Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Rubicon - anybody watching?

by
John McFetridge

So, is anybody watching the new show on AMC, Rubicon?



I've seen every episode so far and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. It keeps me intereted enough to tune in every week and I like the feel of it, but I can't tell if there's any substance to the style.

It's got a very old school vibe - very little technology; a few cell phone and the odd computer, but these are "data analysts" who pick up big folders of papers in the morning to go over and who find international secret communications in newspaper crossword puzzles - not a website in site.

So far what seems to be a major plot point revolves around a, "go code" being hidden in crossword puzzles spread over many international newspapers. And in the show we always see print editions of the papers, no one reads the online editions. I kept picturing the spy in Beruit looking all over the city for the Herald Tribune.

But for an old guy like me the low-tech approach is kind of fun. When I first saw the show was about these data analysts I thought, "Oh yeah, that's what Robert Redford did in Three Days of the Condor." Until the shooting started five minutes in and he ran off with Faye Dunaway.

That movie was based on the book Six Days of the Condor.

Sometimes Rubicon feels like Endless Days of the Condor.

But still, I keep watching.

What about you, anybody watching?

9 comments:

David Cranmer said...

I haven't seen the show but it certainly does sound old fashion.

Man, Three Days of the Condor was a good film.

Dave White said...

I keep saying I'm gonna watch, but I haven't had a chance to.

Steve Weddle said...

maybe i'll watch now

John McFetridge said...

I think you guys can go to the AMC website and start watching from the beginning. I don't think it's something you can really pick up in the middle, I'm having enough trouble following it from the start ;)

I also just noticed on the IMDB discussion board for the show opinions are sure divided.

Chuck said...

I like it.

I liked it more when it first started.

And it's... sluggish pace is wearing on me. I'm still in it to see where it's going, but it better start... well, *going.*

-- Chuck

Scott D. Parker said...

Yup, watching since Day One and liking it more and more each week. I watch Mad Men right after it and I find I am enjoying Rubicon a bit more. Now, I've just started watching Mad Men, having not seen seasons 1-3.

I like the vibe of Rubicon, the slow pace. Yes, it can get sluggish, but it's also got one of the neat things that The X-Files used to have. With TXF, you had a monster-of-the-week show and in a little tidbit at the end, it would link up to the greater conspiracy. I get that same sense with Rubicon. I'm in it for the long haul.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I just wrote a post about this. My husband is convinced there is something "off" because of the dearth of technology. But Obama's picture is up, so it must be now.
I am having a lot of trouble following it, and I get impatient when I can't follow something. I begin to think of LOST and how they had very little idea where they were going. I think they need some little arcs to balance out the lack of resolutions with the big one. And they are not using Miranda Richardson enough.
How can a show be sluggish and hard to follow at the same time--and yet it is. One more episode in me.

Charlieopera said...

I've been tempted to watch it because it goes on right before a show I won't miss (Mad Men) ... but it's also Sunday night and the remnants of pre-season football (2nd teamers, no doubt) usually keep me from making the channel switch).

I ignored Justified until someone told me it starts at the end of Pronto (Elmore Leonard's novel). The movie with James LaGross and Peter Falk was wonderful ... I still haven't seen the first few episodes but I heard it starts where the movie left off ... can't wait.

Anonymous said...

I started out watching the first 6 episodes which I had recorded. It was 45 minutes of stuff crammed into 6 hours of TV. I'll keep watching just to kill time, for a while.