Boink
1st Level
Posts: 174
|
Post by Boink on May 21, 2018 12:08:36 GMT -5
So, I've recently become reacquainted with Moonlighting via the DVDs after having been away from it for more than 10 years. I've been doing this one episode at a time on Friday and/or Saturday nights, somewhere between 1:00 and 4:00 AM, while my wife and kids are sleeping peacefully upstairs. Most of these nights, so far, have fortunately happened to feature clear skies and brilliant moonlight, which really adds to the atmosphere something I've never experienced while watching this series in the past.
It was particularly effective with this episode, the absolute high point of season 1 (in my opinion) and something truly moving in terms of bringing real depth to the characters of David and Maddie. The noir-ish feel captured here, particularly during the radio broadcast and scenes of Maddie driving around town, are really something special. I would also love to know if the bar where David sings via bread stick still exists, and (if so) how much it has or hasn't changed.
Not every episode of this series could (or should) possibly be like this one, but "The Next Murder You Hear" really raised the bar at a perfect time and put forth the sort of emotion you can't help but look for in every episode after.
If you haven't seen it lately, or ever, I highly recommend giving it a go... sometime long after dark.
|
|
|
Post by northernlight on Jul 7, 2021 12:01:50 GMT -5
This is one of my favourite episodes. Everything about it is perfect with regards to setting the mood with some fabulous night scenes, from the opening scene of the camera panning in on the broadcasting house, through the various individuals listening the broadcast and Paul McCain's apparent gunning down, all those scenes of Maddie alone at home (nice shot of her listening to the McCain tapes through the rain-beaded window) and then driving around after 9:30pm to that fabulously evocative saxophone soundtrack and being chased from McCain's house in the pouring rain, to David in the bar. They always did this stuff really well; Blonde on Blonde had a similar feel in the last half of the episode, with David following Maddie to the supermarket and the singles bar, and then the having further adventures following the woman he thought was Maddie, climaxing with another classic rainy night scene when he calls at Maddie's house, soaked to the skin, only to find Sam there.
Like Boink says about that noir-ish feel, Moonlighting is the only TV show that I'm aware of that captures the same feel as those classic old films from the 40's, even though it's a very 80's show in itself. This episode also gives us the first glimpse that these two are slowly beginning to get under each other's skin, certainly in David's case. I love it when he's at the bar, lamenting the fact that Maddie is hung up on this other man and he says, "Did I happen to mention this guy's dead?" And that line about the three girls that had been hitting on him all at once and he'd said to them, "Now, girls, we've got a problem here: I'm an old-fashioned guy; one of you girls is gonna have to leave." Brilliant. Never a dull moment in The Next Murder You Hear. I'm chuckling now as I think of it.
|
|