Pilot Review: The Climb

The Climb (Amazon)
Premiered November 10

Amazon pilot season is here again, and I’m making sure that I’m watching each one of its new offerings. This first one is a particular disappointment, a completely unappealing and uninviting show that feels like a desperate ripoff of “Insecure” with none of the energy and creativity. Highwire is a social media invention meant to mock the connected nature that everyone in our society craves, and it’s embodied by the character of Cooper Lewinsky, who has successfully become famous for doing nothing. What’s worse is that Nia admires that lifestyle, commending Copper on figuring out how to be Barbie and be sexy for a living, much to the chagrin of her disapproving stepmother. The fact that Nia is so interested in exemplifying that worldview that she refuses to learn what her company does just for the sake of proceeding along without knowing doesn’t make her the antiheroine this show thinks it does, ready to roar like a lion in an office meeting, but instead cements her as a truly millennial character, one who is meant to represent the worst in today’s hippest generation. Of course, her friend Misty is, somehow, even worse, not even interested in staging any sort of rebellion and even less interested in having her married mailman boyfriend talk while they’re having sex or he’s searching for her missing birth control. This is a show that I want to quickly forget, since experiencing the pilot has contributed nothing to my life much like its central character seems to be doing for those in hers.

How would it work as a series? Nia is going to need to start exploring herself and figuring out what she wants to be, if it really is more than just someone who excels at talking to people about nothing. I don’t think that’s all that interesting, and the dynamic of these two friends on this show really left me wanting more, so I wouldn’t be up for watching this show if it did get picked up.
Will it make it to series? Of Amazon’s three new offerings, this is the one that lacks a hook. Most of the shows that the streaming network has brought to life have been high-concept or specific in nature and this one, like its protagonists, feels far too aimless and general. I’d err on the side of this one not being picked up.

Pilot grade: F

What I’m Watching: Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones: Season 3, Episode 6 “The Climb” (B+)

This was an episode full of momentous interactions, which included some poignant moments for some of the show’s best characters. It was so interesting to watch Arya react suspiciously to the presence of Melisandre, who immediately swooped in and cast her spell over the brotherhood, prompting Arya to speak her distrust of the sorceress and to be told in response that she is full of darkness. I see great things in Arya’s future, while Melisandre’s reign can’t last forever. In regal developments, it was awkward to see Tyrion come to see Sansa to tell her of their impending marriage with a clueless Shae in the room. Olenna held her own in verbal battle with Tywin, and they both managed to insult their children incredibly while arguing over which family was getting the worse end of the deal. Jon’s climb was formidable, and he earned his stripes by saving Ygritte after she was nearly cut loose and sent to a freezing, awful death. She did threaten him quite forcefully with castration earlier on, but it’s clear that their affection transcends the deception with which Jon initially entered into her world. Their climb was well worth it visually, and it’s rare to see time stop in this show’s universe to marvel at pure visual beauty. Jaime defending Brienne is a good time, and I suspect they’ll have an impressive escape planned in no time thanks to the latest news that Jaime might now be getting away clean while Brienne pays the price for her role in trying to bring him back to King’s Landing.