Interview with Abe: The Politician

As Emmy voting is underway, I’m delighted to share some of the interviews I’ve been able to conduct with contenders across all categories. 

For Netflix’s “The Politician,” here’s costume designer Claire Parkinson. Click through to read the conversation we had for Awards Radar.

What I’m Watching: The Politician (Season Finale)

The Politician: Season 2, Episode 7 “Election Day” (B+)

Overall, this episode was entertaining and very watchable, but I’m still frustrated that it seemed to rush things in a big way as this season ended after just seven episodes. This show has a lot to offer and there really isn’t time to address all of it, and so I suppose there’s no reason that seven episodes was any less fitting than the twenty-two it could have produced. We could have spent at least an episode on the convent-like farm where Astrid and Alice were preparing to have their babies, but instead they decided to leave after mere moments of us seeing them there. I like that Hadassah and Dede ran into Payton playing piano and singing and they had a moment of true bonding, putting aside their differences and complimenting each other on the attributes they really admired. Dede’s decision to concede right before the legendary rock paper scissors tournament wasn’t all that surprising given the way that she was looking at the young candidate, and it allowed her to go out with grace and enthusiastically endorse her successor. Becoming the vice-presidential candidate on Georgina’s ticket rather than Tino’s was a bit less expected, and their FaceTime conversation felt like the type of filmmaking that we’ll see plenty of once shows return without being able to fully feature in-person production. Like last year, this show skipped some time to introduce an entirely new storyline for a theoretical season three that has yet to be commissioned. Payton having achieved a good deal but feeling unmotivated for the next big campaign was a great setup for Dede coming to him and telling him that they want to change the rules so that he can run as her vice-presidential pick. I really am a fan of this show even if it’s a bit too eccentric for its own good, and I’d be happy to watch more of these wild and often scattered antics.

Season grade: B+
Season MVP: Judith Light as Dede

What I’m Watching: The Politician

The Politician: Season 2, Episode 6 “What’s in the Box?” (B)

I wouldn’t describe this show as particularly consistent, often dropping devices entirely and then randomly returning to them at an unexpected moment. I remember liking that the school play was “Assassins” in season one as it related so directly what was going on with the school election, and the way in which history’s most famous and wildest tiebreakers were executed felt a lot like that. This show embraces its absurdity and doesn’t question how its characters look at the world in such a crazy way, babbling intellectual nonsense as quickly as possible so that they can all get out their ideas each episode. Calculating how to best secure a victory after their tie was an entertaining if ridiculous endeavor, especially when it came to going to prison to ask Ricardo how to scientifically win at Rock, Paper, Scissors. Infinity suddenly showing up with a stolen ballot box felt very counterproductive to everything about the campaign they were trying to look like they were running, though I guess she’s not actually affiliated with it. I did laugh at her reference to how the Weather Underground was already taken as a name. Now that Georgina has won her election, she was very helpful in guiding Payton towards what he was always going to choose, which is to win at all costs. I hardly feel like we’re ready for the season finale, and I don’t want to search for news of a third season for fear of spoiling something. Hopefully a mere seven episodes will feel satisfying since that’s only one fewer than there were in season one.

What I’m Watching: The Politician

The Politician: Season 2, Episode 5 “The Voters” (B+)

This show has proven that it’s formidably able to introduce new characters with absolutely no background and make them immediately interesting. Dede, Hadassah, and Tino all showed up for the first time in the season finale and were suddenly part of everything, and in this installment we got two representative voters, who just happened to be a mother and daughter who didn’t see eye-to-eye on their political views. I recognized Robin Weigert, who played Andi, right away, and I’m a big fan of hers from her role in the movie “Concussion” (not the one with Will Smith), and she also has some previous TV experience including an Emmy-nominated role on “Deadwood” and other shows like “Jessica Jones” and “Big Little Lies.” I thought that Susannah Perkins, who played Jayne, looked familiar too, but aside from one episode of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” I think this is the first time I’ve seen her. Both were terrific, and it was revealing to see how quickly they become disillusioned with the candidates they were so ardently supporting, something that wasn’t as surprising to us given that we’ve seen how Dede, Payton, and their staff members repeatedly put public perception above actual policy issues. Among the most memorable moments were both McAfee and Payton assuming plenty about Jayne’s camping experience and Sherry so callously throwing a mostly full water bottle away in front of Andi. I guess we’re rooting for Payton to win, as long as that doesn’t mean that we lose this other half of the storyline in which we’ve now invested.

What I’m Watching: The Politician

The Politician: Season 2, Episode 4 “Hail Mary” (B+)

The notion of a 91% approval rating for a politician is unfathomable in our current polarized climate, and I love that Georgina’s response was to go after the nine percent who for some reason found her objectionable. This show’s characters always have tricks up their sleeves that their opponents don’t see coming, and I appreciated that one of those was for us viewers, in the form of Tino’s comatose wife waking up and revealing to the American public that her husband had constantly whispered in her ear that she should just hurry up and die. While that was the one thing that could hurt Georgina’s popularity, she was smart to jettison him from anything related to her, leaving him instead to go back to another possible running mate who might instead be able to save his campaign. Hadassah wasn’t pleased to find Payton at the restaurant when she was expecting William, and, in turn, William was devastated to learn that he had so quickly been replaced by Dede and Marcus in the thruple. It turns out that Payton is the one who has to face more consequences from his own thruple, with not one but two women pregnant with his child at the same time. Alice telling him was typically dry and matter-of-fact, with a whole plan laid out that a baffled Payton was apparently going to have to follow, while Astrid was far more confrontational since she knew that, as the other woman, she’ll need to fight for Payton’s attention. All I know is that James is not going to be happy that he didn’t know about this first.

What I’m Watching: The Politician

The Politician: Season 2, Episode 3 “Cancel Culture” (B+)

This season really has taken on an increased relevance since its release, surely not something that could have been predicted when it was filmed. The way in which Payton and his campaign team so flippantly discuss cultural appropriation and all that feels so trivial given what’s currently going on in the country, and the uproar over a Halloween costume Payton wore as a six-year-old was clearly meant to parody the way in which people are so eager to cancel things that seem mildly offensive. There are evidently bigger things to worry about today, though Payton took advantage of the fact that a cultural slight would attract the attention of his opponent and encourage them to think that he really was flailing. It’s a bit exhausting to follow the many threads of duplicity that exist on this show, and it’s hard to believe that, after everything, McAfee is still willing to do whatever Payton tells her, which now means embedding herself in Dede’s campaign, outing Andrew as the mole while she’s actually acting as a double agent. We saw more of Infinity in this episode, telling Andrew off when she finally met with him and standing by her environmental attitude by forcing Payton and Skye to abide by rather stringent and restrictive guidelines that they couldn’t hope to achieve. Alice revealed her thruple arrangement with Astrid rather bluntly, and I suppose there can only be so many secrets hidden at one time. Georgina is so far ahead in the polls that she’s ready to retreat from society, and it’s exactly that kind of overconfidence that will likely make her Tino’s top choice for his running mate.

What I’m Watching: The Politician

The Politician: Season 2, Episode 2 “Conscious Unthroupling” (B+)

There’s a reason the characters on this show speak so quickly – there’s a lot to cover in each episode. I thought I had remembered season one mostly being thirty minutes, but it turns out I was wrong and every episode was roughly between forty minutes and an hour. What’s most interesting is that the focus now is just as much on Dede and her campaign as it is on Payton’s campaign, in which he’s becoming an increasingly less prominent player. I was thrilled that McAfee, played by Ben Platt’s original “Dear Evan Hansen” costar Laura Dreyfuss, got a bigger focus in this episode as she proclaimed her need to have some time away from James and Skye and to have sex with someone. That plan went awry when she ran into both of them at the same Broadway show, and her date David was only so willing to be ignored in favor of their very codependent friendship. Alice also returned in a big way, doing her part by following Astrid and suggesting that she and Payton bring her into a thruple so that they could assure she wouldn’t be able to act against them. They did wait a bit too long to act on Payton’s threat of going public with the gossip about Dede’s thruple, and she made the decision to publicize that on her own. The timing for William to officially leave them to be with Hadassah couldn’t be worse, and now they’ll have to work hard to maintain the illusion of something that was supposed to be secret in the first place. Tino is keeping all his options open, and I suspect that he’ll ditch both Dede and Georgina after leading them on for quite a while, that or he’ll face one of them in the presidential race instead.

What I’m Watching: The Politician (Season Premiere)

The Politician: Season 2, Episode 1 “New York State of Mind” (B+)

It feels early for this show’s second season to premiere, after its first debut in September and I finished it by November. It’s just unusual for streaming shows to have seasons released that close together, even though broadcast network series only take a few months off during the summer (until virus-related production delays may have now changed that). Either way, it’s nice to have this wild, overstuffed show back as it leans fully into its new setting and slate of characters that were all introduced in the season one finale. One thing I like is that, even though the show is still prone to characters feeling over-the-top and presenting as completely unrealistic, there were some honest, sincere moments where they did feel real, particularly Judith Light’s Dede Standish and Gwyneth Paltrow’s Georgia Hobart coming to life while arguing during debates. Payton’s attempt to run this race clean didn’t end up winning out, and only Skye noticed that he was happy to let an entire watercooler spill on the floor because he was angry about poll numbers. Complaining about spending a fraction of the budget on hand sanitizer takes on a whole new meaning now, and it’s evident that all of these characters would retreat into cocoons if they had to live in our current reality. There’s plenty of treachery afoot, with Andrew spying for Payton’s campaign and Astrid working directly with Hadassah to spy for Dede’s. Tino sleeping with Georgina can’t be a good idea, and his eventual announcement that she’s his pick for vice-president is going to make Dede much angrier since she happens to be Payton’s mother. This season is only seven episodes as compared with season one’s eight, and I’ll spend the next few weeks working my way through what’s sure to be an entertaining and energetic rollercoaster.

What I’m Watching: The Politician (Season Finale)

The Politician: Season 1, Episode 8 “Vienna” (B+)

Well, this was quite the finale. I had accidentally read something about a time jump and tried to forget it, and fortunately I think I had until I sat down to start this episode and wasn’t too surprised to see “three years later” opening the hour. It makes sense that Payton would end up at a school like NYU, which he probably considered a serious step down from Ivy options like Harvard, though I was a bit puzzled that his friends in from out of town were Infinity and Skye, who now are pals too after only sharing the distinction of being Payton’s running mate at different points. It felt strange to me that, when everyone came together to convince Payton to run, Infinity was nowhere to be found. I would have thought she’d be a crucial part of the team, especially if Skye was there. I had no idea why we were meeting the Texas senator played by Sam Jaeger from “Parenthood,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and “Why Women Kill,” and I was also surprised to recognize Judith Light from “Transparent” as State Senator Dede Standish and Bette Midler of all people as her chief of staff Hadassah Gold. I thought the focus might be shifting to a different campaign altogether, but I love the twist that Payton is going to run against her when she’s actually being groomed to be vice president, separating her from a real-life person like Joe Crowley who didn’t have such grand ambitions. Astrid knowing that Dede is part of a thruple with Joe Morton from “God Friended Me” and “Scandal” and Teddy Sears from “The Flash” and “Masters of Sex” suggests it might be a dirty campaign, but I’m all in for what’s sure to be a totally entertaining second season. Even if the last two episodes I saw were a bit over the top, this has been a real blast. I won’t soon get the incredible music and fantastic ensemble out of my head, and I hope this show will fare well with awards groups.

Season grade: B+
Season MVP: Ben Platt as Payton

What I’m Watching: The Politician

The Politician: Season 1, Episode 7 “The Assassination of Payton Hobart: Part 2” (B)

Everything pretty much blew up in this episode, in a way that was entertaining but also just as over-the-top as this show has tended to be in the past. After being completely obsessed with his wife earlier in the season, Keaton was ready to dismiss her – and Payton as a result – because of her near-departure to run off to Wyoming with her lover. Payton got to see River while he was in his coma, and fortunately Infinity rushed over there to save his life by explaining precisely what it was that Ricardo had shot him with, but Payton doesn’t have much left in his life following the reveal of his secrets. Principal Vaughn was all too satisfied to be able to angrily demand his resignation, and his mother’s departure leaves him even more alone, supported only by McAfee, who he’ll still probably choose not to trust even after she called the police to turn Skye in for trying to kill Payton. Payton’s question of whether he can bounce back from this felt all too unrealistic, but it’s certainly possible he’ll set his aims on something higher with a real comeback narrative going for him one day. Dusty accidentally shooting Ricardo while she was trying to shoot herself was a misstep that she probably can’t take back, and while Ricardo hardly comes off as the most reliable witness, there’s just too much going against Dusty now for her to be able to crawl back from it, left with no one to support her. Astrid’s father being proud of her for calling the FBI on him shows how much he valued their relationship, and she seems to be headed on a one-way trip out of this show’s narrative. I have no idea what to expect from the finale, but I’m sure it will be enthralling to say the least.

What I’m Watching: The Politician

The Politician: Season 1, Episode 6 “The Assassination of Payton Hobart” (B)

This episode, twice the length of the last installment, felt more than a bit overstuffed. I’m hopeful that news of this show being renewed for a second season, which has been circulated but not confirmed, is indeed true since there’s a whole lot more left to explore here. Astrid dropping out of the race so that Payton’s victory was meaningless was the ultimate power play, and it was even more crippling for Payton to discover that his big ideas about water fountains and other projects weren’t even considered, mainly because Principal Vaughn didn’t respect him. The fact that he lost by two votes shouldn’t matter much, but to him it will mean everything, as will Vaughn’s comparison of him to Gerald Ford rather than Barack Obama. I like that Payton and Infinity, and apparently Ricardo, are starring in the school production of “Assassins,” further fueling this show’s presidential obsession, and things got much more dramatic towards the end of the episode when Ricardo’s possum poison plan was revealed. McAfee is a real punching bag on this show, getting dumped by Skye after she accused her of lacing the icing and then told by Payton that she couldn’t be trusted anymore. Payton can use any friends he has left now that he’s been shot and potentially poisoned, and hopefully his mother won’t blame him for forcing her to give up her Montana dream escape. I honestly have no clue what comes next, and two episodes probably won’t be enough to satisfactorily process it all.

What I’m Watching: The Politician

The Politician: Season 1, Episode 5 “The Voter” (B+)

I was surprised to learn that this episode was only 28 minutes long, which is an interesting feature of some Netflix shows – “Mindhunter” did it in its first season also. I guess if the content of a particular story only runs a certain amount of time, why drag it out unnecessarily just to fill forty minutes or an hour? In this case, this was an entertaining opportunity to explore how one completely uninvested student experienced the election, bombarded by campaign analysts and the candidates appealing directly to him when all he wanted to do was play video games and masturbate constantly. This episode really highlighted the absurdity of the high school election, with promises made like a pledge to bring Drake to perform at the prom, all costs covered by a student fundraiser. Skye being allowed to trash Astrid repeatedly on stage felt excessive, though that’s the least of the unbelievable things presented on this show. I’m glad that Infinity didn’t just disappear, showing back up to rail against both candidates with a megaphone and no one really listening to her. Elliot being profiled as an undecided voter just pissed him off as he was continuously berated from all sides, and punching James and pushing Kris were sudden but predictable expressions of his frustration with not being left alone. Payton, to his credit, did seem sincere in trying to convince Elliot that he was actually listening to him, but it didn’t pay off since the unengaged swing voter decided not to even cast a vote after all.

What I’m Watching: The Politician

The Politician: Season 1, Episode 4 “Gone Girl” (B+)

I keep coming back to the music on this show as an incredible driving force of its storylines, though I have to give credit to the exceptional casting as well. I didn’t mention the terrific selection of January Jones of “Mad Men” fame as Astrid’s mother in the last episode, and here she got to express anger at her husband and disapproval at her daughter for thinking that she could change who she was. Running away with the hapless Ricardo to enjoy New York was less sinister than what appeared to have happened, and only on this show and in this universe could she return to more favorable polls and then have the vice-presidential candidate who had held a vigil decrying her likely death try to switch to the other campaign on the day before the election. Skye’s romance with McAfee makes everything all the more complicated, but that should hardly come as a surprise on this show. After Payton got smuggled out of the police station in a trunk, Ben Platt showed why he’s the perfect person for the role when he reacted so intensely to everything Infinity said to him in the church in response to him firing her and lobbing the accusation that her grandmother was making her sick. We’re halfway through the season at this point, and I don’t feel like I have any idea what’s going to happen next. That’s a good thing, since this show is so completely watchable and wildly creative in the best way.

Take Three: The Politician

The Politician: Season 1, Episode 3 “October Surprise” (B+)

This episode didn’t start with presidential trivia as I had expected it might, but it did include a formidable and memorable scene in which Payton referenced his future presidency and used it to convince the Harvard admissions guys that they had better let him in on his own merits so that they wouldn’t miss out on his brilliance. It’s fascinating to see Payton operate on his own, since he works a certain way when he knows he has an audience but is truly a force to be reckoned with when he’s powered by his own confidence and his belief in what he’s saying. I also enjoyed when he went over to Infinity’s house to yell at her and shouted down Dusty, telling her that he didn’t have the patience to deal with her. I hadn’t recognized Ben Platt’s “Dear Evan Hansen” costar Laura Dreyfuss as McAfee, and now I see it every time she appears on screen. It’s hard to keep up with the ever-changing duplicity here, though I like that characters like Payton’s hapless brothers do keep reappearing. James is proving to be a crucial asset, though the assistance he gave to Astrid turned out to be the opposite of helpful. Ricardo sending in that video seems to have truly turned the tide, and he wasn’t happy at all with the fact that it also meant that Infinity doesn’t want to talk to him anymore. The ending of the episode was rather dark, with Dylan McDermott’s father running upstairs to find a major mess and his daughter missing, and it’s hard to know what could possibly come next.

Round Two: The Politician

The Politician: Season 1, Episode 2 “The Harrington Commode” (B+)

This second installment was a superb follow-up to the first, demonstrating that this show has a whole lot to offer on many different fronts. As tends to be the case with Ryan Murphy shows, the music is terrific, and helps to set the tone for all of the events portrayed on screen. In addition to multiple Murphy shows like “Pose” and “Scream Queens,” Mac Quayle also composes the music for “Mr. Robot.” Opening the episode with presidential election trivia was also a nice treat, and I hope that’s a regular move that continues as the series does. We met Bob Balaban as Georgina’s much older husband, and after he jumped off the roof because she told him she was in love with someone else, Payton’s plan to show his adoptive father that he was much more loyal to him than his elder brothers played out in a very entertaining manner. There is certainly a lot of direct communication in this show’s universe where people say what they mean in an explicit manner, like Payton responding to Dusty’s “What’s in it for us?” with a confirmation that she wanted to know if he’d pay for a Disney cruise. Similarly, Payton’s acceptance to Harvard was contingent on a generous donation, something he didn’t want to do since it felt wrong and inauthentic to him. Determining whether Infinity is in fact faking her cancer continues to be a complicated matter, and Payton is going to have to figure out how to confront her with what he believes is proof that she’s lying. One of the best aspects of the pilot was actor David Corenswet, who played River and looks like a cross between Tom Welling and Matt Bomer, and I’m glad that he’s still going to be appearing in a limited capacity in flashbacks. I’m excited to continue to watch this show one episode at a time!

Pilot Review: The Politician

I'm trying something new with my pilot reviews, so from now on, check out video takes on each new series, which I'll embed below and you can also watch by subscribing to movieswithabe on YouTube.