that strange even though it was surely absolutely ridiculous on paper. I was also happy to see the reliable Jason Mantzoukas as Dave from animal control, who might have had a shot at the end with her if he had acknowledged what she noted, that she was going to be the doctor, and Riki Lindhome as her sister, who knew that Larry was bad news even if she didn’t realize that he was a duck who was literally defecating all over her apartment when she went out for a few hours. This episode wasn’t as dark as other installments but probably my favorite so far.

What I’m Watching: Roar

Roar: Season 1, Episode 4 “The Woman Who Found Bite Marks on Her Skin” (B)

The first three episodes of this show started out positively, with the women at their center looking forward to a bright and optimistic future that started to fade as the reality of their circumstances – and some creepy supernatural factors – set in. This one had a rather violent and disturbing start, with Ambia giving birth and nearly dying in the hospital. It seemed obvious to me from the start that it was her daughter’s need to be by her side that was going to cause her distress, and she had enough to deal with having to find a closet to pump in at the office and then being talked down to by the men in her professional life before she started physically manifesting the longing her daughter felt. While it felt at times like this episode was going to lean more into horror, it kept her situation to one that was presenting enough to bother her coworkers and the people in her life, but which also allowed her to continue going around normally, which only led to more people seeing and noting her predicament. This was a strong performance from Emmy and Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo, and I also recognized Jake Johnson, best known for “New Girl” and “Minx,” in an unusually dramatic role, one that found him lashing out for “parenting two kids on his own” and then ultimately apologizing and recognizing all that his wife does for their family. This ending worked well, providing a more uplifting direction for an otherwise grim premise.

Take Three: Roar

Roar: Season 1, Episode 3 “The Woman Who Was Kept on a Shelf” (B)

I was excited to see the talent involved in this episode, with the creators of “GLOW,” who also made this show, bringing back one of their favorites and the only performer to score an Emmy nomination (well, three) for that series: Betty Gilpin. She’s a terrific actress I first remember seeing on “Masters of Sex,” and this felt like a particularly fitting role for her. I was also pleased to see Daniel Dae Kim, an actor from “Lost” who I got to meet at the Sundance premiere of “Blast Beat” the last time the festival happened in person. The way that he suggested that she be in his eyeline while he was working felt so creepily normal, and she didn’t have to think much about it before she decided to agree to it. Seeing her in lavish outfits sitting on that admittedly comfortable-looking bench was hypnotizing, and the passage of time was well conveyed by her increased boredom and her husband’s relocation of his desk so that he could no longer see her. Her daring escape led to a wild but understandable celebration of the feelings that she had upon finally being in the fresh air and free to move around after years of sitting still for others to look at or ignore her. When she was in the water, she went through a jolting shift back to reality, one that led to an uncertain end, with her starting her own store that found her doing just what she had been doing for so long and yearning for fulfillment that was out of reach.

Round Two: Roar

Roar: Season 1, Episode 2 “The Woman Who Ate Photographs” (B-)

This episode wasn’t nearly as compelling as the one before it, and it just didn’t feel like it really went anywhere. I’ll confess that I was probably distracted by the fact that both Nicole Kidman and Simon Baker were using their native Australian accents, something that I feel is very rare considering the prominent American parts they’ve both played over the years. They’re no stranger to television roles, with Kidman recently winning an Emmy for “Big Little Lies” and Baker being a familiar face from “The Guardian” and “The Mentalist,” as well as a short-lived role in between that I enjoyed on CBS’ quickly-cancelled “Smith.” This episode felt like it was wandering, and while there was an intriguing idea that maybe its protagonist was the one losing track of her memories rather than her mother who was actively dealing with dementia, that wasn’t expressly stated and so it remained a bit too abstract for my tastes. Ultimately, this felt like more about a reconciliation between two people who hadn’t actually been able to properly see each other for a long time, with someone who was struggling to hold on to what she had left as her memories were slipping away as the unintended guide for that journey. It’s always good to see Kidman on screen, but this was not her most memorable performance or role. I’ll have higher hopes for a fresh start in episode three and beyond, and I’ll be watching to see if there’s a real connective thread between the installments or not.

Pilot Review: Roar

Check out my one-minute take on every new pilot, which is embedded below and you can also watch by subscribing to movieswithabe on YouTube.